In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded deepening ties with Beijing during a visit by China’s top diplomat, who said the relationship between the two countries was “solid as a mountain” and would withstand turmoil.

The front line in the war has not moved despite Russian troops using an entire range of weapons against the Ukrainian army, including gas grenades in the Bakhmut, Lyman and Avdiyivka areas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Key developments

• Ukrainians are crowdfunding their defence from drones to mortar
• Putin says he is waiting for Xi amid China peace push on Ukraine
• India doesn’t want to call Russia’s war a ‘war’ at G-20
• EU urges countries to send Ukraine ammunition from own stocks
• Russia, South Africa, China to simulate air attacks in exercise
• Five charts showing impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

On the ground 

Russia is boosting the number of its troops along the main offensive axes near the eastern towns of Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Shakhtarsk, the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement on Facebook. Russian forces fired nine rockets over the past 24 hours, four of which hit the city of Kharkiv, according to the statement. There were also more than 20 attacks with multiple launch rocket systems and 10 strikes from Russian military jets.

Finland says it’s ready to join Nato without Sweden

Finland is set to join Nato if it gets the final ratifications for its membership bid, regardless of what progress Sweden has made toward joining the alliance, according to President Sauli Niinisto. At a briefing with the Swedish and Norwegian prime ministers, Niinisto said the matter is up to parliament — and if Turkey and Hungary sign off, “we will become members of Nato”.

Finland’s Parliament has moved ahead with the accession process, raising questions over whether the country would move forward in joining the alliance without Sweden, whose bid continues to be blocked by Turkey.

Spain to send six battle tanks to Ukraine 

The Spanish government plans to deliver six Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine between March and April as part of a European effort to bolster the nation’s arsenal, Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Wednesday. The older Leopard 2 A-4 models need to be repaired — and the government is prepared to send more, Robles told reporters in Parliament.

India doesn’t want to call Russia’s war a ‘war’ at G20 

Indian officials hosting Group of 20 finance chiefs this week are seeking to avoid using the word“war” in any joint statement when referring to Russia’s invasion, a person familiar with the matter said.

That would mark a departure from a consensus reached by leaders in Bali in November. The person said using words like “crisis” would be more acceptable. Officials in India are also worried that any plans by some nations to impose additional sanctions on Russia will draw attention from the other priorities of the G20 meetings, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

Biden says Putin made ‘big mistake’ in suspending treaty

Biden said Putin made a “big mistake” in suspending participation in the New Start nuclear treaty, his first direct response to the announcement. The US president made the brief remark ahead of a meeting of the so-called Bucharest Nine in the Polish capital, Warsaw.

In response to a shouted question from the press, Biden grinned and said he didn’t have time to discuss his response to Putin’s announcement. “Big mistake,” he added as he walked into the meeting.

Biden in Warsaw reinforces Nato’s collective defence commitment

Biden, meeting with nine eastern European leaders who have been vocal in backing Ukraine, reinforced the US commitment to help defend any Nato member state that comes under attack, embedded in the military alliance’s Article 5.

“Article 5 is a sacred commitment the United States has made,” Biden told leaders in Warsaw. “We will defend literally every inch of Nato, every inch of Nato.”

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, also present at the meeting, warned that the Russian leader “is not preparing for peace; on the contrary, he is preparing for more war”.

Putin says Russia is fighting on its ‘historical borders’  

“Right now there is a battle on our historical borders for our people,” Putin told tens of thousands of people at a concert in Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium in support of troops fighting in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Putin led a chant of “Russia” from a stage at the stadium that hosted the 2018 World Cup soccer final. The televised rally was held on the eve of a public holiday in Russia, the “Defender of the Fatherland”, a title Putin said carried “mystical and holy” significance for the country.

Switzerland ramps up humanitarian aid to Ukraine

Switzerland plans to increase humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Moldova by 140 million francs ($151-million), the government said.

The country has so far allocated around 1.3 billion francs to aid measures, with about one billion francs going towards hosting refugees. More than 75,000 Ukrainians have sought refugee status in Switzerland, and about 25,000 people are still being hosted by private individuals.

Polish premier tells Hungarian president solidarity with Ukraine needed

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told Hungarian President Katalin Novak during a visit to Warsaw that solidarity with Ukraine is necessary to end the conflict. “The war in Ukraine is the most important topic that needs to be discussed,” Morawiecki said in a statement after the meeting.

Hungary and Poland have backed each other for years as they defied the EU over the rule of law. But the friendship soured after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban refused to make a clean break with Putin following the invasion.

Putin awaiting Xi amid China peace push on Ukraine

Putin said he was waiting for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to visit Russia. Cooperation between Russia and China is “very important for stabilising the international situation”, Putin told Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi at talks in Moscow, asking him to pass on greetings to “my friend” Xi. Russia and China are reaching “new milestones” including in trade, which may grow to $200-billion sooner than their goal of 2024, Putin said.

“The current international situation is indeed critical and complex but the relationship between China and Russia is solid as a mountain and can stand the test of international risks,” Wang replied, adding that the “strategic” ties between Moscow and Beijing won’t be subject to pressure from any third parties.

More Ukrainians want Zelensky elected to second term

Zelensky should be elected to a second term as Ukrainian president, according to 65% of respondents in a poll conducted this month by pollster Rating Group. That’s a jump over the leader’s prewar backing, when only 20% supported a second term as of October 2021.

The number who say Zelensky should leave office dropped to 25% from 43% in 2021. The Ukrainian president is trusted by 59% of those polls, compared with 14% a month before the invasion.

Russia, South Africa, China to simulate air attacks in naval exercise

The navies of Russia, China and South Africa will conduct manoeuvres, including simulated air attacks on ships and liberating hostages from pirates, in 10 days of exercises off the African country’s coast. The participants will also fire artillery in the manoeuvres, the “active portion” of which will take place from February 25-27, Russia’s Interfax quoted the country’s Northern Fleet as saying.

The exercises, known as Mosi II, have been criticised by some of South Africa’s biggest trade partners, including the US and the EU, which have questioned the timing of the exercises a year after the invasion of Ukraine started. Those countries have already been irked by South Africa’s abstention from United Nations resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion.

Scholz plans talks with Putin again soon

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is planning another telephone conversation with Putin “soon”, according to his chief spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit.

“I would dampen expectations though as we’re doing so even though we know that it often has little chance of success,” Hebestreit said at the regular government news conference in Berlin. Scholz is convinced of the importance of keeping channels open to Putin even if there is no sign currently of an imminent change of policy in the Kremlin regarding the war on Ukraine, Hebestreit added.

Germany-Ukraine trade declined less than expected 

Although trade flows between Germany and Ukraine declined by almost 7% last year, that was a smaller drop than expected and business has been recovering since the late autumn, according to a Berlin-based lobby group that promotes commercial ties with eastern Europe and central Asia.

German companies in Ukraine had maintained or quickly restored production wherever possible, Michael Harms, the managing director of the East Commission, said by email. German firms were also intensively involved in restoring destroyed infrastructure and the long-term reconstruction of the country, Harms said.

“Exports to Russia fell by 45% in 2022, to the lowest level in two decades,” Harms said. “However, the drastic losses were more than offset by double-digit increases in exports to other markets.”

Ukrainian finance minister to address G7 counterparts

Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko will make a video address and have discussions with Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank chiefs at their meeting Thursday, Deputy Minister Olha Zykova said on the We-Ukraine TV channel. She said Ukraine expected to obtain information about the funding the country can receive as additional financial aid this year.

German tech lobby warns on cyber attacks 

Germany could experience a sharp increase in Russian cyber attacks should the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine escalate further, according to the head of the country’s technology lobby Bitkom.

As well as digital attacks, the possibility of physical sabotage of cables or IT hardware must also be considered, Bitkom President Achim Berg was quoted as saying by the Handelsblatt newspaper. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also warned of an increased threat from espionage, disinformation and cyberattacks instigated by Russia, the paper reported.

Wagner head deepens feud with Russian Defence Ministry over munitions

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, continued a dispute with Russia’s Defence Ministry over ammunition supplies, saying his fighters receive only 20% of their needs in battles with Ukrainian troops at Bakhmut and claiming that top military leaders were trying to “destroy” his organisation.

The Defence Ministry had earlier called his criticisms about supplies “absolutely untrue” in a statement on Telegram that listed deliveries of artillery and ammunition to Russian assault units in recent days.

Prigozhin, a close ally of Putin, dismissed the ministry’s claims as “a spit at the Wagner Group” in an audio file on Telegram that accused Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and head of the army Valery Gerasimov of “actions comparable to state treason.” He has repeatedly criticised Russia’s military chiefs for failings in the conduct of the war.

How ordinary Ukrainians are crowdfunding a war

Despite a ravaged economy, businesses, civic groups and citizens in Ukraine are helping replenish arms on the front and boost morale. In Bloomberg’s Big Take story for Wednesday, Marc Champion and Daryna Krasnolutska look at how crowdfunding is helping raise money for everything from drones to mortars to covering costs for military training, medical supplies and the design of apps to calculate artillery trajectories.

Though smaller in scale than Ukraine’s defence budget or weaponry sent by its allies, the domestic aid fills supply gaps on a fast-moving battlefield that the army can’t, either for lack of money or an excess of bureaucratic procedures. It allows arms manufacturers to improve weapons systems in response to experience on the battlefield, something that procurement rules make more complicated for the Defence Ministry.

Read more: Ukrainians are crowdfunding their defence, from drones to mortars

Russia’s invasion seen as a war on Europe, survey shows

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no longer seen as a war in Europe as was the case last summer, but as a war on Europe, according to an international public opinion survey published by the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.

The prevailing view in Europe (44% in the UK, and 38% across nine EU countries) is now that Ukraine needs to regain all of its territory, even if it means a longer war, the survey showed. The survey used data from nine EU states as well as the UK, Russia, China, India and Turkey.

No Russian ICBM test while Biden was in Kyiv: US official  

There was no intercontinental ballistic missile test by Russia while Biden was in Kyiv, according to a US defence official. The US was properly notified before Biden’s visit to Kyiv was public. Russia provided advance notice of this launch under its New Start treaty obligations that it planned to test this missile, the official said. Such testing is routine and was not a surprise and the US did not deem the test a threat to it or its allies, the official added.

CNN reported earlier that Russia conducted an ICBM test while Biden was in Ukraine on Monday that appears to have failed, citing two unnamed US officials familiar with the matter.

Russia could mobilise a million more troops — Germany 

Russia has the potential to mobilise as many as one million more troops for its war on Ukraine, according to the head of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence service.

“Last fall, around 300,000 people were mobilised and recruited; some of them are still being trained, some of them have already been introduced into the fray,” BND President Bruno Kahl was quoted as saying by Germany’s RND media group. “Russia’s further mobilisation potential is a reservoir of up to a million men, if that is deemed necessary in the Kremlin,” Kahl said, adding that he currently sees no willingness on the part of Putin to engage in peace talks.

Zelensky says front line unchanged despite pressure  

Russian troops were using an entire range of weapons against the Ukrainian army, including gas grenades in the Bakhmut, Lyman and Avdiyivka areas, but despite all the pressure on Ukrainian forces, the front line had not changed, Zelensky said in his regular night address. “We are doing our best to deter enemy attacks there – constant intense assaults, which Russia does not stop, even though it suffers huge losses there,” he said. DM