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Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy said his government was expecting "strong decisions" from defence leaders of NATO and other countries meeting on Friday to discuss boosting Ukraine's ability to confront Russian forces with modern battle tanks.

The meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany is the latest in a series since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, and where future weapons supplies will be discussed, particularly of Germany's Leopard 2 tanks used by armies across Europe.

Berlin has veto power over any decision to export the tanks and Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has appeared reluctant to authorise that for fear of provoking Russia.

Some allies say Germany's concern is misplaced with Russia already fully committed to war and its repeated assertions that Western weapons transfers would prolong the conflict and increase suffering in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia have both relied primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which have been destroyed in their hundreds during the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin started on Feb. 24, calling it a "special military operation" to protect Russia and Russian speakers.

Ukraine and its allies accuse Russia of an unprovoked war to grab territory and to erase the independence of a ex-Soviet republic and neighbour. Western countries have provided a steady supply of weapons to Ukraine.

"We are, in fact, now waiting for a decision from one European capital, which will activate the prepared chains of cooperation regarding tanks," Zelenskiy said in a video address on Thursday night.

The Lithuanian defence minister said earlier that several countries would announce sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine at Friday's meeting.

"Some of the countries will definitely send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, that is for sure", Arvydas Anusauskas told Reuters, about the Ramstein pledges, speaking after a preparatory meeting of 11 nations in Estonia.

Zelenskiy is due to address the gathering: "We are expecting strong decisions," he said.

U.S. MILITARY ASSISTANCE

The United States on Thursday announced new military assistance for Ukraine valued at up to $2.5 billion, including hundreds of armoured vehicles and support for Ukraine's air defence.

The aid includes 59 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 90 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers, the U.S. Defense Department said. In total, the United States has committed more than $27.4 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the invasion began.

Government sources in Germany have said it would move on the Leopard tanks issue if the United States agreed to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Abrams tanks were not included in Thursday's U.S. announcement.

Germany's new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said earlier, however, that he did not know of any requirement that Ukraine receive U.S. and German tanks simultaneously.

"I'm not aware of any such stipulation," Pistorius told German ARD television when asked if that meant Abrams and Leopards had to be delivered at the same time, a position that leaves open the possibility of an agreement on Friday.

CIA DIRECTOR VISIT

Ukraine's allies in the West have wanted to avoid NATO appearing to confront Russia directly and demurred on sending the Kyiv government their most potent weaponry.

Ukraine needed the tanks to defend itself, recapture occupied land, and did not plan to attack Russia, Zelenskiy told ARD television on Thursday.

"From Washington to London, from Paris to Warsaw, you hear one thing: Ukraine needs tanks. Tanks are the key to ending the war properly. It is time to stop trembling before Putin and take the final step," Zelenskiy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

Poland and Finland have already said they would send Leopard tanks to Ukraine if Germany gives approval for export. On Friday morning, Poland indicated that it might send the tanks even if Germany opposes.

"If there is strong resistance, we will be ready to take even such non-standard action," Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told private radio RMF FM.

Meanwhile, CIA Director William Burns travelled in secret to Ukraine's capital Kyiv to meet Zelenskiy, a U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday.

The official declined to say when the visit took place. The Washington Post, which first reported the visit, said it was at the end of last week. The Post said Burns briefed Zelenskiy on his expectations on Russia's military plans.

Fighting has been most intense in the industrial region known as the Donbas on Ukraine's eastern border with Russia, Ukrainian military officials said on Thursday night.

The Ukrainian military said Russian forces shelled the town of Bakhmut, Russia's main target in Donetsk province, which combined with Luhansk province forms the Donbas. Soledar, about 20 km (12 miles) from Bakhmut, also came under fire - Russian forces say they control Soledar, while Ukrainian sources say their military is still fighting there.

"Ukrainian forces have practically stabilised the front around Bakhmut," Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said on YouTube.

"As of today, Russia is turning Soledar into a military hub. And they are trying to redirect troops towards the towns of Spirne and Bilohorivka - just inside the Luhansk region."

Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports. (reuters) 

An ally of President Vladimir Putin warned NATO on Thursday that a defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war, while the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said the world would end if the West tried to destroy Russia.

Such apocalyptic rhetoric is intended to deter the U.S.-led NATO military alliance from getting even more involved in the war, on the eve of a meeting of Ukraine's allies to discuss sending Kyiv more weapons.

But the explicit recognition that Russia might lose on the battlefield marked a rare moment of public doubt from a prominent member of Putin's inner circle.

"The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war," former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin's powerful security council, said in a post on Telegram.

"Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends," said Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012.

Striking a similar tone at what he described as an anxious time for the country, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said in a sermon for Epiphany that trying to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world.

Medvedev said NATO and other defence leaders, due to meet at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday to talk about strategy and support for the West's attempt to defeat Russia in Ukraine, should think about the risks of their policy.

Putin casts Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine as an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West, and has said that Russia will use all available means to protect itself and its people.

'ALARMING TIME'

The Kremlin chief has sought in recent months to gird Russians for a much tougher battle while promising eventual victory in a war that the leaders of the West say they will never let him win.

The United States has denied Russian claims that it wants to destroy Russia, while President Joe Biden has cautioned that a conflict between Russia and NATO could trigger World War Three.

But top Putin allies say the tens of billions of dollars' worth of U.S. and European military assistance to Ukraine shows that Russia is now in a confrontation with NATO itself - the Cold War nightmare of both Soviet and Western leaders.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in a sermon: "We pray to the Lord that he bring the madmen to reason and help them understand that any desire to destroy Russia will mean the end of the world."

"Today is an alarming time," state news agency RIA quoted him as saying. "But we believe that the Lord will not leave Russian land."

Putin's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters in Minsk that Russia would do everything to ensure NATO and European Union leaders "sobered up" as soon as possible.

"I hope that the sobering up will come," Lavrov said. "We will do everything so that our colleagues from NATO and the European Union sober up as soon as possible."

NUCLEAR DOCTRINE

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The United States and its allies have condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an imperial land grab, while Ukraine has vowed to fight until the last Russian soldier is ejected from its territory.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Medvedev has repeatedly raised the threat of a nuclear war, but his admission now of the possibility of Russia's defeat indicates the level of Moscow's concern over increased Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

Russia and the United States, by far the largest nuclear powers, hold around 90% of the world's nuclear warheads.

Asked if Medvedev's remarks signified that Russia was escalating the crisis to a new level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, it absolutely does not mean that."

He said Medvedev's remarks were in full accordance with Russia's nuclear doctrine which allows for a nuclear strike after "aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened". (Reuters)

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki cautioned against making any change to the government's debt redemption rule as it helps the government maintain fiscal discipline.

Suzuki made the comments after a cabinet meeting on Friday, as some ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers are calling for extending a 60-year redemption period to allow more debt issuance and bigger spending.

Whether to review the rule is being debated by an LDP panel led by the party policy research chief Koichi Hagiuda, tasked with seeking sources of funding for a controversial plan to boost defence spending.

The 60-year redemption rule is applicable to redeeming construction bonds and deficit-covering bonds so that these bonds, including refunding bonds, will be entirely redeemed in a 60-year period.

"This 60-year redemption rule is set from the standpoint of securing sources of funding for redemption of JGBs and levelling fiscal burdens of redemption. In a sense, discipline is being kept with this rule."

"In Japan, the 60-year redemption rule is one way to secure fiscal discipline. We must think thoroughly about how the loss of this rule would be perceived," he said, referring to rules adopted by other countries.

The amount of overall government bond issuance would not change even if the 60-year debt redemption rule is reviewed, Suzuki told reporters. (reuters)

South Korea will drop a face mask mandate for most indoor public places later this month, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Friday, though coverings will still be required on transport and in medical facilities.

The lifting of the face-covering rules will take effect on Jan. 30, Han said, in the country's latest step to ease COVID-19 rules as new cases show signs of a slowdown.

"The daily number of new infections is continuing to decline and despite concerns over a spike in cases in China, the situation here is under control without major troubles," the prime minister said during a COVID response meeting.

South Korea has ordered COVID tests for travellers arriving from China after Beijing abandoned a strict anti-virus regime of mass lockdowns in an abrupt policy U-turn.

Friday's announcement comes exactly three years after South Korea reported its first outbreak of COVID infection on Jan. 20, 2020 and as it is set to mark the Lunar New Year holidays during which many South Koreans return to their home towns.

The easing of mask rules coupled with the upcoming holidays could result in a temporary surge in new cases, Han warned, urging health authorities to stay vigilant especially for those more vulnerable to infection.

South Korea has scrapped most of its pandemic-related precautions, but it maintains a seven-day isolation rule for those testing positive for COVID. (Reuters)