Morning news brief: Turkey-Syria quake toll tops 21K, Russian escalation in eastern Ukraine, & more

More than 21,000 people have been killed after earthquakes rattled Turkey and Syria, and time is running out for rescue workers to find out survivors. As the Russian offensive in Ukraine continues, Ukrainian officials said that Moscow's escalation has already started in the eastern regions. Kyiv has been saying that Russia plans to produce achievements it can tout at the first anniversary. French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Friday (February 10) that even if European allies decide to send fighter jets to Ukraine, they can't be dispatched in "the coming weeks".

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Three days after earthquakes rattled parts of Turkey and Syria, search and rescue workers are combing through the pile of rubble in the hope to find survivors. More than 21,000 died in the massive earthquakes and hundreds and thousands are injured and homeless, currently struggling in freezing temperatures.

Ukraine, that has been anticipating a fresh offensive by Russia as the war approaches its one-year mark, believes it has already begun. The eastern region of the country is witnessing fierce fighting and the officials in theDonetsk and Luhansk regions say that escalation by Russian troops in these areas has started.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday warned that even if the European allies decide to send fighter jets to Kyiv, they can't be dispatched in "the coming weeks". "I'm not ruling anything out ... but that doesn't correspond to today's requirements," said Macron, after an EU summit in Brussels, where Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky was also present.

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