The head of the European Parliament pledged support for Ukraine’s membership of the bloc. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU fully backed Ukraine’s “peace formula” and that the bloc would propose a 10th sanctions package against Russia in the coming days.

Russia said it had started talks in Moscow with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi focused on the establishment of a safety zone around the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant occupied by Kremlin forces.

Key developments

• Russia’s biggest wartime dealmaker feasts on foreign firm exits
• Russia blames US for Nord Stream blasts, threatens consequences
• Russian rate intrigue builds before Friday 
• Rheinmetall in talks to supply Ukraine with Panther battle tanks
• EU urged to make banks report size of frozen Russian assets
• G7 mulls sanctioning Chinese firms for aiding Russia’s military

On the ground

Russian forces have begun “their next major offensive” in the Luhansk region, the Institute for the Study of War said. The pace of Russian operations along the Svatove-Kreminna line in western Luhansk had increased markedly over the past week with the army “making marginal advances” along the Kharkiv-Luhansk region border. Russia was boosting troop numbers, with the seizure of Donbas remaining its main goal at the front lines, Ukrainian Intelligence representative Andriy Yusov said in a televised interview. Russian strikes from other directions were also possible, but might be mainly a bid “to distract or withdraw the Ukrainian forces and means”, he said.

EU urged to make banks report size of frozen Russian assets  

The EU should consider requiring banks to report details on the value of frozen Russian central bank assets if it wants to use sanctioned funds to help pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction, according to the bloc’s lawyers.

The EU’s legal service said the bloc’s laws would permit it to invest the frozen assets and use the proceeds to help Kyiv, but officials must first get a handle on the scale of assets that have been immobilised, according to a document shared this week with member states.

Russia ready to implement safety plan for Zaporizhzhia plant

Russia is ready to continue work on implementing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) initiative to create a safety zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the nuclear energy company Rosatom said on its Telegram channel.

Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev met IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi in Moscow on Thursday to discuss safety at the facility, which has been occupied by Russian forces for almost a year.

Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has come under sporadic shelling that Russia and Ukraine have blamed on each other, resulting in a series of urgent warnings from the UN atomic agency about the dangers of a catastrophe.

Ukraine CPI in surprise decline 

Ukraine’s annual inflation rate unexpectedly slowed last month to 26% year-on-year despite fears that Russia’s air strikes would drive up the cost of energy production. Inflation ebbed slightly from 26.6% in the year to December, data released by the State Statistics Office on Thursday show. Prices for eggs, fruit and fuel were among the main drivers.

Zelensky got no commitment on fighter jets, says EC spokesperson

European leaders made clear to Zelensky that they were willing to provide more military aid to Ukraine, but no one had so far committed to providing fighter jets, an EU official said.

Ukraine’s president was expected to have meetings with small groupings of European leaders on Thursday afternoon of as long as 30 minutes each before departing.

Medvedev says Russia should turn out ‘thousands of tanks’

Russia should upgrade and produce “thousands of tanks” in response to countries providing armour to Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of President Vladimir Putin’s security council, said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

“Our adversary begged for planes, missiles, tanks abroad. What should we do in response? It’s clear that it’s natural for us to increase the production of arms and military equipment, including modern tanks,” Medvedev, a former Russian president, said during a visit to a tank factory in Omsk.

Zelensky will ask EU leaders for fighter jets

At a European Union summit in Brussels, Zelensky said he would ask EU leaders to provide Ukraine with fighter jets to beat back Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s leader urged expanded sanctions against Putin’s regime, including against missile and drone production.

“We are close to a decision on long-range weapons and the training of our pilots,” Zelensky said. “I do not want to go into details and prepare the Russian Federation, which threatens aggression and revengeful attitudes on the battlefield.”

Zelensky calls for Russian drone, missile sanctions 

Ukraine’s president urged the EU to speed up the delivery of weapons to Kyiv and said Ukraine needed EU membership this year. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Ukraine’s efforts on advancing toward the EU — typically a yearslong process — as “impressive”.

Zelensky called for Western sanctions “against the Russian missile and drone industry — against the industry that provides Russian terror”.

Von der Leyen said the EU would propose in the coming days its 10th sanctions package against Russia since the invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago. European Council President Charles Michel commended Ukraine’s impressive reform progress.

Ukraine PM meets with JPMorgan on ‘investment environment’  

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal tweeted that he’d met representatives of JPMorgan about the “favourable investment environment” that Ukraine is creating, including in the areas of energy, natural resources and digital technologies.

Rheinmetall in talks to supply Ukraine with Panther tanks and Lynx vehicles

Germany’s Rheinmetall is in talks to supply Ukraine with its most sophisticated battle tanks and fighting vehicles, said chief executive officer Armin Papperger.

“Ukraine is interested in the Lynx and the Panther, which are currently the most modern infantry fighting vehicle and battle tank,” Papperger was quoted as saying on Thursday by the Handelsblatt newspaper.

Ukraine’s future is in the EU, says European Parliament president

Ukraine needs to be granted the fastest possible accession process to join the EU, the president of the European Parliament said during a visit made by Zelensky to Brussels.

“Ukraine is Europe and your nation’s future is in the European Union,” Roberta Metsola told legislators, pledging the Parliament’s support for Ukraine’s membership.

“We know the sacrifice your people have endured and we must honour it not only with words but with actions,” she said, adding that Ukraine needed funds and help for the reconstruction effort, as well as military training and equipment such as fighter jets.

Meloni critical of Macron’s dinner invitation to Zelensky  

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni dubbed French President Emmanuel Macron’s dinner invitation to Zelensky as “inappropriate” as the European Union should show unity in its support of Ukraine. “Our strength is community and sticking together,” Meloni told reporters before an EU summit.

Meloni’s remarks come as Italian media reported she was left out of the Paris dinner on Wednesday, also attended by Germany’s Olaf Scholz, due to a diplomatic spat with Macron on migration.

Macron told reporters in response to Meloni’s remarks that France and Germany have a special role in supporting Ukraine, and that it was up to Zelensky to choose the format he preferred.

Russia blames US for Nord Stream blasts

Russia blamed the US for blasts that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines and warned of a response, after US investigative journalist Seymour Hersch published an article alleging the Biden administration had attacked the gas transportation network.

“Our assumption was that the US and several Nato allies were involved in this disgusting crime,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow. He threatened unspecified “consequences” for Washington, state news service RIA Novosti reported.

Scholz chides allies over battle tanks

Chancellor Scholz hinted at his frustration with some allies who he said “pointed the finger” at Germany over supplying weapons to Ukraine, but had yet to commit to a plan to provide the government in Kyiv with battle tanks.

“Germany is making a very central contribution to ensuring that we provide rapid support,” he told reporters before the EU summit. “We are now trying to ensure that many others who have come forward in the past by pointing their fingers now also follow up with concrete action.”

Estonia urges allies to send fighter jets to Ukraine

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas urged other countries to give fighter jets to Ukraine. “It’s my plea that everyone should do what they can because the price goes up with every hesitation, every delay,” she told reporters on arrival for a summit in Brussels. Kallas urged for more sanctions.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also called for more sanctions on companies including Rosatom and targeting the diamonds sector and more banks. This “would help to have more impact on the Russian economy,” he said.

Wagner group ‘stops hiring convicts’ to fight in Ukraine 

Russia’s Wagner private military company has “completely stopped” recruiting convicts from the country’s jails, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a Telegram post, without explanation.

The mercenary group started hiring prisoners last summer, offering them early release from their sentences in return for completing a six-month contract to fight in Ukraine. The US estimated in December that Wagner had as many as 40,000 convicts deployed in Ukraine as well as 10,000 of its regular contractors.

Mud season in eastern Ukraine to peak in March, says UK  

Limitations to cross-country mobility in eastern Ukraine are likely to be at their highest in mid- to late March, the UK defence ministry said.

“Commanders on both sides will highly likely seek to avoid scheduling major offensives at such times,” the UK added.

Ukraine has said it expects a renewed Russian attack this month. Conditions on the ground may be overridden by political considerations in terms of timing, the ministry said.

US aid is open-ended, for now, says Biden

President Joe Biden said that US assistance to Zelensky’s government was open-ended for now and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “already lost Ukraine”.

In a wide-ranging interview with Judy Woodruff on PBS NewsHour on Wednesday night, Biden added that he was proud that “I’ve been able to unite Nato completely” since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began nearly a year ago.

“There is no way Putin is going to be able to — he’s already lost Ukraine,” Biden said in the interview, which took place a day after his second State of the Union Address. In that speech, he called Putin’s invasion “a test for the ages, a test for America, a test for the world”. DM