Because the warfare enters its 720th day, these are the principle developments.
Right here is the state of affairs on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
Preventing
- Norway’s intelligence service warned Russia was “gaining the benefit” within the warfare in Ukraine owing to a larger variety of troops and materiel provided by Iran, China, North Korea and Belarus. Nils Andreas Stensones, the pinnacle of the navy intelligence unit, stated Kyiv would want “intensive” Western navy help to show the state of affairs round.
- Researchers in Kyiv stated a preliminary evaluation concluded that Russia hit the Ukrainian capital final week with a hypersonic Zircon missile, marking the weapon’s first use within the warfare. The Zircon has a spread of 1,000km (625 miles) and travels at 9 occasions the pace of sound, in response to Russia.
- Ukraine’s Air Drive stated air defence techniques destroyed 14 out of 17 drones that Russia launched in a single day and one Kh-59 cruise missile. Some buildings have been broken, together with within the central metropolis of Dnipro, however there have been no studies of casualties.
- The Kremlin denied Ukraine’s declare that its troops have been utilizing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite tv for pc web system for navy communications in elements of Ukraine it occupies. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated the system was neither licensed to be used in, nor formally provided to, Russia, and due to this fact couldn’t be used.
Politics and diplomacy
- The European Union adopted a legislation to put aside windfall earnings made on frozen Russian central financial institution property, within the first concrete step in direction of the bloc’s intention of utilizing the cash to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. Some 300 billion euros ($323 billion) of Russian central financial institution property have been frozen after the nation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine practically two years in the past.
- Kristina Puzyreva, a Canadian-Russian lady, pleaded responsible in a United States court docket to cash laundering conspiracy for her function in a multimillion-dollar scheme to ship drone and missile elements to Russia for navy use towards Ukraine, the US Justice Division stated. She faces a most of 20 years in jail
- Russia imposed sanctions on 18 UK residents together with officers, historians and Russia specialists accusing them of attempting to demonise Russia. Moscow additionally claimed that the UK’s technique in Ukraine had led to additional escalation and lack of life within the warfare.
- France’s Viginum company, which works to defend towards overseas on-line threats, stated it had found a “structured and coordinated” community of Russian web sites designed to unfold Kremlin propaganda in Europe and the US.
- A court docket in Moscow ordered the arrest of Meta spokesperson Andy Stone for 2 months pending trial on numerous terrorism-related counts. Meta’s primary social platforms – Fb and Instagram – have been banned quickly after Russia invaded Ukraine, and Meta was subsequently discovered responsible of “extremist actions” in Russia. Stone shouldn’t be in Moscow.
Weapons
- Ukraine’s Digital Minister Mykhailo Fedorov advised the Reuters information company that Ukraine would produce hundreds of long-range drones able to deep strikes into Russia in 2024, and already had as many as 10 corporations making drones with the power to achieve Moscow and St Petersburg.
- Authorities in Moldova stated they destroyed some 50kg of explosives found in a part of a Russian-launched Shahed drone that crashed on its territory close to the southern city of Etulia, near the border with Ukraine.