Ukraine war live updates: Ukraine marks one year of war and ‘invincibility’; Turkey to restart NATO talks with Sweden, Finland

The Treasury Department has issued sanctions against 22 individuals and 83 entities and has targeted the metals and mining sector of the Russian economy on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The announcement comes as the U.S. government, in partnership with G-7 countries, announced a historic tranche of sanctions against 250 Russian entities, according to the White House.

The Treasury sanctions will affect over a dozen Russian financial institutions and wealth management agencies as well as firms that produce or import high-tech equipment used for warfare. The over 20 individuals targeted for sanctions evasion include bad actors from Switzerland, Italy and Germany, the announcement said.

Joint Stock Company Burevestnik Central Scientific Research Institute, OOO Metallurg-Tulamash, TPZ-Rondol OOO and Mtsenskprokat are the four companies within the metals and mining sector designated for sanctions for manufacturing arms for the Russian military.

Access to all property on U.S. soil or in the hands of a U.S.-based individual belonging to those sanctioned will be blocked. The U.S. has sanctioned more than 2,500 individuals and entities involved in Russia’s war since 2022, according to the Treasury.

— Chelsey Cox

Ukraine’s IT sector grew in 2022, despite a devastated economy and reduced population due to Russia’s invasion.

The World Bank estimates that Ukraine’s economy shrank by 35% over the last year. But the country’s export of IT services was up 5.8%, and revenue from IT was up 13%, according to the IT Ukraine Association and the National Bank of Ukraine.

By May 2022, Ukraine’s IT sector “managed to restructure, relocate and adjust to the war realities,” and was “the only sector of Ukrainian economy that was and is growing despite all odds, bringing revenue in the budget of the devastated nation,” an information technology blog from tech consulting firm Gartner wrote.

Ukraine’s IT sector has long been one of its strongest exports. In 2021, Ukraine was the number one IT outsourcing market in Central and Eastern Europe by number of engineers and hosted more than 110 multinational R&D centers, the Gartner blog post wrote, citing national data.

There were 200,000 Ukrainian developers in the country in 2020, according to Amsterdam-based software development outsourcing company Daxx, which says that 20% of Fortune 500 companies have their remote development teams in Ukraine.

— Natasha Turak

German supporters of Ukraine parked a destroyed, rusty Russian T-72 tank in front of Russia’s embassy in Berlin, marking what they said was a memorial to the war in Ukraine, one year after Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

“The tank was destroyed by an anti-tank defense … it is also assumed that at least one person died, so in the end we are also facing a soldier’s grave,” one of the activists said while next to the tank, according to a Google translation.

A key aim of the effort is to force the Russian embassy and others to “be faced with the suffering that this war has caused,” the activists said.

The tank was destroyed by an anti-tank mine on March 31, 2022, close to a village near Kyiv, Reuters cited the organizers as saying. It was later moved to Germany with the assistance of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense and of the Ukrainian National Museum of Military History, they said.

Destroyed Russian tanks have become a symbol of triumph for Ukrainians, who also lined the streets of their capital Kyiv with many of the ruined Russian vehicles while commemorating Ukrainian independence day on Aug. 24 of last year.

— Natasha Turak

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered a stinging rebuke of Moscow’s war in Ukraine and of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s performance in the war, one year since the fully-fledged conflict began.

“One year on, from the start of his brutal war, Putin has failed to achieve a single one of his strategic goals,” von der Leyen said, during a press conference in Estonia to commemorate the country’s independence day.

“Instead of dividing the European Union, he finds us united and determined to stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes. Instead of dominating the global energy market, he has seen his main source of revenue slashed. Instead of wiping Ukraine off the map, he is confronted with a nation more vigorous than ever.”

Von der Leyen stressed that Europe would stand firm with Ukraine, but warned that Putin is now pushing a more intense phase of the war.

“Putin has upped the stakes. He is sending hundreds of thousands of young Russians as cannon fodder in the trenches in Ukraine… it also comes with real and renewed danger for Ukraine. So now is the time to double down.”

The EU leader vowed to continue enforcing sanctions on Russia while economically and militarily supporting Ukraine “until the Russians end this war and leave Ukraine.”

— Natasha Turak

Russian President Vladimir Putin is only preparing for more war, not peace, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during remarks in Estonia on Friday.

Putin “has not given up on his goals” and is “not preparing for peace, but for more war,” Stoltenberg said, adding that the Russian leader wants a Europe where his country “can dictate what neighbors do.”

The NATO leader was speaking alongside EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, where they were commemorating the Baltic state’s independence day. It also comes a year after Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow routinely rejects NATO’s accusations, instead claiming that NATO and the West started the war in Ukraine, despite Russia itself launching a physical military invasion of its neighbor one year ago.

— Natasha Turak

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a defiant message on the day marking one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“On 24 February, millions of us made a choice. Not a white flag, but a blue and yellow flag. Not fleeing, but facing. Facing the enemy. Resistance and struggle,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on Telegram.

“It was a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity. And this is a year of our invincibility. We know that this will be the year of our victory!”

— Natasha Turak

NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Friday that talks among Sweden, Finland and Turkey will resume next month after coming to a standstill in January.

Sweden and Finland applied to join the defense alliance back in May. So far, 28 out of the 30 NATO member nations have approved their membership, but Hungary and Turkey have yet to do so. Budapest says it will hold parliamentary debates on the two accessions in the coming weeks, but the timeline from Ankara is a bit more vague given upcoming elections and tensions with Stockholm.

Back in January, discussions between Turkey, Finland and Sweden were put on hold after far-right activists burnt a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Signaling an improvement in relations, Stoltenberg said on Friday that the three nations will resume talks and come together in Brussels in mid-March.

“We agreed to restart the talks and convene a trilateral meeting between Finland, Sweden and Turkey at NATO headquarters in mid-March,” he said at a press conference in Estonia.

“Our aim is both for Sweden and Finland to join as soon as possible,” he added.

Speaking at a press conference that also marked one year since Russia began its full-invasion of Ukraine, Stoltenberg said that Putin “has not given up on his goals” and that he is “not preparing for peace, but for more war.”

— Silvia Amaro

Germany’s labor market is under severe pressure, and the recent influx of Ukrainian refugees is unlikely to solve the country’s workforce issues in the long term. More than half of German companies are struggling to find skilled workers to fill vacancies, the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry reported in January.

Aside from Poland, Germany has taken in more refugees than any other region since Russia invaded Ukraine one year ago. The conflict has ravaged swathes of Ukraine and seen 8 million people leave in search of safety.

Over a million of these Ukrainian refugees have been recorded as arriving in Germany, a country that has warmly welcomed them.

The arrival of these often highly educated Ukrainians could bring benefits for Germany, particularly when it comes to bolstering its workforce. Sylvain Broyer, chief EMEA economist at S&P Global Ratings, said the presence of refugees would be “positive” for the Germany economy right now.

Read the full story here.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

One year since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s economy and infrastructure are in tatters, with the government and its allies planning the largest rebuilding effort since World War II.

The World Bank estimates that Ukrainian GDP shrank by 35% in 2022, and projected in October that the population share with income below the national poverty line would rise to almost 60% by the end of last year — up from 18% in 2021.

The World Bank has so far mobilized $13 billion in emergency financing to Ukraine since the war began, including grants, guarantees and linked parallel financing from the U.S., U.K., Europe and Japan.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that the Ukrainian economy contracted by 30%, a less severe decline than previously projected. Inflation has also begun to decelerate, but ended 2022 at 26.6% year on year, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

In a statement following a visit to Ukraine this week, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said she saw “an economy that is functioning, despite the tremendous challenges,” commending the government’s vision to move from recovery to a “transformational period of reconstruction and EU accession.”

Read the full story here.

— Elliot Smith

As Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine enters its second year, military analysts say they believe that capturing the Donbas region, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk (regions where two self-proclaimed, pro-Russian “republics” are located), remains a key aim for Russia as it launches a new large-scale offensive using several hundred thousand conscripts drafted by Putin last September.

How that offensive proceeds, and how quickly and effectively Ukraine can counter it, will be decisive, defense experts warn.

Russia’s “main strategic goal remains to destroy Ukraine, all of it,” Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine’s former defense minister, told CNBC ahead of the one-year anniversary.

Read the full story here.

— Holly Ellyatt

The Russia-Ukraine war is characterized by an ammunition shortage, Eurasia Group chairman Cliff Kupchan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

China providing Russia with the ammunition it lacks could “swing … the war in Russia’s favor,” said Kupchan. “That’s one of the reasons I’m so concerned and focused on China right now,” he added.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government’s “main concern” is getting more ammunition to the Ukrainians, who are running out, said Kupchan.

“I don’t think either side has a structural advantage, in that they’re both hurting pretty bad,” he said.

It is also unlikely that Putin will invade Poland, said Kupchan. Putin “can’t get a straight yes out” that Ukraine is a sovereign, independent country, he added.

“I don’t think that he thinks of any other country like he thinks about Ukraine.”

— Audrey Wan

China reiterated its call for peace talks and a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine

“All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible, so as to gradually deescalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

China added that it supports the International Atomic Energy Agency in playing a “constructive role in promoting the safety and security of peaceful nuclear facilities.”

China said the international community should “help parties to the conflict open the door to a political settlement as soon as possible, and create conditions and platforms for the resumption of negotiation.” It added it is ready to “play a constructive role in this regard”

?— Jihye Lee