Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 02-13-2024

The spokesperson did not specify which units are involved, but Forbes reported that the 3rd Airborne Assault Brigade was being sent to save the city.

Ivan Sekach, a spokesperson for the 110th separate mechanized brigade, named after Corporal General Mark Bezruchka, disclosed on Radio Svoboda that some units of the brigade were being replaced in Avdiivka by other Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) formations.

“We don't have enough capability to hold the city, but reinforcements are coming, and we're counting on friendly units,” he said.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

The Democratic-led U.S. Senate was expected to vote early on Tuesday for final passage of a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, amid growing doubts about the legislation's fate in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Soon after lawmakers swept aside the last procedural hurdle facing the legislation late on Monday, Republican opponents of the bill took to the Senate floor for an overnight marathon of speeches. Aides predicted that a vote on passage could begin before 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) on Tuesday. But both houses of Congress must approve the legislation before Democratic President Joe Biden can sign it into law. And the bill faces long odds in the House, where Republican Speaker Mike Johnson faulted the measure for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border - Reuters

US President Joe Biden has said civilians who are "packed" into Rafah in the Gaza Strip are "exposed and vulnerable" and must be protected. Israel must make "credible" efforts to protect the more than one million Palestinians sheltering in the southern Gazan city, he said. Rafah has come under heavy Israeli air strikes in recent days, with a number of casualties reported - BBC

The Pentagon idea is to use cheap air-to-ground rockets first designed in World War II to undercut masses of Iranian drones. The news is the system is in Ukraine and it looks like it worked.

A high-tech US-made laser-guided air defense system designed as an economical way to blast massed kamikaze drones out of the sky, and not previously confirmed in operation in Ukraine, shot down an Iranian Shahed-136 drone in skies over the western Odesa region earlier this month, news reports confirmed.

A ground-to-air missile fired by a Ukrainian gunner tracked and hit its target as designed, detonating a proximity fuse and sending a Russian military-launched drone loaded with 50 kg of high explosives spinning to the ground, military video first published by the Ukrainian Navy showed.

Alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg is due to detail NATO's new estimates after Trump unleashed a political firestorm by saying he would "encourage" Russia to attack countries not paying their share.

Some two-thirds of NATO's 31 member countries are expected to reach the defence spending target of two percent of GDP in 2024, officials said Tuesday, almost double last year's number.

Alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg is due to detail NATO's new estimates on Wednesday after former US president Donald Trump unleashed a political firestorm by saying he would "encourage" Russia to attack countries not paying their share.

The CEO of Germany’s largest arms manufacturer has said that Ukraine needs more than two million shells a year, a number that Germany’s production capabilities alone cannot match.

Armin Papperger, CEO of Germany’s largest arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, has said that his country’s munitions production capability cannot match that of Ukraine’s current needs, which he places at two million shells a year.

Papperger said Germany is trying to ramp up production, but it would take “10 to 15 years” to replenish its own stockpiles.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had previously stated that the Senate's first bill -- which included some of the harshest immigration curbs in decades -- would be "dead on arrival" in his chamber.

The US Senate on Tuesday approved $60 billion in funding for Ukraine, in a bill House Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated his Republican-led chamber will reject.

The $95 billion package includes funding for Israel's military and key strategic ally Taiwan, but the lion's share -- $60 billion -- would help Ukraine restock depleted ammunition supplies, weapons and other crucial needs as it enters a third year of war.

Serhiy Kolyada on the hyped-up meeting of dull (propagandistic) minds.

In an intercepted call published by HUR, Russian soldiers discuss how Russia is obtaining Starlink satellite terminals from Arab countries and utilizing them on the frontline.

A Russian soldier disclosed that the unit he served in had been utilizing Starlink terminals, noting that they were supplied to Russia via Arab countries.

Speaking in an intercepted call published by Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR), he said, “Let me order you a Starlink, or you'll be f***ed. Bro, you want Starlink?”

The farmers launched their latest protests at the Polish-Ukrainian border last week, blocking three crossing points. They pried open Ukrainian trucks crossing into Poland, spilling mounds of grain.

Poland's agriculture minister apologised for an incident at the Ukrainian border which saw protesting Polish farmers spill grain from Ukrainian trucks onto roads, stoking tensions between the allies.

The farmers launched their latest protests at the Polish-Ukrainian border last week, blocking three crossing points in anger at what they see as unfair competition from Ukrainian grain imports into the EU.

Dozens of locals have gathered near the capital’s central square to demand the rotation and discharge of their loved ones as the government is soon to introduce a new draft law on mobilization.

Dozens of citizens in Kyiv gathered on Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square on Sunday to call on the government to establish reasonable terms on release from military enlistment or conscription after close to two years of full-scale war.

Among the demands were the demobilization of their loved ones and troop rotations, as some Ukrainians were called into service when Russia launched a full invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, and remain on active duty as Kyiv struggles to fill the ranks.

Washington Insider: Critical times in Washington DC as Ukraine Aid is “hanging by a very thin thread in the House.”

The US Senate, after five months of delay, appears to be on the verge of deciding on future aid for Ukraine. Though a step in the right direction, experts caution that the outcome is still far from clear.

On Sunday night, Feb. 11, Senate legislators cleared the final procedural hurdles that will now allow a full Senate vote on aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, something that President Joe Biden proposed in October. The Senate bill is expected to receive bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans.

Donald Trump said he was against NATO members benefiting from full protection if they fail to meet the alliance's spending targets and would not support such states if Russia attacked them.

Donald Trump said on Saturday that he was against NATO members benefiting from full protection if they fail to meet the alliance's spending targets and would not support such states if they were attacked by Russia. He added that in such cases he would encourage Moscow to do "whatever the hell they want". Europe's press voices concern in light of Trump's chances of re-occupying the White House.

Saying what he thinks

The digital minister highlighted the emergence of a new category of long-range kamikaze drones, with ranges of up to 1,000 kilometers, noting that this category did not exist two years ago.

In an interview with Reuters, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, announced that Ukraine aims to manufacture thousands of long-range drones capable of delivering precision strikes deep into Russian territory.

Fedorov attributed Ukraine's recent successful strikes on Russian oil facilities to the government's swift deregulation of the drone market and increased funding.

Both the EU and the G7 froze some €300 billion of Russian central bank assets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but have been hesitant on if and how these funds can be used.

The European Union has moved toward using the profits from frozen Russian central bank assets to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction with the adoption of a new law on Monday (12 February).

The move, in line with steps taken by the G7, establishes a legislative route by which profits generated by confiscated Russian assets under specific circumstances could ultimately find their way toward Ukraine via the EU budget.

Orbán suggests Ukraine serve as buffer zone between West, Russia

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Ukraine must become a buffer zone between Russia and NATO, otherwise it will "lose its territory" because the Russians will attack the country "over and over."

The pro-Russian head of the Hungarian government said this in an interview with the former Chancellor of Austria, Wolfgang Schüssel, as part of Die Presse's European Voices project, published on Feb. 12.

In the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks, there was a feeling of proximity between Kyiv and Tel Aviv. But as Israel’s actions in Gaza stoke wider tensions, is Kyiv at risk of losing support?

It’s not an overstatement that the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and their aftermath, the war in Gaza, are reshaping the global political landscape. From the suspension of the normalization process between Arab states and Israel, to South Africa bringing a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the war is shifting geopolitics and taking the focus away from Ukraine.

This is a reason for concern as Europe’s financial support to Kyiv remains unable to assuage uncertainty about US aid and fears over shortages of ammunition.

Norway has, together with Denmark and the Netherlands, agreed to provide Ukraine with the F-16 fighter jets it has requested from its allies.

Russia’s forces are gaining the advantage in the war in Ukraine, Norway’s intelligence service has warned.

In an annual risk report, the head of the military intelligence unit Nils Andreas Stensones, said its advantage in troop numbers and material supplied by countries like China and North Korea meant Moscow was in a stronger position than a year ago.

Poland's Tusk said the three partners would "not relent on the question of Ukraine", adding that the alliance at the heart of NATO "can truly play a positive role".

In a bid to bolster security cooperation within Europe, leaders from Ukraine's allies France, Poland, and Germany convened on Monday, Feb. 12, amid mounting concerns over the potential resurgence of Donald Trump and its implications for Western unity against Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine.

During discussions in Berlin, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk underscored the importance of solidarity among European nations, drawing parallels to Alexandre Dumas's renowned work, "The Three Musketeers."

A seven-year-old, a four-year-old and a ten-month-old boy were killed in the attack, along with their mother and father. A couple was also killed.

Anguished mourners from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv gathered on Monday to bury a family of five, including three small children, who were killed over the weekend in a Russian drone attack.

The blast, which hit a petrol station overnight on Saturday, sent torrents of fuel into a neighbouring street, burning residents alive in what one onlooker called a "river of fire".

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

Israel says two male Israeli hostages have been rescued in a raid in Rafah, as Israeli air strikes hit the southern Gazan city. The Israeli military says Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, are in "good medical condition.” Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said Rafah was under attack, with a number of deaths reported. It follows warnings from the international community over Israel's planned offensive in the city, where 1.5 million people are sheltering - BBC

The director-general of the Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip, has told Al Jazeera that the humanitarian situation in the northern Gaza Strip is beyond the catastrophic stage. “Some families receive only half a meal within 48 hours,” he said. “Citizens in the northern Gaza Strip cannot even find fodder and grains.” Al-Thawabta said he holds Israel responsible for blockading the Gaza Strip and preventing the arrival of aid. “We demand an end to the occupation’s attacks on civilians and an end to the war,” he said - Al Jazeera

The $95 billion package includes funding for Israel and for key strategic ally Taiwan, but the lion's share -- $60 billion -- would help Ukraine restock depleted ammunition supplies.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated Monday that his Republican-led chamber would not take up a bill to provide billions in new assistance for Ukraine and others, despite its likely passage in the Senate with bipartisan backing.

The $95 billion package includes funding for Israel's fight against Hamas militants and for key strategic ally Taiwan, but the lion's share -- $60 billion -- would help pro-Western Ukraine restock depleted ammunition supplies, weapons and other crucial needs as it enters a third year of war.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported that elements of Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are training Russian drone operators at the Shayrat Air Base in Syria.
• The Russian State Duma is considering a bill to restrict actors that the Russian government designates as “undesirable” from entering Russia, likely as part of ongoing efforts to censor opposition media outlets and dismantle ties between Russia and foreign and international non-governmental organizations.
• Boris Nadezhdin, the only openly anti-war Russian presidential candidate, filed two lawsuits in the Russian Supreme Court challenging the Russian Central Election Commission’s (CEC) refusal to register him as a candidate as the Kremlin continues efforts to suppress popular opposition while trying to preserve the veneer of legitimacy of Russian presidential elections.
• The European Union (EU) is beginning to take concrete steps towards possibly using frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces recently made confirmed advances near Kreminna and Donetsk City and in western Zaporizhia Oblast, and Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Kupyansk and Kreminna.
• South Korean news outlet Yonhap News Agency reported on February 12 that North Korea has developed 240mm guided multiple rocket launcher system (MLRS) mortar that North Korea may export to Russia.
• Russian authorities continue to use youth engagement programs to Russify Ukrainian youth.