Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 03-02-2025

Western leaders back Ukraine despite tensions with US.

European leaders closed ranks Sunday in support of Kyiv at a London summit, where they pledged to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce in Ukraine.

Bringing together 18 allies, the talks were devoted to the key questions of how to provide security guarantees for Ukraine and bolster Europe’s future defenses while keeping the United States under President Donald Trump onside.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said a new deal has been agreed upon to provide Ukraine with 5,000 British air defense missiles.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said a new deal has been agreed to spend £1.6 billion ($2 billion) via UK export finance and purchase “more than 5,000 air defense missiles” for Ukraine at a Sunday press conference after a European summit attended by Western leaders. 

Starmer said the money would be invested into the UK’s defense industry, particularly arms production in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 

A resolute Crimean Tatar activist works to raise awareness of her people’s history, rights, and future, amplifying their ongoing struggle for justice and international recognition.

Elina Novokhatska was born in 1998 in a Crimea that existed as part of an independent Ukraine. A Crimean Tatar, she is part of the peninsula’s indigenous population that for centuries has been whitewashed from history by repeated Moscow-inspired conquest.

“I want the world to move away from seeing Crimea as an object that can be “taken.”

The tragedy of Crimea’s history

While European leaders have rallied around Ukraine, Republican officials appeared Sunday on news programs questioning whether any deal could be reached with Russia so long as Zelensky remains.

Top Washington officials suggested Sunday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky might have to step down if a peace deal is to be reached, underscoring President Donald Trump’s stunning shift in approach to the war with Russia.

“We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war,” National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told CNN.

President Volodymyr Zelensky was embraced by some of the 18 other top leaders, including Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NATO chief Mark Rutte.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday warned that European security faces a once-in-a-generation moment at the start of Ukraine crisis talks in London, just days after a Kyiv-Washington clash.

Eighteen allies were gathered on the key question of security guarantees for Ukraine, especially after US President Donald Trump berated his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in an unprecedented White House blow-up.

The meeting called by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came after strong signals from the US that it might no longer back Europe and Ukraine in the near future.

The London security summit, called by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has officially started on Sunday at around 4:30 p.m. Kyiv time. 

Starmer has called it a “once in a generation moment” for Europe. 

The world in focus, as seen by Canadian leading global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw in a quick review of the biggest news in international media today.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has announced a multibillion-pound funding package to bolster British defence and arm Ukraine. “This government is not going to choose between countries. We need to work with our allies and partners across the world and we’ll continue to do that. But Ukrainian people can know that this government, this country, stands fully behind the Ukrainian people,” Reeves stated. At the same time, she recalled that her country has committed to providing £3 billion per year for as long as necessary to support Ukraine. She also pointed out that a recently passed law in the UK allows the use of profits from frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine. “And the first tranche of that £3 billion worth of funding will be unlocked in the next few days as a sign of our ongoing commitment to support the people of Ukraine,” she added - agencies

Zelensky and Starmer also signed a £2.26bn loan for Ukrainian military supplies, that will be repaid using profits from frozen Russian assets.

They are among the 68,000 women listed as serving in the Ukrainian army in 2024 – a sharp increase from 2014, according to defence ministry figures.

As snow falls in a park in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Natalia fixes Veronika’s military hood. They are both Ukrainian soldiers, but a mother is always a mother.

Natalia, 53, gave up her job as a clothing designer and signed up at the beginning of Russia’s invasion three years ago on Feb. 24, 2022.

The statement by Russia’s top diplomat is part of Moscow’s longstanding attempt to paint Ukraine as a “neo-Nazi” state to justify its invasion.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – who is of Jewish descent – a “pure Nazi” and “traitor to the Jewish people.” 

Lavrov made the comment during an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda outlet, which was published by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday. 

Respectfully submitted on the third anniversary of the Russian full-scale invasion and launch of the largest land war since World War II

Dear Honorable Sirs,

Mr. Waltz, I stood with you in Normandy this last June for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. You jumped from a C-47 over Mont Saint-Michel alongside two of my parachutist daughters.

Norway’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement after a Norwegian supplier called for supply halts to the US Navy following a standoff between the Ukrainian and US heads of state on Friday.

Norwegian Defense Minister Tore O. Sandvik issued a statement on Sunday to say that fuel supplies from Norway to US forces are not being halted. 

“We have seen reports raising concerns about support for US Navy vessels in Norway. This is not in line with the Norwegian government’s policy,” Sandvik said.

No candidate won a majority in the first round on Feb. 15, forcing a runoff.

Pro-Russian politician Badra Gunba has been declared winner of runoff presidential elections in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, officials said Sunday, amid tensions over Moscow’s influence.

Abkhazia is recognized by most of the world as Georgian territory, but it has been under de facto Russian control since a brief 2008 war between Moscow and Tbilisi.

Millions of people owe the possibility of conveniently crossing rivers to the work of Yevhen Paton, an inventor and engineer who pioneered a form of welding used on bridges and the T-34 tank as well.

The bridge is one of the oldest human inventions, maybe even older than the wheel. Today we cannot even imagine life without bridges. Millions of people owe the possibility of safely and conveniently crossing rivers to the work and ideas of Yevhen Paton, a man of profound and versatile knowledge, a brilliant researcher, inventor, and engineer.

Paton was born on March 5, 1870, in Nice, France, where his father, Oscar Paton (his surname of British origin was pronounced in the French manner – Patón), was serving as Russia’s consul. His mother Kateryna devoted her life to raising her five sons and two daughters.

Ruslan Serbov, a Jewish Azov Brigade member, not only belies Russian propaganda, but he also confirms the reputation of Ukrainians’ indomitable warrior spirit.

Ruslan Serbov strides towards me sporting the physique of a man who works out in the gym every day. Barrel-chested with tattooed biceps the size of tree trunks, he only just squeezes into his extra-large T-shirt.

Finnish police suspect eight of the tanker’s crew of involvement, and three of them are still barred from leaving Finland.

An oil tanker believed to belong to Russia’s “shadow fleet” and suspected of sabotaging undersea Baltic cables has been allowed to leave Finland’s waters, where it has been held since December, Finnish police said Sunday.

The Eagle S, which is registered in the Cook Islands, is suspected of intentionally dragging its anchor dozens of kilometres along the Baltic seabed, damaging an electrical cable and four telecommunications cables on Dec. 25.

Monobank’s co-owner admitted that the fund he set up to finance the creation of “the bomb” for Kyiv was merely a form of protest against how the White House treated Ukraine’s president on Friday.

Shortly after midnight on Saturday morning, one of the founders of Ukraine’s neobank Monobank, Serhei Horokhovsky, announced he had set up a crowdfunding “jar” to finance the creation of nuclear weapons for Ukraine.

Although he intended it as little more than a joke – he described it as “letting off steam after a hard day” – the banker was overwhelmed by the response. He said it took less than a minute to set up the “jar” but the news of it “spread quickly and this madness began.”

The UK and France are the only nuclear capable nations in Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments came as the US sought to reduce its European presence.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France is open to discussing a European nuclear deterrence program, hinting at France’s openness to deploy its nuclear arsenal across Europe. 

Speaking to Portuguese TV RTP in an interview, Macron suggested that a united European defense strategy would also encompass components of nuclear deterrence.

The British prime minister has presented himself as a bridge between the US and Europe, and met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday.

The UK and France will work with Ukraine on a plan to end the fighting with Russia, which will later be presented to the United States, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday.

“The United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States,” Starmer told the BBC.

Faced with the mocking of his wartime attire to the pressure of signing a minerals deal absent of security guarantees, Zelensky exited Friday’s verbal shootout upholding a Ukraine First position.

Friday’s performance by Team Trump in the Oval Office was nothing short of a classic example of how to shoot yourself in the foot. Or, as argued in The Hill, fumbling the football in the endzone and letting Russian President Vladimir Putin recover it.

The theatrics in the Oval Office was all about delegitimizing President Volodymyr Zelensky in the eyes of the world. Doing so played right into a Putin talking point. The Trump administration crassly views Zelensky as a roadblock in the “peace” process and wants to remove him.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s comments were aired on Russian television on Sunday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that foreign policies under US President Donald Trump “largely coincide” with the Kremlin’s. 

“The new [US] administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely coincides with our vision,” Peskov said in a commentary for the “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on the Rosiya-1 TV channel, according to Russian state media TASS. 

One of the world’s greatest fencers, Olympic gold medalist Olha Kharlan gained worldwide attention when she refused to shake her Russian opponent’s hand.

Olha Kharlan is one of the most decorated athletes in Ukrainian history, having accumulated over 100 medals from various saber fencing competitions. She is also Ukraine’s most decorated Olympic athlete.

Winning her country’s first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics last July, a bronze in saber fencing, gave her country a reason to celebrate while engaged in what is now nearly a three-year war with Russia. The medal was special for Kharlan because it was a victory for her embattled nation, for the soldiers defending Ukraine and for the athletes who could not compete at the Olympics because they were killed in the war.

In a Facebook update, the Slovakian head of state reiterated his opposition to Ukraine but agreed Europe’s need to bolster defense spending and capabilities.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico reiterated his opposition to further aid to Ukraine and demanded Kyiv restore Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine. 

In a Saturday Facebook post that Fico said encapsulates his “fundamental positions,” Fico said he would not support Ukraine “either financially or militarily” in its defense against Moscow’s invasion, questioned the “peace through strength” principle, and criticized Ukraine’s decision to stop transiting Russian gas. 

Abkhazia is recognised by most of the world as Georgian territory, but has been under de-facto Russian control since a brief 2008 war between Moscow and Tbilisi.

Masked attackers stormed a polling station in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia Saturday, briefly disrupting voting in a second round of presidential elections marred by tensions over Russia’s influence.

Abkhazia is recognised by most of the world as Georgian territory, but has been under de-facto Russian control since a brief 2008 war between Moscow and Tbilisi.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• After 3 years of conflict, Russia’s Aerospace Forces, despite technological and numerical advantage, have failed to gain air superiority over Ukraine. Russia has resorted to using their tactical level aviation - such as SU-34 aircraft - as airborne artillery.
• Russia’s consistent use of One Way Attack Uncrewed Aerial Systems (OWA UAS) has likely allowed Russia the space and time to recuperate its Long Range Aviation fleet, and their associated Air Launched Cruise Missile and Air Launched Ballistic Missile stocks. While Russia retains the ability to use these assets, the ultimate effect is that the Air Defence picture for Ukraine is increasingly busy, complex and challenging. With this combination of systems the Russians have consistently targeted Ukrainian critical national infrastructure and air bases.
• Ukraine has successfully used UAS against military targets and infrastructure in Russia with increased regularity, including multiple recent strikes on Russian oil refineries. In September 2024 Ukraine also struck four Russian strategic ammunition depots, including Toropets (see imagery), hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine. The total tonnage of ammunition destroyed across the sites represents the largest loss of Russian, and North Korean supplied, ammunition during the war.
• Such Ukrainian successes highlight Russia’s continued inability to protect strategic military sites from attack, as well as indicating the challenge confronting Russia to protect its infrastructure balanced against protecting its operations at the front line.

Zelensky said the loan would go toward Ukraine’s weapons production, which will be paid back with profits from frozen Russian assets.

Ukraine and the UK signed a loan agreement for £2.26 billion ($2.84 billion) to boost Ukraine’s defense industry on Saturday during President Volodymr Zelensky’s Saturday meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. 

Zelensky said the money would be used to manufacture weapons in Ukraine, and it is to be paid back with profits from frozen Russian assets. 

Conversations with the protesters who march the streets of the UK’s capital reminding its people of three years of bloody war their country has endured and is still suffering.

In anticipation of the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion, a march was organized by Ukrainian activists in London on Saturday, Feb. 22. After gathering around the Statue of St Volodymyr, a diverse group set off – stopping traffic across the affluent Notting Hill district – before directly confronting the Russian Embassy with their protest.

It was a huge privilege for me to join everyone on this route, capturing some images while listening to what London’s Ukrainians and Ukrainian Londoners had to say.

What European media are saying about the implications of the rift between the US and Europe.

“The West” as we knew it no longer seems to exist: the recent vote in the UN Security Council, US Vice President JD Vance’s speech in Munich, new tariffs and the revival of Russian-American relations all demonstrate how the US is transforming its foreign policy under President Trump. The media assess the consequences for Europe – and its options for new partners.

Finally, a leading political power

The appalling treatment of Ukraine’s president in the White House risks fracturing the moral fiber of high office that would make the blood of past US presidents run cold.

There are times in history when change doesn’t happen gradually but crumbles right before the eyes of those who fail to grasp what is happening. These are the days that don’t just alter political currents but reshape how a nation is perceived – its values and its role in the world.

Yesterday was one of those days in the White House.

A Russia perspective on the war in Ukraine from independent commentators.

The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), an independent investigative organization, founded by a Russian opposition activist Ruslan Leviev, published a summary of publications that had “prepared special materials and projects” to mark the third anniversary of the Russia’s so-called “special military operation (SVO)” on Wednesday. This cast a light on the different take on the war to that pushed by the Kremlin by independent commentators.

Meduza and Mediazona

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Senior US officials are suggesting that the United States may cut all aid to Ukraine, although US President Donald Trump has not indicated any such intention. Cutting the current flow of aid to Ukraine would directly undermine President Trump’s stated goal of achieving a sustainable peace in Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces enabled by essential US assistance are inflicting unsustainable losses on Russian forces while holding them to marginal gains. This situation, combined with the severe challenges Russia will face in 2025, offers the US great leverage in peace negotiations. A suspension of ongoing US military assistance to Ukraine would encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to continue to increase his demands and fuel his conviction that he can achieve total victory through war.
• Curtailing aid to Ukraine would risk diminishing US influence in the world and emboldening US adversaries.
• Putin, not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, remains the main obstacle to a lasting peace agreement on Ukraine.
• The Kremlin launched another informational effort intended to discourage additional US and European military assistance to Ukraine by claiming that Russia has won the war in Ukraine.
• European countries remain committed to supporting the Ukrainian military and defense industry, however, amid preparations for a European defense summit about Ukraine on March 2.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk and Russian forces recently advanced near Velyka Novosilka.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) continues to recruit medically unfit soldiers in an effort to address personnel shortages.