Ukraine news – live: Kyiv hits out at Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters for ‘pro-Russia’ UN speech
A Ukrainian official has slammed the appearance of Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters at a UN Security Council meeting after Russia said it invited the musician to address the event remotely.
The Ukrainian Security Council delegate Sergiy Kyslytsya dubbed Waters a “brick in the wall of Russian disinformation and propaganda”.
It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky is due in Brussels today as part of a major lobbying effort to call on European allies to provide Ukraine with fighter jets and more heavy weaponry.
Russia has warned Western nations against answering Mr Zelensky’s call for fighter jets in particular, threatening military and political “consequences” for Europe and the rest of the world.
Yesterday prime minister Rishi Sunak said “nothing is off the table” on being asked if the UK will send fighter jets to the besieged country.
Mr Zelensky also met with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz in Paris late last night, and today will appear at a summit and address the European parliament during his visit to Brussels.
Key Points
Ukraine slams Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters for speech at UNSC
Sunak says ‘nothing off the table’ on sending fighter jets to Ukraine
What fighter jets has Volodymyr Zelensky asked for and what might he get?
Zelensky tours Europe after urging UK to provide fighter jets
07:42 , Emily Atkinson
Volodymyr Zelensky is touring Europe after calling for fighter jets in the UK to help his country’s struggle against Russia’s invasion.
The Ukrainian president will join an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday to continue his push for more advanced weapons.
Starting his surprise trip in London on Wednesday, Mr Zelensky used a rousing speech to Parliament to urge the UK and Western allies to provide “wings for freedom”.
He then travelled to Paris to meet French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz, telling a press conference there is “very little time” to provide the weaponry.
He will be flying with Mr Macron to Thursday’s gathering of EU leaders.
Netherlands 'not ruling out any kind of military support to Ukraine’
10:05 , Emily Atkinson
The Netherlands is not ruling out any kind of military support for Ukraine, Dutch PM Mark Rutte told reporters on Thursday ahead of an EU summit in Brussels.
“We have consistently said that we rule nothing out as long as there is not an Article Five situation between Nato and Russia”, he said.
Macron awards Legion of Honour to Ukraine’s Zelensky
10:00 , Emily Atkinson
President Emmanuel Macron has bestowed the Legion of Honour on Ukraine‘s leader Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Paris.
It is the highest award a French president can give to a counterpart, the Elysee Palace said in an overnight statement.
“A salute to Ukraine and its people. A salute to you, dear Volodymyr, for your courage and commitment,” Macron wrote on social media.
EU's Michel: Very important we increase our support to Ukraine
09:55 , Emily Atkinson
It is very important that the EU increases its support to Ukraine, European Council president Charles Michel said on Thursday ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will be attending as well.
Nato must act together on jets for Ukraine, says Polish PM
09:50 , Emily Atkinson
Any decision on supplying fighter jets to Ukraine must be taken by Nato as a whole and Poland will not be the first to supply such aircraft, the Polish prime minister has said.
“Our position is clear, we can only act within the entire formation of Nato,” Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters.
“We will not be the first ones to hand over the fighter jets, but we will respond positively, provided that those who have the most of these jets will be able to give them to Ukraine.”
Italy calls invitation of Zelensky to Paris ‘inappropriate’
09:45 , Emily Atkinson
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni said the invitation of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to Paris, where he met French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz, was “inappropriate”.
“I believe our strength is community and unity .... but there are times when favouring internal public opinion risks being to the detriment of the cause, and this seems to me to be one of those cases,” she said in Brussels.
Ms Meloni will meet Mr Zelensky in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU leaders meeting, Italy’s foreign minister said late on Wednesday.
EU ‘to deliver more military support to Ukraine'
09:40 , Emily Atkinson
The European Union will deliver more military support to Ukraine, the EU’S foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reaffirmed to reporters on Thursday, as EU leaders arrived for a summit.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is preparing to lobby European leaders on Thursday at a summit in Brussels for more weapons in the fight against Russia and a quick start to EU membership talks for his country.
Russia hits out at ‘pompous’ president Zelensky
09:10 , Emily Atkinson
Moscow has attacked president Volodymyr Zelensky’s “hasty” visit to Europe.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Thursday, the Russian embassy said: “Zelensky’s pompous solicitations about the values of ‘freedom’ and ‘human rights’, which Kyiv claims to be fighting for, were overtly hypocritical.”
It then mocked “the ex-comedian in a green sweatshirt now on tour around Europe.”
“We would like to remind London: in the event of such a scenario, the death toll of yet another round of escalation, as well as its military-political consequences for the European continent and the whole world will be on the United Kingdom’s hands.
“Russia will know how to respond to any unfriendly actions by the British side,” it said.
Russia’s Wagner mercenaries 'halt prisoner recruitment campaign’
08:40 , Emily Atkinson
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Thursday.
“The recruitment of prisoners by the Wagner private military company has completely stopped,” Prigozhin said in a response to a request for comment from a Russian media outlet published on social media.
“We are fulfilling all our obligations to those who work for us now,” he said.
Wagner began recruiting prisoners in Russia’s sprawling penal system in summer 2022, with Prigozhin, a catering entrepreneur who served nine years in prison during the Soviet Union, offering convicts a pardon if they survived six months in Ukraine.
Wagner has not provided information on how many convicts joined its ranks, but Russian penal service figures published in November showed the country’s prison population dropping by over 20,000 between August and November, the largest drop in over a decade.
Russia urges international investigation into ‘US involvement in Nord Stream pipeline attack’
08:10 , Emily Atkinson
A blog by a US investigative journalist alleging the United States was behind the explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream gas pipelines should become the basis for an international investigation, Russia’s top lawmaker said on Thursday.
The White House on Wednesday dismissed the report, published by Seymour Hersh, which said an attack on the pipelines was carried out last September at the direction of US president Joe Biden.
“The published facts should become the basis for an international investigation, bringing Biden and his accomplices to justice,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Russian State Duma, said.
Volodin said the United States should pay “compensation to countries affected by the terrorist attack.”
Moscow, without providing evidence, has repeatedly said the West was behind the explosions affecting the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines last September - multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects that carried Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
Russia's Wagner stops hiring prisoners, says founder
06:48 , Arpan Rai
The chief of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin says a decision has been made to stop recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
“The recruitment of prisoners by the Wagner private military company has completely stopped,” the Russian proxy group’s head and a former prison convict himself said today.
“We are fulfilling all our obligations to those who work for us now,” he said.
In December, the US intelligence community said it believed that Wagner had 40,000 convict fighters deployed in Ukraine, making up the vast majority of the group’s personnel in the country.
Wagner has not provided information on how many convicts joined its ranks, but according to the Russian penal service figures published in November the country’s prison population dropped by over 20,000 between August and November, the largest drop in over a decade.
Intense Russian attacks pound Donetsk and Luhansk
05:57 , Arpan Rai
The Ukrainian military confirmed that Russian attacks remained intense yesterday in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Kyiv said that Moscow’s forces concentrated on the areas of Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut and Aviivka.
Air strikes and shelling also targeted the Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions in northern, northeastern and central Ukraine.
Moment Zelensky hugs BBC Ukraine reporter during press conference
05:23 , Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky hugged a reporter from BBC Ukraine as he took questions alongside Rishi Sunak yesterday.
“Greetings Mr President, I would really like to hug you, but I’m not allowed,” the correspondent said to Mr Zelensky.
“Why not, please, do give me a hug,” the Ukrainian leader responded, stepping off stage to embrace her, as others applauded.
The journalist then asked Mr Sunak if he thought the UK’s decision to send military jets to the war-torn nation was taking “too long”.
Watch the video here:
Moment Zelensky hugs BBC Ukraine reporter during press conference
Ukraine slams Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters for speech at UNSC
05:00 , Arpan Rai
A Ukrainian official has criticised the appearance of Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters at a UN Security Council meeting after Russia said it invited the musician to address the event remotely.
The 79-year-old said during his speech that he “condemned” the invasion of the country but also the “provocateurs” whose actions, he claimed, led to the Russian invasion.
Responding to this, the Ukrainian security council delegate Sergiy Kyslytsya criticised Waters as just a “brick in the wall of Russian disinformation and propaganda”.
Ukraine criticises speech by Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters at UN Security Council
Sunak says ‘nothing off the table’ on sending fighter jets to Ukraine
04:48 , Arpan Rai
Rishi Sunak has said that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to the question of providing fighter jets to Ukraine.
The prime minister was speaking during a joint press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday and said sending warplanes was “part of the conversation” between the pair.
Mr Sunak told reporters during a press briefing at a Dorset military base: “When it comes to fighter combat aircraft, of course they are part of the conversation — indeed, we have been discussing that today and have been previously.
Read more here:
PM says ‘nothing off the table’ when it comes to sending fighter jets to Ukraine
What fighter jets has Volodymyr Zelensky asked for and what might he get?
04:32 , Arpan Rai
Downing Street has said that defence secretary Ben Wallace is considering what fast jets can be sent to Ukraine but it remains to be seen whether Kyiv will get the “powerful English planes” it wants.
These could be Typhoons – built by a British, German, Italian, Spanish and Austrian consortium; or F-35s – a joint project of the US, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Denmark and Canada – rather than alternative aircraft.
The warplanes the Ukrainians are most likely to get are American F-16s. This would make sense in terms of operational support and maintenance, and they are the type of plane the Ukrainians need, just as German Leopard 2s are the logical tanks for their army.
Read the full analysis by The Independent’s world affairs editor Kim Sengupta here:
What fighter jets has Volodymyr Zelensky asked for and what might he get?
Russia warns of ‘consequences for Europe and world’ if UK sends fighter jets
04:10 , Arpan Rai
Russia has issued a direct warning, stating that any move by the UK to send fighter jets to Ukraine would have consequences for both the continent and the rest of the world.
“Russia will find a way to respond to any unfriendly steps taken by the British side,” Russian news agency TASS quoted the Russian embassy in London as saying, adding that it warned such a move would have “military and political consequences for the European continent and the entire world”.
The warning came shortly after prime minister Rishi Sunak said that sending warplanes to Ukraine was “part of the conversation” between him and his Ukrainian counterpart in London, and that “nothing was off the table”.
Russia warns sending UK fighter jets to Ukraine will have ‘consequences’
03:37 , Arpan Rai
Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine war on Thursday, 9 February.
