Ukraine updates: Russia reports drones far from border

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is open to British Foreign Secretary David Cameron's suggestion that the countries swap cruise missiles to provide Ukraine with more sophisticated long-range weapons.

Cameron's proposal is "an option" worth considering, Baerbock said in an interview with German broadcaster ARD.

Under Cameron's proposal, Berlin could supply Taurus missiles to Britain, and in return the British government would provide Ukraine with additional long-range Storm Shadow missiles from British stocks.

Berlin is reluctant to provide Kyiv with its advanced Taurus missiles, which are less visible to detection and capable of hitting targets 500 kilometers away.

Despite Kyiv's pleas, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has blocked the delivery of the missiles, fearing they could be used to hit targets inside Russia itself and further escalate the conflict.

Baerbock has said she supports sending the missiles to Ukraine.

A visit by President Emmanuel Macron to Ukraine should take place in the coming weeks, the French presidency said after postponing a visit for a third time this year.

Macron had initially said he would go in February to sign a bilateral security agreement with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That was postponed, with Zelenskyy eventually coming to Paris to sign the deal.

Diplomats said a second date had been planned for early March before it was pushed back to later this week.

"The two heads of state agreed to remain in close contact, notably regarding the president's visit to Ukraine, which should happen in the coming weeks," the French presidency said after the two leaders spoke by phone earlier on Sunday.

Macron has in recent weeks adopted a tougher position on Russia accusing it of being more aggressive towards France and Europe and vowing that Moscow had to be defeated.

German Economy Minister and Deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck has called on coalition members of parliament to "use the time wisely" before another vote on sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. 

It does not make a good impression if the German parliament does not stand together, Habeck told Welt TV channel.

He said he hoped there would be momentum to "quickly provide Ukraine with further military support by then."

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has voiced opposition to the idea several times. In his view, that would make Germany a direct participant in the war. His steadfast opposition has raised eyebrows among critics in and outside Germany. 

The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), is set to table the new motion in the Bundestag and have repeatedly tried to tempt governing coalition members to break ranks with Scholz.

The previous votes fell hundreds of votes short of passage but courted some high-profile rebels.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba led a series of critical responses on Sunday to comments from Pope Francis in an interview on Swiss television released over the weekend. 

"I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates," Francis had said, in response to a question about whether negotiating would amount to waving a white flag. 

He alluded to offers from countries like Turkey to mediate between Ukraine and Russia and said, "Do not be ashamed to negotiate." 

Ukraine's foreign minister Kuleba responded online. 

"The strongest is the one who, in the battle between good and evil, stands on the side of good rather than attempting to put them on the same footing and call it 'negotiations'," he said.

He said the Vatican's "white flag" strategy was evident to those familiar with the history of the first half of the 20th century and called on the Church "to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past." 

You can read the full story here. 

Ukraine's prosecutor general told the AFP news agency during a visit to Brussels that Russian "war crimes" had become a "pattern of conduct ... a policy which is orchestrated from the very top leadership" during the war. 

"Russia must be defeated on the battlefield and in the courtroom," Andriy Kostin told AFP. 

He said investigators had logged around 123,000 war crime cases in total. He said that 511 suspects had been identified, of which 357 could be brought to justice in his team's estimation. 

He said Ukraine had already convicted 81 Russian war criminals, with 17 of them present in court for a trial. 

Even though most of the verdicts were handed down in absentia, he argued they were nevertheless important for victims or their relatives to see the issue addressed in court. 

While calling for international prosecution of Russian officials, Ukraine has also said it will continue to investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes itself. 

The most ambitious arrest warrant issued since the invasion targets Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. The International Criminal Court issued the warrant last March, but critics question whether it will ever lead to a trial.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine are full ICC Rome Statute signatories, but Ukraine has authorized the court to investigate potential Russian war crimes on its territory since the 2014 annexation of Crimea and war in the Donbas region.

Independent St. Petersburg area newspaper Fontanka reported on Sunday that Russia was replacing its naval commander in chief. 

The paper cited unidentified sources as saying that Admiral Alexander Moiseev, currently commander of the Northern Fleet, had been appointed acting naval commander-in-chief and that he would soon be announced and appointed on a permanent basis. 

The paper did not mention any reason for the appointment or the removal of Admiral Nikola Yevmenov that it would imply. It said the navy's press office had redirected it to the Defense Ministry, which had not responded to requests for comment.

The Russian Defense Ministry website still lists Yevmenov as naval commander-in-chief. 

Ukraine has stepped up attacks in the Black Sea and on occupied Crimea in recent months. It has reported a series of successful strikes on Russian ships, including the sinking of a large landing ship by drones in February, with Russia typically not acknowledging any such losses. 

Ukraine's government said on Sunday that a Russian strike in the eastern town of Myrnohrad wounded a dozen people, while shelling in parts of the Donetsk region Kyiv still controls killed three people. 

"Three people died as a result of today's shelling in the Donetsk region," the head of the embattled region Vadym Filashkin said on social media. 

He said two bodies were pulled from under the rubble of a house after a drone attack in Dobropillya, which he said came under attack by Iranian-made drones, and that another person was killed in the frontline town of Chasiv Yar. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported Russia using S-300 missiles to strike Mynohrad, also in the Donetsk region, overnight.

"In Myrnohrad, the number of victims of the missile attack has increased to 12 people," Filashkin said later on Sunday. 

Ukraine's prosecutor's office, which released images of investigators at the scene, said that 17 "high-rise" residential buildings had been damaged in all. 

Russian authorities reported several attacks, often involving drones, overnight and on Sunday, including hundreds of kilometers northeast of the border to Ukraine in Novgorod and Leningrad oblasts.

A woman was killed when artillery fire set her house ablaze in the border area of Kursk, while her husband suffered severe burns, according to local governor Roman Starovoit.

He also said the debris from a downed Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an oil depot. 

The border city of Belgorod's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that nine drones were shot down overnight. 

The Russian Defense Ministry later reported three drones being shot down, including one in the Leningrad area near St Petersburg, and another in the Novgorod region, around 1,000 kilometers (roughly 600 miles) from the border to Ukraine. 

Leningrad's regional governor, Alexander Drozdenko, said that airspace restrictions were imposed in response to the drone there, impacting the Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg, but also said no damage or casualties were inflicted.