Oleksiy Chernyshov, the chief of national energy company NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, met a JPMorgan Chase & Co. delegation to discuss investment in the Ukrainian energy sector.
Naftogaz proposed that the US bank consider cooperation and projects to increase the extraction and transportation of hydrocarbons, as well as projects in renewable energy, Chernyshov said on Facebook.
Portuguese Premier Suggests Tanks May Be Provided in March (5:17 p.m.)
Portugal is carrying out a maintenance plan for Leopard 2 tanks under which the country may be able to provide Ukraine with three such vehicles in March, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said in parliament on Wednesday.
The UK is assessing the possibility of sending combat aircraft to Ukraine and aims to begin training Ukrainian pilots in the spring. Britain isn’t looking to send Typhoon jets in the immediate future, but rather sees the possibility of sending planes as a long-term solution, Max Blain, spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, told reporters.
Zelenskiy had earlier in the day urged Britain to provide planes, telling parliamentarians “We have freedom. Give us wings to protect it.”
Zelenskiy, Scholz to Meet Macron in Paris (3:28 p.m.)
Zelenskiy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Paris later on Wednesday to meet with Emmanuel Macron, according to a statement from the French president’s office.
Addressing lawmakers in English, Zelenskiy praised the UK for backing Ukraine from the very start of the war.
“London has stood with Kyiv since day one,” he said, insisting that Russia was destined to lose.
“The United Kingdom is marching with us toward the most important victory of our lifetime. After we win together, any aggressor, it doesn’t matter, big or small, will know what awaits him if he attacks international order.”
Read More: Zelenskiy Hails UK Support in London Ahead of Russian Offensive
Russia Won’t ‘Break’ Ukraine, Estonia’s Spy Chief Says (1:50 p.m.)
Estonia’s top intelligence official predicted a grinding conflict in Ukraine, with the war to be decided “on the battlefield,” though he expressed optimism that Kyiv will prevail against Russian forces.
Sunak Hopes to See First ICC Indictments Over Ukraine War Soon (1:25 p.m.)
UK Prime Minister Sunak said he expects the International Criminal Court will announce its first indictments relating to Russia’s war in Ukraine soon. Sunak told the House of Commons at Wednesday lunchtime that he discussed Britain’s work with the ICC with Zelenskiy during their meeting this morning, and that he hoped to see the ICC’s first indictments shortly.
Russia has invited Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters to address a UN Security Council meeting on the almost year-long invasion of Ukraine.
Waters sparked condemnation in September when he blamed “extreme nationalists” for setting Ukraine “on the path to this disastrous war” in an open letter to Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska. Planned concerts by the musician in Poland were later canceled.
Russia’s deputy envoy to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, praised Waters’s letter as “a very emotional and wise message.” The Russian diplomat said on Telegram that Waters would take part in the Security Council hearing Wednesday on peace prospects “in the light of escalating Western arms supplies” to Ukraine, at Moscow’s request.
Russia is trying to spend its way out of the self-inflicted economic crisis that threatened to deliver the deepest recession of Putin’s more than two-decade rule.
Roaring exports of commodities funneled capital into the coffers of the government and companies, feeding an upswing in business investment that was without precedent during previous economic contractions and proved crucial to powering the war effort in the year since the invasion of Ukraine.
Facing initial forecasts for a decline of up to 20% in capital expenditure, Russia instead saw it increase 6% in 2022, according to Bloomberg Economics.
Zelenskiy Meets New German Defense Minister Pistorius (7:45 a.m.)
“The recent decisions on the tank coalition and the initiative from our European friends in cooperation with our Ministry of Defense can really give us not advantages, yet parity on the battlefield,” the Ukrainian President’s Office said in a statement on its website citing Zelenskiy. “It is necessary to understand that it depends on time, on the quantity and modernity of the tank coalition’s equipment.”
