Last week (February 13–19), the problems in the russian army aggravated, but Ukraine became stronger thanks to Western military support.

New facts about the Minsk agreements were also made public, which provoked a wave of russian disinformation.

At the same time, russia is trying to undermine the situation in other countries, including Moldova.

Below, we tell you more about the key statements and events of the past war week.

Ukraine has no planes yet, but is getting everything needed for the counter-offensive

On February, 14, the 9th meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine in the Ramstein format was held in Brussels, and attended by representatives of 54 countries.

According to the outcomes, Western partners confirmed that Ukraine will receive more air defense systems, tanks, artillery, and 155-caliber shells. Also, more Ukrainian military will be able to take the training abroad.

“Without announcing the planes, but with an emphasis on preparing a Ukrainian counteroffensive,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. According to him, he believes in the success of the spring counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

That is why the allies decided to allocate Ukraine the Bradleys and Abrams from the United States,  Challenger tanks from  the United Kingdom, as well as upgraded tanks from the United States, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, and T-72 tanks from Poland. Also, according to him, as to Leopard tanks, certain steps should be expected from Canada, Germany, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal.

In addition to tanks, Ukraine will receive ammunition and additional air defense systems to reinforce its capability to shoot down missiles, which the russians often use to attack critical and civilian infrastructure.

“We heard today about the allocation of serious air defense systems. France and Italy will jointly transfer the air defense system to Ukraine. France has also announced cooperation with Australia for the manufacturing of 155-caliber ammunition,” the US Secretary of Defense said.

The President of Ukraine called the decisions taken during the ninth “Ramstein” as “powerful”. However, according to him, not all arrangements can be shared in public. Nevertheless, the basic trends remain unchanged: Ukraine and the partners are doing their best to make sure the terrorist state is defeated as soon as possible.

Currently, Ukrainian partners are confident in the priority of urgently providing weapons, but the aviation coalition is still underway.

At the same time, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Dmytro Kuleba, has no doubt that Ukraine will receive Western combat aircraft. He said this at the Munich Security Conference.

To speed up the process of providing combat aircraft to Ukraine, US MPs are putting pressure on the country’s President. In particular, a bipartisan group of lawmakers assured Joe Biden that modern aviation could play a crucial role in restoring Ukraine's control over its airspace still this year.

The unwavering support of the Ukrainian desire to preserve sovereignty and liberate the occupied territories is concerning for the russian side. The kremlin is full of disinformation narratives, trying to somehow slow down Western aid.

maria zakharova, a spokeswoman for the russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused the Western North Atlantic elites of colonial politics, of wanting to profit from russian resources, and of mentally and physically enslaving people.

Judging by the results of the Brussels “gatherings”, it seems that the pumping of Ukraine with weapons is organized by the countries of the alliance, and for the enrichment of the Western military-industrial complex, primarily the American one, in order to provide it with long-term contracts. Classic colonial logic. Not even colonial, but the reasoning of slave owners,” zakharova said at a briefing.

However, russia itself needs decolonization and de-putization in order to be able to establish relations with the civilized world.

Indeed, the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, spoke about de-putinization. “I use the term 'de-putinization' because this country is fully bound with putin,” he said before the opening of the conference.

Recruited Soldiers Complain but russia Is Trying to Advance, Again

This week, the russian occupation forces continued their offensive, but did not achieve any significant gains, despite major losses. Thus, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in the middle of the week: “In the occupied Crimea, a crematorium operates around the clock, where dead russian servicemen and mercenaries are brought to be incinerated.”

On the same day, an intelligence report was published on the mass delivery of wounded invaders to Starobilsk, and about the та insanely huge losses in some assault detachments of the Wagner PMC, and units of the 2nd Army Corps, which “account for up to 80% of the personnel”.

The russian BBC service published an investigation, which says that “40% of russian mobilized soldiers, whose death is confirmed, had been killed in the period from January, 1. Whereas, the actual losses among the mobilized could be much higher.”

In fact, it seems that the russian military are trying to execute putin's order to completely seize the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions by March. However, they are unlikely to succeed, as emphasized by Ukraine’s Western allies.

CNN reported that the United States and its allies are “skeptical that moscow had accumulated enough manpower and resources to achieve significant success” in the new offensive in the East of Ukraine. The same position is presented by British intelligence.

British Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, told the BBC that “97% of the russian army, the entire russian army, is in Ukraine.” He added that “russia had failed to ‘pierce‘ Ukraine's defence.”

The kremlin's offensive operations should have been reinforced by the mobilized military, but, in addition to significant losses among the newcomers, mentioned above, the occupiers face other problems. In particular, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that “in the Donetsk region, mobilized russians now refuse to go on the offensive more often.”

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War say: “These mobilized men lack the combat experience necessary for large-scale mechanized offensives. They have likely received limited individual training, they lack unit cohesion and professional training or experience necessary to conduct sound offensive operations.”

The russian service “Radio Liberty” made a compilation of video messages from mobilized men from the Orenburg region of the russian federation, from Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, and Tatarstan. The occupiers complain that “they are being led to the slaughter” but they agree to serve, only far from the front line. Also, even the russian media wrote that the kremlin has classified real data about the desertion of the military.

Mass losses of personnel, problems with mobilized soldiers, loss of modern equipment make it unrealistic to fulfill putin's tasks.

At the same time, the White House emphasizes that in a year, the kremlin failed to overcome the old problems “with logistics, including the supply of food, as well as with the coordination of fire and the cohesion of units.”

What could kremlin use to threaten? The Institute for the Study of War believes that because of the impossibility of  military success, russia can launch another series of missile strikes on civilian facilities throughout Ukraine.

On the other hand, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine reported on moscow's reference to nuclear blackmail in order to weaken international support for Ukraine and prevent Joe Biden's visit to Europe. However, such actions of the russian federation do not come as surprise, but rather as an attempt to repeatedly “raise the stakes” which is unlikely to intimidate anyone.

As soon as on February, 20, US President Joseph Biden, without announcing his visit, arrived in Kyiv. It indicates the high support of Ukraine in the international arena, and the successful effort of our state on the diplomatic front.

After all, the kremlin needs to win in all spheres. It is not for nothing that this week Valery Zaluzhny rightly reminded that “the victory of Ukraine will mean not only the liberation of its territories, but also the creation of such conditions and such Armed Forces that will not allow the russians to attack our state at any time in the future.”

russian Narrative of Minsk Agreements Cracks

The narrative of “non-compliance with the Minsk agreements by Ukraine” has become one of the most common tracks in russia's justification of the full-scale war. In addition, russian politicians “enriched” it with statements that these agreements were needed for Ukraine to strengthen its own army and prepare for war with russia.

All this propaganda was refuted in a single comment by the former deputy head of the presidential administration of the russian federation, vladislav surkov. He said that, while working on the Minsk agreements, he proceeded from the premises that they should not be fulfilled. These words made the russian machinery of lies get activated.

The first to deny surkov’s words was kremlin’s spokesman, dmitry peskov.

“The main task was to force Kyiv to fulfill its obligations. Now we know that no one was going to do that. Therefore, of course, it is better to clarify the details with surkov, to figure out what he meant,” he said.

As you can see, the annexation of Ukrainian territories had been one way or another included in the plans of the russian imperialists. In February, 2023, Volodymyr Zelensky, in an interview with Spiegel, said that he “jumped into that wagon that was already rolling into the abyss.”

“The easiest way to end the war is to give the territory away to russia. When we return to them the influence on Ukraine and inside Ukraine that they have had for many years. That's why the Minsk Accords existed... I think that the Minsk agreements were a sort of concession,” the President of Ukraine said.

On the part of the russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the spokeswoman maria zakharova tried to make excuses for surkov’s words.

“All the talk about whether russia planned to fulfil the Minsk Agreements or not is broken by the fact that sergey lavrov personally initiated the development of a UN Security Council resolution that makes their implementation mandatory,” she said.

To reinforce the point, on February, 17, russia convened a meeting of the UN Security Council on the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, where the permanent representative of the aggressor reduced everything to the russophobic position of Western countries.

“We will not be able to live on as we used to, that's for sure. Because you already showed enough of your deep-lying Russophobia to prove that this Russophobic stance and your striving to destroy our country, preferably by proxy, is everything that has been guiding you, ” said vasily nebenzya.

“We no longer have trust in you, and we cannot believe in any of your promises … you showed your total intractability and slyness when first you created a neo-Nazi nationalist beehive at our borders, and then ripped it,” he added.

russia’s destructive approach to the implementation of Minsk Agreements was highlighted by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya. He reminded how russia, having undertaken the obligations, had not created any security zones in the border areas of Ukraine, and had not withdrawn foreign military formations and equipment from the territory of Ukraine under the supervision of the OSCE.

Kyslytsya also reminded that a week after the signing of the third Minsk document, the city of Debaltseve was occupied by regular russian troops.

“It is time to acknowledge the truth. The truth is that putin has proven once and for all to be impossible to negotiate with. Russia’s consistent undermining and final killing of the Minsk agreements make that crystal clear,” said Serhiy Kyslytsya.

russia Seeks to Destabilize the World

Last week, russian Foreign Minister, sergei lavrov, in his address to the State Duma, announced the protection of the russian-speaking population around the world.

“Among our unconditional priorities is the protection of the legitimate rights of russian citizens abroad, the unification of the multinational and multi-confessional russian world, the strengthening of ties with compatriots living abroad,” said lavrov.

One of the priorities for russian criminals is to destabilize the situation in the world. Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted this during the Munich conference.

“Lingering has always been and will always be a mistake. While we are now agreeing on how to strengthen our defense with modern tanks, the kremlin is thinking about how to strangle Moldova,” he said.

Moldovan President, Maia Sandu, confirmed that military actions were being prepared in the country, with the involvement of saboteurs from russia, belarus, and Serbia. And under the guise of peaceful protests, one of which began on February, 19, attempts to seize power are brewing in Chisinau.

The Serbian authorities expectedly denied these accusations, and representatives of the putin regime accused Kyiv of trying to draw Chisinau into a tough confrontation with russia.

However, the so-called “russian world” knocked on other countries’ doors. Last week, the Netherlands expelled about ten russian diplomats from the country, who turned out to be secret intelligence officers.

At the same time, Austria declared persona non grata two russian diplomats who were engaged in “activities incompatible with their diplomatic status.” In response, russia expelled four Austrian diplomats.

In addition, russia summoned the Italian ambassador to the MFA because some concerts by a number of russian performers were cancelled. “The decisions of the Italian authorities, unfortunately, indicate a tendency to discriminate against russian artists and the narrowing of cultural and humanitarian exchanges,” the ministry said on its website.

Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, considers the destabilization plans of the russian federation as another proof of the true meaning of the russian expansionist policy and its unlimited appetites.

“This should be remembered by everyone who wants a ‘settlement’. You can’t address the symptoms here, you should only get rid of the pathogen,” – said Podolyak.