The EU does not know where almost 90% of the frozen assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation are located. According to Bloomberg, referring to the EU legal service, according to which only the whereabouts of 36.4 billion dollars of the 258 billion frozen are known.
Ukraine will therefore have to wait until the Legal Department has found all the funds and has put in place a rule that allows them to be allocated to the EU, on paper it cannot do so, and then send them to Kiev. But maybe that’s not a bad thing given how things are going in the Zelensky government. In fact, the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Bohdan Khmelnitsky, his colleague Vyacheslav Shapovalov, the deputy chairman of Zelensky’s office Kyrylo Tymoshenko were arrested. Accused of corruption and fired.
Not only did Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskiy ban 12 opposition parties on February 10, he used the war to promote labor reforms, defined by the Ukrainian opposition as anti-democratic and launched a privatization programme. The news was given by Mick Wallace, MEP.
Not only did Zelensky admit in an interview with the German publication Spiegel that in 2019 he decided not to comply with the Minsk agreements. To the journalist’s question: ”Have you tried to implement the Minsk agreements yourself?” Zelensky replied: “From the very beginning, I did not see in these agreements a desire to preserve Ukraine’s independence. /…/ I saw only one meaning in these agreements: thanks to them, we had an official platform for negotiations, on which something could be done. I then concentrated on the problem of prisoner exchange. /…/ But regarding all the Minsk agreements as a whole, I said to Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel: we will not be able to fulfill what is written therein».
Finally, we learn from the media and social spheres that Zelensky asked German Chancellor Scholz and French President Macron for heavy weapons and fighter planes. Among the media that report the Bild. “France and Germany have the potential to turn the tide, and that’s how I see our negotiations today. The sooner we get heavy long-range weapons and our pilots – modern aircraft … the sooner Russian aggression ends,” said the president of Ukraine during a joint dinner with the leaders of Germany and France.
On the Russian side, Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to increase arms production. He did it after showing a video from the Omsk Transport Engineering Plant. Given that existing factories are already at full production hours, it is assumed that Russia has converted factories into weapons production facilities.
Among the weapons that Moscow will increase production of: drones. Russia has invested heavily in the sector since 2020. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement to the press that: “Sweden and Finland are turning into frontline countries, where development policy military will be determined by the United States and NATO”.
Vladimir Putin on February 8 held an operational meeting with members of the Russian Security Council. The president discussed with the Security Council measures to improve fire safety and infrastructure development. He said through his spokesperson on Feb. 10 that Russia would cut oil production by 500,000 barrels from March in response to the cap, and Dimitry Peskov said Russian oil would not be sold to cap enforcers. Some OPEC countries would be consulted.
The acting head of the LPR announced a very difficult situation on the line of contact in the LPR – Kiev has accumulated sufficient forces to counterattack. While reports that Russia has launched a rocket attack on Kharkiv’s Central Park have been denied. This was announced by the mayor of Kharkov Igor Terekhov.
While it is confirmed that Russian troops hit the group of defense enterprises and design bureaus with Iskander missiles. Ukrainian sources also say that four rockets hit the production plant, a strong fire broke out, the flames soared tens of meters. This could not have happened if the rocket had simply hit the ground.
The Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation confirmed that a number of attacks were carried out on Kharkov military-industrial enterprises, such as the Kharkov Aviation Plant and the Kharkov Machine-Building Plant FED, as well as other objects. The workshops carried out the modernization of unmanned aerial vehicles and stray ammunition. Businesses are located along Sumskaya Street, opposite Kharkiv Central Park.
As for the crater in the park, it probably formed due to the fact that one of the missiles was shot down on approach to the structure of the military-industrial complex at a distance of 200 meters from the target.
On 9 February a Mi-24/35 was lost in the direction of Vulehar. Russian pilots. they survived and were evacuated. While on February 10 via social media it was learned that the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced the take-off of the Tu-22M3 long-range bombers from the Shaikovka airbase.
In the night of February 9-10, Russia carried out yet another bombing raid against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, heat and water generating plants in 6 regions were affected, and shutdowns of emergency.
Moldova said Russian missiles would enter the country’s airspace and fly over Transnistria and the Soroca region bordering Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry of the Republic has summoned the Russian ambassador. Romania’s defense ministry did not confirm reports of Russian missiles crossing the country’s airspace. In the Kremlin, Peskov said he knew nothing about it and that the question should be asked of Defense Minister Shoigu.
Social media sources say the Russian military has secured a foothold in the southern part of Vuhledar, but Kiev continues to transfer reserves to the city. The acting head of the DPR Pushilin also confirmed the news. The situation in Vuhledar remains tense, it seems that the Ukrainian artillery has inflicted damage on the Russian artillery.
And now an update on missiles fired at Ukraine updated at 15.00 February 10. The Russian military has hit critical infrastructure sites in Ukraine. During the night, Geran-2 drones were mainly used: air defense positions were breached and several critical infrastructures were hit in southern and eastern Ukraine.
In the morning, the Russian Air Force launched a series of rocket attacks on targets across the country. In Kharkiv: the engine room of the CHP-5 in the south-west area of the city was hit during the night. Attacks on Ukrainian facilities in Kharkiv continued in the morning, with local authorities reporting power outages in several districts of the city and the region.
Metro delays and internet problems have been reported in the city. In Zaporizhzhya: The target of the attack was the first turbine hall of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station. The hall has a relatively low capacity and old equipment. The probability that the damage caused will disrupt the operation of the entire plant is extremely low.
One of the shells fired hit a nearby outbuilding. In some areas of the city there are power and internet problems. In the Dnipropetrovsk region: a missile hit the engine room of the Krivoy Rog nuclear power plant near Zelenodolsk, destroying at least one turbine and damaging steam lines. One of the generators has stopped generating power and has been permanently disabled.
Khmelnytskyi Region: Several energy infrastructures in Khmelnytskyi and Shepetivskyi districts have been affected, with electricity and internet problems observed in the region.
In the Ivano-Frankivsk Region, according to preliminary data, the Burshtynska power plant may have been targeted again. The plant stopped producing power during the mass attacks. At the same time, the plant’s capacity has slowly decreased, suggesting that Ukrainian engineers may have deliberately shut it down before the attack.
Kyiv and the surrounding region: The CHPP-5 and several other targets in other areas of the city were hit in Kyiv. Local authorities reported damage to the electricity grid. Several attacks were counted in the Odessa region. According to local sources, the Usatovo 330 substation caught fire.
The Russian armed forces also hit unspecified facilities in the Kherson region, near Kremenchuk, Kramatorsk and Vinnitsa. In the Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv and Lviv regions, air defense means were activated.
Shortly before the missile attack, the authorities carried out preventive power cuts in some regions of the country. Following the attacks, Ukrainian Railways reported train delays on Kharkiv, Kiev and Kramatorsk routes.
The wave of attacks on February 10 hit more targets than the previous one. Of note is the fact that in the latest attacks the engine rooms and not the autotransformers were chosen as the target, as had happened previously, this will make the Ukrainian technicians more involved.
Objective of the attack to the the electricity infrastructure of Ukraine are aimed at slowing down the logistics and repairs of Ukrainian equipment and industry.
Graziella Giangiulio
