TOP HEADLINES

· Ukraine's Air Force says Russia launched 32 missiles in the early hours of Thursday morning. Half were shot down, it added, a lower rate than normal.

· Ukrainian officials also claimed that air defences in the south downed eight Kalibr missiles fired from a ship in the Black Sea. Other missiles struck northern and western Ukraine as well as the central regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad.

· Russia has usually carried out its biggest waves of air strikes in daylight, striking energy facilities, but Ukrainian officials suggest Moscow is starting to adapt strategy, including using air balloons for reconnaissance.

· Ukraine's military revealed that six Russian balloons were spotted over Kyiv and most were shot down after being engaged by air defences, the capital's military administration said.

· The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday Ukrainians forces had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in the Luhansk region, but provided no details.

· Ukrainian forces have repelled some Russian attacks but the situation remains difficult, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said.

· Russia has lost around half its best tanks in the year since the conflict and is struggling to replace them, the research center International Institute for Strategic Studies claimed.

· Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Moscow had never asked Minsk to go to war in Ukraine, and that he would only order his troops to fight alongside ally Russia if another country attacked Belarus, state-run Belta news agency reported.

· The UN General Assembly will vote next week on a draft resolution stressing the need to reach a "just and lasting peace" in Ukraine in line with the founding United Nations Charter.

· The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell urged countries to join Germany in sending tanks to Ukraine after media reports that Denmark and the Netherlands said they would not deliver the Leopard 2 battle tanks.

· NATO countries are ramping up production of artillery munitions as Ukraine is burning through shells much faster than the West can make them, the alliance said.

· Ukraine's state arms producer said it had launched joint production of shells with a central European country in NATO, and that it plans to develop and produce other arms and military hardware with allies.

· Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said he will invite his Ukrainian counterpart to the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers' meeting to be held in Germany on February 18, Kyodo reported.

IN DEPTH

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday he would only order his troops to fight alongside ally Russia if another country launches an attack against Belarus, the state-run Belta news agency reported. 

Lukashenko, who has repeatedly denied claims from Kyiv and the West that his country could be dragged into the war, also said he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

"I am ready to fight with the Russians from the territory of Belarus in only one case: If even one soldier comes onto the territory of Belarus to kill my people," Belta quoted Lukashenko as telling a news conference on Thursday. "If they commit aggression against Belarus, the response will be the most severe, and the war will take on a completely different nature."

Russia used Belarus as a staging post for its full-scale "special military campaign" in Ukraine last year, launching its offensive on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv from the Belarusian border.

Joint military drills between Russia and Belarus earlier this year rekindled concerns that Minsk could be preparing to take a more active role in the conflict.