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The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.
1:50 a.m.:
1:20 a.m.: European states increased their imports of major weaponry by 47% in the five years to 2022, while the United States’ share of global arms exports rose to 40% from 33%, a leading conflict think-tank said Monday, according to Reuters.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, following years of growing tensions, has prompted European countries to rush to bolster their defenses.
“Even as arms transfers have declined globally, those to Europe have risen sharply due to the tensions between Russia and most other European states,” Pieter D. Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said in a statement.
SIPRI defines major arms as aircraft, warships, tanks, artillery, missiles and various heavy defense systems.
European states in the U.S.-led NATO alliance increased their arms imports by 65% from the previous five-year period. But worldwide, international arms transfers fell 5.1%, according to SIPRI.
The United States and Russia have been the world’s largest and second-largest arms exporters for the past three decades.
U.S. arms exports increased by 14% from 2013-17, and the U.S. accounted for 40% of global arms exports. Russia’s share fell to 16% from 22%.
12:40 a.m.: In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “In less than one week — since March 6 — in the Bakhmut sector alone, they [Ukrainian troops] managed to eliminate more than 1,100 enemy soldiers, which are Russia’s irreversible losses, losses there, near Bakhmut. In addition, at least 1,500 more sanitary losses of the enemy — these are wounds incompatible with continuing fighting. Plus, dozens of units of enemy equipment were destroyed. Plus, more than ten Russian ammunition depots were burned.”
He added, “As of today, we have managed to restore the technical capabilities of electricity supply. Kharkiv has electricity. Zhytomyr region has electricity. All cities and communities that had problems with energy supply have been powered again. I thank each and every person who worked for this!”
12:01 a.m.: “Navalny,” a look at a Russian opposition leader following an attempt on his life, has won the Oscar for best documentary feature, The Associated Press reported.
Director Daniel Roher’s portrait of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has shadowy operatives, truth-seeking journalists, conspiracy theories and Soviet-era poisons. It is a film with obvious political poignance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Roher was able to sit down with Navalny during his brief stay in Berlin in 2020 and early 2021 as he was recovering from being poisoned. The film was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the documentary audience award and the festival favorite award.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
