Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

An air alert throughout Ukraine, explosions were heard in Kyiv

An air alert was declared across Ukraine on Friday, and authorities warned of potential Russian missile strikes, urging residents to take cover, Reuters reported.

A little later, witnesses of the agency and officials reported that explosions were heard in the capital Kyiv and the surrounding area, according to a journalist of the agency - at least three.

The city administration reported that the air defense was working in the capital.

Debris from rockets damaged a private home, two cars and a power grid in the capital's Holosiivskii district, said city officials.

"There is a big threat of a missile attack. I want to emphasize again - do not ignore the air warning sirens," Sergei Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said earlier.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian transmission system operator Ukrenergo said several high-voltage facilities in the country were hit by Russian missile attacks on Friday morning.

According to the announcement, several facilities in eastern, southern and western Ukraine were hit, causing power outages.

The mayor of eastern Ukraine's largest city, Kharkiv, confirmed that an infrastructure facility there had been hit and warned of possible power outages as a result.

"The air alert will be prolonged," said Maxim Marchenko, regional governor of the southern Odesa region. "Please do not ignore the air raid sirens and go to shelters," he added.

Critical infrastructure was also hit in Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine and in the Dnipropetrovsk region in the center of the country, regional officials said.

Shelling at night

The air alert came after Russian forces repeatedly shelled Kharkiv overnight, knocking out power in parts of Ukraine's second-largest city, according to local authorities.

So far, there are no reports of casualties or injuries.

"The occupiers hit critical infrastructure. There were about 10 explosions," Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Sinegubov reported on Telegram. "There is a power outage in some areas. Emergency teams are on the ground," he added.

Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov earlier said there was Russian shelling around 4:00 a.m. that could cause power, heating and water outages in some parts of the city.

At least 17 Russian missiles hit the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine in about an hour this morning, the city's acting mayor, Anatoly Kurtiev, said, quoted by Reuters and BTA.

The missile attacks were aimed at the energy infrastructure, Kurtiev specified on Telegram and added that the authorities are currently collecting information about damage and possible victims.

Downed drones and missiles

Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat told Ukrainian television that air defenses shot down five of seven drones and five of six Kalibr missiles fired at Ukraine.

The Air Force also reported that 35 S-300 missiles were fired in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukraine's air defense is not capable of shooting down this type of missile.

Officials also said they had ordered an emergency power cut across the country following the attacks on infrastructure.

After the visit to the EU

The new attacks come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's European tour. He attended the European Union summit in Brussels yesterday, where he said several EU leaders had said they were ready to provide Kyiv with fighter jets to help it fight the Russian invasion.

Zelensky was speaking at a news conference after joining - for the first time ever - the talks of all 27 EU national leaders in Brussels in just his second trip abroad since Russia's attack a year ago.

Zelensky received a warm welcome from European leaders and a standing ovation from the European Parliament on Thursday in Brussels, where he demanded more weapons and a faster path to EU membership.

However, the conclusions of the summit do not guarantee the start of membership negotiations at the end of the year, as Kyiv wants. The leaders said only that "Ukraine's future is in the EU", as well as a commitment to help fulfill the conditions for achieving membership, as well as their respect for "significant efforts" by Kyiv to integrate into the EU, as well as by "Ukraine's determination to start membership negotiations".

The EU will give Kyiv more weapons, it became clear after the summit in Brussels

Cooperation between the EU and Ukraine at the industrial level will be strengthened and Kyiv will receive more weapons, it became clear after the end of the emergency EU Council late last night.

"We have agreed to work on these issues, and at the next Council meeting in March, we can take steps to strengthen cooperation at the industrial level and to increase the supply of ammunition," said European Council President Charles Michel.

The preparation of the next package of sanctions against Russia is also underway, which is worth about 10 billion euros, and will affect Russian political and military leaders, as well as propagandists. According to EC President Ursula von der Leyen, the fact that the restrictions on Moscow are so detailed is very important.

"Everything is still in the preparation stage and nothing is firmly established. But the sanctions package, worth about 10 billion euros, is aimed at goods that cannot be supplied from anywhere else. We will deeply affect the Russian military machine, in terms of technology or spare parts that is used by the military complex. And we will ban exports - as the only supplier that can do that," commented Ursula von der Leyen.

During the meeting, a package of measures was also approved, which will help the member countries to strengthen their border control. Investment will be made in specialized infrastructure such as cameras and all-terrain vehicles. A pilot project will also be launched that will review the procedures for registering and returning migrants.

"Borders must be controlled. We will work to strengthen external borders and prevent illegal migration. For this we will focus on two pilot projects. We will provide an integrated approach that will include mobile and stationary infrastructure - from cars and cameras to checkpoints and electronic surveillance," von der Leyen pointed out.

Zelensky met with Bulgarian President Radev, but in the company of Orban and Plenkovic

Within the framework of the extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Brussels, the heads of state and government of the European countries met yesterday with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Politico reports that the heads of state and government are divided into four groups for their meeting with Zelensky. The first group includes Spain, Italy, Poland, Romania, the Netherlands and Sweden. The second group is of the countries known to be active supporters of Ukraine: Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The third group includes the countries that "traditionally express concern about wide-ranging sanctions against Russia": Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Greece and Cyprus. And Portugal, Malta, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Lithuania form the fourth group.

Last night, the press center of the Bulgarian President announced that Rumen Radev participated in the joint working session with Zelensky "together with the Federal Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer, the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Slovenia Robert Golob, Minister - the President of Hungary, Viktor Orban, as well as the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic".

At the meeting, Radev emphasized again that "nuclear energy is of strategic importance for the future of Bulgarian energy and economy, and Bulgaria cannot accept the imposition of sanctions in this area".

"The ongoing hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, the challenges facing Ukrainian energy in winter conditions, the difficult supply chains, the humanitarian consequences of the war, as well as Ukraine's ambition for European integration, were in the focus of the meeting. President Rumen Radev emphasized consistent humanitarian support , which Bulgaria provides to Ukraine, including the large Bulgarian diaspora in the country, as well as the tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens who sought salvation from the conflict in our country. Bulgaria's energy policy creates prerequisites for real diversification in the supply of energy resources for the entire region, from which Ukraine can also benefit from," reported Radev's press center.

Prigozhin: There were over 10 million American candidates for “Wagner”

Over 10 million Americans applied for Wagner.

This is what the head of the private military company Yevgeny Prigozhin answered when asked by CNN why he stopped recruiting prisoners.

"Since the airing of PMC Wagner's advertisement aimed at the American audience, we have received over 10 million applications from US citizens to join the ranks of PMC Wagner to fight against NATO. We are currently considering hiring 1 million of them. Therefore, we are temporarily suspending the mobilization of volunteers from Russian prisons, but if the corresponding appeal is sent from the State Secretariat, we will use mercenaries among the Americans as well."

"After the release of a Wagner commercial we have received over 10 million applications from US citizens wishing to join the Wagner PMC to fight NATO. We are considering 1 million. Therefore the recruitment from ???????? prisons is temporarily suspended," press service of Prigozhin???? pic.twitter.com/IxPuREaVLq

— NOËL ???????? ???????? (@NOELreports) February 9, 2023

Prigozhin's clumsy attempt at a joke did not correspond to the serious situation in which he and his group allegedly found themselves. After months of skidding near Bakhmut, the "musicians" lost more than 80% of the prisoners without presenting satisfactory results to the Kremlin.

According to the influential military blogger Igor Girkin, the order to end the "prison program" came from above.

Former Russian commander: Ukrainian women are more cruel and treacherous than the men

Ukrainian women are crueler and more treacherous than the men.

This was announced in an interview with "Komsomolskaya Pravda" by former Russian commander Andrey Marochko.

He previously pointed out that Ukrainian women are being recruited to fight alongside men "to compensate for the heavy losses that the Ukrainian army is suffering daily."

"The women were radio operators and paramedics. Now they manage the artillery, the drones, they are also doing the calculations of the anti-tank guided missiles," explained Marochko.

He also pointed to Ukraine's statements that "they will fight to the last Ukrainian".

"Gender not specified. And so - until the last woman".

You may be asking yourself why Ukrainian women want to go to war.

"Now in Ukraine, there are not so many ways to earn money. The difficult economic situation forces women to go earn money wherever possible. A large number of fighting men are at the front. Many women have families to support."

But this does not apply to everyone.

"There are many women who consciously take such a step. We must take this fact seriously. Women are crueler, more insidious. Since 2014, I have met with female soldiers many times. They are more motivated than men. We remember Nadya Savchenko and other radical young ladies. Look at their statements, how they behave. The fact that women are appearing in the Ukrainian army is not a fact that weakens it."

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