War in Ukraine, day 764. Kiev asks NATO for air defense means

The most important events of the last 24 hours:

• Despite the Russian attacks, the Ukrainian economy grew by 5.3% in 2023
• Kiev asks NATO for air defense means
• Putin does not expect to meet with the families of the victims of the Moscow bombing
• Actor Steven Seagal, a supporter of Vladimir Putin, visited the victims of the terrorist attack in Moscow
• Russian spy chief visits North Korea
• The Russian president says that the scenario in which his country attacks NATO states is “nonsense”
• The toll of the terrorist attack in Moscow has risen to 143 dead
• Putin: “If F-16 planes for Ukraine take off from third countries, they become legitimate targets”
• Foreign Minister from Kiev: F-16 planes will arrive in Ukraine by mid-summer
• Russia allegedly used a new type of bomb in Ukraine
• Volodymyr Zelensky once again appeals to the West to accelerate the delivery of F-16 and Patriot
• Ukraine’s parliamentary commission rejects demobilization after 36 months of service without command approval
• Poland doubles its support for Ukraine under the Czech initiative
• The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained two FSB agents
• More than 400,000 Ukrainians displaced by the war live in Kyiv
• Swedish Foreign Minister: NATO must create more “strategic difficulties” for Russia
• Nobel laureates: Putin is a “direct and clear threat to all humanity”

Update 20:00 – Ukraine’s economy grew 5.3 percent last year as Kiev regained control of the Black Sea export corridor and reaped a bumper agricultural harvest despite continued Russian missile and drone attacks, Bloomberg reports.

According to preliminary data published on Thursday by the State Statistics Institute of Ukraine, the economy registered a growth of 4.7% in the period October-December 2023, this being the third consecutive quarter of growth. The data also show that in the first quarter of 2023, Ukraine’s real GDP fell by 10.3% compared to the same period in 2022, followed by a 19.2% increase in the second quarter, an advance of 9.6% in the third quarter and one of 4.7% in the last three months.

Update 17:55 – Kiev asked Western allies for air defense equipment at an extraordinary NATO-Ukraine Council meeting on Thursday after a series of Russian missile attacks on energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s NATO mission said.

Russia last Friday carried out the biggest airstrike on Ukraine’s energy system since the February 2022 invasion, damaging power facilities at a major dam and causing power outages for more than a million people, Reuters reports.

Ukraine’s mission to NATO said on Platform X that Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov had informed alliance partners of the consequences of the attacks, urging them to provide more equipment to block Russian airstrikes.

Update 17:05 – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns that without urgent aid in armaments from the United States, Ukraine risks not being able to cope.

“Even tomorrow, the missiles can fly to any state,” Zelenskiy said in an interview with CBS News reporters filmed outdoors among the ruins.

Update 16:50 – The Russian president did not immediately plan a meeting with the families of the victims of the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow, which left 143 dead last week, claimed by the Islamic State (IS), the Kremlin announced on Thursday.

Vladimir Putin admitted on Monday that this attack, the most important in the last 20 years in Russia, was committed by “radical Islamists”, but the Russian authorities accuse the Ukrainian and Western secret services of having “facilitated” it.

Update 15:00 American actor Steven Seagal, who called Vladimir Putin “one of the greatest living world leaders”, was photographed in Russia while visiting the victims of the Moscow terror attack.

Russia’s Health Ministry said the former Hollywood star, now 71, visited the National Medical and Surgical Center where he met three victims of the attack last Friday and “thanked them for their courage and perseverance their”.

“What happened was a terrible tragedy that should not have happened. And I think that Russia will serve as an example and let the world understand that you cannot do this to a people and go unpunished. I thank the doctors for the prompt work they are doing, I am glad to see that the patients are feeling well and recovering,” Seagal is quoted as saying on the Russian ministry’s Telegram account.

Last year, Vladimir Putin awarded Seagal a state award for his “international humanitarian and cultural activity”.

A frequent visitor to Russia and a supporter of the Putin regime, the American actor claimed that Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 was a “very justified” gesture.

He also joined a pro-Kremlin party in 2021 and last summer visited part of eastern Ukraine under Russian control.

In 2017, Ukraine banned Seagal from entering the country for five years, citing national security reasons.

Update 14:00 Sergei Narishkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, SVR, paid a visit to North Korea this week.

According to SVR, Narishkin visited Pyongyang on March 25-27.

The purpose of the visit was to deepen the cooperation between the two countries and to discuss regional security in a broader perspective, SVR stated, quoted by the TASS agency.

KCNA, the North Korean news agency, said in turn that the two sides discussed further intensifying cooperation to deal with the “increasingly numerous spying and plotting movements carried out by hostile forces”.

Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s regime has strengthened ties with North Korea, with which Russia shares a border.

According to the US and its allies, Russia has massively imported weapons from North Korea, in the form of missiles and shells, for the war in Ukraine.

Update 13:08 Vladimir Putin rejected the idea that Russia was planning attacks on NATO states.

In a speech to Russian air force pilots on Wednesday evening, he said his country had “no aggressive intentions” towards countries such as Poland or the Baltic states.

“The idea that we are going to attack another country – Poland, the Baltic states and the Czechs are also scared – is absolute nonsense,” he said.

At the same time, officials in the government apparatus in Moscow continue to present the NATO alliance as the aggressor.

Thus, according to the RIA Novosti news agency, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that NATO’s activity in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea is aimed at preparing the allies for a conflict with Moscow.

The Russian ministry’s comment was made in connection with NATO’s plans to expand the Mihail Kogălniceanu military base in a slow process planned over two decades.

Update 12:37 Equipping Kiev’s forces with F-16 fighter jets will not change things in the war in Ukraine.

The estimate belongs to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“If they (Westerners) supply F-16s and talk about it and apparently train pilots, this will not change the situation on the battlefield,” Putin said.

“And we will destroy their planes just as we destroy tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment. Of course, if they are used from airfields in third countries, they become for us legitimate targets, wherever they are,” he added

The Russian president’s comments come after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that his country would receive F-16 fighter jets by mid-summer this year.

Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are among the countries that have pledged to supply Ukraine with F-16s.

A coalition of states has pledged to help train Ukrainian pilots in the use of these aircraft.

Update 11:30 The death toll from last week’s attack at a Moscow concert hall has risen to 143, according to Russian authorities.

The updated balance sheet from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations does not specify the number of injured.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murasko said on Wednesday that 80 people were still in hospital and that another 205 had sought medical treatment following the attack.

ISIS-K (Khorasan), an Islamic State-affiliated group active in Pakistan and Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow.

The US has said it has no reason to question ISIS-K’s claim.

However, Russian officials have insisted that Ukraine and the West had a role in the attack, claims vehemently denied by Kiev.

Update 09:55 Russia may have used a new type of remote-guided bomb in its latest airstrikes on the city of Kharkiv on Wednesday, killing and injuring soldiers.

According to Volodymyr Timoshko, the head of the Kharkiv regional police, Moscow’s forces allegedly used a bomb called the UMPB D-30.

“It’s something between an aerial guided bomb and a missile,” said this Ukrainian official.

Russia did not immediately comment on the information

Update 08:30 The F-16 fighter jets are scheduled to arrive in Ukraine by mid-summer this year.

The information comes from the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba.

According to him, pilot training “is going well” and “everything is going according to plan”.

Denmark and the Netherlands are among the states to supply Ukraine with US-made F-16s to counter Russia’s air superiority.

The commitment to provide F-16s follows major diplomatic efforts by Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration. Earlier, Ukraine managed to convince Germany to deliver Leopard II tanks.

The US last August allowed its partners to supply Ukraine with F-16s, but their actual use in combat is conditional on pilot training, which is a lengthy process.

“The transition from Soviet-type aircraft to Western-type aircraft requires major changes,” Dmitro Kuleba pointed out.

A coalition of 11 countries has pledged to train Ukrainian pilots, including Britain.

Update 00:01 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a new appeal to Western allies to speed up the delivery of F-16 fighter jets and Patriot air defense systems after the deadly attacks in Kharkiv, reports AFP.

“Strengthening Ukraine’s air defense and accelerating the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine are vital missions,” he wrote in a social media post. There is no rational justification to explain why Patriot, of which there are many in the world, still it does not cover the skies of Kharkiv and other cities attacked by Russian terrorists,” added Volodymyr Zelensky.

Several Russian strikes on Wednesday left at least three dead and around 30 wounded, especially in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.

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