Key developments on Feb. 10: * Russia massing troops for new assaults in Chasiv Yar, military warns * Drones reportedly target key Russian oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai * Trump claims 'progress' on ending Russia-Ukraine war, confirms contact with Putin * Ukraine approves high-speed Baton drones for battlefield deployment * Ukraine to receive Patria 6x6
The Patria 6x6 is a six-wheeled armored personnel carrier produced by the Finnish defense industry company Patria.
According to media outlet Aktualne.cz, members of Skupina D are suspected of supplying drones to Ukraine, possibly with the involvement of Czech military personnel, without authorization from the parliament.
"We're going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse," Trump said on Feb. 9 in an interview with Fox News.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Military Committee Chair Giuseppe Cavo Dragone discussed enhancing coordination of military aid under the Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine framework, a command plan focused on allocating and managing military support.
Ukraine is actively preparing and expects important decisions to be made at the upcoming Ramstein meeting, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said during a press conference on Feb. 7.
Bulgaria has provided Ukraine with old Soviet-era military equipment, with funds received from NATO and EU allies being reinvested into purchasing modern Western weapons.
London will host the next Ramstein-format Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) summit in Brussels on Feb. 12, rather than the U.S., the U.K. Joint Delegation to NATO confirmed on Feb. 6.
The representative survey found that 67% of Germans backed Germany’s military support for Ukraine.
The number of Poles backing continued military assistance to Kyiv dropped from 54% to 49% during 2024, according to a survey by the ARC Rynek i Opinia research group published on Feb. 4.
"We must do all that we can to support Ukraine's defense," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Feb. 3. Starmer pledged to ramp up pressure on Russia in order to "crush Putin's war machine."
The Trump administration was initially inclined to stop all aid to Ukraine, but arms deliveries resumed over the weekend following internal debate, sources claimed.
Further complicating deliveries was a chaotic weapons-tracking system in which different branches of the U.S. military reportedly used varying definitions of "delivered," creating confusion over how much aid reached Ukraine.
This brings Finland's total defense aid provided to Ukraine since the outbreak of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 to 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion).
"Allies are on track to deliver on the pledge made at the Washington summit," a NATO press statement said following a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council on Jan. 29.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said "peace through strength" must guide the response to Russian aggression.
Senior diplomats in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs requested a full waiver to exclude U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) operations in Ukraine from a 90-day foreign aid freeze, the Financial Times reports.
"If this new Trump administration is willing to keep on supplying Ukraine, the bill will be paid by the Europeans," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The wide-ranging agreement includes cooperation between the two countries in areas including defense, intelligence sharing, cyber security, nuclear safety, as well as mutual support for each others accession into the European Union, among other topics.
"Keeping Ukraine safe means taking care of our security. We have as much time as Ukraine has," Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said.
NATO has taken over some responsibilities in coordinating aid for Ukraine from the U.S. with Washington's consent, ensuring a stable support mechanism going forward, NATO Military Committee Chief Admiral Rob Bauer said on Jan. 16.
"(The military aid package) is already on its way to Ukraine. This is modern weaponry that will help our soldiers to deliver powerful strikes against the enemy," Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.
Germany is not currently seen as a "driving force for peace policy in Europe," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told Politico in comments published on Jan. 17, criticizing her own government for hesitancy in supporting Ukraine.
"Now is the moment — perhaps the most critical moment in the past three years — to increase support," Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told the president.
Ukraine and Norway discussed the possibility of integrating Ukrainian-made air defense systems into the NASAMS systems "to increase its effectiveness," Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius denied media reports that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz blocked a proposal for an additional military aid package for Ukraine worth 3 billion euros ($3.09 billion), adding that a decision on the funding awaits.
The initiative reportedly included the provision weapons including three additional Iris-T air defense batteries, 10 howitzers, and more artillery ammunition.
The defense minister met with his Norwegian counterpart on the sidelines of the Ramstein summit on Jan. 9. According to Umerov, the 2025 assistance to Ukraine will mark the largest military aid package in Norway's history.
Defense officials speaking to the Associated Press said the upcoming aid package, scheduled to be announced on Jan. 9, will draw from existing stockpiles with the intent of delivering most of the pledged weapons to Ukraine before Trump takes office.
Key developments on Jan. 6: * Ukraine strikes 3 Russian air defense systems in single day, Navy claims * 3,800 North Korean troops killed or injured in Russia's Kursk Oblast, Zelensky says * Ukraine's position in Kursk Oblast important for possible negotiations, Blinken says * Zelensky offered to buy weapons from incoming Trump
Since the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, the question on everyone's mind is whether Europe, including the U.K., can replace the military assistance the U.S. is giving Ukraine. The short answer is no. The reasons for this are a mix of politics and
U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine worth nearly $2.5 billion on Dec. 30.
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