Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed the outcome of his visit to Europe, at a time when Washington and Moscow announced two upcoming activities for US Presidents Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

And the Ukrainian president said in his video message on Friday evening: "London, Paris and Brussels, everywhere, talked in those days about how to strengthen our forces," and added, "There are very important agreements and we received good signals."

Zelensky made it clear that this applied to tanks and long-range missiles, but added that there was more to be done about securing fighter jets for his forces in the next level of cooperation.

In London, he said he sensed that Britain really wanted Ukraine to defeat what he described as the "Russian invasion", and said that the meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Schultz was important for exchanging views.

He described his visits to the European Summit and the European Parliament as "the beginning of a new phase," and said that in this new phase of cooperation, Ukraine is no longer a guest of European institutions, but rather a full member of the European Union, as he put it.

Zelinsky said that he had received great promises from European leaders to support his country in the war (Reuters)

And French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday evening, Thursday, commenting on the Ukrainian president’s call on European leaders to provide his country with aircraft and long-range weapons, that the fighters that Kyiv wants cannot be delivered in the coming weeks, stressing that he prefers “more useful” weapons that can be delivered faster, According to him.

Macron indicated that the Caesar cannons and the medium-range air defense system provided by France meet these criteria.

For its part, Britain announced that it is aware of the potential escalation risks of supplying Ukraine with more Western weapons, at a time when it played down the possibility of Kyiv handing over old "Typhoon" fighters.

Putin and Biden

Meanwhile, the Kremlin announced Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the nation on February 21.

The speech comes a few days before the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the speech would touch on the "current situation", in particular Russia's military intervention in Ukraine and the socio-economic situation in Russia.

Peskov noted that Russian servicemen who are taking part in operations in Ukraine will "certainly" be invited to the speech.

Putin's upcoming speech coincides with the first anniversary of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine (French)

On the other hand, Washington announced that US President Joe Biden will travel to Poland, Ukraine's neighbor, before the first anniversary of the start of the Russian war on Ukraine.

And White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre announced - on Friday - that the US President will meet his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, during his visit between February 20 and 22, and added that Biden will meet with other representatives of Eastern European countries that are members of NATO.

She stated that Biden is scheduled to deliver a speech on the occasion of February 24, the anniversary day of the launch of the Ukraine war.

She said the speech would address the support of the United States and its allies for Ukraine.

In recent weeks, there has been speculation that Biden could combine a trip to Poland with a visit to Ukraine.

When asked about this, the White House did not provide any information, and confirmed that there are no other stops on the trip that can be announced at the present time.

Many heads of state and government as well as ministers from other countries have already visited Ukraine on several occasions in the past few months since the war began, many of them members of the US government, as well as Biden's wife Jill who has never visited Ukraine yet.

The United States is a major supporter of Ukraine in the war that has been going on for nearly a year, and has provided it - in addition to Western allies - with many packages of financial and military aid.

A Pentagon official announced that Russia lost half of its combat tanks during the war in Ukraine (Reuters)

Russia lost half of its tanks

Militarily, a senior US defense official suggested on Friday that half of the Russian battle tanks were destroyed or seized by the Ukrainians.

Celeste Wallender, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, said during a virtual event for the "New American Security" center, that Russia "has likely lost half of its main battle tank inventory in combat and through the seizure of the Ukrainians."

Wallender's estimate, which did not provide an exact number of tanks that Russia has lost since the start of the war on Ukraine in February 2022, coincides with Kiev's willingness to receive heavy Western tanks from its Western supporters.

The United Kingdom announced that British "Challenger 2" tanks would be sent to Ukraine next March, while Germany said it would send a group of "Leopard 2" tanks to Kyiv by April.

In turn, the United States pledged to send 31 of its M1 Abrams tanks, but it is expected that it will take longer to arrive in Ukraine.