Live: France says impossible to send Ukraine fighter jets in ‘coming weeks’

Issued on: 10/02/2023 – 05:36Modified: 10/02/2023 – 05:38

05:35am: France says Ukraine needs firepower now, doesn’t exclude planes later

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday he did not rule out sending fighter jets to Ukraine at some point, but that Kyiv was in need of more immediate military firepower, as Ukrainian officials said a fresh Russian offensive was underway.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has long urged Ukraine’s allies to send jet fighters and on Thursday said that several European leaders were ready to supply aircraft.

“I exclude absolutely nothing,” Macron said when asked about the possibility of sending jets at the end of a summit of EU leaders, attended by Zelensky.

05:30am: Macron weighs kicking Putin out of French Legion of Honour

French President Emmanuel Macron pinned the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour medal on Zelensky’s chest after the two met in the French presidential palace Thursday, a move Macron said was meant to show France’s “immense” recognition for Ukraine’s valour since Russia invaded it a year ago.

Some French legislators and activists have called on Macron to rescind Putin’s award because of the war.

Macron didn’t rule out stripping Putin of the honour bestowed by then-President Jacques Chirac in 2006.

Macron told reporters Friday that such a decision “has serious meaning, and it should be taken at the right moment.’’ He noted that he has rescinded the honor in the past.

9.20pm: War crimes seen everywhere Russian forces have deployed, US ambassador tells FRANCE 24

The US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, Beth Van Schaack, told FRANCE 24 in an interview Thursday that war crimes and other atrocities have been seen everywhere Russia’s forces have been deployed. There is no question that this exercise has been a strategic failure for Putin and for the Kremlin, she said, and they are responding to that with increasingly desperate measures targeting civilians directly.

Van Schaack said the international community’s response to the Ukraine crisis has thus far focused on three main pillars: strengthening Ukraine’s capabilities on the battlefield, mitigating the humanitarian crisis, and ensuring justice and accountability for any crimes committed.

As the one-year mark for the war approaches, there will be a lot of activity at the United Nations focused on trying to implement a just and durable peace, she said.

6:41pm: Moldova’s spy agency confirms Zelensky’s claim of Russian destabilising plan

Moldova’s intelligence service has said Russia was acting to destabilise the ex-Soviet country, following comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Kyiv had intercepted a plan by Moscow.

“SIS confirms that, both from the information presented by our Ukrainian partner and also from our operative activities, subversive activities with the aim of undermining the Republic of Moldova, of destabilisation and violating the public order were identified,” Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service said in a statement.

Earlier Thursday, Zelensky told EU heads of government that Kyiv had “intercepted the plan for the destruction of Moldova by Russian intelligence”.

The SIS statement said SIS could not give any more details “because there’s the risk of jeopardising different ongoing operational activities”.

“We are reassuring Moldova’s citizens that all the state’s institutions are working at full capacity and won’t allow this kind of provocation,” it added.

6:21pm: US, UK impose cybersecurity sanctions on Russian group

The US Treasury Department has announced a joint U.-U.K. effort to sanction Russian cybercriminals as the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion nears and Treasury tightens its efforts to financially punish violators of existing sanctions. 

The US coordinated with the UK to impose sanctions on seven people that it said are part of the Russia-based cybercrime gang Trickbot. All members are listed as living in Russia or Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Trickbot is named for a strain of trojan viruses originally used to steal financial data. The viruses have infected millions of computers worldwide.

In a statement, Treasury said the sanctioned men included developers, money-launderers and a senior figure, Vitaly Kovalev, who it said was indicted in federal court in New Jersey in connection with 2009 and 2010 bank hacks.

4:58pm: Tourism collapses in Russia following Western sanctions

The number of foreign tourists visiting Russia collapsed last year due to the impact of Western sanctions and strict Covid restrictions in China, industry professionals said Thursday.

Only 200,100 foreigners visited Russia in 2022, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) said, citing figures from border services, a drop of 96.1 percent from pre-pandemic years. 

“The reasons are clear: the closed skies between Russia and the vast majority of European countries, as well as the impossibility to use foreign-issued Visa and Mastercard cards in Russia,” ATOR said.

Most of Europe closed its airspace to Russian planes a few days after the Kremlin launched the Ukraine offensive in February 2022. 

Beginning in March 2022, Russian national carrier Aeroflot suspended its international flights, though it gradually resumed travel to “friendly countries”.

But draconian Covid-related restrictions in China that Beijing only recently abandoned kept Chinese tourists from taking advantage of the situation. Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists were the top visitors to Russia.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)