Ukraine war briefing: EU eager for membership talks with Kyiv to begin ‘as soon as possible’

The European Union is eager to begin Ukraine’s EU membership talks “as soon as possible”, European Council president António Costa has said, although he stopped short of setting a date. The US plan for an end to the war in Ukraine calls for Kyiv’s EU accession by January 2027, though experts generally consider that date highly unrealistic. “I cannot say if it’s in 2027 or even in 2026 or later, but what is important is we cannot lose the momentum,” Costa told reporters during a visit to Oslo.

The Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine is operating on its sole remaining outside power line after losing a backup line more than a week ago, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Thursday. In a statement, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the Ferrosplavna-1 electric line went down on 10 February “reportedly as a result of military activity”. The plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, was now operating with outside power only from the Dniprovska power line, he said.

More than 1,000 Kenyans have been lured to fight for Russia in its war with Ukraine, according to an intelligence report to the Kenyan parliament that highlights the scale of a Russian operation taking African men to the frontline. The majority leader of Kenya’s national assembly, Kimani Ichung’wah, said “rogue recruitment agencies and individuals in Kenya” were continuing to send Kenyan nationals to fight in the conflict. The figure of more than 1,000 individuals is a significant increase on the number given in a statement by Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry in November, which said that more than 200 Kenyans had travelled to fight in the war.

Poland’s defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has told the AFP news agency that European allies – especially Italy, France and Spain – need to invest more in their defence spending. “The more Europe invests, the more seriously and respectfully America will treat us in these areas,” he said. Poland, which borders Russia and its close ally Belarus, has heavily ramped up its defence spending since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Sweden has announced 12.9bn kronor ($1.4bn) in military aid for Ukraine, focused primarily on air defence capabilities. Defence minister Pal Jonson said that the military aid package was “the third largest so far that Sweden has delivered to Ukraine.”

Belarus, a close ally of Russia rarely invited to international gatherings, has said it had intended to attend the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, but failed to receive the necessary visas. Belarus has long been subject to western sanctions over its human rights record and measures were intensified after president Alexander Lukashenko allowed his country’s territory to be used for Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Foreign minister Maxim Ryzhenkov had been due to attend the meeting in Washington, his ministry said, adding “what kind of peace and what kind of sequence of steps are we talking about if the organisers cannot even complete basic formalities for us to take part?”