Europe

KYIV, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine expects a possible major Russian offensive this month, but Kyiv has the reserves to hold back Moscow's forces even though the latest Western military supplies will not all arrive in time, Ukraine's defence minister said on Sunday.

Russia could launch the new attack for "symbolic" reasons around the first anniversary of its invasion, but its resources are not ready from a military point of view, the minister, Oleksii Reznikov, told a news conference.

LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Britain faces its largest ever strike by health workers on Monday as tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance workers walk out in an escalating pay dispute with the government, spelling further disruption for an already strained health system.

Nurses and ambulance workers have been striking separately on and off since late last year but Monday's walkout involving both, largely in England, will represent the biggest in the 75-year history of the National Health Service (NHS).

LVIV, Ukraine Feb 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that the situation on the front lines in the east of the country was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle.

The Kremlin has been pushing for a significant battlefield victory after months of setbacks, with Russian forces trying to close grip on the town of Bakhmut and fighting for control of a nearby major supply route for Ukrainian forces.

KYIV, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine will not use longer-range weapons pledged by the United States to hit Russian territory and will only target Russian units in occupied Ukrainian territory, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Sunday.

The United States confirmed on Friday that a new rocket that would double Ukraine's strike range was included in a $2.175 billion U.S. military aid package to help Kyiv fight back Russian forces.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Five people were injured in Russian rocket attacks Sunday in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, officials said.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said four people were injured when a Russian S-300 missile fell near an apartment block and another was hurt when a missile hit a higher-education building. Local media reports said the building hit was the National Academy for Urban Economy, about 700 meters from the city’s central square.

LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss says her failure wasn’t her fault.

Truss on Sunday blamed a “powerful economic establishment” and internal Conservative Party opposition for the rapid collapse of her government, and said she still believes her tax-cutting policies were the right ones.

Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister resigned in October, six weeks into the job, after her inaugural budget plan sparked market mayhem.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe imposed a ban Sunday on Russian diesel fuel and other refined oil products, slashing energy dependency on Moscow and seeking to further crimp the Kremlin’s fossil fuel earnings as punishment for invading Ukraine.

The ban comes along with a price cap agreed by the Group of Seven allied democracies. The goal is allowing Russian diesel to keep flowing to countries like China and India and avoiding a sudden price rise that would hurt consumers worldwide, while reducing the profits funding Moscow’s budget and war.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Some refugees and asylum-seekers in Brussels have been spending months in between the Street of Palaces and the Small Castle — quite literally.

Unfortunately, it’s not a dream come true at the end of their fearful flight from halfway across the globe. It’s a perpetual nightmare.

04 Feb 2023; AA: EU ambassadors agreed on a price cap Friday for Russian petroleum products, said the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU. 

"EU ambassadors today approved the price caps on petroleum products ahead of final adoption by the EU Council," it wrote on Twitter. "Important agreement as part of the continued response by EU and partners to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.”

MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/: Moscow’s response to Kiev’s strikes at Crimea or any other Russian region "deep" inside the country can be any, but it will be hard and convincing, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in a written interview for Nadana Fridrikhson, published on her Telegram channel.

"Our response can be any," he said, answering a question. "The President of Russia said it quite definitively."