Yahoo News Ukraine war: Putin says Russian people 'may not survive'
Vladimir Putin has said that Russian people may not survive in their current state as he claimed the West was trying to "disband" Russia.
The Russian president said the West wanted to divide up Russia and then control the world's biggest producer of raw materials, a step, he said, that could well lead to the destruction of many of the peoples of Russia including the ethnic Russian majority.
Putin's existential framing of the war allows the 70-year-old Kremlin chief to gird the Russian people for a much more deeper conflict while it also allows him much greater freedom in the types of weapons he could one day use.
"They [the West] have one goal: to disband the former Soviet Union and its fundamental part - the Russian Federation," the Russian leader told Rossiya 1 state television in an interview recorded on Wednesday but released on Sunday.
He added: "I do not even know if such an ethnic group as the Russian people will be able to survive in the form in which it exists today."
He said the West's plans had been put to paper, though did not specify where.
05:03 PM
That's all for today...
Here is a summary of what happened today.
Volodymr Zelensky has said that he will wear a suit when the war in Ukraine is over.
Vladimir Putin has said that Russian people may not survive in their current state as he claimed the West was trying to "disband" Russia.
Algeria will reopen its embassy in Kyiv one year after it was closed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Algerian state television said on Sunday citing a foreign ministry statement.
Ukraine's military said that Russia conducted unsuccessful offensives near Yahidne over the past day, after Russia's Wagner mercenary group claimed to have captured the village in eastern Ukraine near the focus on intense fighting.
Please follow again tomorrow for all the latest updates on Ukraine.
04:38 PM
Pictured: Zelensky meets Saudi foreign minister in Kyiv
04:35 PM
Analysis: Why China may consider arming Russia
The director of the CIA choosing to use the word “confident” to describe a US assessment that China is considering arming Russia should set alarm bells ringing throughout Ukraine and the West, writes Dominic Nicholls.
British security professionals in the intelligence community and other law-enforcement agencies use Whitehall’s “probability yardstick” to express a level of confidence in the information they are imparting. They have even attached figures to it.
Intelligence analysts say the likelihood of something happening is remote if they consider it to have less than a 5 per cent chance of occurring.
Read more from Dominic Nicholls here
03:42 PM
Pictured: A child sits on the canon of a tank destroyed by Ukrainian armed forces in Kyiv
02:59 PM
Any China lethal aid to Russia would come at real costs, says US
China has not moved toward providing lethal aid that would help Russia in its invasion of Ukraine and the United States has made clear behind closed doors that such a move would have serious consequences, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.
"Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance, but if it goes down that road, it will come at real costs to China," Sullivan said in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" program.
China has not moved forward in providing that aid, but neither has Beijing taken that option off the table, Sullivan said in a separate interview on ABC's "This Week" program.
US officials have warned their Chinese counterparts behind closed doors about what those costs might be, Sullivan said, but he would not elaborate on those private discussions.
02:55 PM
Why Taiwanese are volunteering to fight in Ukraine
When Tony Lu made the long journey from Taiwan to Ukraine just two weeks after war broke out, he planned to distribute relief supplies.
“As I handed out aid packs, I realised that I could contribute much more at the frontlines,” he said. “That’s where many people, like the elderly and young, needed the most help.”
Immediately, he signed up as a volunteer foreign fighter.
Read more from Sophia Yan here
02:10 PM
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has unleashed chaos in the West
A year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking a war that’s already killed or injured hundreds of thousands of victims, with no end in sight, writes Liam Halligan.
Military conflict is most obviously a human tragedy. But the related economic war between Russia and the West has meanwhile affected living standards across the world – not least in Britain.
One reason is that Russia has historically provided 40pc of the natural gas used across Western Europe while pumping 10pc of global oil consumption.
Read the full piece here
01:51 PM
MoD: 300 Ukrainian recruits joined by their British instructors on Friday for sunrise field service and minute's silence
On Friday, we marked one year since Russia’s invasion. 300 Ukrainian recruits were joined by their British instructors and international partners for a sunrise field service and a minute’s silence.
#StandWithUkrainepic.twitter.com/JWpLorbNCJ— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 26, 2023
01:48 PM
Russia stares into population abyss as Putin sends its young men to die
Dmitry Nechaev bought a one-way ticket from Moscow to Tel Aviv a year ago.
Two days into Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the 38-year-old businessman abandoned his apartment in the Russian capital and travelled to Israel, leaving his wife, children and dog behind.
Within days, Visa and Mastercard suspended their services in Russia, blocking his cards and preventing him from buying plane tickets for his family.
His wife had already got rid of many of their belongings in a fire sale, including their country house and camper van in a bid to raise cash quickly.
In the end, a few phone calls and a friend's bank account in the United Arab Emirates saved the day. The price of five one-way tickets from Russia to Israel for his family? $10,000. "Believe it or not, that was cheap," he says.
In Moscow, he sold high-end titanium bikes internationally. Now, he is making ends meet driving a van in Haifa, northern Israel.
Yet Nechaev is upbeat - he got out.
Read more from Szu Ping Chan here
01:02 PM
Zelensky: I will wear a suit again when the war is over
Volodymr Zelensky has said that he will wear a suit when the war in Ukraine is over.
The Ukrainian president told the BBC that he would revert back to a suit and tie after his country wins the war.
Shown pictures of himself in a suit and tie, he is asked about his change into military uniform after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
"It was very strange, my costume, the time changed and it was not comfortable to speak to people in such difficult situations and I wanted to say [to] them that I would support them and I will be here," he told Unspun World with John Simpson.
When asked if he could imagine a time he would go back to a tie and a suit, he laughed and replied: "Yes, of course, I know it."
He said maybe "after our victory, maybe the day of our victory. Maybe after this day."
12:46 PM
Pictured: A priest blesses Ukrainian servicemen
12:13 PM
China should be judged by its actions, not its words, says German defence minister
Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, on Sunday reacted with scepticism to a Chinese ceasefire proposal for the war in Ukraine.
"When I hear reports - and I don't know whether they are true - according to which China may be planning to supply kamikaze drones to Russia while at the same time presenting a peace plan, then I suggest we judge China by its actions and not its words," he told German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk in an interview.
11:40 AM
Algeria to reopen its embassy in Kyiv after one-year closure
Algeria will reopen its embassy in Kyiv one year after it was closed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Algerian state television said on Sunday citing a foreign ministry statement.
"This decision falls within the framework of preserving the interests of the Algerian state and the interests of the national community in this country," state TV quoted the foreign ministry statement as saying.
"The Algerian embassy in Kiev, which suspended its activities due to the deteriorating security situation in Ukraine, will be managed by the Chargé d'Affaires."
The embassy closed in March last year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
11:13 AM
Germany: No movement in Nato guarantees for Ukraine
There has been no development for months in the discussion of possible Nato security guarantees for Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said on Sunday.
"At the recent meeting of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron with Ukrainian leader Zelensky, this issue played no role at all," the spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement follows a recent report by The Wall Street Journal that said some of Nato's biggest European members are floating a defense pact with Ukraine.
11:04 AM
Pictured: A Ukrainian marine serviceman prepares to change position during a patrol in Vuhledar
10:43 AM
Emmanuel Macron announces China visit to increase pressure on Putin
Emmanuel Macron is to visit China in April in an attempt to convince Beijing to put pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
The French president’s announcement on Saturday came a day after China called for urgent peace talks and unveiled a 12 point plan to end the year-long war.
Several Western powers rebuffed the proposals for a “political settlement” to the crisis sparked by Russia’s illegal invasion and warned Beijing was too close to Moscow.
Read more from James Crisp, The Telegraph's Europe Editor, here
10:21 AM
Russian factories working overtime to make hi-tech weapons, claims Putin ally
Russia is expanding its defence production and introducing the “latest technologies” in its weapons factories, according to a key ally of Vladimir Putin.
It came amid further signs that Moscow is cosying up to Beijing, with Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, set to visit China in the coming days following reports that a drone deal may be under way.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, mocked Western intelligence reports that Moscow was running short of weapons and ammunition, and having to fall back on basic Cold War kit.
Read more from James Kilner here
10:06 AM
Comment: Stopping Moscow’s oil and gas exports is the route to victory in Ukraine
One year on from Vladimir Putin’s murderous invasion and nine years into Russia’s aggression, Ukraine stands strong, united and determined.
The Kremlin underestimated the bravery and heroism of the Ukrainian people.
Our whole nation is grateful to the British people, Government and Parliament for assisting our defence against Putin’s neo-imperialist regime.
This war has become a common fight for democratic values, rules-based order, sustainable peace and security.
Read more from Petro Poroshenko here
09:47 AM
Putin accuses Nato members of taking part in Ukraine conflict
Vladimir Putin has accused Nato members of taking part in the Ukraine conflict by donating arms to the country and said the West planned to break up Russia.
"They are sending tens of billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine. This really is participation," the Russian president said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 channel aired on Sunday.
"This means that they are taking part, albeit indirectly, in the crimes being carried out by the Kyiv regime," Putin said.
He said Western countries had "a single aim - to break up the former Soviet Union and its main part - the Russian Federation".
"Only then will they maybe accept us in the so-called family of civilised peoples but only separately, every part separately."
09:39 AM
Pictured: Demonstrators in Washington march in support of Ukraine during a rally
09:27 AM
Ukraine ‘strikes Russian ammunition depot in Mariupol’
Ukrainian forces blew up a Russian ammunition depot near Mariupol, a local official claimed on Saturday, a city previously considered too far behind the frontline to strike.
Social media channels reportedly showed large explosions lighting up the night sky above the occupied city.
Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the ousted Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, said that the explosions were the result of a Ukrainian attack on an ammunition store.
Read more from James Kilner here
09:26 AM
Ukraine military says Russian offensive near Yahidne unsuccessful
Ukraine's military said on Sunday that Russia conducted unsuccessful offensives near Yahidne over the past day, after Russia's Wagner mercenary group claimed to have captured the village in eastern Ukraine near the focus on intense fighting.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a morning update that Russia keeps concentrating its offensive efforts along the entire Bakhmut front line, were Yahidne is located.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary leader, said on Saturday his forces had captured Yahidne. On Friday, he had claimed control of Berkhivka, an adjacent village on the outskirts of Bakhmut.
But the Ukrainian bulletin said attacks were continuing, citing "unsuccessful offensives" near six settlements, including Yahidne and Berkhivka, in the Donetsk region, which Moscow claims to have annexed.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports of either side.
09:24 AM
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