The Ukrainian parliament approved a resolution on Tuesday with 268 votes in favor and 12 abstentions, proclaiming the necessity for Volodymyr Zelensky to continue leading the country. Zelensky ended his term in May last year and continues to hold the presidency without having gone to the polls due to Ukrainian law prohibiting voting in times of war. The Kremlin has used this circumstance to question his legitimacy as president.
A day after the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine, the country woke up to a massive alert due to the presence of cruise missiles launched by Russia towards Kiev, as reported by the authorities. Additionally, Russia claims to have carried out a missile and drone attack on military airfields in Ukraine, according to its Ministry of Defense. It would be the third day of massive Russian attacks on its neighboring country.
In Russia, security forces have arrested a 17-year-old in Bashkortostan who was collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence services, as reported by the Ria Novosti agency. The teenager faces charges of terrorism and treason.
Putin offers to exploit Russian rare earth minerals to 'partners' from other countries, including the United States
Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown Russia's willingness to cooperate with foreign partners, including Americans, in exploiting rare earth mineral deposits.
"These are investments that require a lot of capital, they are costly projects," Putin said in an interview with state television presenter Pavel Zarubin. Putin added that Russia is willing to offer American and other investors the opportunity to participate in projects to extract rare earth metals also in the regions annexed by Russia after the start of its military campaign in Ukraine, which marked its third anniversary yesterday.
"There are certain reserves there. We are also willing to work there with our partners," he emphasized.
Asked about negotiations between Washington and Kiev for an agreement on the delivery of Ukrainian rare earth minerals in exchange for the military aid provided by the US to Ukraine, the president replied that it is a matter that does not concern Russia. "We have ten times more resources of that kind than Ukraine," Putin emphasized, as reported by Efe.
Russia's reserves of 29 rare metals amount to 658 million tons and include 28.5 million tons of rare earth metals, according to the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources.
Macron to present details of his meeting with Trump to EU counterparts
French President Emmanuel Macron will present details of the meeting he had with Donald Trump to his EU counterparts on Wednesday, announced Portuguese Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, on Tuesday.
Macron and other EU leaders will meet in a video conference to learn about the details of the meeting on Monday at the White House in Washington. In a message on the X network, Costa announced the video conference with Macron "in preparation" for the extraordinary EU summit scheduled for March 6.
This meeting will be exclusively dedicated to discussing the situation in Ukraine and EU security, as reported by Afp.
Lavrov says the UN vote reflects a better understanding of the "root causes" of the Ukrainian conflict
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the vote in the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution drafted by the United States taking a "neutral position" on the Ukrainian conflict shows a better understanding of the causes of the war.
The Security Council adopted a resolution on Monday drafted by the United States while President Donald Trump seeks to negotiate an end to the war, as reported by Reuters. The draft resolution did not condemn Russia as the aggressor in the conflict nor recognize Ukraine's territorial integrity. The approved resolution, which the US has not been able to stop, clearly denounces "the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation" and recalls the need to implement all previous Assembly resolutions "adopted in response to the aggression against Ukraine."
Ukrainian Parliament reaffirms Zelensky's legitimacy
The Ukrainian Parliament (Rada Suprema) approved a resolution on Tuesday with 268 votes in favor and 12 abstentions proclaiming the need for President Volodymyr Zelensky to continue leading the country, recalling that national law prohibits elections while martial law is in effect.
The resolution specifically mentions the need for the continuation of the "current leadership" of the country and is adopted in the context of calls to Zelensky from the new US administration to hold elections, following President Donald Trump's labeling of the Ukrainian leader as a "dictator."
Zelensky ended his term in May last year and continues to lead the country without having gone to the polls due to Ukrainian law prohibiting voting in times of war, as reported by Efe.
The Kremlin has used this circumstance to question Zelensky's legitimacy.
Sending European troops to Ukraine "is not the most effective solution" for Italy
Sending European troops to Ukraine "is not the most effective solution," according to Italy, stated the Undersecretary of the Government's Presidency, Giovanbattista Fazzolari, after French President Emmanuel Macron expressed willingness to do so.
"It is a hypothesis that France has supported for some time. Italy does not consider it the most effective solution. As far as I remember, there has never been an international peacekeeping force between two armies of this magnitude. There are more than a million armed soldiers on both sides, and I don't really see what the peacekeeping force would be between these two armies," said Fazzolari.
According to the Secretary of Program Execution and close collaborator of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, "another issue is that of an international mission under the UN umbrella in a peace context."
Russian media claims to have identified 95,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine
The independent Russian media outlet Mediazona claims to have identified, in collaboration with the BBC, 95,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine using open-source data, a toll that the Kremlin neither confirms nor denies.
What will happen to companies that have profited the most from the war in Ukraine... if peace comes
In the week marking three years since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the end of the ongoing conflict in the country seems closer than ever. The decision of US President, Donald Trump, to fully support his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, while silencing the voice of the invaded country and the opinion of Europe, sets the tone for the negotiations. In these uncertain conditions, peace remains a possibility, and its consequences are still unknown.
Meanwhile, investors, with their eternal intention to anticipate political eventualities, want to identify the first winners and losers (economically) of the conflict to improve their bets. However, experts recommend extreme caution when making decisions about a scenario where a ceasefire has not been signed and there is no clarity about its conditions. While some conclusions can already be drawn from the Russian invasion in terms of investment and some clues about the stock market trajectory in Europe.
Thyssen presents an exhibition of photographs by Andrii Kotliarchuk on the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine
The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum and the Embassy of Ukraine in Spain presented on Tuesday an exhibition of photographs by the photographer and filmmaker Andrii Kotliarchuk taken in Polissia, a region in the north of the country, on the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Polissia is a land of forests, ancient beliefs, and sacred architecture, a world where the past intertwines with the present, and traditions remain alive.
Kotliarchuk has traveled through the region for over ten years with an analog camera, capturing the "archaic" traditions of its inhabitants, their way of life, and a nature that preserves its "primordial beauty," as explained by the museum.
Tusk and Costa call for European unity and support for Ukraine in the face of the growing Russian threat
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met on Tuesday in Warsaw with the President of the European Council, António Costa, to discuss the details of a European defense package against the perceived threat from Russia that will be presented next week.