Ukraine latest: Zelensky calls for investment in video link to banking summit

Russia launched its biggest barrage of missile attacks against Ukraine so far this year, a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky completed a visit to European capitals, where he sought more weapons to fend off Vladimir Putin’s invasion.  

Romania pushed back against a claim by Ukraine’s top commander that two Russian cruise missiles had crossed into the Nato member’s air space, while Moldova summoned Russia’s ambassador after the projectiles passed over its territory.

Moscow’s plan to slash oil output by 500,000 barrels a day, which pushed oil prices to their largest weekly gain in four months, shows the extent to which Putin is willing to use energy as a weapon, a White House official said.

On the ground

Russian forces continued an offensive in the direction of Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka, general staff said on Facebook.

On Friday, the Ukrainian army repelled Russian attacks near three settlements in Luhansk and four in Donetsk. The Ukrainian Air Force delivered 12 strikes at Russian positions and four at those of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems.

Odesa was twice attacked by Russian missiles overnight, the city council said. Bombs were also dropped on Snake Island and two Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles were fired from Crimea, hitting Odesa's coastline.

Zelensky looks to reconstruction at JPMorgan summit

Ukraine needs foreign investment to diversify and decentralise its energy system, and make it less vulnerable to Russian attacks, Zelensky told an investment summit organised by JPMorgan. 

Zelensky met in Kyiv with three senior officials from the investment bank and addressed the conference via video link, according to a the presidential website. 

He urged private investors to consider Ukraine’s IT and agriculture technology sectors. He said the war has strengthened intolerance of corruption in Ukrainian society and his government is stepping up. 

Russia likely turning to convict labour in defence plants, UK says

Russia’s regular military has likely deployed the vast majority of reservists called up under last year’s “partial mobilisation”, the UK defence ministry said. 

That leaves Russia “the difficult choice of either continuing to deplete its forces, scale back objectives, or conduct a further form of mobilisation,” the UK said on Twitter. 

Further, the nation’s defence manufacturing “is highly likely resorting to using convict labour to meet wartime production demands”, it added. 

Serbian president warns of ‘major escalation’

Aleksandar Vucic predicted a “major escalation” of Russia’s invasion over the next five to six months, in a TV interview Friday night. 

“This so far is almost nothing in comparison to what’s to come,” Serbia’s president told Prva TV in Belgrade. “In five to six months they will try to de-escalate, but in the next five to six months there will be the most fierce conflict.”

At this point “it’s not clear who’s winning” in Ukraine, he said.  

Putin weaponising energy with oil output cut: White House 

Russia’s plan to slash its oil output by 500,000 barrels a day next month shows the extent to which President Vladimir Putin is willing to use resources like energy as a weapon, said John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council. 

Putin’s move isn’t surprising after a decision by G-7 and the EU to implement price caps on Russian oil and related products, Kirby said. The US will continue to work with allies and partners, including those in Opec, he added, saying he had no specific conversations to speak of at this time.  

Oil posted its largest weekly gain in four months after Russia followed through on a threat to cut production in response to Western energy sanctions.

Russia launches further drone attacks

Russia launched another wave of attacks by Iranian-made drones, targeting southern and central regions including Odesa and Mykolaiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim said Ukrainian troops shot down three Shahed drones and the governor of Odesa said air defences shot down four aircraft that  attempted to attack energy infrastructure. Warning sirens were also heard in Kyiv.

Wagner founder sees two-year effort to control Donbas

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian military-contracting company Wagner that’s playing a key role in the fighting in Ukraine, said it will take Russian forces up to two years to take control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

In a rare interview with a pro-Kremlin video blogger, Prigozhin was asked what he thinks is the goal of Putin’s war and how long it will last. “Everybody has a different view of the special operation,” he said.

“As far as I understand, we need to take the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, and in principle everybody will be satisfied with this.” 

Prigozhin also said that Wagner has stopped recruiting prisoners to send to the front lines, though he added that the Defence Ministry is now hiring them. 

Ukraine says it downed 61 cruise missiles

Russia launched 71 cruise missiles, as many as 35 S-300 missiles and seven drones, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said Friday on Telegram.

Cruise missiles were fired from strategic bombers and from ships in the Black Sea. Ukrainian forces shot down 61 cruise missiles and five drones, he said. 

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had said earlier on Telegram that high-voltage infrastructure in the country’s western, central and eastern regions had been damaged, causing interruptions with power supply.

Romania says ‘aerial target’ was never in its airspace

Romania’s defence ministry said it detected an “aerial target, most likely a cruise missile launched from a Russian warship in the Black Sea”, early Friday, but that the projectile didn’t cross into its airspace “at any time”. The missiles were never within 35km of the northeast Romanian border, it said. 

The “target” flew over Ukraine, then Moldova, “after which it re-entered Ukrainian space without crossing into Romania’s airspace”, the Nato member said in a statement. 

Romania said it rerouted two MiG jets to the north of the country to increase “reaction options”, but that once the situation was clarified the jets resumed their initial mission.

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