Neither Ukraine nor Russia will be able to win the war. This was claimed in an interview with the Financial Times by the US Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley
, for whom the conflict can only end at the negotiating table.
"It will be practically impossible for the Russians to achieve their objectives and it is unlikely that Russia will be able to conquer Ukraine. It will not happen", said the military leader, also underlining how "it is very, very difficult for Kiev's forces to be able to drive Putin's people out of their territories".
Milley also explained that almost a year after the war in Ukraine, the Pentagon is making an inventory of its stockpiles of weapons to assess whether it is necessary to increase spending to meet the needs, especially for ammunition, of Kiev.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says in an interview with the BBC that he will not concede territories in any peace agreement because otherwise "Russia would keep coming back"
.
Green light from the Eurochamber for the resolution, presented one year after the start of the war in Ukraine, which requests that Kiev be supplied with "military aid for as long as necessary"
.
The text invites the Commission to "seriously consider the supply of fighter planes, helicopters, missile systems and an increase in ammunition. The go-ahead came with 444 votes in favour, 26 no and 37 abstentions. The resolution calls for use EU-frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, tighten sanctions against Moscow and its allies, and start accession talks with Kiev this year.
"Accelerate" the sending of military aid to Kiev as of "in the next few weeks", in terms of both new weapons to counter Russia and programs for the "training of Ukrainian pilots in the use of NATO-standard fighter jets": it is the joint appeal made today to the Western allies by the British premier Rishi Sunak and the Polish president Andrzej Duda, a guest in the afternoon in Downing Street for a face-to-face meeting, in view of the next summit of the Atlantic Alliance scheduled in Vilnius, Lithuania
.
During the meeting - as reported by Number 10 in a note - the two leaders praised each other for the "leading role" attributed to their respective countries in the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago". And they confirmed that they are "totally aligned" in a strategy of "firm support" for Kiev. Full agreement also on the importance of a "unanimous" go-ahead from NATO partners for Sweden and Finland to join the Alliance. Finally, Sunak confirmed their commitment of London for European collective security, underlining the recent "extension to Poland" of the protective shield of the skies called UK's Sky Sabre.
Ukraine, the evolution of the Russian invasion in a year of war
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has arrived in Kiev
where he will see President Volodomyr Zelensky.
It is the first time that an Israeli official has arrived in Ukraine since the Russian invasion of the country.
Cohen - according to a spokesman - will announce the return of the Israeli embassy to Ukraine for ongoing activities in Kiev.
Cohen, according to the Foreign Ministry, should also see his counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.
In addition to Kiev, Cohen will also go to Bucha and Babi Yar.
"I arrived today for the first visit of an Israeli minister to Kiev since the outbreak of fighting. Over the past year," Cohen said, "Israel has stood side by side with the
Ukrainian people and part of Ukraine. Today we will fly the Israeli flag at the Israeli embassy in Kiev, which will return to continuous activities in order to strengthen relations between the countries".
The Ukrainian army shot down 16 Russian missiles last night
during the 15th large-scale attack by Moscow forces
, which also hit critical infrastructure in several regions of the country, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Monday. Russians have launched over 30 missiles.
This was reported by the Kyiv Independent.
Russia hit targets last night in the north and west of the country, as well as in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions, President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of cabinet, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram.
"Another rocket attack by the Russians. They launched missiles and UAVs at night. Unfortunately, there are attacks in the north and west of Ukraine, as well as in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions," he wrote the senior official.
Yermak added that Russian forces have changed tactics, using mock targets for pre-attack surveillance operations and to confuse Kiev's air defenses.
"However - he stressed - the air defense units shot down most of the enemy's missiles and UAVs."
As previously reported, the Russians have struck critical infrastructure in the Lviv region, local authorities said on Telegram.
The Air Force specified that eight Kalibr cruise missiles were launched from a frigate in the Black Sea, 12 X-101/X-555 cruise missiles were launched from two Tu-95 strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea and 12 missiles from X-22 cruisers were launched by six Tu-22 long-range bombers from the Russian border of the Kursk region.
In addition, two X-59 guided missiles were fired from two Su-35 tactical aircraft from the occupied area of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region.
A
new air alert
therefore affected the whole of Ukraine during the night, with explosions felt in Kremenchuk in Poltava oblast, in central Ukraine, while the governor of Lviv oblast, Maksym Kozytskyi, urged residents to stay in shelters and said Russian forces had hit 'critical infrastructure'.
In Pokrovsk, in the Ukrainian oblast of Donetsk, there are three dead and 11 wounded following yesterday's missile attack.
One person was killed and seven others were injured in Pavlograd, Dnipropetrovsk region.
According to the founder of the
Russian mercenary organization Wagner
, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Moscow's failure to advance into Donetsk is caused by Russia's monstrous military bureaucracy.
In battle, "Russia's slow progress is due to monstrous military bureaucracy: Bakhmut, the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine, will not be conquered before March or April," Prigozhin said in a Telegram video.
And he added that progress would depend on sending "reserves from the adversary", criticizing Russia for failing to capture the city by the end of 2022.
Belarus will join the Russian offensive in Ukraine "only" if it is attacked
, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
NATO accelerates on ammunition, Lavrov threatens
- Russia's new massive offensive against Ukraine, one year after the ground invasion, is in a very advanced stage of preparation, if not "already
begun": movements on the border of troops and vehicles - including planes - have not gone unnoticed, as have the nuclear ships in the Baltic and 4 Russian fighter jets that skimmed over Alaska on Monday. The United States and Europe therefore intend to speed up the delivery of weapons to Kiev that would allow it to defend itself and win on the battlefield. The only way - according to the EU High Representative Josep Borrell - to arrive at a negotiation, and therefore peace. While less and less veiled threats to the West continue to arrive from Moscow , awaiting the speech that Vladimir Putin will give in front of the Russian Parliament on February 21st.
Russia, on the other hand, is reportedly suffering heavy losses during its continued assault on the city of Bakhmut, according to Kiev authorities, quoted by Ukrainian media.
Private mercenary group Wager and other Russian-backed militant groups active in eastern Ukraine are reportedly losing up to 80 percent of some of their assault units, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Telegram.
For the allies, however, it is not yet the time to supply the jets requested by the Ukrainians to protect their skies where today even six alleged spy balloons over the capital were intercepted and partially shot down.
For now, Swedish premier Ulf Kristersson, EU president on duty visiting Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev, has proposed the creation of a coalition that decides on fighter planes.
But in the meantime NATO has decided to urgently increase the production of ammunition, artillery and anti-aircraft, which after 12 months of war are starting to run short even among the allies.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced, at the end of the Alliance's Council of Defense Ministers, that in addition to the USA and France, Germany, Norway and other member countries have also signed contracts with companies in the sector to increase production: "The existing production lines are being strengthened as well as investing in new factories".
"We are totally focused on providing capabilities and not just means", then underlined the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, saying he is convinced that "the Ukrainians will have a good chance of making a significant difference on the battlefield and establishing the initiative. And be able to leverage this initiative in the future".
A future that could be imminent: "The war will be decided this spring and this summer", predicted Borrell, reiterating the need to "help Ukraine win".
An activism that is obviously not appreciated in Moscow.
In Ukraine, the West is reaching "the point of no return" by trying to surround Russia and turn it into a "rogue state", thundered Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Duma, determined to "end the Western monopoly" and build in its place "a global system which prevents the pursuit of selfish interests and which is based instead on a just and universal balance, as foreseen by the Charter of the United Nations".
Meanwhile, Russia has requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline last September which, according to an investigation by
Seymour Hersh's journalist, was caused by the USA with the help of Norway.
"It was a terrorist act" by the USA against Russia and against Germany, to ensure that "Berlin no longer has a role".
Even Vladimir Putin's heirloom, Dmitry Medvedev, has not missed an opportunity to attack Europe via Telegram, in the person of Commission President Urusla von der Leyen ("a gynecologist who does not understand economics") and Borrell himself, guilty of "call for a victorious end to the war".
"The end of Ukraine, of course!" replied the former Russian president.
Words that make it difficult to hypothesize that he could open a glimmer of dialogue with this Russian leadership: in the post-war period, Borrell cut short, "we will probably need new leaders in Russia, who may perhaps help reconciliation".
