Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy and Rutte sign security deal

The German Ministry of Defense is investigating whether air force communications were intercepted, following allegations from Moscow. 

"The Military Counterintelligence Service has initiated all necessary measures," a ministry spokeswoman said in a statement to DW. 

Earlier on Friday, Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russian state broadcaster RT, said she received an audio recording of an approximately 40-minute conversation in which German military officers allegedly discussed whether Taurus missiles would be technically capable of destroying the bridge built by Russia to the Crimean peninsula.

RT has been described as a propaganda outlet for the Russian government and Russian foreign policy. It was not immediately possible to verify the alleged recording RT purported to have in its possession.

Russian Foreign Ministry demanded an explanation from the German government.

The German Defense Ministry spokesperson said did not comment on the content of the alleged conversation.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly emphasized that he is against supplying Ukraine with Taurus missiles.

The European Union must adapt its defense strategy for a drawn-out standoff with Russia, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said, adding that the war in Ukraine is increasingly about which side can muster the most industrial capacity over time.

Next week, the European Commission will announce a European defense industry strategy and a new European defense investment program (EDIP). 

"We're going to need to maintain an industrial balance of power," Breton told journalists in Paris. The EU commissioner added that the determining factor in the war in Ukraine had shifted from which side had the biggest weapons stocks to which had the capacity to produce more.

The new strategy, to be announced probably on Tuesday, is aimed at better sharing resources and supply chains among EU members while smoothing out bottlenecks and providing more financing.

Ukraine exported a record 8 million tons of freight, including 5.2 million tons of agricultural products, via its Black Sea corridor in February, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

"These are record export indicators not only via the Ukrainian corridor but since the start of [Russia's] large-scale invasion," Kubrakov said in a statement.

Ukraine created a shipping corridor from its own ports in August, which hugs the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria, shortly after Russia withdrew from a UN-brokered Black Sea grain export deal.

Meanwhile, insurance broker Marsh and Lloyd's of London underwriters have expanded a marine war insurance program backed by Ukraine from grain shipments to all non-military cargo, such as iron ore and steel, Marsh said.

Marsh, Lloyd's and Ukrainian state banks launched an initial program in November to cut the cost of claims for damage to ships and crew transporting grain through the Black Sea corridor.

Russia is ready to hand over the bodies of the victims of a January military plane crash to Ukraine, the RIA news agency cited Russian human rights official Tatyana Moskalkova as saying.

According to Moskalkova, she was in touch with Ukrainian officials regarding the matter of the bodies.

Moscow accused Kyiv of downing the Ilyushin Il-76 plane in Russia's Belgorod region and killing 74 people on board, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers en route to be swapped for Russian prisoners of war. It has not presented evidence.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it shot down the plane and has challenged Moscow's account of who was on board and what happened.

Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets reiterated Kyiv's call for a transparent investigation into the crash conducted by international experts allowed to access the crash site.

The leaders of Ukraine and the Netherlands signed a security guarantee deal in the northeastern Ukrainian frontline city of Kharkiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post on X, formerly Twitter, that the document includes €2 billion ($2.16 billion) in military aid from the Netherlands this year, as well as further defense assistance over the next ten years.

"I am grateful to Prime Minister Rutte for this agreement, which will strengthen the protection of Ukraine, including the city of Kharkiv, where we met today," Zelenskyy said.

"According to the document, the Netherlands also supports Ukraine's future membership in the EU and NATO," he added.

Now, Ukraine has security agreements with seven countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Canada, Italy and the Netherlands.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands would also donate an additional €150 million to a Czech initiative to buy ammunition for Ukraine from countries around the world, Rutte announced during a visit to Ukraine.

The additional pledge takes the total sum the Netherlands will donate to the initiative to €250 million. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he would not accept any decision that would involve German soldiers in the war in Ukraine, reacting to reported British criticism of his reluctance to arm Kyiv with long-range Taurus missiles.

"I will not support any decision that results in German soldiers somehow being involved in a military operation in connection with Russia's terrible war against Ukraine," Scholz said in Munich.

The UK has privately urged Germany to provide the missiles and expressed irritation at Scholz's comments about British activity in Ukraine, the media outlet Politico reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Earlier, Scholz was already reluctant to supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles, which have a reach of 500 kilometers, facing down calls from within his own coalition to send them.

Last week, Germany's Bundestag voted against sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry said it had successfully test-fired a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear weapons. 

The 23-meter-long RS-24 (Yars) missile is designed to carry multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), which allow the missile to deliver multiple nuclear warheads at different targets.

Russia has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, closely followed by the United States. Together, Russia and the United States control more than 90% of the world's nuclear weapons.

Russia has about 5,889 nuclear warheads while the United States has about 5,244, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Of those, Russia and the United States each have about 1,670 strategic nuclear warheads deployed.

dh/sms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)