Russian invasion of Ukraine: Day 718

Summary for Sunday, 11th February 2024 - DAY 718

• Russia launched drone attacks overnight on Kyiv and southern Ukraine, injuring at least one civilian and damaging a gas pipeline and residential buildings in the river and sea port of Mykolaiv, Ukraine’s military said on Sunday. Ukraine’s southern military command said on Telegram that its air defence systems were engaged for more than five hours and destroyed 26 Russia-launched Shahed drones over several southern regions, chiefly over the Mykolaiv region near the Black Sea. At least one civilian was injured in the southern Ukraine attack, the military said. In Kyiv all the drones were downed on their approach and there were no casualties nor destruction in or near the capital.
  
  
• A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killed seven people, including three children, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported Saturday. A Ukrainian prosecutor, her husband, and their three small children were among the seven killed after the strike hit an oil depot, triggering blazes that burned half a street to the ground, officials said. An elderly couple living in the same street were also killed in the attack that mayor Ihor Terekhov said injured 57 people and razed 15 homes.
  
  
• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Saturday that “Russian terrorists” would be held accountable for the Kharkiv attack: “It should be noted that in history, the perpetrators of such murders did not go unpunished,” he said.
  
  
• Zelenskiy also announced five senior military appointments, filling out a rebooted team after he named Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi as the new armed forces chief. Zelenskiy said he spent the day meeting his military leadership and government and that experienced “combat commanders of this war” would be taking on new duties. The country is closing in on two years of war since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
  
  
• Nato’s secretary general called on Europe to increase its arms production to support Ukraine and prevent “potentially decades of confrontation” with Moscow, in an interview published by German media Saturday. Ahead of a key meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, Jens Stoltenberg insisted that “we need to reconstitute and expand our industrial base faster, to increase deliveries to Ukraine and refill our own stocks”.
  
  
• The White House on Saturday rejected comments made by former US president Donald Trump about not protecting Nato allies from a potential Russian invasion as “appalling and unhinged”. Trump made the statement on Saturday during a campaign rally in Conway, South Carolina, ahead of the state’s Republican presidential preference primary on 24 February.
  
  
• Russia said on Saturday it had repelled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on Russian “civilian transport ships” on Friday evening in the south-western part of the Black Sea, a key artery for grain and oil exports from both countries. Civilian vessels on the Black Sea have not generally been targeted since Moscow ordered its troops into Ukraine in February 2022, but last July both sides said they would start treating ships headed to the other’s ports as potential carriers of military cargo.
  
  
• Russia’s registration of candidates for the March presidential election has closed, TASS reported on Sunday, with a list including president Vladimir Putin and three politicians who all support Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The list did not include the Russian anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin after the Central Election Commission barred him on Thursday from running. Nadezhdin said on Thursday he would challenge the CEC’s decision in Russia’s supreme court.
  
  
• Centre-right Alexander Stubb of the National Coalition Party is the frontrunner in Finland’s presidential run-off on Sunday, according to opinion polls. Stubb, a former prime minister, won the election’s first round ahead of liberal Green Party member Pekka Haavisto. Both candidates are pro-European and strong supporters of Ukraine who have taken a tough stance towards Russia in their campaigns, after Finland joined Nato in April last year.
  

Gas pipeline and buildings damaged in Mykolaiv drone attack

Fire rips through buildings in Kharkiv after Russian drone attack

The UK’s Ministry of Defence said there are indications that Russia’s war with Ukraine is contributing to a shortage of healthcare professionals across Russia

President Volodymyr Zelensky appoints new commanders

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed new commanders of the Ground Forces, the Joint Forces, the Air Assault Forces, and the Territorial Defense Forces.

A 71-year-old Ukrainian accused of espionage has died in a Russian prison

Woman riding public bus and two men injured in Russian attacks on Kherson and Kherson Oblast

A 61-year-old woman was injured in the Russian shelling of Kherson, and two men sustained injuries in Russian attacks on the Beryslav district on 11 February.

500 people held a rally in support of captured Ukrainian defenders in Kyiv

Since last year, Ireland has stopped issuing visas to Russian diplomats

Embassy of Russia in Ireland (Photo:ireland.mid.ru)

Since last year, Ireland has refused to issue visas to Russian diplomats, preventing Russia from replacing its embassy staff, The Irish Times reported on Feb. 10.
The newspaper also noted that Irish security services have been monitoring Russian embassy staff out of concern that they may be linked to the FSB, Russia’s intelligence agency.
Since the onset of Russia’s full-scale war with Ukraine in February 2022, the number of accredited diplomats and administrative staff at the embassy has decreased from 30 to 14. Four were expelled in March 2022 on suspicion of espionage, and two military attaches left Ireland.
“Such officers usually work closely with or report directly to Russian intelligence agencies when they are abroad,” The Irish Times said.
The newspaper added that Irish intelligence agencies suspect that the big complex on the Orwell Road in Rathgar, south of Dublin, is used as a cover for various espionage activities, including communications interception.
Before the war, Russia had one of the largest diplomatic missions in Dublin, despite minimal official contacts with the Irish government and a small diaspora in the country.
A representative of the Russian embassy confirmed to The Irish Times the reduction in the number of embassy staff and blamed it on the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and its “unacceptable visa and accreditation policy.”
According to him, since last year, Ireland has stopped issuing new visas to embassy staff who were supposed to arrive and refused to extend accreditation for staff already in the country.
“As a result, many staff members were forced to stay in the service for a much longer period of time and then leave to Russia because of personal reasons without replacement,” the Russian embassy spokesman said.
According to him, this allegedly “has a very significant and negative impact on the work of the embassy, which includes consular assistance to thousands of Russian citizens in Ireland, as well as Irish citizens.”
The Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the reduction in accredited staff but declined to comment on the visa issue.
Diplomatic sources confirmed to The Irish Times that the department ceased issuing new visas last year due to strained relations between Ireland and Russia.
Currently, there are six Russian diplomats and eight administrative staff in Dublin, including Ambassador Yuri Filatov.
In 2020, the Irish government used national security legislation to block a building permit for the embassy’s expansion, citing fears of increased espionage threats.
According to UCD security expert Edward Burke, the downsizing of the embassy reflects a trend observed in other EU capitals. Burke explains that since the outbreak of war, Russian embassies face closer scrutiny, leading them to rely less on traditional espionage activities under diplomatic cover.
“They know that embassies are under much more intense surveillance, so they have switched to other methods,” the expert explained.
He notes that Moscow is increasingly using citizens of other countries for espionage, citing last year’s arrests in the UK of five Bulgarian citizens accused of spying for Russia.

Closing Summary

• Top western officials have weighed in to criticise former president Donald Trump after he suggested the U.S. might not protect Nato allies who aren’t spending enough on defence from a potential Russian invasion.
  
  
• Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said any suggestion Nato allies would not defend each other undermines all of the alliance’s security and puts US and European soldiers at risk.. “Any attack on Nato will be met with a united and forceful response,” he said.
  
  
• The White House also rejected the comments, calling them “appalling and unhinged”. Trump made the statement on Saturday during a campaign rally in Conway, South Carolina, ahead of the state’s Republican presidential preference primary on 24 February.
  
  
• Ukraine has claimed that Russian forces were using terminals of Elon Musk’s satellite internet service Starlink in occupied areas, releasing what it said was an intercept of an exchange between two Russian soldiers as proof of its “systemic” use. Starlink systems have been vital for Ukraine’s battlefield communications throughout Russia’s nearly two-year-old invasion as Kyiv has faced a larger and better-equipped military.
  
  
• A narrowly divided U.S. Senate will try to move closer to passing a $95.34 billion (£75.49 billion) aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Sunday, while hoping to show enough bipartisan support to propel the measure all the way through Congress.The legislation needs 60 votes to overcome a procedural hurdle and continue toward Senate passage in the coming days.
  
  
• A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killed seven people, including three children, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported Saturday. A Ukrainian prosecutor, her husband, and their three small children were among the seven killed after the strike hit an oil depot, triggering blazes that burned half a street to the ground, officials said. An elderly couple living in the same street were also killed in the attack that mayor Ihor Terekhov said injured 57 people and razed 15 homes.
  
  
• President Zelenskiy has appointed Oleksandr Pavliuk, former first deputy defence minister, as the new commander of Ukraine’s ground forces. Pavliuk, a lieutenant-general who served in the ministry role for a year, replaces Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi after he was appointed this week as commander of Ukraine’s armed forces. Zelenskiy has announced five senior military appointments.
  
  
• The UK’s Ministry of Defence said there are indications that Russia’s war with Ukraine is contributing to a shortage of healthcare professionals across Russia. In its latest intelligence update, the MoD adds the heavy resource and financial burden of the war is negatively affecting a range of civilian sectors.
  
  
• Russia’s registration of candidates for the March presidential election has closed, TASS reported on Sunday, with a list including president Vladimir Putin and three politicians who all support Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The list did not include the Russian anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin after the Central Election Commission barred him on Thursday from running. Nadezhdin said on Thursday he would challenge the CEC’s decision in Russia’s supreme court.
  
  
• Japan will pledge 15.8bn yen ($106m) in aid to Ukraine at a conference to be held in Tokyo on 19 February, Kyodo News reported on Sunday, citing unidentified sources. The funding will be used for reconstruction in seven areas, including agriculture and the disposal of rubble, Kyodo said.
  
  
• Centre-right Alexander Stubb of the National Coalition Party is the frontrunner in Finland’s presidential run-off on Sunday, according to opinion polls, as the Nordic country elects a new leader of its security and foreign policy. The election marks a new era in Finland after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The winner is expected to be known by around 2100 GMT.