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The latest developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. All times EST.
9:31 p.m.: The United States on Friday called for Russia to respect Moldova's neutrality but said it did not believe Moldova or Romania were targeted by missiles that crossed their airspace, Agence France-Presse reported.
The cruise missiles flew over the two countries as they landed in Ukraine on Friday as Russia pursues its nearly year-old invasion, Kyiv's military chief said.
"At this time, we have no indication of a direct military threat by Russia against Moldova or Romania," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters. "More broadly, we support Moldova's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as its constitutionally guaranteed neutrality," he said.
Moldova is militarily neutral but is led by pro-European President Maia Sandu. Romania is a member of NATO. If confirmed, such an incursion would be the first violation of Romanian airspace since the beginning of the war.
8:49 p.m.: The World Bank said Friday that it has approved an initial $50 million grant to help restore Ukraine's transport network, as war rages on nearly a year since Russia launched its invasion.
The new project aims to repair Ukraine's transport infrastructure to help with immediate humanitarian relief, while boosting the capacity of trade routes, Agence France-Presse reported, quoting a statement by the development lender.
It is expected that added funding of up to $535 million will follow shortly, the bank said.
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to have devastating economic and humanitarian consequences," said Anna Bjerde, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia.
She added that "Ukraine needs urgent investments to repair damaged essential transport routes."
The project "will help to restore essential bridges and railways to relink communities and improve westward transport linkages to mitigate impacts of Black Sea shipping disruptions," said the World Bank.
7:52 p.m.: A new exhibition of anti-war posters in St. Petersburg by the veteran Russian artist and activist Yelena Osipova has been closed the day after it opened after police confiscated all the works. Speaking to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, she said her protests against Russia's invasion of Ukraine would continue.
7:02 p.m.: Switzerland has rejected a request from Spain to allow it to re-export Swiss-made anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, the Bern government said on Friday, according to Reuters.
Madrid had made the request in January to allow two 35mm anti-aircraft guns, which were made in Switzerland, be sent to Ukraine.
Switzerland has previously vetoed requests from Denmark and Germany who wanted to send Swiss-made armored vehicles and ammunition to help Ukraine in its war against Russia.
6 p.m.:
5:05 p.m.: Serbia's refusal to impose sanctions on its ally Russia remains the main obstacle to a speedier European Union accession bid, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Friday, describing the move as the "condition above all conditions" set by the bloc, Reuters reported.
Serbia has long performed a delicate balancing act between its European aspirations, partnership with NATO and its centuries-old religious, ethnic and political alliance with Russia.
After a speech marking 100 days of her cabinet, Brnabic said that Serbia had made progress in EU membership negotiations but that this was not sufficient for Brussels.
4:20 p.m.:
3:12 p.m.: The latest Pentagon assessment of the Russian military’s strategic failures, losses and ability to recover in Ukraine came from U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander, who spoke Friday morning to the Center for a New American Security. VOA’s national security correspondent Jeff Seldin shared the details on Twitter.
2:30 p.m.: Slovakia can start the process of talks on delivering MIG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine now once Kyiv has officially asked for the planes, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Friday, according to Reuters.
Western countries that have provided Ukraine with arms have so far refused to send fighter jets or long-range weapons capable of striking deep inside Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday he had heard from several European Union leaders at a summit that they were ready to provide Kyiv with aircraft, hinting at what would be one of the biggest shifts yet in Western support for Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian president asked me to deliver the MIGs. Now, because this official request has come, the process of negotiations can be started," Heger said.
The negotiations will be both internal and also with the European Commission, because Slovakia could have the delivery reimbursed, Heger said."Our MIGs can save innocent lives in Ukraine," he said.
2:10 p.m.: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Ukraine had secured important understandings and "good signals" during his tour of European capitals but more work was needed to get the weapons his country needed, Reuters reported.
"London, Paris, Brussels — everywhere I spoke these past few days about how to strengthen our soldiers. There are very important understandings and we received good signals," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
"This concerns long-range missiles and tanks and the next level of our cooperation — fighter aircraft. But we have to continue to work on this."
It was the joint task of Ukrainians, he said, to "take everything that was said and agreed and transform it into concrete supplies, concrete documents, concrete new lines of cooperation."
2:00 p.m.: Current Time reporter Borys Sachalko was with a Ukrainian frontline unit as reports came in of Russian troops advancing toward it. Using an armored personnel carrier, a rocket launcher, and small arms, the Ukrainians held the line.
1:55 p.m.: A group of 35 countries, including the United States, Germany and Australia, will demand that Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from the 2024 Olympics, the Lithuanian sports minister said on Friday, deepening the uncertainty over the Paris Games, Reuters reported.
The move cranks up the pressure on an International Olympic Committee (IOC) that is desperate to avoid the sporting event being torn asunder by the bloody conflict unfolding in Ukraine.
"We are going in the direction that we would not need a boycott because all countries are unanimous," Jurgita Siugzdiniene said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy took part in the online meeting attended by 35 ministers to discuss the call for the ban, pointing out 228 Ukrainian athletes and coaches died as a result of the Russian aggression.
"If there's an Olympics sport with killings and missile strikes, you know which national team would take the first place," he told the ministers.
1:40 p.m.: A Belarusian court on Friday sentenced two men to 22 years in prison for their roles in acts of sabotage of the railway network intended to slow the movement of Russian forces through the country, Reuters reported, quoting rights group Viasna.
The two men, Dmitry Klimov, 28, and Vladimir Aramtsev, 27, were tried and found guilty of five charges, including treason and terrorism, the group said.
A third man, Yevgeny Minkevich, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to report the actions, but was released by the court as he was deemed to have served sufficient time in detention before the ruling.
The three men were arrested by Belarusian authorities at the end of March last year. One of the men was shot in the kneecap during his arrest.
1:25 p.m.:
1:10 p.m.: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday the West's efforts to "isolate" his country had completely failed and Moscow was building stronger relations with countries in Africa, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific and elsewhere, Reuters reported.
"Today we can affirm that the West's plans to isolate Russia by surrounding us with a sanitary cordon have been a fiasco," Lavrov told Russian diplomats at an event at his ministry after returning from a nearly week-long tour of Africa.
"Despite the anti-Russian orgy orchestrated by Washington, London and Brussels, we are strengthening good neighborly relations in the widest sense of this concept with the international majority," he said.
The veteran foreign minister's latest trip took him to Mali, Mauritania and Sudan as well as Iraq. He also recently visited South Africa, Eswatini, Angola and Eritrea.
12:50 p.m.: Russia on Friday put the founder of an anti-war group that helps Russian conscripts break their military contracts and return to Russia on its federal most-wanted list, The Associated Press reported.
Alexandra Garmazhapova, founder of the Free Buryatia Foundation, lives in the Czech capital, Prague, and would face arrest if she returned to Russia.
In a statement, Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs did not cite any specific charge for putting Garmazhova on the list. But the activist said the case may have been filed against her under Russia’s law banning the spread of “fake” information about the Russian army.
The Free Buryatia Foundation has reported on the draft in the Buryatia region in eastern Siberia and helps conscripts from the region terminate military contracts and return from the war in Ukraine.
The foundation’s website was blocked in Russia in summer 2022, shortly after it reported that 150 Buryat servicemen had returned from Ukraine, having refused to fight and canceled their contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry.
12:40 p.m.:
12:20 p.m.: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday accused France of jeopardizing EU unity on Ukraine by organising a Franco-German dinner in Paris with the Ukrainian president that excluded other European allies, Reuters reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday evening on the eve of an EU summit, where the Ukrainian leader called for more weapons in the fight against the Russian invasion.
The nationalist Italian leader has already dismissed the Paris dinner as "inappropriate" and doubled down on her criticism on Friday, saying it was vital for the 27-nation European Union to show a unified face in front of the crisis.
11:55 a.m.: Ukraine’s wartime leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now been bestowed with France’s highest medal of honor. But there’s a problem: Russian President Vladimir Putin has the same medal, The Associated Press reported Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron pinned the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor medal on Zelenskyy’s chest after the two met in the French presidential palace Thursday, a move Macron said was meant to show France’s “immense” recognition for Ukraine’s valor since Russia invaded it a year ago.
Some French legislators and activists have called on Macron to rescind Putin’s award because of the war.
Macron didn’t rule out stripping Putin of the honor bestowed by then-President Jacques Chirac in 2006.
Macron told reporters Friday that such a decision “has serious meaning, and it should be taken at the right moment.” He noted that he has rescinded the honor in the past.
Macron stripped Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of his Legion of Honor award in the wake of widespread sexual misconduct allegations against him in 2017. Disgraced cyclist and former Tour de France star Lance Armstrong also had his French Legion of Honor award revoked.
11:35 a.m.:
11:05 a.m.: Finnish parliamentary groups said on Friday they may ratify NATO's founding treaties in the coming weeks, a key step that could lead the country to proceed with membership of the Western military alliance ahead of neighboring Sweden, Reuters reported.
The two Nordic countries sought NATO membership shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year and have said they want to join "hand in hand", but while most member-states have ratified the applications, Turkey objects to Sweden's candidacy.
Facing an April election, most political parties in Finland have said they want parliament to vote on the treaties before its March 3 recess, and the foreign affairs committee on Friday debated required legislation behind closed doors.
Discussions will continue next week, but progress has been made, the head of the foreign relations committee, Jussi Halla-Aho of the True Finns party, told public broadcaster Yle.
10:50 a.m.:
10:40 a.m.: Following her unexpected resignation Friday, Moldova’s former prime minister, Natalia Gavrilita, a 41-year-old economist who was appointed in August 2021, told a news conference that her government “would have been able to move forward more and faster” had it garnered the same support and trust domestically as it did from other European countries, The Associated Press reported.
Gavrilita’s premiership was marked by a long string of problems. These include an acute energy crisis after Moscow dramatically reduced supplies to Moldova and skyrocketing inflation in the wake of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
She also said that no one expected her government “would have to manage so many crises caused by Russian aggression in Ukraine.” Compounding that were missiles from the war traversing Moldova’s skies.
“I took over the government with an anti-corruption, pro-development and pro-European mandate at a time when corruption schemes had captured all the institutions and the oligarchs felt untouchable,” Gavrilita said. “We were immediately faced with energy blackmail, and those who did this hoped that we would give in.”
“The bet of the enemies of our country was that we would act like previous governments, who gave up energy interests, who betrayed the national interest in exchange for short-term benefits,” she added.
President Maia Sandu thanked Gavrilita on Friday for her “enormous sacrifice and efforts to lead the country in a time of so many crises.”
10:25 a.m.: Moldova's pro-Western government resigned on Friday after a turbulent 18 months in power, and President Maia Sandu nominated 48-year-old presidential aide and former interior minister Dorin Recean to be the new prime minister, Reuters reported.
Recean, who is expected to quickly win parliamentary approval, said he would press on with Moldova's bid to join the European Union and revive the economy. "The new government will have three priorities: Order and discipline, a new life and economy, and peace and stability," Recean, a defense adviser to Sandu and secretary of Moldova's security council, told a news briefing.
His challenges include dealing with what Moldova portrays as attempts by Russia to destabilize the tiny former Soviet republic of 2.5 million people which borders Ukraine and NATO and EU member Romania. Russia, which has troops in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria, has bristled at the possibility of former Soviet republics joining the EU.
EU leaders accepted Moldova as a membership candidate last year in a diplomatic triumph for Sandu. The government had been mapping out reforms to accelerate accession to the 27-nation bloc and working on diversifying its energy supply.
But Moldova faces soaring inflation and has struggled to cope with an influx of Ukrainian refugees. It has also suffered power cuts after Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, and struggled to end its reliance on Russian gas.
The steep price increases, particularly for Russian gas, led to street protests last year in which demonstrators called for the government and Sandu to resign. Chisinau has described the protests as part of a Kremlin-sponsored campaign to destabilize the government.
Political analyst Iulian Groza, of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms in Chisinau, said Friday's reshuffle was meant to "re-energize" the cabinet. Groza, a former deputy foreign minister, predicted a new cabinet would be presented to parliament by the end of next week.
10:00 a.m.: Moldovan President Maia Sandu has nominated former Interior Minister Dorin Recean as prime minister after Natalia Gavrilita stepped down just a year and a half into her government's mandate, automatically triggering the resignation of the entire cabinet and plunging one of Europe's poorest countries into a political crisis as war rages in neighboring Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
The political drama unfolded on Friday as the country faces energy, economic, and security crises sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Sandu wasted no time in making the appointment, just hours after Gavrilita said she was stepping down after 18 turbulent months in power that were shadowed by the conflict in Ukraine. That war has at times threatened to spill over into Moldova, which has warned that Moscow, which maintains troops in the breakaway region of Transdniester, may try to destabilize the country.
In a sign of how precarious the situation is, officials in Chisinau confirmed earlier on Friday that a Russian missile had violated Moldovan airspace and that Russia's ambassador had been summoned in protest.
Recean, who has been a defense adviser to Sandu as the secretary of Moldova's Security Council, now has 14 days to propose a new government to parliament.
"The country's economy and security need a new life," Sandu told a news briefing held at the presidents office alongside the 48-year-old Recean.
Sandu said the new government will have a mission to accelerate a cleanup of the justice system, the fight against corruption, and economic growth. "2023 will be a year of reconstruction," she declared.
9:35 a.m.:
9:15 a.m.: Ukrainians reacted with puzzlement and some ire to comments by a top Starlink official that their country has “weaponized” the satellite internet service, which has been pivotal to their national survival, The Associated Press reported.
The network of low-orbiting satellites has been crucial to Ukraine’s use of battlefield drones — a central fixture of the year-old war — and the country’s defenders have no viable alternative. The satellite links help Ukrainian fighters locate the enemy and target long-range artillery strikes.
Onstage at a conference in Washington, D.C., the president of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell said on Wednesday: “We were really pleased to be able to provide Ukraine connectivity and help them in their fight for freedom. It was never intended to be weaponized. However, Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement.”
Speaking separately to reporters from The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations afterward, Shotwell said SpaceX has worked to restrict Ukraine’s use of Starlink for military purposes.
That drew the ire of a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a tweet, Mykhailo Podolyak said SpaceX needs to decide whether it is on the side of Ukraine’s right to freedom or Russia’s “‘right’ to kill & seize territories.”
There was no indication of any interruption to Starlink service in Ukraine.
In a statement, the country’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov reported “no problems with the operation of Starlink uplink terminals in Ukraine.” A ministry official familiar with the situation said checks Thursday of cities near the war’s front lines found no indications of trouble with Starlink coverage. The official spoke on condition they not be further identified.
8:50 a.m.: Belarus on Friday condemned as "catastrophic" a decision by Poland to close a border checkpoint between the two countries, saying it could lead to a collapse on both sides of the border, Reuters reported.
Poland said on Thursday, citing security concerns, it would close a key border crossing into Belarus at Bobrowniki, starting at 12 p.m. (1100 GMT) on Friday, driving already hostile relations between the two countries to a new low.
Poland has been a key refuge for opponents of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Warsaw has become one of Kyiv's staunchest supporters since Belarus' main ally Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The Belarus government criticized the border decision on Thursday, but went further in a statement on Friday, calling the move irrational and dangerous. "The actions of the Polish authorities could lead to a collapse on both sides of the border," the country's border committee said in a statement shared on social media.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland might close further border crossings. "We are not excluding closing other border crossings with Belarus," he told a news conference in Brussels. "The reason for this is that there are growing tensions with Belarus and they are being instrumentalized by the Russians and the Kremlin."
8:25 a.m.: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is set to address the Russian parliament before the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, on February 21, the Kyiv Independent reported Friday.
“The announcement comes amid concerns that Russia may renew its offensive to mark the one-year anniversary of the all-out war,” the media organization noted.
8:10 a.m.: Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Andriy Kostin, has called for the creation of an ad hoc international tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russian’s aggression in Ukraine. VOA’s Oleksii Kovalenko has the story.
7:45 a.m.: Channels of telephone communication between Russia and NATO remain open but normal diplomatic relations between the two sides are out of the question, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Friday, according to Reuters.
Relations between Moscow and the U.S.-led Atlantic alliance are at post-Cold War lows following Russia's decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year in what it calls a "special military operation".
"Military channels have remained open to date - in particular a telephone communication line between Russia's Chief of the General Staff and the commander of NATO troops in Europe," Grushko said in an interview on state TV.
Russia's ambassador to Belgium, where NATO is headquartered, has also been instructed to communicate with NATO when necessary, Grushko added.
Emergency military hotlines are known to exist between Russia and the United States in order to offer an always-open line of communication, designed to be used to de-escalate potentially hostile situations between the world's largest nuclear powers.
7:15 a.m.: Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita has stepped down just a year and a half into her government's mandate, automatically triggering the resignation of the entire cabinet and plunging one of Europe's poorest countries into a political crisis as war rages in neighboring Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
The move on February 10 comes as the country faces energy, economic, and security crises sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"In spite of unprecedented challenges, the country was governed responsibly, with a lot of attention and dedicated work. We have stability, peace, and development -- where others wanted war and bankruptcy," President Maia Sandu said in a statement posted on Facebook announcing she had accepted the resignation.
Sandu said she will hold consultations with the factions of parties in parliament, "and, afterward, I will nominate a candidate for the post of prime minister of the Republic of Moldova."
Once she does that, the candidate has 14 days to propose a new government to parliament.
Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russia has drastically cut gas deliveries to Europe in response to Western sanctions over its invasion, triggering an energy crisis at the onset of winter.
This has particularly affected Moldova, a European Union candidate country wedged between Ukraine and Romania, which relies predominantly on Russia for its gas supplies.
6:30 a.m.:
6:00 a.m.: Ukraine experienced a massive missile attack Friday that resulted in explosions heard across the country, including the capital city of Kyiv, VOA's Anna Chernikova reported from the capital.
Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, confirmed that air defense forces destroyed 10 missiles above the city, and debris from the missiles damaged a private building and a vehicle. The attacks also resulted in electricity outages and damage to critical infrastructure in western cities such as Khmelnytskyi and in eastern cities including Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Kryvyi Rih. At least 8 civilians were reported wounded in the city of Kharkiv.
Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko confirmed that the attack resulted in hits to thermal and hydro-generation facilities, as well as high-voltage infrastructure in six regions. The most severe situation is currently in the Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Khmelnytskyi regions.
According to Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi, two Russian Kalibr cruise missiles were launched by Russian forces from the Black Sea, crossed through Moldova’s airspace, and Ukraine’s air defense destroyed both missiles as soon as they were back in the airspace of Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense of Moldova also confirmed this, and the Ministry of Defense of Romania reported that the missiles were recorded 35 kilometers from the border of Romania, a NATO member state.
The Ukrainian air defense forces reported that they successfully destroyed 61 out of 71 missiles and 5 out of 7 drones during the attack.
5:15 a.m.: The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in its latest Ukraine assessment that Russian forces continued offensive operations along the Svatove-Kreminna line, conducted limited ground attacks in western Donetsk Oblast and the Avdiivka-Donetsk City area and continued offensive operations around Bakhmut. Russian forces also conducted a limited ground attack in Zaporizhia Oblast.
4:09 a.m.: Ukrainian officials in the east, scene of the fiercest fighting in the war with Russia, said an anticipated fresh offensive by Moscow is under way, Reuters reported, citing local officials.
Pavlo Krylenko, governor of the eastern Donetsk region, was asked Thursday on Ukrainian television if the Russian offensive had begun and replied: "Yes, definitely."
Around eastern towns like Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Vuhledar that have witnessed some of the bloodiest battles of the war, "the enemy's forces and means are escalating there with daily intensity. They are trying to ... seize these areas and key cities ... to score new successes," he said.
The wider Donbas area of the east, comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk, has been one of Russia's major objectives, and the Kremlin declared them in the autumn to be among four annexed territories after referendums decried as shams by the West.
"Over the past week to 10 days, the frequency of shelling has increased. The daily number of attacks has increased," Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian Radio NV on Thursday. "In real terms, this is part of the full-scale offensive planned by the Russians."
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.
3:06 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said Russian forces are advancing north of Bakhmut and around the town of Vuhledar. In operations around the latter, inexperienced Russian troops have led to particularly heavy casualties.
2:13 a.m.: Poland is buying 10% of its oil supplies from Russia, a deputy minister for state assets said Thursday, despite Warsaw's repeated calls for strengthening sanctions on Russian oil, Agence France-Presse reported.
An embargo on Russia oil products, like diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, implemented by the bloc came into effect Sunday.
That expanded on an EU embargo on seaborne oil deliveries introduced two months ago.
Poland had declared last year it had a "radical plan" of stopping all Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.
But deputy minister for state assets Maciej Malecki told parliament that Poland still has a valid contract with a Russian company Tatneft.
The deal expiring at the end of 2024 covers "around 10% of the needs of (Polish oil firm) Orlen," Malecki said.
Malecki said the contract with Tatneft cannot be terminated as it would force Warsaw to pay compensation fees to the Russian firm.
1:07 a.m.: German authorities searched the premises of three companies early Thursday as part of an ongoing probe into the possible violation of European Union sanctions against Russia, Reuters reported, citing prosecutors' statement.
The raids followed a Reuters investigation in December into the supply chain that has continued to ship billions of dollars' worth of electronic components to Russia despite Western export restrictions and manufacturer bans.
German authorities also searched the residences of three suspects, according to the statement, which didn't name the companies or individuals. The statement said that records, documents and IT equipment were seized.
A person familiar with the case said one of the three companies searched by prosecutors was Smart Impex, a German wholesaler of IT products that is suspected by authorities of bypassing sanctions on electronic components via an intermediary company in Turkey.
Reuters was unable to reach Smart Impex or its manager, Gokturk Agvaz, by phone on Thursday for comment. The names of the other two companies or the three suspects couldn't be determined.
12:02 a.m.: The number of foreign tourists visiting Russia collapsed last year because of the impact of Western sanctions imposed on the country following its military operation in Ukraine and strict COVID-19 restrictions in China, Agence France-Presse reported Thursday, citing industry professionals.
Only 200,100 foreigners visited Russia in 2022, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) said, citing figures from border services, a drop of 96.1% from pre-pandemic years.
"The reasons are clear: the closed skies between Russia and the vast majority of European countries, as well as the impossibility to use foreign-issued Visa and Mastercard cards in Russia," ATOR said.
Most of Europe closed its airspace to Russian planes a few days after the Kremlin launched the Ukraine offensive in February 2022.
Also, draconian COVID-related restrictions in China that Beijing only recently abandoned kept Chinese tourists from taking advantage of the situation.
Before the pandemic Chinese tourists were the top visitors to Russia, accounting for around 30% of the 5.1 million total. In 2022 only 842 Chinese tourists visited Russia.
Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
