US Patriot air defence systems at the airport in Warsaw, Poland, February 7, 2023 (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

EA on Ireland’s RTE: The Ukraine War from Bakhmut to Moscow

EA on India’s WION News: The 5 Countries Helping Russia Circumvent Oil Sanctions

Wednesday’s Coverage: 10 of 12 Russian Drones Downed But Odesa Facility Hit

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1647 GMT:

A leaked US intelligence report says Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries unsuccessfully tried to obtain weapons from China in early 2023.

The document, among hundreds obtained and posted on social media by Jack Teixeira of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, said Wagner “sought munitions and equipment”.

However, as of early January, China “had not sent any weapons, not even for testing, and had no contact with [Wagner] regarding weapons deliveries”.

Wagner did succeed with Belarus, which “already delivered 50 per cent of unspecified weapons promised” by early January and offered to send 300,000 VOG-17 grenade launcher rounds. The mercenaries bought six SPG-9 grenade launchers and 180 grenades in an Assad-controlled area of Syria, where Wagner has been present since Russia’s massive military intervention in September 2015.

UPDATE 1645 GMT:

Russian shelling has killed one person and wounded others in Kizomys in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Civil infrastructure, residential buildings, commercial premises, and motor vehicles were damaged.”

UPDATE 1604 GMT:

Poland has joined Hungary (see 0652 GMT) in the double-edged position of allowing Ukrainian grain to transit through their countries but calling for a temporary ban on milk, poultry, and other food products to be temporarily banned by the European Union.

“We discussed our proposals, our list is much wider – milk, poultry meat, honey,” Agriculture Minister Robert Telus told a news conference.

UPDATE 1355 GMT:

Speaking alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Kyiv, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on the 31-nation alliance to invite Ukraine to become a member, with a timetable for accession.

Zelenskiy said he had been invited to a “historic” NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius in July. While expresssing gratitude, he said, “It is also important for Ukraine to receive the corresponding invitation.”

There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support NATO accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions.

Stoltenberg, on his first trip to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, extended the Vilnius invitation to Zelenskiy and said:

Let me be clear: Ukraine’s rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO. And over time, our support will help you to make this possible….

NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.

UPDATE 1329 GMT:

Facing issues with mobilization and high casualty rates on frontlines in Ukraine, Russia’s authorities are stepping up recruitment videos.

The ads promote incentives such as tax exemptions, compensation for utility bills, and trips to health resorts.

Another example from the Russian Defense Ministry, “You’re a man! Be one!”

UPDATE 0800 GMT:

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has added to the threats against South Korea over Seoul’s consideration of military aid to Ukraine.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shifted his position earlier this week, saying Seoul might provide military assistance “if there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war”.

Yoon compared the situation to international assistance to South Korea during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova snapped on Thursday:

We will consider any supplies of weapons to Ukraine, wherever they might come from, as an openly hostile anti-Russian move.

Such steps will negatively impact bilateral relations with those states that take them and will be taken into account when elaborating Russia’s positions on issues concerning core security interests of the relevant countries. As for South Korea, it might be about the approaches to the settlement of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former President and deputy chair of the State Security Council, blustered on Wednesday:

I wonder what the inhabitants of this country will say when they see the latest designs of Russian weapons from their closest neighbors – our partners from the DPRK [North Korea]? What is called “Quid pro quo”.

UPDATE 0722 GMT:

In a joint initiative, Denmark and the Netherlands will supply 14 German-made Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the tanks could be on the frontline by early 2024.

UPDATE 0652 GMT:

Following Poland’s lead, Hungary is lifting its brief ban on movement of Ukrainian grains and other foodstuffs.

After talks in the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels, Agriculture minister Istvan Nagy said transit will be permitted “in a controlled manner”.

But Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff issued a contradictory message, saying Budapest is expanding the ban.

Gergely Gulyás said the Hungarian ban on imports of major cereals and agricultural products “includes a total of 25 products, the most important of which are cereals, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, flour, oil, honey and certain meat products”.

On Saturday, Poland and Hungary imposed the bans, lasting until June 30. Warsaw lifted its restrictions, after two days of talks with Ukrainian officials and Kyiv’s guarantees that all exports will transit to other destinations.

Slovakia’s ban, announced on Monday, is still in place, and Bulgaria said on Tuesday that it intends to do so.

UPDATE 0649 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says it downed 10 of 11 Iranian-made attack drones launched by Russia on Wednesday night.

Air Force Command said, “The enemy again attacked Ukraine with suicide drones from the southeast.” It did not report any damage from the drone that got through defenses.

On Tuesday night, Ukrainian defenses downed 10 of 12 drones but one set a target ablaze in Odesa in the south of the country.

UPDATE 0616 GMT:

Russia’s invasion has caused $8.7 billion of damage to Ukraine’s agricultural sector and land resources, estimates the Kyiv School of Economics.

Destruction of agricultural machinery, estimated at more than 109,600 units, has cost more than $4.65 billion. Destruction and theft of manufactured products is an estimated loss of $1.87 billion, and restoration of granaries and other storage facilities will cost $1.33 billion.

The Luhansk, Kherson, Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia regions have suffered the most damage.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine.

Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced the development on Wednesday, noting that he had sought the Patriots since a visit to the US in August 2021 — six months before Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Reznikov thanked the US, Germany, and the Netherlands for the deliveries: “Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine.”

Ukraine also received the second of four German Iris-T systems which have been pledged, according to officials who spoke to a German newspaper.

The Patriot has a range of 150 km (93 miles). It will add to Ukrainian air defenses, which have blunted about 20 waves of Russian missile and drone strikes since October 10, as the first system capable of downing ballistic missiles such as Russia’s Iskander-M. It can also target Russian warplanes.

The US announced its intention to send the Patriots in December, and was soon followed by Germany and the Netherlands. Ukrainian troops completed training on the systems in February.

At a Thursday meeting of the international coalition in Rammstein, Germany, the Ukrainians will request further protection through the provision of surface-to-air missiles.

US Announces $325 Million Security Package

The US announced another $325 million in military aid to Ukraine on Wednesday.

The latest package, the 36th since the Russian invasion, includes ammunition for HIMARS medium-range rocket systems, artillery rounds, and anti-armor weapons.

A Pentagon statement said, “The United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements.”

The US has committed almost $35.5 billion in military aid to Kyiv since February 2022.