Ukraine Latest: Biden makes ‘historic, bold’ visit to Kyiv

(Bloomberg) — U.S. President Joe Biden made a surprise trip to Kiev to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the most high-profile visit since Russia invaded its neighbor and a strong show of support for Zelenskyy’s government ahead of the year-long war on Friday to mark.

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Biden said his goal was to reaffirm his administration’s “unwavering and unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Zelenskyy called the visit – the first by a US president in 15 years – “historic, timely and courageous,” and he and Biden laid a wreath at a memorial to the victims of the war as air raid sirens sounded over the capital.

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said earlier that he had told China’s top diplomat Wang Yi at talks in Munich over the weekend that the bloc had “strong concerns” about Beijing supplying arms to Russia and whether China could destroy the Kremlin armed would be a “red line”.

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Important Developments

Biden visits Kiev on surprise wartime trip amid air raid alerts
China wants to convince the world that it can mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine
Russia and China have a stranglehold on global food security
Ukraine’s allies are working their way through the aftermath of the long war ahead
US plans new export controls for Russia, sanctions against key industries

On the floor

Russia has conducted 10 missile strikes and 25 airstrikes and fired 62 barrages from multiple missile systems over the past day, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook. According to their statement, Ukrainian troops repelled attacks near seven settlements in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv Oblasts. Russia may not have enough reserves to “dramatically increase the scale or intensity of the offensive this winter,” analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in their latest report.

(All times CET)

White House welcomes ‘historic’ Biden visit to Kyiv (2:15 p.m.)

Biden aides hailed the visit to Kiev as historic and said it was unprecedented in modern times for the US president to travel to a war zone where the US military does not control critical infrastructure. The White House declined to give details of exactly how he got to Kiev and how he is now traveling from there to Warsaw until it is safe.

Biden’s traveling party was extremely small, consisting of a few helpers, a photographer, and a small medical team. The visit was meticulously planned over months, and the president made the final decision on Friday when he sat down with key advisers in the Oval Office.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the White House notified Moscow of Biden’s trip a few hours before he left. He didn’t want to say how the Russians reacted.

Germany will train 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of the year (2:09 p.m.)

More than 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be trained in Germany by the end of the year in how to use Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Leopard main battle tanks, said Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

Pistorius said Germany will stick to its schedule of sending 14 Leopard 2 A6 main battle tanks and 40 Marders to Ukraine by the end of March. He said he hoped other European allies would commit to sending more Leopard 2s in the coming days.

EU considers powers to punish sanctions evaders (1:45 p.m.)

A group of European Union member states are urging the bloc to step up its ability to hit back against those who help Russia evade sanctions, including through the use of trade measures.

The new powers, according to a draft of the present proposal, may include warning people or companies outside and inside the EU who help Russia evade sanctions and giving the bloc the ability to act if it’s related to products that used in the fight against Ukraine by Bloomberg.

Russia to Offer War-Proof Weapons in United Arab Emirates (1 p.m.)

Russian defense contractors have been at work at an arms fair in the United Arab Emirates, despite international sanctions, to sell weapons that a top ally of President Vladimir Putin said were battle-tested in the invasion of the Kremlin in Ukraine.

More than 200 Russian weapons, ranging from tanks to air defense systems and ammunition, were on display Monday at IDEX in Abu Dhabi, the region’s largest defense and security exhibition, according to manufacturers.

Ukraine expects meeting with IMF (12 p.m.)

Ukraine expects preparatory meetings with International Monetary Fund officials for a full lending program to begin in the coming weeks, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ukraine Serhiy Nikolaychuk said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

The fund is studying a multi-year aid package for Ukraine worth up to $16 billion to meet the country’s needs and provide a catalyst for more international funding while Kiev tries to hold off Russian forces, Bloomberg reported last month .

Support for Ukraine “will endure”: Biden (11:15 a.m.)

In a series of tweets, Biden said Putin was “madly mistaken” in assuming “Ukraine is weak and the West is divided.”

“Over the past year, the United States has built a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific to defend Ukraine with unprecedented military, economic and humanitarian support — and that support will endure,” Biden added.

He also announced another $500 million donation of equipment, “including artillery ammunition, anti-tank systems and air surveillance radars to protect the Ukrainian people from airstrikes,” as well as “additional sanctions against elites and corporations who attempt to evade or.” Fill up Russia’s war machine.”

EU ‘will remain vigilant’ towards China (11am)

Borrell told reporters in Brussels ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers that Wang had told him China had no plans to arm Russia but that the bloc would “remain vigilant”. Putin could meet with Wang when he visits Moscow this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Tass.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday warned China against supporting Russia’s war effort, saying Washington has evidence it is considering providing arms. The Beijing government does not accept US blame for its relations with Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news conference on Monday.

Kremlin says ties with Moldova are ‘quite strained’ (10:50 am)

Relations between the governments in Moscow and Chisinau are “quite strained,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, warning the Moldovan authorities to be “very, very cautious” when it comes to statements about the future of Russian peacekeeping forces in the breakaway region Transnistria went, Tass reported.

Peskov was responding to statements by Moldova’s new Prime Minister Dorin Recean about the need to demilitarize the region bordering Ukraine and withdraw Russian forces. Moldovan authorities have warned that Russia is trying to destabilize the country, an accusation Moscow denies.

Zelenskyy urges China to remain ‘pragmatic’ (8:00 a.m.)

Zelenskyy said he had appealed directly to China not to support Russia’s war, urging Beijing to maintain a “pragmatic stance” and help avert a wider global conflict.

“Our relationship with China has always been very good, we have had intensive economic ties for many years and it is in everyone’s interest that they do not change,” Zelenskyy was quoted as saying in Italian newspapers.

Ukraine ‘will not defend Bakhmut at any cost’ (8am)

Zelenskyi said that while it is important for Ukraine to defend the eastern city of Bakhmut, where there has been fierce fighting, it will not do so “at any cost and with everyone’s death.”

“We will fight as long as it is reasonable,” he told Italian newspapers. Russia is likely to claim it captured Bakhmut to coincide with Friday a year since the invasion, regardless of the reality on the ground, according to the UK MoD’s latest intelligence update.

EU could act quickly on sanctions against China (08:00)

According to Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, the EU could quickly impose sanctions on China if it turns out Beijing is backing Russia’s war effort.

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Asselborn said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk before talks with EU colleagues on Monday in Brussels. “It would be a dramatic change and would of course have consequences for our entire relationship with China, not just for Germany but for the entire EU,” he added.

The credibility of the peace proposals that China intends to present this week would be destroyed if it turned out that Beijing was helping Russia, Asselborn said.