Russian cruise missile and drone attacks kill 11; Biden mulls over trip to Europe

Russia’s latest missile barrage on Ukraine, which also included drones overnight, was unleashed after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed hope that donations of advanced weaponry including aircraft and long-range missiles would follow a pledge by the US and Germany to supply Ukraine with battle tanks.

US President Joe Biden is considering a trip to Europe in February to coincide with the one-year mark of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, NBC reported, citing people it didn’t identify.

Key developments

• What tanks Ukraine will get and why it wants them: QuickTake


• Ukraine holds key rate as central bank pares growth outlook


• US sanctions Russia’s Wagner Group as criminal organisation


• Biden says US will send tanks to Ukraine in broad allied effort


• Germany to boost Ukraine firepower with Leopard battle tanks 

On the ground

Russian missile and drone attacks killed 11 civilians, Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s state emergency service, said on television. The General Staff said earlier on Facebook that Kremlin troops had carried out 37 air strikes and 10 missile attacks over the past day, hitting civilian infrastructure in the cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, among other targets.

A move by Russia to engage in “limited spoiling attacks across most of the frontline”, including Vuhledar in the Donetsk region, was probably an attempt to “distract Ukrainian forces and set conditions to launch a decisive offensive operation” in the Luhansk region, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Ukraine says number of grain vessels falls 

The average number of vessels carrying Ukrainian grain via the Bosphorus had dropped to 2.5 per day, the slowest pace since the grain corridor initiative unblocked such exports via three Black Sea ports in July, the Ukrainian Agriculture Ministry said on its website.

Intentional delays by Russian inspectors had caused the slowdown, the ministry said. Outbound grain shipments have so far totalled 2.4 million tonnes in January, compared with more than four million tonnes in September and October.

Canada nears decision on Leopard tanks 

Canada is nearing a decision to send a modest number of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, according to people with knowledge of the issue. The number under consideration is in the four to six range, the people said.

Defence Minister Anita Anand met her Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov, earlier this month and pledged to provide Ukraine with 200 armoured personnel carriers in a new package of military assistance.

 

US sanctions Russia’s Wagner Group as criminal organisation  

The US Treasury designated Russia’s Wagner Group a transnational criminal organisation in an effort to degrade Russia’s capacity to wage war against Ukraine.

Sanctions against Wagner “will further impede Putin’s ability to arm and equip his war machine”, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

EU considers capping Russian diesel at $100 

The European Union is floating a plan to cap the price of premium Russian refined fuel exports like diesel at $100 per barrel, with a lower $45 cap for discounted products.

The bloc is set to ban imports of refined Russian products starting on 5 February as part of an effort to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Power supply in Kyiv stabilised, emergency cutoffs remain in the south 

An energy worker was killed and his colleagues injured during Thursday’s attack, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, chief of national grid operator Ukrenergo, said on Facebook. Russia didn’t “reach its main goal of causing a collapse in the energy system”, he added.

Kyiv and the surrounding area returned to a regime of scheduled power cutoffs from emergency outages, DTEK Energy said. Energy workers managed to “stabilise the situation”, though it remained difficult, Ukraine’s largest private energy company said.

Emergency blackouts were still in place in the Odesa region, though power had been restored for critical infrastructure in the city of Odesa, according to DTEK.

More than 880,000 hectares of Ukrainian land riddled with mines 

More than 880,000 hectares in the east and south of Ukraine need to be cleared of mines, Yevhen Yerin, a military spokesman, said on Telegram.

EU sees legal grounds to use seized Russian assets 

European Union member states have been told the bloc has the legal authority to temporarily leverage at least €33.8-billion of Russian central bank assets to help pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The EU has been exploring options to use frozen Russian assets following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but the proposal is controversial and discussions are at a very preliminary stage.

French foreign minister visits Odesa 

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna arrived in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa despite Russian attacks that caused power outages.

The United Nations’ cultural agency, Unesco, on Wednesday added the historic centre of Odesa to its World Heritage List, recognising “the outstanding universal value of this site and the duty to all humanity to protect it”.

Ukraine holds key rate steady as central bank pares growth outlook  

Ukraine’s central bank held the key interest rate at 25% and reiterated its intention to keep it there at least until the second quarter of 2024.

Policymakers also published updated economic forecasts that cut the 2023 outlook for growth to 0.3%, from 4% previously. Inflation is now expected to moderate to 18.7% this year, before slowing to 6.7% in 2025.

Thursday’s barrage included hypersonic, cruise missiles 

Ukraine shot down 47 Russian cruise missiles out of 55 launched from jets and from ships in the Black Sea, said Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Apart from the missiles that were shot down, three Kh-59 missiles “did not reach their targets”, Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram, without giving details. Thursday’s barrage included two Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, Ukrainian air defence said.

“Russia’s aim remains the same — psychological pressure on Ukrainians and ruining critical infrastructure,” Zaluzhnyi said. “But we won’t be broken.”

German tanks could arrive in late March 

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the first of the Leopard 2 battle tanks the German government has promised Ukraine could be delivered at the end of March or at the start of April, earlier than the “within three months” he suggested when the decision to supply them was announced.

In a statement to reporters during a troop visit in eastern Germany, Pistorius pushed back against a suggestion that the decision to supply the tanks had come too late.

“It is not a decision just to order something on the Web or send something to anybody, it is a matter of war,” he said. “We made our decision and here we are, and I think everyone should be satisfied with that decision because we do what is necessary.”

Wizz Air says war complicates European airspace 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent closing of large swathe of airspace is complicating travel in the rest of Europe this summer, forcing carriers such as Wizz Air to add in more buffer time between turnarounds on their flights and potentially adding costs to low-cost airline operations.

German tanks decision ‘nothing to cheer about’ 

German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said the decision to supply Ukraine with Leopard battle tanks was “necessary and urgent” but nothing to cheer about.

“We are paying an economic, macroeconomic and, in a certain sense, a social price, but not paying this price would be dramatically worse,” Habeck said in a statement to the lower house of Parliament in Berlin.

“If we are not willing to pay this price, that is to support Ukraine with sanctions, with military equipment, with a transformation of energy infrastructure, then we will be guilty of letting Putin win this war on his terms, and that must not happen,” he added.

Mayor reports ‘explosion in Kyiv’, one person killed 

Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported an “explosion in Kyiv” on Thursday morning without providing more detail. Eyewitnesses reported at least one loud explosion in Ukraine’s capital. Klitschko said one person was killed and two injured after a missile hit a non-residential building in the Holosiyivskyi district in Kyiv’s southwest.

The Vinnytsia region in central Ukraine and Odesa on the Black Sea reported missile strikes, in the latter case to what was termed critical energy infrastructure.

 

Russian oil exports to India may hit new highs 

India’s oil processors are open to buying even more Russian crude if the price is right, said refinery executives, potentially providing a bigger outlet for Moscow almost a year after its invasion of Ukraine.

Read more: Russian oil exports to India may hit new highs as interest grows 

Ukraine wants more Slovak howitzers 

Kyiv is interested in ordering another 14 Zuzana 2 howitzers from Slovakia, the Slovak defence ministry confirmed for Bloomberg in a statement.

“We are expecting the signing of the agreement, I hope that we can agree,” Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad told Ukrainska Pravda on Wednesday.

Slovakia delivered eight Zuzana 2 howitzers to Ukraine in 2022. The new weaponry will be paid for by Nato allies Denmark, Norway, and Germany.

US firm International Paper sells Russian stake for $484m

International Paper agreed to sell its stake in a Russian venture for $484-million, joining an exodus of Western businesses from the country following the war in Ukraine.

The Memphis, Tennessee-based supplier of renewable fibre-based products said it will dispose of a 50% holding in Ilim to its Russian partners, including billionaire Zakhar Smushkin, according to a statement. The deal still needs regulatory approvals in Russia. DM