Russia-Ukraine war live: US reveals new $2.175bn military aid package; Zelenskiy says his forces will fight for ‘fortress’ Bakhmut

The EU’s 10th package of sanctions against Russia will hit the trade and technology that supports its war against Ukraine, according to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

The US has announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $2.175bn (£2.2bn).

The package will include precision-guided rockets and HAWK air defence firing units, as well as other munitions and weapons, the US state department said.

Foreign Policy’s Jack Detsch has the full list:

It’s nearly 7pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine will continue to fight for Bakhmut as long as it can, vowing that “nobody will give away” the eastern “fortress” city. Speaking at a press conference following a summit in Kyiv with EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the Ukrainian leader said Ukrainians would be able to begin to liberate occupied Donbas if weapons supplies are “quickened, specifically long range weapons”.

• President Zelenskiy appealed to the EU to impose sanctions on Russia’s state-run nuclear monopoly Rosatom and its top managers. Zelenskiy said during talks with EU leaders that they had discussed “the extension of the energy sanctions to cover the nuclear sphere”. He argued sanctions should target Rosatom and its managers, who he accused of the seizure and forced nationality change of staff at Ukrainian nuclear power facilities and their children.

• The EU has promised a tenth package of sanctions against Russia will be in place by 24 February, the first anniversary of the war. Speaking alongside Zelenskiy, Ursula von der Leyen said the package would cover trade worth €10bn and focus on technology used by the Russian military, such as drone components, as well as measures to counter circumvention of sanctions. The next round of EU sanctions, however, is not expected to include nuclear power, which Hungary has already threatened to block.

• Air raid sirens twice sounded across Ukraine on Friday as President Zelenskiy hosted EU leaders in Kyiv. The first air alert in Kyiv was on Friday morning. The second, hours later, followed a joint news conference involving Zelenskiy, von der Leyen and Charles Michel. There were no immediate reports of any Russian airstrikes on Kyiv throughout the day.

• EU leaders offered strong support for Ukraine but set “no rigid timelines” for its accession to the bloc. President Zelenskiy had hoped the EU would put Ukraine on a rapid track to membership, but western EU member states are concerned that Kyiv’s expectations on speedy membership talks are unrealistic. “There are no rigid timelines, but there are goals that you have to reach,” von der Leyen told the news conference.

• The EU will launch a humanitarian de-mining programme in Ukraine worth €25m, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has confirmed. De-mining is “crucial to save the lives of civilian population”, Borrell said. The EU will also supply Ukraine with 35m LED lightbulbs, 2,400 generators on top of 3,000 already delivered and promised funding for solar panels to power Ukraine’s public buildings.

• Germany has approved the export of older Leopard 1 battle tanks, which would add to the raft of fighting vehicles Berlin promised last week it would send to Ukraine. A spokesperson said Olaf Scholz’s government had granted an export licence for the German-made tanks first produced in the 1960s and replaced within Germany’s own military by Leopard 2 tanks in 2003.

• Germany is also understood to be in the process of preparing a joint weapons package with Sweden in which Stockholm would provide air defence missiles and launching platforms for Germany’s Iris-T systems. Robert Habeck, the German deputy chancellor and economic minister, discussed this joint package in a meeting with the Swedish minister for foreign trade, Johan Forssell, during a state visit on Thursday, one government official said.

• Germany will not play a “key” role in the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv because “it is American technology”, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said. In an interview with BBC News Ukraine, Kuleba said he had “no doubt” that the decision to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets would be made, adding that Kyiv was “open to communication with all partners” on aircraft such as the Swedish Gripens, French Mirages and Rafales.

• Ukraine has unveiled a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group of mercenaries fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine. Prigozhin has been charged with encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and of waging a war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said Wagner fighters of all ranks would be held responsible, including those who fled abroad.

• Russian-installed authorities in Crimea have said they had nationalised about 500 properties in the peninsula, including some belonging to senior Ukrainian politicians and business figures. In a statement on Telegram, Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of the Crimean parliament, said the nationalised properties included banks and tourist and sport infrastructure.

• Norwegian police say they intend to continue to interrogate a former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner group who sought asylum in Norway after fighting in Ukraine. Andrey Medvedev has handed “some digital material” to police, Norway’s national criminal police service, Kripos, said in a statement. He remains a witness and is not under any obligation to talk to investigators, it added.

• The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine has decided not to immediately boycott the Paris 2024 Games if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete. Instead, it will consult with and persuade sports officials around the world to take action over the next two months. The head of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, has said it is for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to decide whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete in the Games next year.

Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still here with all the latest news from Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.

Zelenskiy appeals for EU sanctions on Russian nuclear

Jennifer Rankin

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed to the European Union to impose sanctions on Russia’s state-run nuclear monopoly Rosatom and its top managers.

Ukraine’s president was speaking at a press conference following a summit in Kyiv with EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, who lead the European Commission and European Council respectively.

The EU has promised a tenth package of sanctions against Russia will be in place by 24 February, the first anniversary of the war.

Zelenskiy said during talks with EU leaders they had discussed “the extension of the energy sanctions to cover the nuclear sphere”.

He argued sanctions should target Rosatom and its managers, who he accused of the seizure and forced nationality change of staff at Ukrainian nuclear power facilities and their children.

We would like some of the states, European states who still don’t want to impose sanctions against Rosatom, the top managers of Rosatom… the nuclear power for them to understand what if their children were just taken, put into buses and forcefully taken to the Russian Federation.

For this forced deportation you need to enforce sanctions.

The next round of EU sanctions, however, is not expected to include nuclear power, which Hungary has already threatened to block. Russia has provided Hungary with a €10bn loan to expand a nuclear power plant with Russian nuclear reactors. Last week the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said extending sanctions to nuclear power “obviously needs to be vetoed”.

All EU sanctions must be passed unanimously by the bloc’s 27 member states.

Speaking alongside Zelenskiy, von der Leyen said the EU’s 10th package of sanctions would cover trade worth €10bn and focus on technology used by the Russian military, such as drone components. The package will also include measures to counter circumvention of sanctions, she said.

The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, has tweeted a clip of his recent joint press conference with Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

The Ukrainian people have made “a clear choice for freedom, democracy, and rule of law”, Michel said.

He continues:

We in the EU have also made a clear decision. Your future is with us in our common European Union. Your destiny is our destiny.

At the joint press conference in Kyiv, von der Leyen said there were goals for Ukraine to meet as part of its EU membership push.

Asked about Ukraine’s accession drive, she said:

There are no rigid timelines, but there are goals that you have to reach.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine will continue to fight for Bakhmut as long as it can, vowing that “nobody will give away” the eastern “fortress” city.

Speaking at a news conference with top European Union officials, Zelenskiy said:

Nobody will give away Bakhmut. We will fight for as long as we can. We consider Bakhmut our fortress.

Ukraine would be able to hold Bakhmut and liberate occupied Donbas “if it received long-range weapons”, Zelenskiy added.

He said:

If weapons (supplies) are quickened, specifically long range weapons, we not only will not leave Bakhmut, but we will also begin to deoccupy Donbas, which has been occupied since 2014.

The city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region has become the focal point of Ukrainian resistance and of intense efforts by Moscow to regain battlefield momentum.

Russian officials have said its forces are encircling Bakhmut from several directions and battling to take control of a road which is also an important supply route for Ukrainian forces.

Zelenskiy said Russia would continue to push in the east, but that Ukrainian forces would be able to hold out until more western weapons arrived.

Air raid sirens have sounded in Kyiv, my colleague Dan Sabbagh reports.

Here are some of the most recent images sent over the news wires from Kherson in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne reports that at least one person has been killed by shelling in Donetsk. It posted to its official Telegram channel:

Russian troops shelled the centre of Toretsk in Donetsk region: one person was killed, six were injured. Kurakhivka was also shelled from artillery, three people were injured, the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office reported.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Traders are using Turkey, Kazakhstan and Armenia to evade EU sanctions on Russia, a tactic that breaches these countries’ compliance with the bloc’s embargo, Latvia’s prime minister said on Friday.

Krisjanis Karins made the assertion after talks with counterparts from the EU member states Estonia and Lithuania, which along with Latvia have been among the most vocal supporters of sanctions on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“It seems quite clear that traders are finding ways to legally trade goods, say with Turkey, Kazakhstan or Armenia, which are then re-sent to Russia, because these countries are not adhering to the sanctions regime,” Reuters says Karins told reporters in Talinn, the Estonian capital.