Russia-Ukraine war live: ‘Only a matter of time’ before Ukraine joins EU, Zelenskiy says after ‘historic’ meeting | Ukraine
Key events
Ukraine downs 29 Russia-launched drones, one cruise missile
Ukraine destroyed 29 of 31 drones launched by Russia and one cruise missile, its air force said on Tuesday via Reuters, most of them targeting the regions of Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk.
The overnight attacks came in several waves and lasted more than three hours, the southern command of Ukraine’s forces had said earlier.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Ukraine shells Russian village with cluster munitions
Reuters is reporting the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region has said Ukraine fired cluster munitions at a Russian village near the Ukrainian border on Tuesday, damaging several houses.
According to preliminary information, there were no casualties in the shelling of the village of Klimovo, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the governor’s statement, which he made without providing visual evidence. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukraine has received cluster munitions from the United States, but it has pledged to use them only to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers.
Russian officials in Bryansk and other regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Kyiv of an indiscriminate shelling by Ukraine’s armed forces.
Ukraine’s troops would soon run short of essential ammunition and equipment if Republican hardliners succeed in stopping US military aid, undermining operations on the ground and reducing their ability to defend against Russian strikes, experts have told AFP.
The US has committed more than $43 billion in security aid since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but due to opposition from hard-right Republicans Congress removed new funding for Ukraine from a compromise bill to avoid a US government shutdown on Saturday.
More from the AFP report:
“It would be devastating for the Ukrainians” if US aid is halted, said Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“The Ukrainian military would weaken and then ultimately perhaps collapse,” though it “might be able to just hold on on the defensive,” he said.
“Militaries in conflict need a continuous flow of weapons and supplies and munitions to replace what’s destroyed and gets used up,” Cancian said.
If US aid were completely cut off – something the White House insists will not happen – the impact would not be immediate, given that previously authorized assistance is still in the pipeline.
“It would take probably a couple of weeks before we see effects on the battlefield,” he said, and Moscow might not be able to capitalize even then as “the Russians are pretty exhausted at this point.”
Away from the front lines, an end to US aid would leave gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses, which are made up of systems from multiple countries that cover different altitudes and must be continually resupplied with munitions.
“You can’t really just… replace one system with another system if they operate in slightly different ways and deal with different threats,” said James Black, assistant director of the defense and security research group at RAND Europe.
“If you took out the kind of US component of that, then you necessarily degrade the… effectiveness” of the entire integrated system, he said.
It would require a “years and decades-long effort to get Europe to a place where (it) could fully replace the US as a kind of military power, or a defense industrial power,” Black said.
Ukraine could begin EU membership talks this year, Zelenskiy says
Kyiv has been told it is “absolutely possible” that EU membership talks could begin this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said after a surprise meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Ukrainian capital.
“Our key integration goal is to hammer out a decision this year to start membership negotiations,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. “And today I heard once again at the meetings and negotiations that this is absolutely possible.”
The president said it was “only a matter of time” before Ukraine joined the bloc and that it would “definitely fulfil” its part of the prerequisite work. He added:
Our country is a leader in protecting the very foundations on which European unity rests. The unity of modern Europe, which values human freedom and equality of nations, values international law.
He said the talks had also included Russia’s attempt to circumvent international sanctions, security in the Black Sea and the operation of Ukrainian ports and the bolstering of Ukrainian air defences.
And he said that Italy had committed to the rebuild the cathedral in Odesa, which was destroyed by a Russian missile strike in July.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Jordyn Beazley.
It is “only a matter of time” before Ukraine joins the European Union, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said after a surprise meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv.
“Objectively, our country is a leader in protecting the very foundations on which European unity rests,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. “The unity of modern Europe, which values human freedom and equality of nations, values international law.”
He said Kyiv aimed to “hammer out a decision” to start membership negotiations this year, and said he had been told at Monday’s meetings “this is absolutely possible.”
Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said the EU would give Kyiv a new military aid package worth €5bn (£4.3bn) after what he termed a “historic” meeting.
The Kyiv gathering came at an especially difficult time for Ukraine, with the slow pace of its counteroffensive against Russia criticised by some in the west and as Republicans in the US Congress prevented military aid for Ukraine from being included in a spending bill.
In other key developments:
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A Ukrainian victory in the war with Russia depends on cooperation with the EU, Zelenskiy told the ministers gathered in Kyiv. Zelenskiy, who was speaking after the US Congress left Ukraine war aid out of a spending bill, also underlined the importance of “defence support” for Ukraine during the war.
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Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan is “the only game in town”, Borrell said at a press conference after the meeting. The summit of EU foreign ministers was “sending a strong missile to Russia that we are not intimidated by your missiles or your drones”, he added.
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Borrell also dismissed the idea – floated by Roberta Metsola, the president of the European parliament, and academics recently – that Kyiv might join the EU in stages, with access to the single market first, followed by political integration. “Membership is membership,” Borrell said. There could be no talk of half, or 25% membership, he said, adding: “[It’s] the strongest security commitment we can give to Ukraine.”
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The US Pentagon has warned Congress that it is running low on funding to replace weapons the US has sent to Ukraine and has already been forced to slow down resupplying some troops. The warning from the Pentagon comptroller came in a letter sent to congressional leaders and was obtained by the Associated Press. It urges Congress to replenish funding for Ukraine.
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The White House has been in touch with allies and partners about continued funding for Ukraine and those conversations will continue, the White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday. Congress passed a stopgap bill on Saturday that extended government funding for more than a month and avoided a government shutdown but did not contain any new aid for Ukraine.
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Ukraine accused Elon Musk of encouraging Russian propaganda after the billionaire owner of X, posted a meme of Zelenskiy with the caption, “When it’s been five minutes and you haven’t asked for a billion dollars in aid.” “Any silence or irony towards Ukraine today is a direct encouragement of Russian propaganda that justifies mass violence and destruction,” presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak answered on the same platform.
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The Kremlin said it believed that fatigue with the Ukraine war would grow in the US and Europe, but that Washington would continue to be directly involved in the conflict. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, was commenting on athe US Congress decision to pass a stopgap funding bill that omitted aid for Kyiv.
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The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on Monday panned US military spending on Ukraine as “irrational”, stepping up criticism of the war effort as he urged Washington to devote more resources to helping Latin American countries. “So they do have to modify their strategy and learn respect. It’s not the time for them to ignore Mexican authorities,” Lopez Obrador said.
