“Prospects for peace keep dwindling”, deplored the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, before the General Assembly of the organization, Monday, February 6. 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 continue to grow. (…) I fear the world is not sleepwalking sleepwalking into a wider war, but I fear it is in fact doing so with its eyes wide open.”, he continued. 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 Minister of Defense will change in Ukraine? The post will go to the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian MP David Arakhamia announced on Sunday. The current Minister of Defense, Oleksiï Reznikov, will be appointed Minister of Strategic Industries, added the elected official. This change will not take place this week, he said on Monday. This announcement comes in a context of increasing Russian pressure in the east of the country and after corruption scandals within the Ministry of Defense.
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.