A Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, killed seven people, including three children, overnight. Kharkiv region governor Ole Sinyevov reported on Saturday. Officials said a Ukrainian prosecutor, her husband and three young children were among the seven people killed in the attack on an oil depot and a fire that gutted half the road. An elderly couple who lived on the same street were also killed in the attack, and Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 57 people were injured and 15 homes were destroyed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address Saturday night that “Russian terrorists” would be held accountable. Regarding the Kharkiv attack, he said, “It should be noted that throughout history, the perpetrators of such murders have not gone unpunished.”
Zelenskiy also announced the appointment of five senior military officials., replenishing the reactivated team after appointing Colonel Oleksandr Shirsky as the new military commander. Zelenskiy said he would spend the day meeting with military leaders and the government, and that experienced “combatant commanders of this war” would take up new roles. The country is coming to the end of two years of war since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
NATO Secretary General calls on Europe to increase weapons production to support Ukraine In an interview published by German media on Saturday, he said he aimed to prevent a “potential decades-long conflict” with Moscow. Speaking ahead of the main meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Jens Stoltenberg said: “In order to increase deliveries to Ukraine and replenish domestic stocks, we need to rebuild and expand our industrial base faster. “There is,” he claimed.
Russia announced on Saturday that it had repelled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian “civilian transport ship.” Friday night in the southwestern region of the Black Sea, a main artery for grain and oil exports from both countries. Civilian ships in the Black Sea have not typically been targeted since the Russian government ordered the deployment of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, but in July last year, both sides flagged ships bound for the other’s ports as potential military cargo. The company announced that it will start treating the company as a transport company.
Russia closes candidate registration for March presidential election, TASS reported on Sunday that the list included President Vladimir Putin and three politicians who support Russia’s war in Ukraine. The list did not include Russian anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin, after the Central Election Commission banned him from running on Thursday. Nadezhdin said on Thursday that he would challenge the CEC’s decision in Russia’s Supreme Court.
Alexander Stubbe of the center-right National Union Party is the frontrunner in Finland’s presidential election run-off. Sunday, according to the poll. Mr Stubb, a former prime minister, won in the first round of the election over Pekka Haavisto of the liberal Green Party. Both candidates are pro-Europeans and strong supporters of Ukraine, which has taken a tough stance against Russia in its campaign since Finland joined NATO last April.
