Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy calls on Germany to rally aid

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Kyiv's gains over two years of fighting could be lost without renewed funding from Washington as the Biden administration continues to struggle to get the backing of the Republican Congress.

"Without it, simply put, everything that Ukrainians achieved, and that we've helped them achieve, will be in jeopardy," Blinken said on Monday alongside NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Blinken warned of the dangers of allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to "somehow outlast Ukraine and outlast us," adding that not sending more funds to Kyiv would send "a wrong message to all of our adversaries that we are not serious about the defense of freedom."

Ukraine's foreign minister thanked Hungary for constructive talks on Monday, days before a European summit where Kyiv hopes Hungarian leader Viktor Orban will lift a veto on tens of billions of euros in EU aid.

Dmytro Kuleba said at a meeting with Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto at the Ukrainian border town of Uzhgorod that their talks featured "frankness, sincerity, and constructiveness."

Kuleba also said the two countries had agreed to form a commission that would prepare proposals on the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority living in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian presidential official, Andriy Yermak, who was also present at the talks, said that Ukraine and Hungary are interested in holding a meeting between their leaders as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been a vocal critic of the EU's financial and military support for Kyiv and has maintained close ties with the Kremlin since Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukrainian officials rejected Russian claims of having captured Tabaivka in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region.

 "The enemy claims that is has captured Tabaivka. This is not true," Ukrainian Ground Forces Command spokesman Volodymyr Fityo said. "As of now, hostilities are continuing near this settlement."

The Russian army earlier said it had captured the tiny village which lies near the border with Luhansk region.

Fityo added that Moscow was "trying to advance in all directions." 

Ukraine said its troops were trying to expand their foothold on the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro River despite fierce resistance from Moscow's forces.

Kyiv has managed to hold a thin bridgehead on the eastern bank of the river in the southern Kherson region since November, but its forces have not claimed substantial progress since then.

Ukraine will "continue measures aimed at expanding its bridgehead" on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro, the army said in a daily briefing. "Despite significant losses, the enemy continues to try to dislodge our units from their positions," it added.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have been entrenched on opposite sides of the vast river since November 2022, when Russian forces retreated from the western bank. Pushing Russia back from the river's shores has been a priority for Kyiv, which has been trying to protect the city of Kherson from Russian shelling.

Meanwhile, Russia said Monday that its forces had taken control of the village of Tabaivka in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, but Ukraine denied it.

Hungary signaled its willingness to compromise to allow a proposed European Union aid package for Ukraine to be financed from the bloc's budget ahead of an emergency summit on Thursday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has previously blocked a revision of the EU budget that included the Ukraine aid, prompting leaders to come up with a Plan B and call an emergency summit.

But in a major shift in Budapest's stance from just a few weeks ago, the prime minister's political director, Balazs Orban, said on Monday that Hungary was open to using the EU budget for a proposed €50 billion ($54 billion) aid package for Ukraine.

Balacz Orban confirmed on X, formerly Twitter, that Budapest had sent a proposal to Brussels on Saturday showing it was open to using the EU budget for the aid package and issuing joint EU debt to finance it if other "caveats" were added.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was due to meet his Ukrainian counterpart in the western Ukrainian city of Uzghorod later in the day to prepare for a possible meeting between Orban and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

Russian air defenses thwarted a drone attack on the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, regional governor Mikhail Yevrayev said, adding that there was no fire and no casualties.

The attempted attack followed a series of similar drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in recent weeks, some of which have disrupted fuel production.

They included Rosneft's Tuapse oil refinery in southern Russia on the Black Sea and a Baltic fuel export terminal and processing complex at the port of Ust-Luga.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that employees from a Ukrainian arms firm conspired with the defense ministry officials to embezzle almost $40 million (€36 million) reported AP news agency. 

The amount was set aside to buy 100,000 mortar shells for the war with Russia. 

The SBU said on Saturday that five people have been charged, and one person detained while trying to cross the Ukrainian border. They face up to 12 years in prison if found guilty.

Officials say this investigation first started in July 2022, when officials signed a contract for artillery shells
worth 1.5 billion hryvnias ($39.6 million) with arms firm Lviv Arsenal.

Company employees were supposed to transfer the funds to a business registered abroad, which would then deliver the ammunition to Ukraine. Investigators said the goods were not delivered and the money was sent to accounts in Ukraine and the Balkans.

This comes as Kyiv is trying to clamp down on corruption in a bid to strengthen its membership request for the EUand NATO.
 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he does not want to pressure conscientious objectors who have fled abroad to return to the country, in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD, reported DPA agency.
 
"I'm definitely not calling on Olaf Scholz to bring them back quickly. We live in a democratic world," he said in the interview on Sunday. He said Ukraine needed a "functioning law" to deal with conscientious objectors.

Ukraine is currently figuring out how to recruit more soldiers for the army. The military wants to mobilize 450,000 to 500,000 men. 

Men between the ages of 18 and 60 who are fit for military service have been asked not to leave the country, although some have managed to do so. The Ministry of Defense has been appealing to Ukrainian men living abroad to return and defend the country against Russia's invasion.

Presently, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are registered as war refugees in several countries including Germany. 

In December, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann had emphasized that Ukraine's mobilization plans would not impact Ukrainians living in Germany.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made public his income over a two-year period, in an effort to promote transparency after a slew of corruption scandals hit his government.

Zelenskyy said his income had declined in 2021, and dipped further in 2022 after Russia invaded his country.

The president and his family reported income of 10.8 million hryvnias ($286,168, €263,874) in 2021, down 12 million hryvnias from the previous year. 

This fell further to 3.7 million hryvnias in 2022, Zelenskyy said, as he earned less rental income from real estate he owned, due to the war.

Zelenskyy has called on other public officials to also disclose their incomes. Kyiv is striving to meet the stringent requirements surrounding fighting corruption, in its bid to join the European Union.

A Russian missile hit an industrial site in Ukraine's central district of Kremenchuk, the regional governor said.

The attack was the second in a row, after a missile attack hit an industrial site in the same area on Saturday. The attack had triggered a fire, but no casualties were reported.

"For the second day in a row, the enemy is attacking Poltava region," Poltava regional Governor Filip Pronin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Berlin to rally EU partners to provide his country with more aid, amid growing concerns that help from the US, the biggest contributor, could end.

US President Joe Biden faces a Republicanblockade on further support for Ukraine.

Responding to the uncertainty, Zelenskyy told German public broadcaster ARD that most US politicians supported Kyiv, and that resistance to the aid was coming from merely "individual Republicans."

However, he did push for more action from Berlin.

"Germany can manage to consolidate the EU," he said. "Many countries have important economic relationships with Germany and their economy is dependent on Germany's decisions because Germany has a strong economy." 

Zelenskyy also warned of a World War III scenario, as Russia's war in Ukraine is about to enter its third year. 

"It seems to me that the Chancellor [Olaf Scholz] is aware of this risk," Zelenskyy said, adding that if Russia hit a NATO country, it would be "the beginning of the Third World War."