France’s defense minister visits Kyiv to discuss further military support

French defense minister Sebastien Lecornu visited the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Wednesday for the first time since the war began, a trip that follows a pledge by President Emmanuel Macron of France to send more weapons to Ukraine and comes as efforts to reach a peaceful settlement appear to be deadlocked.

In Kyiv, Lecornu laid a wreath at a monument to Ukrainians who have died in the war. He met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov, to discuss further military support. Lecornu said that would include a $212 million “innovative fund” that would allow Ukraine to purchase weapons from French industrials.

Lecornu also met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and they discussed cooperation and strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses, according to Zelenskyy’s nightly address.

France so far has committed about $531 million in military assistance, supplying Ukraine with long-range cannons, air defense missile batteries and rocket launchers.

Country may end Great Prayer Day holiday as it seeks to bolster military

Just as Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was set to begin a second term as Denmark’s leader this month, she caused an uproar by proposing a contentious way to provide more funding for the military: canceling a national holiday.

The holiday, Great Prayer Day, was established more than three centuries ago and falls on the fourth Friday after Easter. Back then, stores and bars closed at 6 p.m. the night before, with the aim that people would be sober for church and prayers the next day. Now, seeking to bolster the military at a time when there is a war in Europe, Frederiksen has touched a nerve by essentially asking people to surrender one of their 11 public holidays, a move that is intended to generate more tax revenue by keeping businesses open.

Russia launches missiles as Ukraine renews pleas to evacuate

Russian forces launched a missile attack and nearly three dozen rockets at Kherson in the past day, the Ukrainian military said Wednesday, and officials called on residents to evacuate the embattled southern city.

The strikes hit a maternity ward where at least five women were recovering after giving birth, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of the Ukrainian president’s office.

“Miraculously, no one was hurt,” he said.

Kherson has been battered by shelling since Ukraine retook the city last month, with Russian forces using new defensive positions on the opposite bank of the Dnieper River to launch near-daily barrages at the city. At least 10 people were killed in the city in shelling Saturday, officials said.

Progress toward Ukraine-Russia peace talks appears far off

As the battle for Ukraine turns into a bloody, mile-by-mile fight in numbing cold, Ukrainian and Russian officials have insisted that they are willing to discuss making peace. But it is increasingly clear that both sides’ demands even to start talks are flatly unacceptable to the other, leading U.S. and European officials to conclude that serious discussions on ending the war are unlikely in the near future.

There have been no peace talks between Ukraine and Russia since the early weeks of the conflict. This week, Ukraine’s foreign minister detailed a proposal for a “peace” summit by the end of February but said Kyiv would negotiate with Moscow only if Russia first faced a war-crimes tribunal.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded that Kyiv would have to accept Moscow’s demands — including giving up the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claimed to have annexed in September — or else “the Russian army will deal with this issue.”

— Denver Post wire services