Saturday, February 4

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Volunteer Ivan, 36, cooks for people at a humanitarian centre in Bakhmut on February 3, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)

Car reportedly explodes in occupied Enerhodar, killing collaborator. A car owned by a collaborator exploded in the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on the morning of Feb. 3, according to Ivan Fedorov, acting mayor of Melitopol, located in the same region and also occupied by Russian troops. Moscow-installed proxies in Zaporizhzhia Oblast said the collaborator had been killed in the explosion.

Anti-personnel landmine explosion injures 7 teenagers in Izuim, Kharkiv Oblast. Seven teenagers aged 14-17 received shrapnel wounds after the PFM anti-personnel landmine exploded in Izium, southeast of Kharkiv, at around 8 p.m. on Feb. 3, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.

Official: Nearly 30,000 Russian soldiers in and around Mariupol. Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, reports that within the past week, the number of Russian soldiers around the city increased by 10,000-15,000. Most of them are stationed in the villages in the Mariupol district, Andriushchenko said.

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UK Defense Ministry: Russian Wagner Group’s supply of convicts for war in Ukraine ‘significantly reduced.’ “Significant tensions between Wagner and the Russian Ministry of Defense are playing out in public; competition between factions in the Russian elite is likely to be partially responsible for the reduced supply of convicts,” reads the ministry’s latest intelligence update.

ISW: Russia continues to portray war in Ukraine as direct threat to its own security. The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update that Russian officials continue to perpetuate the information operation that the war in Ukraine is a direct threat to Russian security through legislative manipulations.

Ukraine-EU Summit

Charles Michel: Ukraine will become EU member despite Kremlin’s threats. Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said on Feb. 3 that Ukraine would become a member of the European Union despite the Kremlin’s threats. Ukraine officially received EU candidate status in June 2022 but talks on its accession have not begun yet.

Von der Leyen: EU will work to allocate 1 billion euros for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Following the Ukraine-EU summit held on Feb. 3 in Kyiv, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the working towards a 1 billion euro contribution to Ukraine for the restoration of infrastructure destroyed by Russia.

EU provides Ukraine with ambulances, new off-road trucks for military. Following the Ukraine-EU summit held on Feb. 3 in Kyiv, the EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell reported that 94 off-road trucks, 50 ambulances, and 13 new off-road military transport vehicles had already arrived in Ukraine under the European Peace Facility (EPF).

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Ukraine won’t surrender Bakhmut, says Zelensky as Russia advances

Ukrainian intelligence on Feb. 2 issued a warning that Russia was redeploying additional assault groups and military equipment to capture Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts by March.

Photo: Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine

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Ukraine war latest: EU readies to step up sanctions against Moscow

The EU announced on Feb. 3 that it was preparing to hit Moscow with more sanctions by the first anniversary of the all-out war as Ukrainian troops grappled for an expected Russian offensive.

Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/ AFP via Getty Images

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Russian shelling kills 1, injures 9 in Donetsk Oblast on Feb. 3. Russian troops have shelled the town of Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast, with Grad multiple launch rocket systems, hitting residential buildings, cars, and a shop in the downtown area, the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported on Feb. 3.

General Staff: Russia has lost 129,870 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Feb. 3 that Russia had also lost 3,215 tanks, 6,388 armored fighting vehicles, 5,068 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,215 artillery systems, 460 multiple launch rocket systems, 222 air defense systems, 294 airplanes, 284 helicopters, 1,952 drones, and 18 boats.

International response

US announces new $2.17 billion security aid package for Ukraine, provides long-range GLSDB missiles. The new security package worth $2.17 billion announced on Feb. 3 includes long-range Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) missiles for U.S.-provided HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and Javelin anti-tank weapons. “Today’s announcement includes critical air defense capabilities to help Ukraine defend its people, as well as armored infantry vehicles and more equipment that Ukraine is using so effectively,“ said Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder.

Bloomberg: Germany, Sweden in talks on giving surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine. Germany and Sweden are in talks over a new arms package, under which Stockholm would provide Ukraine with surface-to-air missiles and launchers for the German IRIS-T air defense systems, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 3, citing people familiar with the matter.

Czech president: West should give Ukraine all types of weapons except for nukes. “When it comes to conventional weapons, I see no reason for any limits,” Pavel said, France 24 reported, citing AFP. “Ukraine cannot fight a tough opponent without armored technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles, and maybe supersonic aircraft.”

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Lithuanians donate 1 million euros in an hour to buy radar for Ukraine. Lithuanians on Feb. 3 donated over 1 million euros during just one hour to purchase multifunctional tactical radar systems for Ukraine as part of the Radarom! fundraising campaign, Andrius Tapinas, the founder of Lithuania’s Laisves TV, said on Facebook.

CNN: US, allies announce new price cap on Russian oil products. Additional sanctions were announced on Feb. 3 as the U.S., the G7, the European Union and Australia placed a price cap on “seaborne Russian-origin petroleum products,” the U.S. Department of Treasury said.

US allocates $5.4 million confiscated from Russian oligarch to help rebuild Ukraine. Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin reported on Feb. 3 that the U.S. had authorized “the first-ever transfer of the confiscated assets in the amount of $5.4 million for rebuilding Ukraine.”

Germany approves delivery of older Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine in addition to Leopard 2s. The German government had previously also approved the delivery of more modern Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

In other news

Petition to resume asset declarations for officials gets necessary number of signatures. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian authorities allowed officials to not file electronic asset declarations, and public access to all previous declarations was shut down. Civic watchdogs say that Ukraine’s asset declaration system, a key pillar of the anti-corruption infrastructure, has been effectively destroyed, with martial law used as a pretext by corrupt officials.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Francis Farrell, Dinara Khalilova, Oleg Sukhov, Anhelina Shamlii, Oleksiy Sorokin, Daria Shulzhenko, Brad LaFoy and Olena Goncharova.

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