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The latest developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. All times EST.
10:02 p.m.: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he had not seen a peace plan promised by China but wanted to meet with Beijing over their proposal before assessing it.
Beijing has promised to publish its "political solution" to the Ukraine conflict this week, in time for the first anniversary of Russia's February 24 invasion of its neighbor.
Beijing has sought to position itself as a neutral party in the conflict, while maintaining close ties with strategic ally Russia.
"I think it is a very good fact in general that China started talking about Ukraine and sent some signals," Zelenskyy said.
"We'll draw some conclusions after we see the specifics of what they offer. ... We would like to have a meeting with China."
9:41 p.m.: European Union countries on Thursday failed to agree on a new set of sanctions against Russia, missing a planned deadline to have them in place for the one-year anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on Friday, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
The 27 EU countries need to agree unanimously to introduce sanctions. The sources said Poland was blocking the package over proposed exemptions to a ban on EU imports of Russian synthetic rubber.
Polish diplomats said the exemptions were so big they would render the sanctions ineffective. Other sources said the exemptions were proposed to accommodate Italy, backed by Germany.
Representatives of the member states were to meet again Friday morning to try seal a deal, according to the sources.
The new package comprises trade curbs worth about $10.58 billion, targets more Russian banks and what the West says are propagandists, as well as blacklisting individuals linked to Iran's production of drones used by Russia against Ukraine.
8:39 p.m.: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday during a visit to Kyiv that he hoped to send 10 Leopard tanks to Ukraine in the coming months.
Speaking to reporters alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sanchez said Spain was sending six Leopard tanks now and hoped to send four later, Agence France-Presse reported.
Zelenskyy praised the Spanish prime minister for visiting the war-torn country for a second time since Russia invaded it in February last year.
"I hope that this start of Ukrainian-Spanish cooperation will be followed by other decisions that will allow us to liberate our homeland as soon as possible," he said.
"Ukrainian soldiers are already learning how to operate these (Leopard) tanks in Spain," Zelenskyy added.
7:52 p.m.: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused the West on Thursday of using Ukraine to try to break up Russia, the world's largest country by territory, but he said any such attempt would fail, Reuters reported.
Shoigu, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, made the comments in a congratulatory message to the armed forces at a concert in central Moscow to mark Russia's "Defender of the Fatherland" public holiday.
"Using Ukraine, the collective West is seeking to dismember Russia, to deprive it of its independence. These attempts are doomed to fail," Shoigu said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.
His comments echoed similar statements from Putin and chime with the Kremlin's preferred narrative that portrays Moscow's invasion of Ukraine as a pre-emptive strike that was essential to protect Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine and Russia's own national security.
7:20 p.m.: Russian oil export revenues are set to rise in March as falling freight rates and strong demand pushes Russian oil prices toward the $60 per barrel Western price cap, based on traders' and Reuters' calculations, challenging the view that the mechanism was increasing pressure on Moscow.
The European Union, G-7 countries and Australia introduced a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil starting December 5, aiming to curb Russia's ability to finance the war in Ukraine.
However, the latest Russian oil pricing figures, as assessed by traders, suggest Russian exporters are collecting only 20-25% less for their crude than U.S. exporters for similar types of oil.
Reuters calculations based on market data show Urals prices for crude oil loading in early March rose to around $55 per barrel at Baltic ports versus $39-$45 in January, excluding the cost of shipping and insurance.
In comparison, a similar type of crude sold in a U.S. port on similar conditions would generate around $65-69 per barrel.
6:31 p.m.: U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth spoke Thursday morning with the Defense Writers Group and was asked about the process of getting Ukraine U.S.-made M1 Abrams tanks.
Wormuth said the Army is still in the process of developing options for how to do that, to be presented to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin said Wormuth made these key points:
- US M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine is "not going to be a matter of weeks”
- "There are longer timelines involved. … But I think there are options that are less than two years, less than a year and a half."
- The exact timeframe is "still to be determined" ... there are some options that could allow the tanks to get to Kyiv "by the end of the year," but needs for recovery vehicles, ammunition, training also have to be taken into consideration
- "We're looking at options ... they have pros and cons" Wormuth said. "Some could presumably get tanks to the Ukrainians more quickly but might disrupt relations w/important allies and partners. … We're looking at what's the fastest way."
- "You can build the tanks from scratch, for example, as we're doing for the Poles" she noted. "There are countries that we've sold tanks to previously."
5:42 p.m.: Estonia's defense "starts from Ukraine," the Baltic state's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Thursday in an interview with Agence France-Presse on the eve of the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We see clearly that our defense right now starts also from Ukraine because Ukraine is fighting with the same threat... So as long as they are fighting there, they are weakening the same enemy as we have," Kallas said.
"If this aggression pays off in Ukraine, then it serves as an invitation to use it elsewhere," Kallas said.
Estonia, an ex-Soviet country of 1.3 million people, is one of the major donors to Ukraine, having recently said it would increase its military support to the war-torn country to more than 1% of its gross domestic product.
4:57 p.m.: The United States will announce new economic sanctions against Russia and more support for Ukraine on Friday, a year after President Vladimir Putin ordered the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the White House said.
"The United States will implement sweeping sanctions against key sectors that generate revenue for Putin," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday, Agence France-Presse said.
Ukraine will dominate a virtual summit of the G-7 countries Friday — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — that will also be joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Among specific targets of the sanctions will be banks and entities that help Moscow evade the waves of sanctions already imposed in the wake of its February 24, 2022 invasion.
The United States will target Russian banks and the defense industry, as well as "actors in third party countries that are attempting to backfill and evade our sanctions," Jean-Pierre said.
4 p.m.: British police said Thursday they have arrested four people after protesters painted a giant Ukrainian flag on the road outside the Russian Embassy in London, The Associated Press reported.
The campaign group Led By Donkeys said they painted the 500-square-meter blue and yellow flag to mark one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. It said activists wanted to remind Russian President Vladimir Putin that "Ukraine is an independent state and a people with every right to self-determination."
The group said activists safely halted cars before pouring 160 liters of paint on the road. Vehicles then spread the paint in both directions to create the flag, it said.
London's Metropolitan Police said officers arrested three men and a woman on suspicion of criminal damage and obstructing the highway. They remained in custody.
3:15 p.m.: China's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dai Bing told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday that one year into the Ukraine war "brutal facts offer an ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace," according to Reuters.
"Adding fuel to the fire will only exacerbate tensions. Prolonging and expanding the conflict will only make ordinary people pay an even heftier price," he said. "We stand ready to continue playing a constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis, and bring about peace at an early date."
Western powers have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in weapons since Russia invaded. The United States and NATO have accused China of considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing against such a move.
China has dismissed the accusations saying that the United States was in no position to make demands of Beijing.
2:22 p.m.: The United Nations is expected to vote Thursday on a resolution demanding Russia withdraw troops from Ukraine one year after invading the country.
While non-binding, the vote will lay out the extent of support for Kyiv around the world as the war grinds on with Russia occupying large chunks of Ukraine and both sides gearing up for intensified fighting in the spring.
"Russia can and must stop, tomorrow," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on the second day of debate, endorsing the resolution, according to Agence France-Presse.
"Next year, we should not meet here to mark the second anniversary of this senseless war of aggression," said Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, also in support of the resolution.
1:15 p.m.: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that Washington is seeking to strengthen sanctions against Russia and called for more support for Ukraine as it resists Moscow’s invasion.
She was speaking in India’s technology hub of Bengaluru, where finance leaders of the Group of 20 leading economies have gathered to discuss challenges such as high debt and inflation that confront many low-income countries. She made her comments one day before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“As [U.S.] President [Joe] Biden has said, we will stand with Ukraine in its fight – for as long as it takes,” she told a news conference ahead of the G-20 meeting.
Yellen, who called Russia’s war in Ukraine a “strategic failure for the Kremlin,” said that American military and economic assistance is making it possible for Ukraine to resist the invasion and that “continued and robust” support for the embattled country will be a major topic of discussion during the G-20 meeting.
Anjana Pasricha has more on this story.
12:05 p.m.: The war in Ukraine must bring an end to "a cycle of Russian aggression" that goes back much further than the invasion Moscow launched a year ago, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters on Thursday.
In an interview with Reuters on the eve of the first anniversary of Moscow's attack, Stoltenberg said the invasion was part of a pattern that included Russian military action in Georgia in 2008 and Donbas and Crimea in Ukraine in 2014.
"We don't know when the war will end. But what we do know is that when the war ends, we need to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself," Stoltenberg said.
"We need to ensure that we break the cycle of Russian aggression. We need to prevent Russia from chipping away at European security," he told Reuters at NATO's glass-walled headquarters on the outskirts of Brussels.
He said this meant ensuring that "Ukraine has the military capabilities, the strength to deter further aggression."
11:15 a.m.: A two-day meeting of the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has kicked off in Vienna amid harsh criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine and a boycott by Ukraine's delegation on the eve of the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion, RFE/RL reported.
Austria granted visas to several Russian delegates to attend the meeting as it started on Thursday, despite calls by dozens of countries for Moscow's envoys to be banned from the Vienna-based OSCE, prompting widespread criticism, including from senior U.S. lawmakers.
Ukraine and Lithuania are boycotting the gathering of representatives from the 57-member pan-European security body, which started one day before the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that started the deadliest and most devastating conflict in Europe since World War II.
It was the first time that members of the Russian State Duma have journeyed to the European Union in an official capacity since being sanctioned for supporting the war, notably by voting in favor of seizing the four Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.
9:59 a.m.: Ukrainian forces repelled scores of Russian attacks in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk over the previous day, Kyiv said on Thursday, RFE/RL reported, as Moscow's full-scale invasion approached the one-year mark.
Russia launched artillery barrages on Bakhmut, Lyman, Avdiyivka, and Shakhtarsk in Donetsk, as well as on Kupyansk, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said in its daily report.
"During the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military repelled about 90 attacks by Russian forces in five directions [in the Donetsk region], where they are concentrating their main offensive efforts, the General Staff said.
The Donetsk city of Bakhmut, which Russian troops have been trying to capture since July, remains the epicenter of the battle for the Donbas, with Moscow's forces launching a fresh offensive to take the city last month.
8:38 a.m.: Ukraine's central bank unveiled a commemorative banknote on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of Russia's invasion, with one side depicting three soldiers raising the national flag, Reuters reported.
The other side of the 20-hryvnia ($0.54) note features an image of two hands tied with tape, an apparent allusion to alleged war crimes Kyiv has accused Russian forces of committing in Ukraine. Moscow has denied the allegations.
"To mark the anniversary of the war, we decided to launch a commemorative banknote which will depict on a small piece of paper a year of emotions, patterns, content and iconic things," Andriy Pyshnyi, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, said during a presentation at the central bank in Kyiv.
7:12 a.m.: Finland announced Thursday a $169 million aid package for Ukraine that includes three Leopard 2 tanks.
Finland’s defense ministry said in a statement that the tanks are equipped for de-mining, and that the aid package includes training for their use and maintenance.
The announcement comes a day after Spain said it would send six of its own Leopard 2A4 tanks.
The German-made tanks are part of a wave of tanks being sent to Ukraine after Ukrainian officials requested them in order to better match up with Russian forces.
Germany initially resisted authorizing the transfers amid concerns about escalating the conflict but has told allies that have the tanks they are free to send them to Ukraine.
5:18 a.m.: The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in its latest Ukraine assessment that Ukrainian intelligence officials believe Russia lacks the combat power and resources necessary to sustain its new offensive operations in Ukraine.
Russian forces continued to conduct ground attacks throughout the Donetsk Oblast front line and made marginal advances around Bakhmut. They're also likely attempting to amp up their offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Lyman line.
4:28 a.m.: Reuters reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia will continue to focus on boosting it nuclear forces. Putin spoke Thursday, which is the Defender of the Fatherland public holiday in Russia. It's also a day before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
3:10 a.m.: Reuters reported that Britain might offer Ukraine more of its main battle tanks in addition to the 14 it's already promised.
2:05 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said the Bakhmut sector has seen continued heavy fighting. Russia's been trying to encircle the area for the past six weeks, but Ukraine has managed to keep resupply routes open. Russia, the update said, is probably preparing another offensive around Vuhledar. It's unlikely, however, that Russia has a striking force capable of a breakthrough, the update concluded.
1:07 a.m.: The Kyiv Independent, citing The Wall Street Journal, said that the Biden administration may release intelligence it believes shows that China is considering supplying Russia with weapons for its war in Ukraine.
12:02 a.m.: Reuters reported that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres mentioned Moscow's threats to use nuclear weapons, saying "it is high time to step back from the brink." The comments came at a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly marking the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Some information in this report came from Reuters.
