by Andrea Nicastro from Kyiv and Redazione Online
The War News Wednesday 1 February live.
• The war in Ukraine reached the 343rd day.
• Kyiv and Wagner Group vie for control of Blahodatne (Donetsk).
• Ukraine-EU summit confirmed in Kyiv on Friday. Zelenskyy: Integration possibilities.
•Wall Street Journal: Moscow boosts trade with Beijing to deal with sanctions.
• Biden: We will not send F16 planes to Kyiv.
• The Italian satellites helping Kyiv to follow Russian movements.
05:15 – Netanyahu: possible delivery of arms from Israel to Kyiv
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was considering military aid to Ukraine and was ready to mediate after the US called for more active involvement. Netanyahu has not made specific pledges to Ukraine, and Israel is in touch with Russia, which controls the skies over neighboring Syria. In an interview with CNN, Netanyahu was asked if his country could provide assistance to Ukraine, for example with Iron Dome, the US-backed technology that defends Israel from airstrikes. “I’m definitely considering it,” replied the Israeli prime minister, who confirmed the relocation of a US artillery escort that was in Israel and described the Jewish state’s operations against Iran as part of a similar effort. The United States had just taken a huge amount of Israeli ammunition and passed it on to Ukraine, he said. Israel is also frankly cracking down on Iran’s arms production, which is being used against Ukraine, in ways I won’t list here. Netanyahu also said he was asked to mediate unofficially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, but did not follow up because he was in the opposition at the time. And he added that he is ready to mediate if the parties and the United States ask him to. I’ve been around long enough to know that there has to be the right time and the right circumstances. If they come up, I’ll definitely consider them, he said.
05:03 – The US is preparing to deploy long-range missiles for the first time
The United States is preparing an aid package worth more than $2 billion, which is expected to include long-range missiles and other ammunition and weapons for the first time. This was reported by Portal from US government sources. The armaments aid is expected to be announced later this week and will also include support equipment for Patriot air defense systems, precision-guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons.
4:53 am – Moscow: Xi Jinping will visit Putin in the spring. Beijing must confirm
(by Guido Santevecchi)
Xi Jinping is expected in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced. The visit, announced the Tass agency, is expected in the spring and is already being propaganda defined as a major event on the agenda of relations between Russia and China. Beijing has yet to confirm: we maintain close contacts at various levels in order to advance the development of the two countries and contribute to peaceful global development. Regarding this particular visit, I currently have no information to share, Beijing’s foreign policy spokeswoman replied this morning.
The Mandarin ceremony is intended to indicate that President Xi deigns to accept an invitation only after careful consideration. Under the circumstances, Vladimir Putin’s aspiration to emerge from isolation by being seen alongside the leader of the People’s Republic of China, the second world power, seems clear.
Read the full article here
04:43 – China does not admit it, but supplies military technologies to Russia
(by Federico Rampini)
In Beijing’s official version, China, although it has never distanced itself from Putin’s war, is not supplying weapons to the invading Russian army.
Until now, this description of the role of Xi Jinping, Putin’s eternal friend but not to the point of risking American sanctions, has endured, it has been accepted by all. Including the Biden administration.
But new data on Russia’s trade with the rest of the world casts a shadow over China’s non-aggressiveness.
In reality, it is precisely Chinese companies that are supplying key technologies for the Russian army’s war effort in Ukraine: semiconductors and microchips made in China that can also be used for military purposes, and even drones.
That’s according to research by the Free Russia Foundation in collaboration with IE University of Madrid and a group of Russian economists in exile, including a former central bank chief in Moscow and a former deputy finance minister.
The data is summarized by the Wall Street Journal.
Read the full article here
01:23 – THE MILITARY POINT – Kyiv requests new weapons, Moscow prepares offensive
(by Andrea Marinelli and Guido Olimpio)
From Kyiv they send urgent messages insisting on two clues: there is a threat of a Russian offensive, and we need armaments without further delay. NATO is responding, but it has its time and there is no shortage of confused signals.
The landscape
Russia is mustering men and resources, ready to restart the push while sacrificing turn after turn against Bakhmut on the Eastern Front. The parameters kept in mind are the increased rate of artillery fire, the tactics, the deployment of selected units, the mobilization that led to the recall of 9,000 soldiers who were then sent home. They had also summoned those who were ineligible to attend, a mistake attributed to poor organization and being told to meet quotas.
Ideas then emerged from an interview with the Washington Post by the head of the Ukrainian secret service, Kyrylo Budanov: the invaders deployed a total of 326,000 soldiers, they want to conquer areas in Donetsk and Luhansk, but we are determined to recapture Crimea. He then re-launched the thesis of a poor-health Putin forced to use various doubles. Great attention is paid to Belarus, where the Kremlin decided to step up joint training, Budanov claims that at the moment this is a red herring.
Read the full article here
February 1, 2023 (change February 1, 2023 | 06:01)
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