• The war in Ukraine has reached its 357th day.
• Russia, former deputy chief of political police commits suicide. He continues the series of mysterious deaths.
• Russian planes intercepted in the skies over Poland: Dutch fighters intervene. And the US blocks four Russian jets in Alaska
• Putin travels only on armored trains for security reasons.
05:37 – US report, 6,000 minors in Russian “re-education” camps
At least 6,000 Ukrainian children have attended Russian “re-education” camps in the past year, and several hundred have been held there for weeks or months beyond their intended return dates. Russia has also accelerated the adoption and foster care of children from Ukraine in what could constitute a war crime. This was revealed by the report of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, funded by the US Department of State. Since the start of the war almost a year ago, babies as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, including in the Crimea and Siberia, for “a pro-Russia patriotic and military education,” the report said. ». In at least two camps, the children’s return date was delayed by weeks, while in two other camps, the return of some children was postponed indefinitely. According to the report, Russian authorities have been trying to give children a favorable view of Moscow through school programs, trips to patriotic places and speeches by veterans. The children were also allegedly trained in the use of firearms, although Nathaniel Raymond, a Yale researcher who oversaw the report, said there is no evidence they were sent to fight.
05.15 am – Alarm in France: «There are no more ammunition»
France’s military is facing an ammunition shortage amid the country’s military aid to Ukraine. The French newspaper Le Figaro writes it. “Our ground forces are facing a shortage of 155mm ammunition, used in howitzers and artillery guns,” says French MP Julien Rancoule who has compiled a report on the country’s ammunition reserves. “Tensions between those who are in favor of supporting Ukraine and those who want to safeguard stocks for reasons of national defense could grow” in France in the near future, Rancoule underlines speaking to Le Figaro.
02:44 am – The US wants to tighten sanctions on banks linked to Russia
The US could sanction more banks with ties to Russia and will step up enforcement of sanctions against those that circumvent existing rules. James O’Brien, head of the US State Department’s Sanctions Coordination Office, told Reuters. The senior US official’s comments come as Western diplomats try to agree on a new round of sanctions on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. “We have immobilized about 80% of the assets of the Russian banking sector – said O’Brien – We are examining other banks and financial institutions to see how Russia behaves with the outside world. There will most likely be further action.”
02:37 am – US order of 522 million for 155 mm ammunition in Kiev
The US military announced it has awarded $522 million in orders to two companies to produce 155mm artillery ammunition for Ukraine. The orders, officially decided on Jan. 30, went to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp and Global Military Products Inc, and come amid concerns that Kiev is rapidly running out of stocks of artillery shells supplied by the United States and other allies. Deliveries of the new ammunition are expected to start in March this year. The contract is funded by the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
02:36 – «Zaporizhzhia workers deny training to Russians»
Ukrainian workers at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have refused to train Russian workers who arrived from the Kalinin plant in Russia’s Tver oblast. This was announced by the Ukrainian state company for nuclear power Energoatom, cited by local media. Energoatom – reports the Kyiv Independent – stressed that Russian workers do not have the knowledge and skills to operate the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and praised Ukrainian workers for refusing to cooperate with the enemy.
02:33 am – Berlin, early to talk about Germany jets in Kiev Ukraine
The issue of Germany’s delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine “is not at the moment central” but will be discussed in the future, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in an interview with the ARD broadcaster. The priority is to secure Kiev’s airspace, Pistorius told the German channel. “Only when the skies over Ukraine remain safe for the next three to four months, then can we talk about next steps,” said the minister from Berlin.
02:28 – Media, the Netherlands and Denmark will not give Leopard Ukraine
The governments of the Netherlands and Denmark have announced that neither country will deliver Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine, according to German TV channel Welt. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the only tanks the country could theoretically supply to him were 18 Leopard-2 tanks leased to the country by Germany. But both countries have decided that these tanks are not available for Kiev. The Danish government, which has 44 tanks in its arsenal, told Welt it would not participate in the German tank coalition.
02:11 am – The US is considering sending alleged Iranian weapons seized to Ukraine
The US military is considering sending thousands of seized weapons and more than a million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine believed to be destined for Iranian-backed militiamen in Yemen, the Wall Street Journal writes exclusively, quoting US officials and Europeans. This would be an unprecedented step that would help Kiev fight off Russian forces. US officials said they are seeking to send Ukraine more than 5,000 assault rifles, 1.6 million small arms ammunition, a small number of anti-tank missiles and more than 7,000 proximity fuses seized in recent months off the coast of coast of Yemen by smugglers suspected of working for Iran. The unprecedented move would open a new channel for more firepower that the US and its allies could draw on as they struggle to meet Ukraine’s need for military support on the eve of the second year of the war.
01:42 am – Twenty-year-old Russian risks 10 years for a story on Instagram
University student, 20, under house arrest for a comment on social media against the war in Ukraine. It is the story of the young Russian Olesya Krivtsova, told by the BBC. “I posted an Instagram story about the bridge reflecting on how happy the Ukrainians were with what had happened,” Olesya tells the British public broadcaster, referring to the attack on the bridge connecting Russia to Crimea last October. “I was talking to my mother on the phone,” she recalls, “when I heard the front door open. Many policemen entered. They took away my phone and yelled at me to lie down on the floor.” You have been accused of justifying terrorism and discrediting the Russian military. She faces up to 10 years in prison. “I never imagined that someone could receive such a long prison sentence for posting something on the Internet,” says the student of the Northern Federal University of Arkhangelsk, who has been added to the blacklist of terrorists and extremists. The girl, who has a tattoo of Vladimir Putin depicted as a spider, with the Orwellian inscription Big Brother is watching you, adds that some of her fellow history students “were discussing in a chat” whether to report me to the authorities. You accused her of “provocative posts of a defeatist and extremist nature”. The BBC recalls that since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has called on Russian public opinion to separate “true patriots from scum and traitors”. Since then, there have been reports of denunciations of critics of the war across the country. Even among students who report on teachers and workers who report colleagues.
01:27 – Two Dutch fighter jets intercept Russian planes near Poland
Two Dutch F-35 fighter jets intercepted three Russian planes near Poland and remotely escorted them until they left the country’s airspace. This was announced by the Dutch Defense Ministry. It happened early Monday morning. The two fighters took off after the activation of the Dutch rapid action alert in Poland and did so to identify and escort a formation of aircraft that was still unknown at the time, the ministry said. One of those planes “approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad”, the Russian enclave located between Poland and Lithuania. «After their identification, it was discovered that they were 3 aircraft: a Russian IL-20M Coot-A which was accompanied by 2 SU-27 Flankers».
“The Dutch F-35s escorted the (Russian) formation remotely and handed them over to NATO partners.” Right now there are eight Dutch F-35s in Poland, for the months of February and March. Four of these fighters are at the Malbork air base for surveillance of NATO airspace in Eastern Europe. The other four are completing a training program with the allies, but “they can also be used immediately if the situation requires it”, concludes the note.
01:01 am – Usa: 4 Russian warplanes intercepted near Alaska
The United States intercepted four Russian warplanes on Monday in the vicinity of Alaska. This was announced today by NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), reporting that it had detected Russian aircraft, including TU-95 BEAR-H bombers and a SU-35 fighter, operating within the Air Defense Identification Zone of Alaska (Adiz). NORAD officials said they anticipated Russian activity and quickly deployed two F-16 fighter jets to intercept Russian aircraft. Two F-35 fighters, an E-3 Sentry and two KC-135 Stratotankers tankers were also sent to the area. NORAD stressed that the incident is in no way connected to the objects sighted and shot down in the skies over North America last week.
11.36 pm – Zelensky: “The situation in the eastern regions is very difficult”
The situation on the Ukrainian front is “extremely difficult”, especially in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. This was stated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in the usual evening message. In the eastern sector they are fighting “literally meter by meter”, he underlined.
11:36 pm – Berlusconi, let’s look at the facts, I’m always with Kiev and for peace
“Let’s look at the facts. We have always supported the Ukrainian people, we have always voted in Italy and in Europe without hesitation and hesitation to support Ukraine by sending funding and arms. I have always been and am on the side of the Ukrainian people and peace. My hope is that a diplomatic solution can be found soon to this very dangerous war for all of us”. This was stated in a note by the leader of Fi, Silvio Berlusconi.
19:07 – The Norwegian 007: “Russia deploys ships with nuclear weapons in the Baltic”
Russia has begun to deploy tactical ships with nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea, for the first time in the last 30 yearsthe Norwegian intelligence service said in its annual report cited by Politico. “The fundamental part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet”, observed the 007 of Oslo adding that tactical nuclear weapons are “a particularly serious threat in various operational scenarios in which the NATO countries could getting involved”.