Here's what you need to remember from yesterday:
◾ Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that he refuses to “engage in a logic of escalation” after making controversial comments about the option of sending Western soldiers to Ukraine in the future. “When I was asked a question about sending troops, I replied that nothing was ruled out,” the French president recalled in an interview with the Czech daily Pravo.
◾ In addition, the French leader is traveling to Prague today, where he is expected to clarify his support for a Czech initiative to purchase non-European ammunition for Ukraine.
◾ France has supplied Ukraine with military equipment worth a total of 2.6 billion euros since 2022, French Military Minister Sébastien Lecornu said yesterday on X, explaining this equipment in detail, while Paris is regularly accused of “doing less than other Kiev allies “.
◾ Ukrainian Military Intelligence (GUR) assured yesterday that it had damaged a railway bridge in Russia's Samara (Volga) region, more than 750 km from the Ukrainian border, suggesting that this action slowed down the transport of military equipment.
◾ The construction of fortifications against Russian forces at the front will be carried out “24 hours a day,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal assured yesterday after criticizing the effectiveness of Ukraine's defense lines.
◾ The European Commission confirmed yesterday that it would present to member states in March the framework for negotiations with a view to Ukraine's accession to the EU.
◾ In view of the Russian threat, the European Commission wants to strengthen defense capabilities on the continent. Brussels proposes to finance part of the arms purchases agreed by the 27 together, as has already been done for ammunition.
◾ On the other hand, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal claimed that his country did not receive more than 16 billion euros in aid collected by Poland and the European Commission at two donor conferences in Warsaw in 2022 in the wake of the Russian invasion.
◾ A young American soldier arrested in 2023 for leaking classified defense documents, particularly on the war in Ukraine, pleaded guilty on Monday, sealing a 16-year prison deal in exchange for dropping the most serious espionage prosecution.