Russia

• Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said last week that Ukraine is “shedding blood” for a “NATO mission” in candid remarks about the relationship between Kyiv and the Western military alliance. AWC
• Poland’s president said Wednesday that Warsaw has decided to send Ukraine a company of German-made Leopard 2 tanks as part of an “international coalition,” although it’s not yet clear if Berlin has signed off on the delivery. AWC
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Golden Globe Awards on Tuesday night and insisted that Ukraine would win the war against Russia and that the conflict would not turn into “World War III.” AWC
• Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said Wednesday that it might become “challenging” for the US military to continue arming itself as it continues to pour weapons into Ukraine unless the arms industry can significantly boost production. AWC
• Officials from the Department of Defense expressed concern over a plan to send munitions with a range of 100 miles to Ukraine, according to Foreign Affairs. The Pentagon officials are concerned the weapons will be unneeded by the time they reach the battlefield. The Institute 
• Germany’s vice chancellor said Thursday that Berlin won’t stand in the way of Poland sending German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a move that would significantly escalate Western military aid for Kyiv and risk provoking Moscow. AWC

China

• The US and Japan on Wednesday announced steps to strengthen military cooperation to better confront China after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with their Japanese counterparts in Washington. AWC
• Britain and Japan signed a “landmark” military agreement on Wednesday while Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with his British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, in London. AWC
• Taiwan’s Defense Ministry revealed on Wednesday that it has sent some of its military officers to a NATO war college in Italy, acknowledging cooperation with the Western military alliance that is sure to anger China. AWC
• A Chinese official said this week that the rising number of Chinese flights in areas around Taiwan is a direct response to “collusion” between the US and Taiwan, making clear Beijing’s motives for its stepped-up military activity. AWC

Korea

• South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday threatened that South Korea could obtain its own nuclear weapons if threats from the North grow, marking the first such comments from a South Korean leader in decades. AWC

Yemen

• The past year saw more than 3,000 civilian casualties in Yemen, capping a year of ceasefires, attempts at peace talks, and very little progress toward the end of the war. AWC
• A human rights monitoring group has released a new report finding at least 87 Yemeni civilians were killed with American or British weapons during a 14-month period. The Oxfam report reviewed 1,700 attacks on civilians and found Saudi Arabia used US or UK weapons in over a quarter of those incidents. The Institute