Russia unleashed a massive missile assault on non-military Ukraine targets Thursday, killing at least 11 people one day after the U.S. and Germany agreed to send dozens of elite tanks to Ukraine in a deal that could alter the fortunes of combatants on both sides of the 11-month war.
Ukrainian air defense shot down 47 out of 55 missiles Russia fired at energy and other critical infrastructure, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces said. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said 20 missiles had been destroyed over Kyiv alone in what was the first such Russian barrage in almost two weeks. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed by falling debris from a rocket.
Eleven deaths were confirmed and at least 11 other people were injured across the country, state emergency services reported. In Zaporizhzhia district one missile killed three people and wounded seven, local officials said.
“Russia’s goal remains the same – psychological pressure on Ukrainians and the destruction of critical infrastructure,” Zaluzhnyi said.
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Other developments:
►Of the 50,000 convict-conscripts recruited from Russian prisons by the Wagner Group to fight in Ukraine, 40,000 are either dead or missing, and only 10,000 are still fighting, says Olga Romanova, head of the prisoner advocacy group Russia Behind Bars.
►Ukraine’s Security Service said it had detained a lieutenant colonel accused of conducting intelligence operations and passing state secrets to Russian contacts.
►The EU believes it has the legal authority to “temporarily leverage” more than $36 billion in Russian central bank assets to help pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported, citing people it said were familiar with the financial details.
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German tanks could be rolling in Ukraine in March
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Ukrainian crews will start their training in Germany in within days on German-made Marders, which are infantry fighting vehicles, while training on the heavier Leopard 2 tanks would start “a little later.”
“In any case, the aim with the Leopards is to have the first company in Ukraine by the end of March, beginning of April,” he said. “I can’t say the precise day.”
Germany said it would supply 14 high-tech Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and authorize other European countries to send up to 88 more. The U.S. will send 31 elite M1 Abrams tanks and support vehicles to Ukraine, the Biden administration said.
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One of Russia’s most popular websites draws ban
Russia banned the popular news website Meduza, designating the Russia-focused, Latvian-based site as an illegal, “undesirable organization” that poses “a threat to the foundations of the Russian Federation’s constitutional order and national security.” The Latvian-based website was started in 2014 by former employees of a Russian-based website that had struggled to remain independent.
Among Thursday’s stories in the publication are one headlined “A casting call for opportunists” that discusses the Kremlin gearing up for “elections” in the newly annexed regions of Ukraine. Another that discusses how “arbitrary and cruel law enforcement is reducing Russian society to paranoia and paralysis”
US wants to stop Russia from flying US-built planes into Turkey
U.S. officials are pressuring Turkey to stop Russian airlines from flying American-made airplanes to and from the country as the Biden administration attempts to further economically squeeze Russia, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing officials the media outlet said were familiar with the talks.
Administration officials have been warning as far back as August that Turkish businesses and individuals could face fines or other penalties for activities that aid Russia. The Turkish finance ministry affirmed then that it would “not allow any institution or individual” to use Turkey to evade sanctions. More recently, U.S. officials warned against services such as refueling and providing spare parts to U.S.-made planes flying to and from Russia and Belarus, the Journal said.
“At a certain point, they will have to take an enforcement-related action,” Emily Kilcrease, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative and now senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington told the Journal. “Otherwise the whole kind of thing falls apart, if it turns out they have knowledge of violations and they haven’t been able to do anything to address it.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
Story Credit: usatoday.com