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World

Ukraine in talks with allies about getting long-range missiles, Zelenskiy aide says

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Jan 28 (Reuters) – Expedited talks are under way among Kyiv and its allies about Ukraine’s requests for long-range missiles that it says are needed to prevent Russia from destroying Ukrainian cities, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday.

Ukraine has won promises of Western battle tanks and is seeking fighter jets to push back against Russian and pro-Moscow forces, which are slowly advancing along part of the front line.

“To drastically reduce the Russian army’s key weapon – the artillery they use today on the front lines – we need missiles that will destroy their depots,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukraine’s Freedom television network. He said on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula there were more than 100 artillery warehouses.

“Therefore, firstly, negotiations are already under way. Secondly, negotiations are proceeding at an accelerated pace,” he said without giving details.

Zelenskiy, speaking separately, said Ukraine wanted to preempt Russian attacks on Ukrainian urban areas and civilians.

“Ukraine needs long-range missiles … to deprive the occupier of the opportunity to place its missile launchers somewhere far from the front line and destroy Ukrainian cities,” he said in an evening video address.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine needed the U.S.-made ATACMS missile, which has a range of 185 miles (297km). Washington has so far declined to provide the weapon.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian air force denied a newspaper report that it intended to get 24 fighter jets from allies, saying talks were continuing, Ukraine’s Babel online outlet said.

Spain’s El Pais newspaper, citing Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuri Ihnat, said Ukraine initially wanted two squadrons of 12 planes each, preferably Boeing F-16 jets.

But in a statement to Babel, Ihnat said his comments to a media briefing on Friday had been misinterpreted.

“Ukraine is only at the stage of negotiations regarding aircraft. Aircraft models and their number are currently being determined,” he said.

Ihnat told the Friday briefing that F-16s might be the best option for a multi-role fighter to replace the country’s current fleet of ageing Soviet-era warplanes.

He also told Ukrainian national television that allied nations did not like public speculation about jets, Interfax Ukraine news agency said.

Deputy White House national security adviser Jon Finer on Thursday said United States would be discussing the idea of supplying jets “very carefully” with Kyiv and its allies.

Germany’s defence minister this week ruled out the idea of sending jets to Ukraine.

Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

David Ljunggren

Thomson Reuters

Covers Canadian political, economic and general news as well as breaking news across North America, previously based in London and Moscow and a winner of Reuters’ Treasury scoop of the year.

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Science

U.S. to test nuclear-powered spacecraft by 2027

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WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) – The United States plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027 as part of a long-term NASA effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of propelling astronauts to Mars in the future, the space agency’s chief said on Tuesday.

NASA will partner with the U.S. military’s research and development agency, DARPA, to develop a nuclear thermal propulsion engine and launch it to space “as soon as 2027,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said during a conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

The U.S. space agency has studied for decades the concept of nuclear thermal propulsion, which introduces heat from a nuclear fission reactor to a hydrogen propellant in order to provide a thrust believed to be far more efficient than traditional chemical-based rocket engines.

NASA officials view nuclear thermal propulsion as crucial for sending humans beyond the moon and deeper into space. A trip to Mars from Earth using the technology could take roughly four months instead of some nine months with a conventional, chemically powered engine, engineers say.

That would substantially reduce the time astronauts would be exposed to deep-space radiation and would also require fewer supplies, such as food and other cargo, during a trip to Mars.

“If we have swifter trips for humans, they are safer trips,” NASA deputy administrator and former astronaut Pam Melroy said Tuesday.

The planned 2027 demonstration, part of an existing DARPA research program that NASA is now joining, could also inform the ambitions of the U.S. Space Force, which has envisioned deploying nuclear reactor-powered spacecraft capable of moving other satellites orbiting near the moon, DARPA and NASA officials said.

DARPA in 2021 awarded funds to General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin to study designs of nuclear reactors and spacecraft. By around March, the agency will pick a company to build the nuclear spacecraft for the 2027 demonstration, the program’s manager Tabitha Dodson said in an interview.

The joint NASA-DARPA effort’s budget is $110 million for fiscal year 2023 and is expected to be hundreds of millions of dollars more through 2027.

Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Wall Street totters after mixed earnings, trade halt glitch

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  • SEC investigating NYSE opening bell glitch
  • 3M slides on downbeat Q1 forecast
  • J&J falls on sales warning; GE down on weak profit view
  • Microsoft to report quarterly earnings after market close
  • Indexes: Dow up 0.18%, S&P 500 off 0.13%, Nasdaq down 0.25%

NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Wall Street was mixed on Tuesday as a raft of mixed earnings took some wind out of the sails of the recent rally.

The session got off to an rocky start, as a spate of NYSE-listed stocks were halted at the opening bell due to an apparent technical glitch, which caused initial price confusion and prompted an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

More than 80 stocks were affected by the glitch, which caused wide swings in opening prices in stocks, including Walmart Inc (WMT.N) and Nike Inc (NKE.N).

“It looks like NYSE got on it real early,” said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. “Now they’re trying to determine what opening trade prices were.”

“Everyone involved in trade settlements is going to have a long day today.”

All three indexes sputtered near the starting line, with little apparent momentum in either direction.

Fourth quarter earnings season is in full swing, with 72 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 65% have beaten consensus, just a hair below the 66% long-term average, according to Refinitiv.

On aggregate, analysts now expect S&P 500 earnings 2.9% below the year-ago quarter, down from the 1.6% year-on-year decline seen on Jan. 1, per Refinitiv.

“Earnings don’t make a bull or bear case for the market yet, but there’s an anxiousness among investors to be long when the Fed is done raising rates,” Sroka added. “We’re hitting a ramp in the earnings cycle, and by next week we’ll have a lot more information on the direction of the market.”

Economic data showed shallower-than-expected contraction in the manufacturing and services sector in the first weeks of the year, suggesting that the Federal Reserve’s restrictive interest rates are dampening demand.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 60.69 points, or 0.18%, to 33,690.25, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 5.36 points, or 0.13%, to 4,014.45 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 28.39 points, or 0.25%, to 11,336.03.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, industrials was down the most.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, dropped 2.5% as SEC investigators searched for the cause of Tuesday’s opening bell confusion.

Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) shares dipped 1.8% after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Google for abusing its dominance of the digital advertising business.

Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) profit guidance came in above analyst expectations. Even so, its stock softened 0.3%.

Industrial conglomerates 3M Co (MMM.N) and General Electric Co (GE.N) both provided underwhelming forward guidance due to inflationary headwinds.

3M’s shares were off 5.1% while General Electric’s were modestly lower.

Aerospace/defense companies Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N) were a study in contrasts, with the former issuing a disappointing profit forecast and the latter beating estimates on solid travel demand.

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were up 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively.

Railroad operator Union Pacific Corp missed profit estimates as labor shortages and severe weather delayed shipments. Its shares shed 2.7%.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is due to report after the bell.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.16-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.06-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 69 new highs and 21 new lows.

Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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Business

New suppliers race to plug in to electric car market

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WOKING, England, Jan 23 (Reuters) – The global auto industry has committed $1.2 trillion to developing electric vehicles (EVs), providing a golden opportunity for new suppliers to grab contracts providing everything from battery packs to motors and inverters.

Startups specialising in batteries and coatings to protect EV parts, and suppliers traditionally focused on niche motorsports or Formula One (F1) racing, have been chasing EV contracts. Carmakers design platforms to last a decade, so high-volume models can generate large revenues for years.

The next generation of EVs is due to hit around 2025 and many carmakers have sought help plugging gaps in their expertise, providing a window of opportunity for new suppliers.

“We’ve gone back to the days of Henry Ford where everyone is asking ‘how do you make these things work properly?’,” says Nick Fry, CEO of F1 engineering and technology firm McLaren Applied.

“That’s a huge opportunity for companies like us.”

Bought from McLaren by private equity firm Greybull Capital in 2021, McLaren Applied has adapted an efficient inverter developed for F1 racing for EVs. An inverter helps control the flow of electricity to and from the battery pack.

The silicon carbide IPG5 inverter weighs just 5.5 kg (12 lb) and can extend an EV’s range by over 7%. Fry says McLaren Applied is working with around 20 carmakers and suppliers, and the inverter will appear in high-volume luxury EV models starting January 2025.

Mass-market carmakers often prefer to develop EV components in-house and own the technology themselves. After years of pandemic-related parts shortages, they are wary of over-reliance on suppliers.

“We just can’t afford to be reliant on third parties making those investments for us,” said Tim Slatter, head of Ford (F.N) in Britain.

Traditional suppliers, such as German heavyweights Bosch and Continental (CONG.DE), are also investing heavily in EVs and other technologies to stay ahead in a fast-changing industry.

But smaller companies say there are still opportunities, particularly with low-volume manufacturers that cannot afford huge EV investments, or luxury and high-performance carmakers seeking an edge.

Croatia’s Rimac, an electric hypercar maker part-owned by Germany’s Porsche AG (P911_p.DE) that also supplies battery systems and powertrain components to other automakers, says an undisclosed German carmaker will use a Rimac battery system in a high-performance model – with annual production of around 40,000 units – starting this year, with more signed up.

“We need to be 20%, 30% better than what they can do and then they work with us,” CEO Mate Rimac says. “If they can make a 100-kilowatt hour battery pack, we must make a 130-kilowatt pack in the same dimensions for the same cost.”

NO TIME TO LOSE

Some suppliers like Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Actnano have had long relationships with EV pioneer Tesla (TSLA.O). Actnano has developed a coating that protects EV parts from condensation and its business has spread to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), as well as other carmakers including Volvo (VOLCARb.ST), Ford, BMW (BMWG.DE) and Porsche.

California-based startup CelLink has developed an entirely automated, flat and easy-to-install “flex harness”, instead of a wire harness to group and guide cables in a vehicle. CEO Kevin Coakley would not identify customers but said CelLink’s harnesses had been installed in around a million EVs. Only Tesla has that scale.

Coakley said CelLink was working with U.S. and European carmakers, and with a European battery maker on battery wiring.

Others are focused on low-volume manufacturers, like UK startup Ionetic, which develops battery packs that would be too expensive for smaller companies to make themselves.

“Currently it costs just too much to electrify, which is why you see some manufacturers delaying their electrification launch,” CEO James Eaton said.

Since 1971, Swindon Powertrain has developed powerful motorsports engines. But it has now also developed battery packs, electric powertrains, e-axles and is working with around 20 customers, including carmakers and an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft maker.

“I realized if we don’t embrace this, we’re going to end up working for museums,” said managing director Raphael Caille.

But time may be running out.

Mate Rimac says major carmakers scrambled in the last three years to roll out EVs and now have strategies largely in place.

“For those who haven’t signed projects, I’m not sure how long the window of opportunity will remain open,” he said.

($1 = 0.8226 pounds)

Reporting by Nick Carey
Editing by Mark Potter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Exclusive: Geely plans to turn maker of London black cabs into EV powerhouse

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COVENTRY, England, Jan 23 (Reuters) – China’s Geely (0175.HK) is planning a big investment to turn the maker of London’s iconic black taxis into a high-volume, all-electric brand with a range of commercial and passenger vehicles, executives at the unit told Reuters.

London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) also aims to expand its suite of services, which include cars arranging their own maintenance and recognising their owner’s interests to help them book activities.

“We need a developed product portfolio. We need to make big investments in terms of the technology and infrastructure,” LEVC Chief Executive Alex Nan said at the taxi maker’s headquarters in Coventry, central England. “Geely will make consistent investments into LEVC because this is a very unique project.”

LEVC builds a hybrid taxi model that starts at around 66,000 pounds ($81,500), which has a battery providing 64 miles (103 km) of range and a petrol range-extender giving it a total range of over 300 miles. The company’s business was hit hard by the pandemic and it laid off 140 staff in October.

Nan said LEVC and Geely would seek to attract other investors to its zero-emission portfolio and would look to partner with other carmakers to develop new technology.

Executives said the size of Geely’s investment would be disclosed later. So far the Chinese group, which took full control of LEVC in 2013, has invested 500 million pounds in it.

“Geely fully supports the new transition strategy laid out by LEVC’s board and executive team,” Geely said in a statement.

In 2021, Geely launched a 2 billion pound investment in another unit, niche British luxury sports carmaker Lotus, to massively expand production of its sports cars and build high-end SUVs and sedans in Britain and China. Geely is following a similar path in its plans to grow LEVC, executives said.

Britain’s EV ambitions were dealt a blow last week when startup Britishvolt, which had planned to build a major battery factory in northeast England, filed for administration.

“We need to make sure the UK environment as a whole is competitive and has its position on the world stage,” said LEVC managing director Chris Allen.

READY TO ACCELERATE

Geely owns multiple brands including Volvo (VOLCARb.ST) and – via a joint venture with Volvo – Polestar . Zeekr, another brand in the group, filed for a U.S. initial public offering last month.

As such, Geely faces a complexity that larger EV makers BYD (002594.SZ) and Tesla (TSLA.O) have avoided.

Allen said LEVC was exploring a range of commercial and passenger car models on a common electric platform. It can lean on other group brands that already have EVs to “move forward in a fast, agile way”.

The company already uses an infotainment system and software developed by Volvo and a steering wheel from the Swedish carmaker, allowing it to cut costs, Allen said.

“There’s nothing we couldn’t deliver in a very short time period if we needed to, but it’s just a question of timing,” he said, adding LEVC could easily have a full range of EVs on the road within five years.

“But in two years time, is the industry going to be ready, is the charging infrastructure going to be there, is consumer confidence going to be there?”

LEVC currently has the capacity to build 3,000 taxis a year running on a single shift at its Coventry factory. Allen said that could easily be increased to 20,000 and the plant had room to expand. It could also lean on production in China as Lotus has, Allen said. A major car plant produces on average around 300,000 vehicles per year.

“There’s a huge amount of value in our product that hasn’t ever really been maximised,” Allen said. “This is about growing LEVC into a much more recognizable brand on a global scale and expanding our product offering into as many spaces as we can.”

($1 = 0.8095 pounds)

Reporting by Nick Carey, Additional reporting by Zoey Zhange in Shanghai and Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing
Editing by Mark Potter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Wagner chief writes to White House over new sanctions

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Jan 21 (Reuters) – The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner published on Saturday a short letter to the White House asking what crime his company was accused of, after Washington announced new sanctions on the group.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that Wagner, which has been supporting Russian forces in their invasion of Ukraine and claiming credit for battlefield advances, would be designated a significant Transnational Criminal Organization.

A letter in English addressed to Kirby and posted on the Telegram channel of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s press service read: “Dear Mr Kirby, Could you please clarify what crime was committed by PMC Wagner?”

Kirby called Wagner “a criminal organization that is committing widespread atrocities and human rights abuses”.

Last month, the White House said Wagner had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster Russian forces in Ukraine.

An interior view shows PMC Wagner Centre, which is a project implemented by the businessman and founder of the Wagner private military group Yevgeny Prigozhin, during the official opening of the office block in Saint Petersburg, Russia, November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Igor Russak/File Photo

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called the report groundless and Prigozhin at the time denied taking such a delivery, calling the report “gossip and speculation”.

Washington had already imposed curbs on trade with Wagner in 2017 and again in December in an attempt to restrict its access to weaponry.

The European Union imposed its own sanctions in December 2021 on Wagner, which has been active in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Mozambique and Mali, as well as Ukraine.

Prigozhin has described Wagner as a fully independent force with its own aircraft, tanks, rockets and artillery.

He is wanted in the United States for interference in U.S. elections, something that he said in November he had done and would continue to do.

Writing by Kevin Liffey;
Editing by Helen Popper

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Protests in Stockholm, including Koran-burning, draw strong condemnation from Turkey

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STOCKHOLM, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Protests in Stockholm on Saturday against Turkey and Sweden’s bid to join NATO, including the burning of a copy of the Koran, sharply heightened tensions with Turkey at a time when the Nordic country needs Ankara’s backing to gain entry to the military alliance.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the vile attack on our holy book … Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

Its statement was issued after an anti-immigrant politician from the far-right fringe burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish Embassy. The Turkish ministry urged Sweden to take necessary actions against the perpetrators and invited all countries to take concrete steps against Islamophobia.

A separate protest took place in the city supporting Kurds and against Sweden’s bid to join NATO. A group of pro-Turkish demonstrators also held a rally outside the embassy. All three events had police permits.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that Islamophobic provocations were appalling.

“Sweden has a far-reaching freedom of expression, but it does not imply that the Swedish Government, or myself, support the opinions expressed,” Billstrom said on Twitter.

The Koran-burning was carried out by Rasmus Paludan, leader of Danish far-right political party Hard Line. Paludan, who also has Swedish citizenship, has held a number of demonstrations in the past where he has burned the Koran.

Paludan could not immediately be reached by email for a comment. In the permit he obtained from police, it says his protest was held against Islam and what it called Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s attempt to influence freedom of expression in Sweden.

Several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait denounced the Koran-burning. “Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but all 30 member states must approve their bids. Turkey has said Sweden in particular must first take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.

At the demonstration to protest Sweden’s NATO bid and to show support for Kurds, speakers stood in front of a large red banner reading “We are all PKK”, referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party that is outlawed in Turkey, Sweden, and the United States among other countries, and addressed several hundred pro-Kurdish and left-wing supporters.

“We will continue our opposition to the Swedish NATO application,” Thomas Pettersson, spokesperson for Alliance Against NATO and one of organizers of the demonstration, told Reuters.

Police said the situation was calm at all three demonstrations.

DEFENCE MINISTER’S VISIT CANCELLED

Earlier on Saturday, Turkey said that due to lack of measures to restrict protests, it had cancelled a planned visit to Ankara by the Swedish defence minister.

“At this point, the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson to Turkey on January 27 has become meaningless. So we cancelled the visit,” Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.

Jonson said separately that he and Akar had met on Friday during a gathering of Western allies in Germany and had decided to postpone the planned meeting.

Akar said he had discussed with Erdogan the lack of measures to restrict protests in Sweden against Turkey and had conveyed Ankara’s reaction to Jonson on the sidelines of a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.

“It is unacceptable not to make a move or react to these (protests). The necessary things needed to be done, measures should have been taken,” Akar said, according to a statement by Turkish Defence Ministry.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry had already summoned Sweden’s ambassador on Friday over the planned protests.

Finland and Sweden signed a three-way agreement with Turkey in 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their membership of NATO. Sweden says it has fulfilled its part of the memorandum but Turkey is demanding more, including extradition of 130 people it deems to be terrorists.

(This story has been corrected to remove the erroneous reference to Morocco in the ninth paragraph)

Reporting by Omer Berberoglu in Istanbul and Niklas Pollard and Simon Johnson in Stockholm
Additional reporting by Moaz Abd-Alaziz in Cairo
Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun and Niklas Pollard
Editing by Toby Chopra and Frances Kerry

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Business

Amazon’s AWS to invest $35 bln in Virginia

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WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) cloud services division said Friday it plans to invest another $35 billion by 2040 to expand data centers in Virginia.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) said the new investment will create 1,000 jobs. Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin said AWS will establish multiple data center campuses across Virginia.

In 2021, AWS said from 2011 to 2020 it had invested $35 billion in data centers located in northern Virginia and had 3,500 full time employees at its data centers in the state.

Pending approval by state lawmakers, Virginia is developing a new “Mega Data Center Incentive Program,” which would allow the company to receive up to a 15-year extension of Data Center Sales and Use tax exemptions on equipment and software.

AWS also will be eligible to receive a state grant of up to $140 million “for site and infrastructure improvements, workforce development, and other project-related costs.”

Amazon shares closed up 3.8% Friday.

Amazon in 2018 after a long contest announced northern Virginia would be home to its second headquarters known as “HQ2” and eventually employ more than 25,000 employees. As of April, Amazon said its headcount assigned to the site was around 5,000.

Youngkin has faced some criticism for withdrawing from a competition to attract a new Ford Motor (F.N) battery plant expected to be built with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) (300750.SZ), the world’s largest battery producer.

Youngkin defended his decision Friday, telling Bloomberg News that he looks “forward to bringing a great company there. It won’t be one that uses kind of a Trojan-horse relationship with the Chinese Communist Party in order to gain.”

A spokesperson for Youngkin has said that “while Ford is an iconic American company, it became clear that this proposal would serve as a front for the Chinese Communist party.”

Ford declined to comment on Youngkin’s decision to withdraw.

In July, Ford said it plans to localize 40 GWh of battery capacity in North America starting in 2026. It also announced CATL would provide battery packs for Mustang Mach-E models for North America starting in 2023 and would discuss cooperation for batteries in Ford vehicles around the world.

“Our talks with CATL continue – and we have nothing new to announce on either front,” Ford said.

Michigan is also a candidate for the Ford battery plant, sources said, and a decision could be made in the coming weeks.

Reporting by David Shepardson and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Himani Sarkar

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US

U.S. officials advise Ukraine to wait on offensive, official says

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WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Senior U.S. officials are advising Ukraine to hold off on launching a major offensive against Russian forces until the latest supply of U.S. weaponry is in place and training has been provided, a senior Biden administration official said on Friday.

The official, speaking to a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States was holding fast to its decision not to provide Abrams tanks to Ukraine at this time, amid a controversy with Germany over tanks.

U.S. talks with Ukraine on any counter-offensive have been in the context of ensuring the Ukrainians devote enough time first to training on the latest weaponry provided by the United States, the official said.

U.S. officials believe an offensive would stand to be more successful should the Ukrainians take advantage of the training and the significant infusion of new weaponry.

The United States on Thursday announced it will send hundreds of armored vehicles to Ukraine for use in the fight.

A high-ranking U.S. delegation that included Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and deputy White House national security adviser Jon Finer was in Kyiv in recent days for talks with Ukrainian officials.

The message from the Americans was that Ukraine had spent considerable resources defending the city of Bakhmut but that there is a high potential that the Russians will eventually push the Ukrainians out of that town, the official said.

If that happens, it will not result in any strategic shift on the battlefield, the official said.

One consideration for the Ukrainians, the official said, is how much they continue to pour into defending Bakhmut at a time when they are preparing for an offensive to try to drive the Russians out of areas they hold in southern Ukraine.

U.S. officials are working with the Ukrainians on this tradeoff, the official said.

On another front, U.S. officials are advising Ukraine to adjust how Kyiv conducts the war away from trying to match Russia round for round with artillery fire because ultimately Moscow will gain the advantage through attrition, the official said.

This is why the latest U.S. supply of weaponry includes armored vehicles, because it will help Ukraine shift how it fights the war, the official said.

Bad winter weather has hindered fighting on the front lines, although a cold snap that freezes and hardens the ground could pave the way for either side to launch an offensive with heavy equipment, Serhiy Haidai, governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, said.

The official said the United States does not plan at this juncture to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine because they are costly and difficult to maintain.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Friday denied Berlin was unilaterally blocking the shipment of Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine but said the government was ready to move quickly to send them if there was consensus among allies.

Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Howard Goller and Rosalba O’Brien

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World

Putin ally Medvedev warns NATO of nuclear war if Russia is defeated in Ukraine

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  • Medvedev: nuclear powers don’t lose major wars
  • Nuclear war is possible if a nuclear power loses, he says
  • Medvedev tells NATO to think about the risks
  • Patriarch: desire to destroy Russia would mean end of the world

MOSCOW, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, warned NATO on Thursday that the defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war.

Striking a similar tone at what he described as an anxious time for the country, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said trying to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Medvedev has repeatedly raised the threat of a nuclear apocalypse, but his admission now of the possibility of Russia’s defeat indicates the level of Moscow’s concern over increased Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

“The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war,” Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council, said in a post on Telegram.

“Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends,” said Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012.

Medvedev said NATO and other defence leaders, due to meet at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday to talk about strategy and support for the West’s attempt to defeat Russia in Ukraine, should think about the risks of their policy.

Russia and the United States, by far the largest nuclear powers, hold around 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads. Putin is the ultimate decision maker on the use of nuclear weapons.

Asked if Medvedev’s remarks signified that Russia was escalating the crisis to a new level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, it absolutely does not mean that.”

He said Medvedev’s remarks were in full accordance with Russia’s nuclear doctrine which allows for a nuclear strike after “aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened”.

While NATO has conventional military superiority over Russia, when it comes to nuclear weapons, Russia has nuclear superiority over the alliance in Europe.

Putin casts Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine as an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West, and has said that Russia will use all available means to protect itself and its people.

“ALARMING TIME”

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The United States and its allies have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an imperial land grab, while Ukraine has vowed to fight until the last Russian soldier is ejected from its territory.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in a sermon: “We pray to the Lord that he bring the madmen to reason and help them understand that any desire to destroy Russia will mean the end of the world.”

“Today is an alarming time,” state news agency RIA quoted him as saying. “But we believe that the Lord will not leave Russian land.”

NOT BACKING DOWN

Since a grim New Year’s Eve message describing the West as Russia’s true enemy in the war on Ukraine, Putin has sent several signals that Russia will not back down. He has despatched hypersonic missiles to the Atlantic and appointed his top general to run the war.

Putin said on Wednesday that Russia’s powerful military-industrial complex was ramping up production and was one of the main reasons why his country would prevail in Ukraine.

Washington has not detailed in public what it would do if Putin ordered what would be the first use of nuclear weapons in war since the United States unleashed the first atomic bomb attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns cautioned Putin’s spy chief Sergei Naryshkin in November about the consequences of any use of nuclear weapons by Russia, U.S. officials said at the time.

Russia has 5,977 nuclear warheads while the United States has 5,428, China 350, France 290 and the United Kingdom 225, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Medvedev, 57, who once presented himself as a reformer who was ready to work with the United States to liberalise Russia, has recast himself since the war as the most publicly hawkish member of Putin’s circle.

He said that the nuclear risks of the Ukraine crisis should be obvious to any Western politicians who had “preserved at least some traces of intelligence”.

Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Felix Light in Tbilisi; Editing by Mark Trevelyan

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