Here is the situation as it stands on Saturday, February 25, 2023:
Fighting
- Ukraine’s military said Russia had doubled the number of ships on active duty in the Black Sea and predicted this could be in preparation for more missile attacks.
- Russia claimed its forces continued their attack in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Friday, killing up to 240 Ukrainian soldiers over the past 24 hours.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised on Friday, the first anniversary of the war, to do everything to defeat Russia this year.
- The first German-made Leopard tanks arrived in Kyiv, from Poland, to mark the occasion.
- Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who was visiting Kyiv, said his country wants to help Ukraine repel Russian troops and deliver a “clear and measurable signal of further support”.
Diplomacy
- China called for urgent peace talks as it released its 12-point plan to end the war.
- While Zelenskyy welcomed some elements of the Chinese proposal, he said only the country where a war is being fought should be the initiator of a peace plan.
- US President Joe Biden said he saw nothing in the Chinese plan “that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia”.
- Washington announced a $2bn package of military aid for Ukraine and a raft of additional sanctions and tariffs hitting Russia’s mining and metals industries, as well as companies from third countries accused of supplying Moscow. Group of Seven (G7) members Britain and Canada unveiled similar measures, as did the 27-nation European Union.
- The EU package includes tighter export restrictions regarding dual-use goods as well as measures against entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia.
- Global financial crimes watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suspended Russia’s membership on Friday, saying Moscow’s war in Ukraine violated the organisation’s principles.