The EU has reached an agreement on what should happen to the Russian central bank's assets frozen in Europe. New attacks on Ukraine with combat drones.

Consequences of the Russian drone attack on January 30 near Bila Tserkva, kyiv region Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/rtr

Russian funds for Ukraine

According to a source, EU states agreed to a first step towards using Russian money to rebuild Ukraine after the war. Representatives of the various EU member states have reached an agreement in principle to keep the Russian central bank's billions of euros in frozen assets in Europe, Belgian sources said on Monday. The unanimously agreed text will be reviewed legally and linguistically before its formal adoption.

The EU Commission is then likely to propose transferring the reserved money to the EU budget and, ultimately, transferring it to Ukraine. It was initially unclear when this would happen. Statements from the EU, Russia and Ukraine were not initially available. The EU, the United States, Japan and Canada froze around $300 billion in Russian central bank assets after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. About $200 billion of that figure is in Europe. Germany and France have already expressed concern about the plan outlined. The ECB has warned it could undermine confidence in the euro and destabilize global markets. (rtr)

Ukraine denounces Russian attacks with 35 combat drones

According to kyiv, Russia attacked Ukraine again on Tuesday night with dozens of combat drones. The Ukrainian Air Force announced this morning that 15 of a total of 35 drones could have been repelled in the regions of Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and kyiv, among others. The Russians also fired two S-300 anti-aircraft missiles converted for strikes in the eastern Donetsk region. According to authorities there, a fire broke out in Dnipropetrovsk after a drone attack. Initially there was no information about possible victims.

Russia, which has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for almost two years, has repeatedly bombed the neighboring country with drones and missiles. While the capital kyiv is relatively well equipped with air defense systems thanks to Western help, other Ukrainian regions are often much less capable of repelling attacks. (dpa)

Ukrainian drone attacks in Crimea and other regions

According to its own statements, Russian air defense repelled Ukrainian drone attacks on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and four other regions on Tuesday night. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said a total of 21 Ukrainian drones were shot down. In addition to Crimea, the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga and Tula regions were also affected. Only in the Crimean peninsula, in the Black Sea, 11 drones were intercepted. There was no information on damage or injuries.

This information could not be independently verified. In many cases it is later discovered that Ukrainian bombing has caused damage that is not officially reported. For the Russian army, Crimea is a starting point in the war of aggression against Ukraine. The supply of soldiers, weapons and ammunition runs throughout the peninsula. That is why Ukraine is trying to destroy Russian military targets in Crimea. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wants to take back the peninsula.

Russia has been waging a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine for almost two years. In its defense against Russian invasion, Ukraine repeatedly bombs Russian territory, both in the border region and in the interior. However, the number of victims and damage is disproportionate to the serious consequences of the war in Ukraine. (dpa)

The FDP and the Greens continue to urge Scholz to hand over the Taurus

The FDP and the Greens continue to urge Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. “We should quickly hand over the Taurus cruise missiles,” Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) told the Süddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday. Germany must “measure itself according to what we promised.” “And we promised that we would provide everything we could and what Ukraine needs,” Göring-Eckardt said. “Taurus is what we have and Ukraine needs now.”

The Green Party politician warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not stop conquering territory if he has the feeling that it is possible to annex swaths of land.” He would then also attack other places in Europe. “This particularly affects the Baltic countries,” said Göring-Eckardt. “But that ultimately puts us in danger, too.”

The leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Christian Dürr, told the newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that he considered it “sensible and correct to support Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles.” What Ukraine needs is military help to defend itself from Russia. “We must always be clear that in the fight against Putin, Ukraine is not only defending itself, but also the democratic values ​​and beliefs that we share,” Dürr added.

Scholz has been under pressure for months to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. On Sunday, regarding support to the country, he confirmed that it will continue to be provided “carefully” and “internationally coordinated.” There will still be no German “go it alone” approach. (afp)

Blinken: Without Ukraine's help, “everything” is in danger

The US government continues to try to dissuade opposition Republicans from blocking new aid to Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington that without additional U.S. help, “everything” Ukraine has achieved in the nearly two years since its inception of war is at risk.

If the US Congress does not approve new military aid for kyiv, this would send a “strong and false message to all of our adversaries that we are not serious about defending freedom and democracy,” Blinken said. It would reinforce Putin's belief that time is on his side.

The American president, Joe Biden, had already asked Congress in October for new aid for kyiv worth about 61 billion dollars (almost 56 billion euros). But Republicans have been blocking new military aid for months. (afp)

The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Hungary advise

Neighboring countries Ukraine and Hungary attempted to resolve issues in their strained relations at a meeting of foreign ministers. A “big step” was taken towards a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. This was announced on Monday by the head of Zelensky's presidential office, Andriy Yermak. He participated in the meeting between Foreign Ministers Dmytro Kuleba (Ukraine) and Peter Szijjarto (Hungary) in the city of Uzhhorod, western Ukraine.

“Both sides made it clear today that they are interested in a meeting at the level of the Hungarian prime minister and the Ukrainian president,” Yermak said, according to media reports. Aside from a brief exchange of words in Argentina, Orban and Zelensky have yet to meet. The Hungarian, who maintains good relations with Moscow, rejects arms deliveries to kyiv because they supposedly prolong the war. He is also against Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO and has tried several times to block EU aid.

The main issue between the foreign ministers was reportedly the rights of the Hungarian minority in western Ukraine. The Budapest government should create a list of all the questions on this matter, Kuleba said after the meeting. Then, a commission from both sides should present responses and proposed solutions, within “ten days,” as Kuleba said. (dpa)

The Ministry denies the dismissal of the commander in chief

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has denied reports of the dismissal of Commander-in-Chief Valery Saluzhny. “Dear journalists, we respond to everyone at the same time: that is not true,” the ministry said on Telegram in kyiv on Monday. Earlier, news had spread in the Ukrainian media that President Volodymyr Zelensky had fired Saluzhny; However, the corresponding decree has not yet been published. Zelensky's spokesman, Serhiy Nykyforov, also denied this: “This is not part of the discussion,” he said, according to the Ukrainian agency Interfax Ukraina.

Saluzhny, 50, became commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army a few months before the Russian invasion in February 2022. Under his command, Ukrainian troops resisted the invasion and even recaptured occupied territories. The general is considered popular among his soldiers and the population. That is why it was said that he had political ambitions, which he denied. (dpa)

Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant will become the largest in Europe

Ukraine plans to build four more reactors at the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant with Western help. “And with the power of six reactors, it will be the largest in Europe and even more powerful than the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Monday. Construction is scheduled to begin this year.

Therefore, reactors three and four will be of Soviet design, type VVER-1000. Two more of the American type AP-1000 from Westinghouse will be built. Altogether, the power plant would have a gross power of more than 6,200 megawatts. “We consider this as a mechanism to compensate for the capacities of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” the minister said.

At the same time, he stressed that the nuclear power plant located in the southeast of Ukraine will sooner or later return to Ukrainian control. “The question is in what condition we will recover it and whether we will be able to put it into operation immediately,” Halushchenko said. The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, consisting of six reactors, was occupied following the Russian invasion in March 2022. All reactors were closed for safety reasons.

With two Soviet-designed reactors, each with a gross power of 1,000 megawatts, the Khmelynzky nuclear power plant is the smallest of Ukraine's four nuclear power plants. It is about 180 kilometers from the Polish border. Before the Russian invasion almost two years ago, more than 50 percent of Ukraine's electricity production was based on nuclear power. kyiv periodically exports surplus electricity to the European Union. (dpa)