Drill
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have started the command-and-staff exercise Blizzard 2022 to manage groups of troops during combat operations, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's press service has said. The exercise is a planned event within the framework of the general intensive training programme for troops and will last during the whole of February.
Belarus
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who considers himself the president of Belarus, who threatened to cut off electricity supplies in case of war with Russia.
At a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, he noted that it would be Belarus that would suffer from the cancellation of trade between the countries.
"I asked for statistics on the trade turnover between Ukraine and Belarus. We have a $6 billion trade turnover. And of them $1.5 billion is exported by Ukraine to Belarus, $4.5 billion is exported by Belarus to Ukraine. So, if countries start restricting trade with one another, who will suffer? In this case simply people will suffer. If one wants to go to the Stone Age, one can do so. As you can see, it is not Ukraine that will benefit from the trade turnover of 6 billion," he added.
Normandy talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects that a new summit of the Normandy Four at the level of the heads of state will be agreed in the near future. He said this at a joint briefing with French President Emmanuel Macron.
"An important step is the intensification of dialogue at the level of political advisers. We expect a second meeting in the coming days. We expect that the meeting on 26 January and the upcoming talks in Berlin will bring us closer to a Normandy format summit," he said.
A new meeting of the political advisers to the Normandy Four leaders will be held in Berlin on 10 February, French President Emmanuel Macron said at a joint briefing with Zelenskyy.
Foreign diplomacy
The foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia have come to Ukraine to show solidarity with Ukraine in the current situation and to support its territorial integrity.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said this at a joint news conference of the ministers with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Coronavirus
Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tested positive for Covid-19. He said on Facebook that he feels okay, better than when he first had the coronavirus in November 2020.
Transcarpathian, Khmelnytskyy and Luhansk regions will join the red coronavirus zone as of 11 February. Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk regions are already there.
Media hygiene
Culture and Information Policy Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko has advised foreign journalists to consider carefully how much they can contribute to supporting terrorism before travelling to the occupied territories of Donbas.
On Telegram, Tkachenko urged the foreign media not to give the occupiers a platform for voicing the Kremlin's ideas.
Ukraine's ambassador to Poland replaced
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on 8 February 2022 to dismiss Andriy Deshchytsya as Ukraine's ambassador to Poland. By another decree, he appointed Vasyl Zvarych to the post. Vasyl Zvarych has worked for the Second Territorial Department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.