Kremlin boss Putin could be overthrown.
The Wagner boss is also written off.
Meanwhile, the destruction of civilian facilities appears to be increasing.
The news ticker.
Vladimir Putin is planning a speech on the Ukraine war: In Russia, this is still referred to as a special operation
New secret weapon for Ukraine: Kiev relies on an AI program in the attack on Russia
Ukraine News: Situation in Moscow tense due to failures
Read all developments on the Ukraine war in the live ticker here.
The processed information on the Ukraine war comes partly from the warring parties in Russia and Ukraine.
They can therefore not be independently checked in part.
Update February 21, 9:38 a.m.
According to British secret services, the destruction of schools and hospitals in Ukraine has increased.
The Defense Ministry's daily briefing states more specifically that in January the number of affected medical and educational institutions increased, presumably due to the indiscriminate use of artillery and other weapon systems by the Russian armed forces.
According to the report, civilians were also repeatedly killed in the process.
The United Nations reports that around 8,000 civilians had died in the Ukraine war by mid-February, but the number could be higher.
British secret services estimate around 16,000 civilian casualties.
News from the Ukraine war: Wagner boss written off?
Kremlin cuts access to guns
Update from February 21, 8:20 a.m .:
"Putin's cook" and Wagner boss, Yevgeny Prigozchin, is currently being denied access to artillery shells and heavy weapons by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
According to the
Institute for the Study of War
think tank , the Russian military leadership is trying to strengthen conventional Russian armed forces.
+
Has the Wagner boss already been written off?
Kremlin cuts off Prigozhin's access to weapons.
© ITAR-TASS/imago (montage)
Update from February 21, 7:30 a.m .:
Kremlin boss Putin will give his speech today, February 21.
The Federal Assembly meets near the Kremlin.
According to the Kremlin, Putin will address the war against Ukraine that began almost a year ago and the current situation in Russia.
He also wants to comment on the economy and social policy.
Because of the sanctions imposed by the West, the Russian economy is under massive pressure.
Ukraine news live: Rheinmetall Germany confirms delivery of tanks to Ukraine
Update from February 20, 9:32 p.m .:
The armaments company Rheinmetall has confirmed that its contingent of Marders armored personnel carriers will be delivered to Ukraine without delay.
“It is agreed to deliver at the end of March.
They are already finished here," said CEO Armin Papperger of the
German Press Agency (dpa)
on Monday in Unterlüß in Lower Saxony.
The federal government had announced that it would hand over a total of 40 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.
Of these, 20 are said to come from the stocks of the Bundeswehr, and 20 more will be supplied by Rheinmetall.
+
Marder tanks will be delivered at the end of March as planned.
© Christian Charisius/dpa
Ukraine-News: Biden announces new military aid in Kiev – first details known
February 20 update, 6:50 p.m.:
The US government has
announced further armaments for Ukraine during Joe Biden's surprise visit to Kiev and has now given the first details of the military aid.
As the
Tagesschau
reports, the package is said to be worth up to 460 million US dollars and primarily includes rockets for the HIMARS multiple rocket launcher, mortar shells, artillery shells, armor-piercing rockets and other ammunition.
Medical equipment and various vehicles and spare parts are also to be delivered.
The armaments come from the stocks of the US military.
News from the Ukraine war: “There is no loyalty in Russia” – Russian elite predicts Putin's fall
Update from February 20, 5:13 p.m .:
President Putin is coming under increasing pressure: According to the Russian elite, Putin needs a Russian victory in the Ukraine war to ensure his own survival.
"There is no loyalty in Russia," a Russian billionaire told The
Washington Post
.
Doubts about Putin's brutal war tactics are growing, the report says.
For many businessmen and state officials, Putin's losses in the Ukraine war would have wiped out the progress made in the 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
According to the report, however, the majority of the oligarchs still fear the Kremlin boss and have so far remained silent.
"The elite know it was a mistake but are still afraid to do something themselves," says former Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev.
+
Putin could be overthrown – according to the Russian elite, he already has to fight for survival.
© Alexei Nikolsky/dpa
Update from February 20, 3:13 p.m .:
The Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned against Chinese intervention in the Ukraine war.
"It is important for us that China does not support the Russian Federation in this war," said the 45-year-old in an interview with Die
Welt
.
"Because if China were to ally with Russia, there would be a world war, and I think China is aware of that." However, he currently sees no signs that China will interfere.
At the Munich Security Conference, China announced a peace plan for the Ukraine war.
At the same time, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned against arms deliveries from China to Russia.
+
Ukraine wants to use a secret weapon against Russia in the Ukraine war (archive image)
© Uncredited/imago
Ukraine war: Kiev relies on new secret weapon in offensive
Update from February 20, 2:00 p.m .:
Ukraine is using a new secret weapon when attacking Russia: AI software from the US company Palantir is intended to give Ukraine great progress against the Russian attackers.
The Palantir software can use artificial intelligence to locate and identify enemy objects, such as camouflaged tanks, with increasing reliability.
The world on Sunday
reported about it first
.
News about the Ukraine war: Joe Biden meets Selenskyj in Kiev – further arms deliveries announced
Update from February 20, 1:15 p.m .
: Volodymyr Zelenskyj has underlined how important US military aid is in the Ukraine war.
They are noticeable on the battlefield, in the improved equipment of the soldiers "and in the liberation of our areas," said the Ukrainian head of state on Monday (February 20) in a brief statement with Joe Biden to media representatives in Kiev.
The US President made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital.
Selenskyj particularly emphasized the US M1 Abrams main battle tanks, but also the German Leopard 2 tanks.
The White House announced the delivery of other important armaments, specific models were not named.
At the same time, the United States warned China against supplying arms to Russia.
+
Joe Biden (left) and Volodymyr Zelenskyj in Kiev
© DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP
First report from February 20 at 11:00 a.m.:
Kiev/Moscow – The Ukraine war is facing a sad event: February 24 marks the first anniversary of the beginning of the war.
After a year, the front in the war in Ukraine is only slowly shifting.
The Russian military is being pushed further and further back by the Ukrainian forces and eastern Ukraine is becoming the scene of heavy fighting.
Nevertheless, many experts expect that Russia could launch another offensive on the occasion of the anniversary.
A few days before the deadline comes the assessment from London: The failures of the Russian army will probably cause tension in the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, Russia is also using sexual violence as a weapon of war in the Ukraine war.
Ukraine News live: The situation in Moscow is said to be tense – how will the Ukraine war continue?
According to the German Press Agency, the British Ministry of Defense reports that the Russian offensive in the spring is intended to increase tensions in the Russian leadership due to failures.
That's according to the Department of Defense's daily Ukraine war intelligence update in London on Monday, February 20.
The past few weeks and days have shown that the army of Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to gain the upper hand against the Ukrainian soldiers on several fronts at the same time.
The strategy: winning the front with high losses.
+
The Ukraine war will mark its first anniversary in a few days.
Russia pushes further to the offensive - with high losses.
(archive image)
© dpa/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
It is repeatedly reported that entire squads are wiped out and numerous soldiers die.
Added to this is the high loss of material associated with this strategy in the war in Ukraine.
The intelligence report goes on to say that Russia is sticking to the offensive, among other things, because the Kremlin wants to present successes on the anniversary of the war.
That is why the cities of Bachmut and Wuhledar are still the focus of the fighting.
The cities in eastern Ukraine have been considered important theaters of the Ukraine war for months, and a victory in the region would probably give the Russian leadership fresh support for the course of the war.
Russia's offensive in the Ukraine war probably fails: News on the current course of the conflict
The fact that the Russian military is probably experiencing a lot of pressure from its leadership is also shown by the fact that in Wuhledar, a city in the Donbass, two elite units were so badly wiped out that they are no longer operational.
The West suspects that Russia's army wants to press ahead with the spring offensive at all costs in order to avoid further tensions in the Kremlin.
The daily British intelligence report has been a thorn in the side of the Russian President for months.
Moscow accuses London of a targeted disinformation campaign.
Ukraine News: NATO in Ukraine war rejects demand for cluster bombs
They are considered terrible weapons in wars: so-called cluster bombs and incendiary bombs.
Last weekend, the debate about the banned weapons of war flared up again in the ranks of the security conference, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg making it clear that such weapons would not be supplied by the alliance to Kiev.
He told the broadcasting association RTL/ntv that the alliance did not recommend this type of weapon either.
"We supply artillery and other types of weapons, but no cluster bombs."
Why are cluster bombs banned?
Cluster bombs are usually containers that contain so-called submunitions.
Before the cluster bomb reaches the ground, it detonates and spreads its contents over large areas.
Another variant is that up to 40 percent of the bomb does not detonate on impact, but is distributed in a region.
The bombs lurking in the ground can then explode at the slightest touch.
As a result, they cause uncontrolled destruction in an area and cannot be used against military targets.
So far, cluster munitions have been used in 40 countries.
The international criticism: cluster bombs indiscriminately kill and wound.
So far, 123 countries have signed a convention against cluster munitions, which has been in force under international law since 2010.
Ukraine had previously advocated the use of cluster munitions.
Deputy Prime Minister Kubrakov had spoken out in favor of being able to use cluster munitions and phosphorus firearms on his own territory.
Russia would already use such weapons in the Ukraine war, it said.
Also, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, stated that there are no legal obstacles preventing Ukraine from using cluster munitions.
As a reason, he said that Kiev is not a member of the Oslo Convention, which bans the use of cluster munitions.
Ukraine War News: Russia launched invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, launched an attack on Ukraine with his army on February 24, 2022.
Almost a year after the fighting broke out, news about Ukraine is dominated by harshness and destruction – for months, Russian attacks have increasingly focused on eastern Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, has been campaigning for arms deliveries to Ukraine ever since.
The West is therefore trying to help the defenders with weapons, supplies and money - including from Germany.
In addition, the nations and NATO launched extensive sanctions against Russia, Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs.
While many nations quickly pledged aid supplies, German politicians hesitated for a long time.
After the news of the delivery of several thousand combat helmets initially caused outrage, the government around Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) followed suit, delivered weapons and most recently sent Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine.
In the meantime, thanks to Western aid, Ukraine has been able to push back the Russian advance.
Britain also planned to supply Challenger 2 tanks.
So far almost 14 million people have fled because of the war in Ukraine.
The exact number of victims is not known.
Nevertheless, new horror stories reach the media almost every day.
(
February
)
List of rubrics: © ITAR-TASS/imago (montage)