The latest on Ukraine and Russia tensions

The Ukrainian government has allocated 16.6 billion hryvnia ($592 million USD) for guarantees to insurance and leasing companies so that flights to Ukraine can continue, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a post on his Telegram channel Sunday. 

“Today, at an extraordinary meeting, changes were approved to the use of the State Budget Reserve Fund, and also allocated funds to ensure flight safety in Ukraine for insurance and leasing companies,” Shmyhal said.

“This decision will stabilize the situation on the market for passenger air transportation and will guarantee the return to Ukraine of our citizens who are currently abroad.”

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield attends a meeting in New York, on February 4.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has canceled plans to lead a delegation to Liberia this week in order to focus on the situation in Ukraine, a source familiar with the decision said.

The White House on Sunday announced that Dana Banks, senior director for Africa on the National Security Council, will instead lead the delegation attending Liberia’s bicentennial celebration of the first free Black Americans to Providence Island in 1822.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends Ministry of Internal Affairs drills in Kherson, Ukraine, on Saturday, February 12.

During a call on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked US President Joe Biden for greater military and financial support, as well as for him to visit Ukraine, according to a senior Ukrainian official.

The official, who has been briefed on the conversation, told CNN that Zelensky used the Sunday call to suggest what the official called “concrete ideas to diminish the Russian threat to Ukraine.”

These included renewed calls for Washington to provide greater military support for Ukraine, including the provision of more advanced weaponry, according to the official. 

Zelensky also emphasized the need for a significant financial package for Ukraine, according to the official. The official told CNN the Ukrainian leader stressed to his US counterpart that strong economic support would – in the words of the official – “show Putin that the West stands with Ukraine, and that the impact of Putin’s escalation would bear no fruit.” 

According to the Ukrainian official, Zelensky asked Biden to visit Ukraine as soon as possible, but that there was no positive response from Biden. US officials say a trip by Biden to Ukraine is extremely unlikely. 

The Canadian Armed Forces announced that it would temporarily move some Joint Task Force personnel out of Ukraine, according to a news release from the Office of the Minister of National Defense. 

“As a result of the complex operational environment linked to Russia’s unwarranted aggression against Ukraine, the Canadian Armed Forces is in the process of temporarily relocating components of Joint Task Force – Ukraine (JTF-U) to elsewhere in Europe,” the news release said. 

The repositioning of personnel “does not signal the end of the mission,” according to the release.

“The Canadian Armed Forces remains committed to the people of Ukraine and its mission to increase the capacity and capability of the Security Forces of Ukraine,” the release said. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, left, and Chairman of OSCE and Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 10.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called for a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), citing Russia’s failure to respond to Ukraine’s demand for “detailed explanations on military activities in the areas adjacent to the territory of Ukraine and in the temporarily occupied Crimea.”

Kuleba tweeted Sunday: “Russia failed to respond to our request under the Vienna Document. Consequently, we take the next step. We request a meeting with Russia and all participating states within 48 hours to discuss its reinforcement & redeployment along our border & in temporarily occupied Crimea.”

The Vienna Document, signed under the auspices of the OSCE, stipulates that “Participating States will….consult and co-operate with each other about any unusual and unscheduled activities of their military forces outside their normal peacetime locations which are militarily significant.”

The agreement says that a participating state will be entitled to a reply within 48 hours.

“If Russia is serious when it talks about the indivisibility of security in the OSCE space, it must fulfill its commitment to military transparency in order to de-escalate tensions and enhance security for all,” Kuleba said. 

US President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call on Sunday that the US would respond “swiftly and decisively” to further Russian aggression against Ukraine, according to a statement from the White House.

The two leaders “agreed on the importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence in response to Russia’s military build-up on Ukraine’s borders,” according to the statement. 

Cyprus’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued guidance on Saturday advising its citizens to leave Ukraine, especially “if their presence in the country is not necessary.”

“In view of reports of possible further escalation of tensions in the region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that citizens of the Republic of Cyprus avoid travelling to Ukraine,” the statement said. 

“In addition, citizens of the Republic of Cyprus who are residing permanently and/or temporarily anywhere in Ukraine are advised to make their presence in the country known and provide their contact details by registering on the Connect2CY online platform and/or by contacting the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Kiev,” the statement added.

“Cypriot citizens are encouraged to leave the country if their presence in the country is not necessary,” the statement concluded.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby warned Sunday that the situation in Ukraine is “building now to some sort of crescendo opportunity for Mr. Putin,” based on US intelligence.

Asked on Fox News Sunday what intelligence the Pentagon has seen to suggest Russia could invade Ukraine at any moment, Adm. Kirby said “it really was a combination of factors” including what the United States is seeing “in plain sight” on the border.

In a separate interview with MSNBC, Kirby provided a further readout of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Saturday phone call with his Russian counterpart. This said that Austin made the point that “if one of the things President Putin says he doesn’t want is a strong NATO and a strong NATO on his western flank, he’s exactly going to end up with that result” if he continues down the path of invasion. 

Kirby also confirmed on MSNBC that 160 Florida National Guard soldiers have safely left Ukraine after the Pentagon ordered their evacuation Saturday. Those troops have been in Ukraine since November on a training mission.

Kirby said that Austin “out of an abundance of caution… decided it was time to move them out of the country.” The press secretary added that the troops were already stationed close to the Polish border and it was “fairly easy to get them out of the country.”

Asked whether German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s planned visit to Russia on Tuesday was a “last-ditch effort,” Kirby replied: “I don’t know if I’d say last ditch but certainly we recognize the time component here seems to be shrinking and that gives us all cause for concern. But again, we’ve said it and we still believe it today, there is still a time and a space for a diplomatic path forward.”

Members of Ukrainian military load a flat bed truck with boxes and US military aid to be shipped, outside Kyiv, Ukraine on February 13.

Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Sunday that Ukraine had received 180 tons of ammunition from the United States for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

“Our friends are not sleeping!” he tweeted.

Lithuania’s Ministry of Defense said the Baltic state had also sent defense aid to Ukraine over the weekend. Minister of Defense Arvydas Anušauskas said Sunday that the aid included “the Stinger anti-aircraft missile system.” 

The Lithuanian Embassy in Kyiv published photos of the defense aid inside a C-17 aircraft, which showed that vehicles were also sent. The embassy said the aid also included protective vests.

Reznikov tweeted his thanks for that delivery, noting that it contained Stingers – a portable air-defense system that can be deployed by ground troops against aircraft.

He added that Ukrainian and Lithuanian relations were “very close (and) have lasted for many centuries.”

France is not for the moment advising its citizens to leave Ukraine, but has urged its compatriots there to prepare water, food and warm clothing.

In a message published Sunday on the website of the French Embassy in Kyiv, the French ambassador also recommends having a full tank of gas for vehicles, and stocking up on extra fuel.

The embassy remains open, Ambassador Etienne de Poncins says. But the French school in Kyiv, “Anne de Kiev,” is starting its February holidays a few days early, that is next Tuesday, “in order to allow those who wish to go on vacation a little earlier.”

The embassy has advised French citizens to postpone “all trips to Ukraine,” and travel to border areas is strictly discouraged.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the United States believes Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine this week, but is still holding out hope diplomacy can prevail.

Sullivan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that Russian forces are in a place where an invasion could take place before the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which conclude on February 20. “A major military action could begin by Russia in Ukraine any day now,” he said.

“And we are prepared to continue to work on diplomacy, but we are also prepared to respond in a united and decisive way with our allies and partners should Russia proceed.”

Read more here:

Related article Biden's national security adviser says Russia could invade Ukraine 'any day now'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, center, observes military exercises in the Kherson area in the south of Ukraine, on February 12.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the tensions surrounding his country with Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, on Sunday, according to the Ukrainian presidency.

According to a readout, Zelensky and Michel discussed the security situation as well as moves “to de-escalate the situation and achieve peace within the existing negotiation formats, in particular Normandy.” 

Zelensky stressed the importance of “coordinating political and diplomatic efforts in order to unlock the peace process and restore stability,” the presidency’s readout said.

He thanked Michel and other EU leaders for keeping their diplomats in Ukraine and supporting his country through their efforts, the readout added. Zelensky also emphasized the need to impose “preventive sanctions” against Russia to curb any aggressive intentions.

“We understand all the risks and are ready for any scenario. But we have been in this situation since 2014. And today our biggest enemy is panic,” Zelensky said. 

The leaders also discussed increasing Ukraine’s defence and financial stability and further practical cooperation with the European Union, the readout said.

Members of the Ukraine's National Guard's special forces unit prepare to give a group of civilians basic combat training in Mariupol, located in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, on February 13.

US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky will speak at 10:45 a.m. ET Sunday, amid US warnings that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen as soon as this week. 

Biden and Zelensky last spoke last month and it “did not go well,” a senior Ukrainian official told CNN at the time, amid disagreements over the “risk levels” of a Russian attack.

The White House, however, disputed that account, warning that anonymous sources were “leaking falsehoods.” They did state that Biden warned Zelensky an imminent invasion was a “distinct possibility.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the threat to peace in Europe “very very serious,” amid concern over the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine’s borders.

In brief comments outside the German parliament following a vote to re-elect the country’s president, Scholz previewed his visits to Kyiv on Monday and to Moscow on Tuesday by describing his task as exploring how to keep the peace on the continent.

Scholz said that if there was a military aggression against Ukraine, there would be “reactions and sanctions which we have prepared carefully.”

At the same time, Scholz said, the available avenues for talks had to be used.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was backed by the federal assembly to serve a second five-year term. The role is largely ceremonial.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has criticized the decision by the United States and United Kingdom to withdraw observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCSE) Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. The ministry said that the mission was being “deliberately dragged into a militaristic psychosis” allegedly being orchestrated by Washington.

In a statement released Sunday, MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: “These decisions cannot but cause serious concern with us…. The mission is being deliberately dragged into a militaristic psychosis being whipped up by Washington and used as a tool for possible provocation.”

She added: “We call on the OSCE leadership to resolutely suppress attempts to manipulate the Mission and prevent the Organization from being dragged into unscrupulous political games played around it. We proceed from the fact that in conditions of artificially whipped up tension, the monitoring activities of the Mission in full compliance with its mandate are in demand more than ever.”

The US and the UK say they have pulled their observers over concerns about the deteriorating security situation in Ukraine.

Pope Francis speaks to pilgrims and worshippers gathered in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City on Sunday.

Pope Francis appealed to political leaders on Sunday, urging them to seek peace amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

“The news from Ukraine is very worrying. I entrust every effort for peace to the intercession of the Virgin Mary and to the conscience of the political leaders,” the pontiff said following his weekly Angelus prayer, before leading the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City in silent prayer. 

Francis has made numerous calls for peace regarding the situation at the Ukraine-Russia border, and led an international day of prayer for Ukraine last month. 

Travelers at the Boryspil airport outside of Kyiv, Ukraine on February 13.

Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure has denied reports that the country’s airspace has closed, calling them “not true.” 

“The airspace closure is the sovereign right of Ukraine. At the moment the government has not taken such a decision,” Mustafa Nayyem said in a Facebook post on Sunday. 

This was echoed by Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podoliak who told CNN Sunday that “the sky over Ukraine remains open and safe” and “there have been no decisions to close the airspace.”

But Nayyem played down fears that other carriers would suspend services to the country, remarking that “most airlines continue to operate without restrictions.”

Some carriers have had issues with “fluctuations in the insurance markets,” Nayyem said, branding this “obvious” considering the current information space and events.

However, Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky, director of the Ukrainian Insurance Business Association, told CNN on Sunday that the “situation now is not very rosy” and highly changeable. 

Insurers are mindful “based on the experience of previous years and similar situations in other countries and in Ukraine itself” of their financial and moral responsibility and need “to protect themselves from potentially catastrophic events,” Chernyakhovsky added.

Air France told CNN on Sunday that it has no plans to suspend services to Ukraine. A company spokesperson for Lufthansa told CNN in a statement Sunday that “a suspension of services is being examined, but no decision has been made at the present time.” 

The Ukrainian Ministry for Infrastructure held a meeting on Sunday with all carriers, the Office of the President and “other relevant services,” according to Nayyem.

The Ukrainian government expects the situation to “stabilize in the nearest future,” according to Nayyem, who reiterated the state’s willingness to “support air carriers” and provide “additional financial guarantees to support the aviation market,” no matter what happens. 

If necessary, Nayyem added, Ukraine will also work to “ensure the return of all citizens of Ukraine from abroad” as further countries urge their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately.

Some context: In July 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Nearly two-thirds of the passengers on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were Dutch citizens.

Investigators concluded in 2018 that the flight had been brought down by a missile fired from a launcher belonging to Russia’s 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade. Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the incident, suggesting instead that Ukrainian forces shot down the plane. 

Independence Square in the center of Ukrainian capital Kyiv, on February 12.

Corpses strewn through wrecked buildings in the aftermath of an apparently deadly explosion. Distraught mourners, grieving for lost loved ones. And amid the smoldering ruins, evidence of Western military equipment.

In a world all too familiar with graphic images of one disaster after another, it’s easy to imagine the grim footage.

And the United States says that’s exactly what this is: make-believe violence. It says Russia is plotting to stage a fake attack, and shoot a gory propaganda video of it, as a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine. The clip would frame the Ukrainian military – and by extension, their NATO allies – for an attack on Russian-speaking people.

But while the US government declassified the information about the alleged plot last week, it didn’t share any of its underlying evidence with the public. In a heated briefing room exchange, journalists demanded proof to support the claim, with one reporter accusing the State Department of veering into “Alex Jones territory.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price responded that the government was confident in the information but would not say if the US had seen any such video.

The US claim came days after the British government warned of a Russian plot to install a pro-Kremlin leader in Ukraine, citing intelligence that it also declined to release publicly. Analysts said the developments showed the West was becoming more determined to take on Russia in the information war, a sphere in which the Kremlin has often had the upper hand in recent years.

But that is not without its risks.

Read the story in full:

MOSCOW REGION, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 9, 2022: Russia's President Vladimir Putin joins a meeting of regular and commercial court judges via video link from his Novo-Ogaryovo residence to sum up 2021 for the Russian judicial system and define its primary goals in 2022. Alexei Nikolsky/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS (Photo by Alexei Nikolsky\TASS via Getty Images)

Related article The West is a player in the Ukraine information war. Unlike Russia, it has to convince the public

British defense minister Ben Wallace speaks during a press conference in Moscow, on February 11.

British defense minister Ben Wallace has said there is a “whiff of Munich in the air,” comparing the current diplomatic efforts with Russia to the infamous Munich conference of 1938 which saw Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom sign an agreement green-lighting Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland in a last-ditch attempt to stave off war in Europe. 

Wallace lamented the fact “that despite the massive amount of increased diplomacy,” Russia’s military buildup at Ukraine’s borders has “not paused, it has continued.”

A government colleague, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, shed light on Wallace’s remarks in an interview with Sky News on Sunday, saying that Wallace was drawing a comparison “between the diplomatic attempts in the run up to World War Two and the diplomatic attempts we’re all putting in now.”

“In the run up to World War Two there was lots of diplomatic work, people thought it was progressing and it turned out not to,” Lewis said.

Lewis stressed the need to be “cognizant” that Russia now has the ability “to move very, very swiftly and very quickly.” 

Unlike World War Two, which saw Britain directly engage in battle with its adversaries, the UK has committed to not sending any troops to Ukraine if there is conflict with Russia. 

The UK has placed its focus instead on bolstering NATO’s defenses, with Wallace issuing a direct warning to Putin that defense spending will be ramped up if he invades Ukraine. 

“I think what I can guarantee the president in Russia is that if he were to invade the Ukraine, two things would happen that he doesn’t want to happen. One is he would see an increase of NATO forces on his borders, because countries such as the Baltic states and neighboring countries would be much more fearful of the instability that has happened,” Wallace told the Sunday Times.

“The second thing is, I guarantee that across 30 [NATO] allies it would trigger more defense spending and therefore a more capable adversary or defender from Russia.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin on Sunday criticized Germany’s refusal to deliver defensive weapons to Kyiv, labelling it “German hypocrisy” on Twitter.

The ambassador, Andrij Melnyk, tweeted: “NO weapons for Ukraine‘s self-defence against Russian military invasion BUT 366 million € (!) (German) exports of dual-use goods to Russia in 2020 alone which can be destined to boost weapons production (Nr. 4 on export list). Irrespective of EU santions (sic)‼️”

Melnyk has taken to Twitter in the past to ask the Germans for weapons for self-defense.

Some context: Last month, German Defense Secretary Christine Lambrecht announced that the country would supply 5,000 military helmets to Ukraine as tensions grew with Russia – in addition to a field hospital and medical training that Germany was already providing to Ukraine. 

“The German government has very clearly agreed that we will not send any lethal weapons, or arms deliveries to conflict areas because we do not want to fuel these conflicts further,” Lambrecht told reporters. She added that Germany was “firmly convinced” that there was still a chance to achieve a peaceful solution through negotiation.