Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should be present in person in Brussels on Thursday for a meeting of Heads of State and Government of the European Union, learned France Télévisions from a French diplomatic source on Monday 6 February. If confirmed, it would be the Ukrainian president’s first visit to the EU capital since the start of the Russian military offensive against his country on February 24, 2022. Volodymyr Zelensky was invited to take part in “a future summit” of the Twenty-Seven, for his part announced a spokesperson for the President of the European Council Charles Michel, without further details. Follow our live.
Norway is preparing significant aid. The Norwegian government has proposed disbursement of 6.8 billion euros over five years, to which would be added additional assistance for other countries affected by the fallout from the conflict.
The UN fears a conflict “wider”. “Prospects for peace keep dwindling”, deplored the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, before the General Assembly of the organization. In a speech where he listed the challenges facing the world this year, he placed the war in Ukraine at the forefront of these. “The risks of further escalation and carnage are ever increasing. (…) I fear the world is not sleeping like a sleepwalker toward a wider war, but I I’m afraid he actually does it with his eyes wide open”he continued.
Ukraine braces for escalation of conflict. “We expect a possible Russian offensive in February, purely symbolically”, on the first anniversary of the invasion, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Sunday. He also explains that military movements in Belarus, a neighbor of Ukraine and an ally of Moscow, are closely monitored.
Violent clashes in Bakhmout. “Fierce fighting is taking place in the northern districts” of this eastern Ukrainian town, “for every street, every house, every stairwell”, said Sunday the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, whose fighters are on the front line there. The Ukrainian general staff for its part confirmed, but without detailing, that fighting and bombardments continued in several areas in the east of the country.