Live blog: West wants to 'inflict lasting defeat against Russia' - Lavrov

 

Russian foreign minister accuses West of aiming to destroy Russia as its conflict with Ukraine enters its 344th day.

"Is this not racism, not Nazism — not an attempt to solve 'the Russian question'," Lavrov said. (AP) 

 

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of wanting to inflict a lasting defeat against Moscow and lashed out against EU chief Ursula von der Leyen who earlier arrived in Kiev. 

"Ursula von der Leyen... said that the outcome of the war should be the defeat of Russia, the kind of defeat that for decades, for many decades, Russia cannot restore its economy. Is this not racism, not Nazism — not an attempt to solve 'the Russian question'," Lavrov said in comments aired on Russian state television.

In the same interview, Lavrov was also quoted as saying that the United States was directly involved in explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea last year. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously accused Britain of blowing up the pipelines, which London denied.

Here are the other developments: 

0848 GMT —

EU launches global LNG reference price 

European Union regulators have launched a new reference price for liquefied natural gas (LNG), as part of plans to cap benchmark gas prices if they surge like they did last year after Russia curbed supply. 

The reference, based on global LNG prices and published late Wednesday, will be used along with the European gas price to trigger a cap on benchmark gas should prices surge to a certain level though for now both are trading well below such levels. 

From February 15, EU gas will be capped if the bench mark price exceeds 180 

eur/MWh for three days and is 35 eur/MWh above the LNG reference price. 

That LNG reference price was assessed at 55.21 eur/MWh late on Wednesday by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). 

0814 GMT — 

Austria expels four Russian diplomats 

Austria's government said it has ordered four diplomats based in Vienna, including two at Moscow's mission to UN agencies in the city, to leave the country. 

The Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that two diplomats at the Russian Embassy had "engaged in acts incompatible with their diplomatic status" and two at the permanent mission to the United Nations in Vienna "committed acts incompatible with the Headquarters Agreement." It didn't elaborate. 

The diplomats were given a week to leave Austria.

 

 

 

Fierce fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are trying to gain ground near the strategic logistics hub of Lyman as conflict enters its 344th day

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2200 GMT (Feb 1) — 

Deaths as missile hits building in Ukraine's Kramatorsk

Ukrainian authorities have said that at least two people were killed when a Russian missile struck a residential building in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.

"Two hours ago, the Russian occupiers hit a residential building in the centre of the city with a rocket," said regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. 

The AFP news agency saw two bodies at the scene as rescue workers were clearing the rubble.

2000 GMT (Feb 1) —

Zelenskyy says eastern Ukraine situation getting tougher

 The situation on the front lines in eastern Ukraine has become tougher as Russian forces step up an offensive, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said in another gloomy military assessment from Kiev.

Russia has gained momentum on the battlefield, announcing advances north and south of the city of Bakhmut, its main target for months. Locations of reported fighting clearly indicate incremental Russian advances.

"A definite increase has been noted in the offensive operations of the occupiers on the front in the east of our country. The situation has become tougher," Zelenskyy said in his fresh video address.

Zelenskyy said the Russians were trying to make gains that they could show on the first anniversary of the war on February 24.

1930 GMT (Feb 1) — 

US firm offers Ukraine advanced drones for $1

A leading US maker of advanced military surveillance drones has announced that it was willing to sell two to Ukraine for just $1, and called on the US government to approve the deal.

General Atomic Aeronautical Systems said it had been urging Washington for months to provide Ukraine its powerful Grey Eagle and Reaper drones, which US forces have used in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and other countries.

It said the drones, which can fly long distances at mid-altitudes, are one of the most obvious, force-enhancing technologies that Ukraine needs in its war against Russian forces.

 

 

 Source: TRTWorld and agencies

 

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