New support for Kyiv. The United States promised on Friday, February 3, to deliver longer-range rockets to Ukraine. At the same time, France has announced that Paris and Rome will deliver a medium-range surface-to-air defense system Mamba in the spring to help Ukraine “defend against attacks by drones, missiles and Russian planes”. “The supply of such a system responds to the urgency expressed by Oleksiï Reznikov, Ukrainian Defense Minister, to his French and Italian counterparts, to protect civilian populations and infrastructures against Russian attacks from the air”, said the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. Follow our live.
A new military aid from the United States of two billion dollars. In addition to long-range rockets, the new military aid package announced by the United States on Friday also includes “armored infantry vehicles”. Since the start of the Russian invasion, US authorities have allocated over $29.3 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, according to the Pentagon.
Violent clashes in Bakhmout. The fighting has reduced some neighborhoods on the outskirts of this city in eastern Ukraine to ruins, AFP journalists on the spot noted on Friday. The shelling also continued in Kherson, a large southern city taken and then abandoned by Russian forces, where one person was killed and another injured on Friday, authorities said.
Agreement on capping the price of Russian petroleum products. The European Union, the G7 powers and Australia reached an agreement on Friday on the price cap of Russian petroleum products, two days before the start of a European embargo on these products. This price cap must “to prevent Russia from profiting” of the war in Ukraine and “supporting stability in global energy markets”, according to the signatories.