TOP HEADLINES

· Two civilians were killed in Russian shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and two were wounded in a missile strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, regional officials said.

· Russian forces are possibly preparing for another offensive around the town of Vuhledar in the eastern Donbas region, with the town experiencing heavy shelling, the UK said in an intelligence bulletin. It added that fighting has also continued in the eastern city of Bakhmut over the last two days.

· Russian president Vladimir Putin said the new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile will be deployed this year following U.S. reports that the weapon failed a recent test.

· U.S. President Joe Biden offered fresh criticism of Russia's suspension of a key nuclear treaty. "But I don't read into that that he's [Putin] thinking of using nuclear weapons or anything like that," Biden added, noting that he had seen "no evidence" of any change in posture on nuclear arms use by Moscow.

· Putin called Russia's army a guarantor of national stability, promising to boost arms production, in a video address on the occasion of the annual "Defender of the Fatherland Day" holiday in Russia.

· Sanctions imposed on Russia are having a "very significant effect", U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, calling the offensive in Ukraine a "strategic failure" by Putin. "While by some measures the Russian economy has held up better than might initially have been expected, Russia is now running a significant budget deficit," Yellen said ahead of a Group of 20 meeting in India.

· Moscow said Beijing had presented its views on approaches to a "political settlement" in Ukraine following the visit of China's senior diplomat Wang Yi to Moscow. "The Chinese partners briefed us on their views on the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis as well as approaches to its political settlement. There was no talk of any separate (peace) 'plan'," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

· Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrived in Kyiv early on Thursday in a show of support ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia's offensive in Ukraine. "Returning to Kyiv today, one year since the start of the war," Sanchez tweeted with a video of him stepping off the train in the Ukrainian capital. "We will stand with Ukraine and its people until peace returns to Europe," he wrote in Spanish and Ukrainian.

· Group of Seven finance ministers were due to discuss possible fresh sanctions against Moscow and more support for Ukraine. The measures imposed have so far succeeded in practically halving Russia's oil revenues, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said. He said the meeting involving U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen should also discuss a fresh $16 billion International Monetary Fund package for Ukraine over four years.

· U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders in Warsaw vowed to strengthen defenses "from the Baltic to the Black Sea," as the UN General Assembly prepared to vote for "lasting" peace on the eve of the anniversary of Russia's offensive in Ukraine. READ MORE BELOW

· UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned Russia's offensive in Ukraine as the General Assembly met in a special session two days before the anniversary of Moscow's campaign. "That invasion is an affront to our collective conscience," Guterres said, calling the anniversary "a grim milestone for the people of Ukraine and for the international community."

· Moscow's UN ambassador accused the West of being prepared to sacrifice Ukraine and the developing world in order to beat Russia. Vasily Nebenzya told a special meeting of the UN General Assembly that the United States and its European allies were ignoring "neo-Nazism in Ukraine" to use the country to crush Russia and maintain global power. 

· Some 95 percent of Ukrainians are confident of their country's victory against Russia, according to a poll conducted in early February by the Ukraine-based Rating Group institute. READ MORE BELOW

· Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force, said that much-needed ammunition for his troops had been dispatched, after a public row in which he accused the military leadership of treason. In an audio clip, Prigozhin said he felt the pressure he and others had put on the Defense Ministry had paid off, and that he had been told ammunition was now on its way.

· President Vladimir Putin said Russia was fighting for its "historical" lands in Ukraine, speaking at a state-organized patriotic rally in Moscow in support of the Ukraine offensive. 

IN DETAIL

West vows to strengthen defenses 'from the Baltic to the Black Sea'

U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders in Warsaw vowed to strengthen defenses "from the Baltic to the Black Sea," as the UN General Assembly prepared to vote for "lasting" peace on the eve of the anniversary of Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

Nearly a year after Russian forces rolled into Ukraine, Biden attended a meeting with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and the heads of Eastern European countries to shore up support for Kyiv. 

The leaders of Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia joined the talks amid widespread concern in their countries that the conflict could spill over.

The U.S. leader had arrived in Warsaw after a surprise trip to the Ukrainian capital, during which he promised increased arms deliveries for Ukraine. 

In a statement after the meeting, the leaders vowed to further "reinforce our deterrence and defense posture across the entire Eastern flank from the Baltic to the Black Sea."

Stoltenberg urged allies to step up support for Ukraine, saying: "We cannot allow Russia to continue to chip away at European security".

In New York, the UN General Assembly met for a special session that was to debate a motion backed by Kyiv and its allies calling for a "just and lasting peace" – which will be brought to a vote on Thursday.

"I appeal to you: this is a decisive moment to show support, unity and solidarity," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at the UN. 

"Never in recent history has the line between good and evil been so clear. One country merely wants to live. The other wants to kill and destroy," he said. 

Meanwhile, the Kremlin's UN ambassador took aim at the West, saying it was "ready to plunge the entire world into the abyss of war" to defeat Russia.

Poll shows 95% of Ukrainians confident of victory against Russia

Some 95 percent of Ukrainians are confident of their country's victory against Russia, according to a poll conducted in early February by the Ukraine-based Rating Group institute. 

The study, published just days before the first anniversary of the conflict, also showed a boost in confidence towards Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

According to the survey, trust in President Zelenskyy has grown to 90 percent compared to 36 percent in January 2022, a month before the conflict.

Meanwhile, trust in the army was up to 97 percent from 65 percent in 2019.

Seventeen percent of respondents said they had lost a loved one in the conflict, nearly doubling from 9 percent six months ago. 

But the number of Ukrainians separated from their family during the conflict dropped to 21 percent compared to 44 percent in March last year.

At least a third of the working population lost their jobs, the survey said. 

The study also showed the growing pro-Western mood among Ukrainians, with 87 percent of respondents in favor of the country joining the EU and 86 percent in favor of joining NATO. 

In February 2022, just before the start of the conflict, 62 percent of Ukrainians wanted to join the U.S.-led military alliance and 30 percent opposed the move.

More than half (58 percent) of respondents said it was "impossible" to restore friendly ties with Russia, with 11 percent saying it could be possible in 10-15 years and 22 percent within 20-30 years. 

The survey was carried out in February among a "random sample" of over 1,600 Ukrainians living in various regions of the country.