Photo : Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg
Photo : Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg
War in Ukraine: Day 712
By Padmashree Anandhan
War on the Ground
On 05 February, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s President during his daily address indicated dismissing one of the top military officers. He hinted: “a reset, a new beginning is necessary,” without mentioning a single name but working towards a larger replacement of state leaders. He added: “If we want to win we must all push in the same direction, convinced of victory, we cannot be discouraged…” The statement comes as tensions brim between Zelenskyy and Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over increased demand for ammunition, personnel shortage and a failed counteroffensive. A new round of mobilisation has been one of the mismatched topics.
On the same day, Zelenskyy proposed to Ukraine’s parliament to continue the martial law and mobilisation for 90 days more. The law was first declared on 24 February 2024 and has been extended till now. Under the martial law, men aged between 18 and 60 with few exceptions will not be allowed to exit Ukraine and can be called for military service.
On 05 February, the Kyiv Independent reported on total of nine attacks across Ukraine killing one civilian and injuring five. According to the report, 36 attacks were launched in Kherson oblast damaging residential zones, similarly 18 attacks were observed in Kharkiv, and across Donetsk, Avdiivka, “Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Sumy, and Mykolaiv oblasts.” Although no casualties were recorded.
The Moscow View
Claims by Russia
On 05 February, Denis Manturov, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister issued a statement confirming the expected increase in the drone supply to Russian military in 2024. According to Manturov, Russia also intends to spend USD 1.1 billion for research and development to produce more drones in next three years. He said: “The range of products is very wide, from heavy unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs] to first-person view [FPV] drones.” He also highlighted how this industry would be one the important areas to “build competencies and production volumes.”
On 05 February, Russia has tagged two US based journalists, writer Tom Rogan and chief editor Hugo Gurdon as “extremists and terrorists.” According to Russia’s federal financial monitoring service, a criminal case has been filed against for writing “Bombing the bridge would thus be a very personal rebuke to Putin’s ambitions and his propaganda narrative,” which was considered as a trigger to terrorism. Apart from them 29 more have been labelled the same.
The West View
Reponses from the US and Europe
On 05 February, the Netherlands government announced sending six more F-16 fighter jets apart from the 18 pledged to Ukraine after the cancelled plan on sale of the aircraft to private company. Kajsa Ollongren, Netherlands’ Defence Minister said: “Ukraine's 's aerial superiority is essential for countering Russian aggression.”
On 05 February, Donald Trump, former US President along with the Republicans leaders jointly condemned the deal proposed in the Senate to aid migration, Ukraine and Israel. They called it a “waster of time” and “dead on arrival,” and Trump rejected the aid against immigration while other republicans called the border deal to be concerning. Whereas Mitch McConnell, Senate’s Republican leader and Chuck Schumer, Senate’s Democratic leader supported the bill worth USD 118.3 billion. There is also opposition rising from "progressive democrats" such as Alex Padilla. While the division persists in the US over the bill, first round of procedural vote is schedule for 07 February.
On 05 February, the French government held talks with Russia’s ambassador over killing of two French belonging to non-governmental organisations in Ukraine. The French workers were killed on 01 February in a Russian strike near the front line in the north of Dnipro River. In response to the killing Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation called it a “tragedy” and blamed France for triggering the conflict in Ukraine through supply of weapons.
On 05 February, UK’s Ministry of Defence reported on Russia’s limitation in achieving its revenue target for 2024. It suggested Russian government on considering other policy measures to manage its public spending to meet the target citing Russia’s plan to increase its spending by 26 per cent. The ministry predicted the set spending per cent to be emerging from an expectation of 22 per cent increase in revenue and 25 per cent growth in oil and gas revenue. For Russia to meet the revenue target, it recommended cutting of “contribution to National Welfare Fund and increase its domestic taxes and debt to finance Russia’s public spending.” It warned over the medium to long term economic effects from inflation and fund used towards invasion in Ukraine. According to the report, Moscow had spent more than USD 100 billion on its military in 2023 and in 2024 the defence budget is expected to increase 70 per cent more than 2023.
References
“Zelenskyy confirms he is thinking about replacing Ukraine's top military commander,” Euronews, 05 February 2024
“Russian drone production soaring – deputy PM,” RT, 05 February 2024
Eva Hartog, “Russia blacklists 2 US journalists,” Politico, 05 February 2024
Joshua Posaner, “Netherlands pledges six extra F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine,” Politico, 05 February 2024
Erik Wasson, Ellen M Gilmer, and Billy House, “Trump, House GOP Leaders Reject Senate Border-Ukraine Deal,” Bloomberg, 06 February 2024
“France's foreign ministry has summoned Russia's ambassador over French aid workers killed in Ukraine,” The Washington Post, 05 February 2024
Liliana Oleniak, “UK intelligence identifies funds sources for Russia's increased military spending,” RBC-Ukraine, 05 February 2024
Yohannes Lowe, “Russia-Ukraine war: Russian attack on Kherson kills four, minister says; Zelenskiy asks parliament to extend martial law – as it happened,” The Guardian, 05 February 2024