Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
A search and rescue operation in the rubble of Saturday’s Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has been completed, authorities said. The death toll currently stands at 45, including a child, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region military administration said. At least 19 people are still missing and a further 79 people injured, according to local officials. A makeshift memorial has appeared in Moscow to commemorate the victims of the Russian missile attack.
The Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has tendered his resignation after a public outcry over comments he made suggesting the Russian missile that struck the building in Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine. The Ukrainian air force says the apartment complex was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which Kyiv does not have the equipment to shoot down.
Russia has announced it will make “major changes” to its armed forces from 2023-26, promising to shake up its military structure after months of setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine. In addition to administrative changes, the defence ministry said it would strengthen the combat capabilities of its naval, aerospace and strategic missile forces. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the changes had been made necessary by the “proxy war” being conducted in Ukraine by the west.
More than 9,000 civilians, including 453 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion last February, Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential staff, said at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. “We will not forgive a single (act of) torture or life taken. Each criminal will be held accountable,” he said, adding that Ukraine wanted a special international tribunal to try Russian political leaders and reparations for the destruction caused by Russia’s invasion.
More than 7,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbour last February, the Office of the UN high commissioner for Human Rights said on Monday. The UN rights office said it had confirmed 7,031 civilian deaths but believed actual casualty tolls were considerably higher, given the pending corroboration of many reports and the inaccessibility of areas where intense fighting was taking place.
Ukraine’s top general, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, spoke to his US counterpart, Gen Mark Milley, at a face to face meeting near the Ukraine-Poland border for the first time. Milley, who is the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a couple of hours with Zaluzhnyi at an undisclosed location in south-eastern Poland on Tuesday. The pair have talked frequently about Ukraine’s military needs and the state of the war over the past year but had never met.
Ukraine has urged world leaders to intensify efforts to remove Vladimir Putin’s troops from its soil as its war with Russia dominated the first full day of the gathering of the global elite in Davos. With the war clouding the outlook for the global economy in 2023, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Yuliia Svyrydenko urged the country’s allies to step up supplies of military hardware so that Russia could be more quickly defeated. Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, used a special address to demand that those attending the World Economic Forum used their influence to end Russia’s aggression.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has told the US president, Joe Biden, that the Netherlands will offer Patriot missiles to Ukraine. The Netherlands will join the US and Germany in sending the Patriot missile defence system to Ukraine, Rutte told Biden at the White House. Biden thanked Rutte for being “very very stalwart” on its support for Ukraine.
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has justified the supply of Challenger tanks to Ukraine, saying it was designed to bring the war to a quick conclusion and there was a moral imperative to end the war soon due to the casualties and cost. His remarks seemed designed to encourage the US to step up its own weapons supply and to push back against those Republicans calling for US support for the war to be scaled back.
Finland is prepared to support Ukraine in its war with Russia for “as long as needed”, its prime minister, Sanna Marin, said. “I think the only message that we need to send is that we will support Ukraine as long as needed. One year, two years, five years, 10 years, 15 years,” Marin said at Davos. Finland spent about €300m on support to Ukraine last year, around €190m of it on buying defence equipment.
The British defence minister, Ben Wallace, will join counterparts from Poland and the Baltic countries in Estonia to mount a final attempt to put pressure on Germany to authorise sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine this week. Defence sources said a purpose of the meeting on Thursday was “to encourage the Germans” if no decision had been made by Berlin before then, although chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to speak at the Davos summit on Wednesday afternoon.
The EU executive has confirmed it is releasing €3bn in emergency aid for Ukraine, the first tranche of an €18bn fund intended to help its government run essential public services during the winter. The money will pay public sector wages, pensions and keep schools and hospitals running, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said at Davos.
A former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner Group who last week sought asylum in Norway has spoken of how he is “scared for his life”. Andrey Medvedev, 26, said in an interview last month with the Guardian that in Ukraine he had witnessed the summary killing of Wagner fighters accused by their own commanders of disobeying orders, sometimes in pairs.
Serbia’s president has called on Russia to stop recruiting Serbs to fight alongside its mercenary Wagner Group in Ukraine. Aleksandar Vučić criticised Russian websites and social media groups for publicising adverts in the Serbian language in which the Russian private mercenary group calls for volunteers to join its ranks. He denied reports that the Wagner Group had a presence in Serbia, where pro-Kremlin and ultranationalist organisations have supported the invasion of Ukraine.
The jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has vowed he will not give up his activism on the second anniversary of his return to Russia and imprisonment. Navalny’s daughter, Dasha Navalnaya, also posted a video calling for her father’s release, accusing the Putin regime of “tormenting and depriving” him “of any connection with the world in order to silence him”.
Updated
The British defence minister, Ben Wallace, will join counterparts from Poland and the Baltic countries in Estonia to mount a final attempt to put pressure on Germany to authorise sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine this week.
The meeting of the “Leopard coalition” of countries willing to or keen to see western tanks sent to Kyiv comes a day before a group of about 50 defence ministers assemble in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss future weapons shipments to Ukraine.
Defence sources said a purpose of the meeting on Thursday was “to encourage the Germans” if no decision had been made by Berlin before then, although chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to speak at the Davos summit on Wednesday afternoon.
Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, speaking at the Davos World Economic Forum on Tuesday, said that a positive decision from Berlin to allow the re-export of German-manufactured Leopard 2 tanks was “very, very, very, very needed” and that a group of Nato countries wanted to come together to help form an armoured brigade that could be given to Ukraine.
He added:
I was asked by Volodymyr Zelenskiy for that military support a few times. He said to me, ‘Andrzej, we need those modern tanks because it is the only way to stop the Russian invasion.’
Read the full story by my colleagues Dan Sabbagh and Kate Connolly:
Updated
Ukraine’s top general, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, spoke with his US counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, at a face-to-face meeting near the Ukraine-Poland border for the first time.
Milley, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a couple of hours with Zaluzhnyi at an undisclosed location in south-eastern Poland on Tuesday.
The pair have talked frequently about Ukraine’s military needs and the state of the war over the past year but had never met.
In a statement posted to Telegram, Zaluzhnyi said:
I outlined the urgent needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the fulfilment of which will accelerate our Victory.
In an interview with the Economist last month, Zaluzhnyi said he needed 300 tanks, 600-700 infantry fighting vehicles and 500 howitzers to help his forces push back the invaders.
President Joe Biden praised the Netherlands for stepping up assistance to Ukraine as he met the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, for talks at the White House today.
Biden praised the Netherlands as one of the US’s strongest allies. In turn, Rutte praised the US president for leading the international effort to back Ukraine.
History would “judge in 2022 if the United States had not stepped up like you did things would have been very different”, he told Biden.
Updated
The UK foreign secretary has justified the supply of Challenger tanks to Ukraine, saying it was designed to bring the war to a quick conclusion and there was a moral imperative to end the war soon due to the casualties and cost.
“This war has been dragging on for a long time already. And now is the time to bring it to a conclusion,” James Cleverly told a Washington thinktank.
His remarks seemed designed both to encourage the US to step up its own weapons supply, and to push back against those Republicans calling for US support for the war to be scaled back.
Before meeting the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, Cleverly said it was clear Putin believed Russian stoicism could outlast the west and that he wanted to drag out an attritional conflict, so it was incumbent on the west to apply the opposite strategy.
He said:
We should look to bring it to a conclusion quickly, the conclusion has to be Ukrainian victory. And that dictates therefore that we need to intensify our support at this point in time, while Russia has been on the back foot.
Updated
The Netherlands to send Patriot missile defence system to Ukraine - report
The Netherlands will send a Patriot missile defence system to Ukraine, Dutch news agency ANP has reported, citing prime minister Mark Rutte.
Rutte is currently in Washington to meet with Joe Biden.
President Biden meets with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (@MinPres) in the Oval Office. https://t.co/3PmbdvpVgk pic.twitter.com/sg04IPT628
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 17, 2023
Updated
A former commander of Russia’s Wagner Group who fought in Ukraine said he has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum.
Andrey Medvedev, an orphan who joined the Russian army and served time in prison before joining the mercenary group in July 2022, said he had slipped away after witnessing the killing of captured deserters.
“I am afraid of dying in agony,” Medvedev told Vladimir Osechkin, founder of Gulagu.net in a video published by the rights group on 15 January.
Gulag.net said it had helped Medvedev leave Russia after he approached them in fear for his life. Medvedev said he crossed the border, climbing through barbed-wire fences and evading a border patrol with dogs, and heard guards firing shots as he ran over breaking ice into Norway.
Norwegian police said a foreign citizen had been arrested on Thursday night after illegally crossing the Russian-Norwegian border in the Arctic and was seeking asylum.
Ukrainian journalist Myroslava Petsa has shared a clip of a man who said his one-year-old grandson is buried under the rubble of Saturday’s Russian missile attack on a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Six children were among those killed in the strike, according to local authorities. The current death toll stands at 45. At least 19 people are still missing.
Grieving granddad in Dnipro shows a video of his one-year-old grandson: “This little child is still lying under the rubble”. pic.twitter.com/CLVLCLbSZ4
— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) January 17, 2023
Ukraine has urged world leaders to intensify efforts to remove Vladimir Putin’s troops from its soil as its war with Russia dominated the first full day of the gathering of the global elite in Davos.
With the war clouding the outlook for the global economy in 2023, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Yuliia Svyrydenko urged the country’s allies to step up supplies of military hardware so that Russia could be more quickly defeated.
Asked what was next for Ukraine, Svyrydenko said:
What’s next is success. Russia won’t achieve its goal and we will definitely win this war.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, used a special address to demand that those attending the World Economic Forum use their influence to end Russia’s aggression.
Zelenska told delegates in Davos that some were failing to use their influence, or sometimes using it in a way “that divides even more”.
She asked:
What can life be in a world where tanks are allowed to strike at nuclear power stations? What will happen to inflation when state borders start to collapse, and the integrity of countries is trampled?
“This war can go further, and make crises wider, if the aggressor does not lose,” Zelenska added.
She brought three letters from her husband, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to hand to Alain Berset, the president of the Swiss Confederation, to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and for China’s Xi Jinping, which has been handed to the vice-premier, Liu He, who is attending Davos.
The note says that “if people come together, they can move mountains”, Zelenska revealed.
Updated
19 people still missing as death toll from Dnipro strike rises to 45
The death toll from Saturday’s Russian missile attack on a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 45, according to Dnipropetrovsk’s governor, Valentyn Reznichenko.
Another child was found among the dead, Reznichenko wrote on Facebook, bringing the number of children killed by the attack to six.
At least 19 people are still missing.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
A search and rescue operation in the rubble of Saturday’s Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has been completed, authorities said. The death toll currently stands at 45, including a child, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region military administration said. At least 19 people are still missing and a further 79 people injured, according to local officials. A makeshift memorial has appeared in Moscow to commemorate the victims of the Russian missile attack.
The Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has tendered his resignation after a public outcry over comments he made suggesting the Russian missile that struck the building in Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine. The Ukrainian air force says the apartment complex was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which Kyiv does not have the equipment to shoot down.
Russia has announced it will make “major changes” to its armed forces from 2023-26, promising to shake up its military structure after months of setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine. In addition to administrative changes, the defence ministry said it would strengthen the combat capabilities of its naval, aerospace and strategic missile forces. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the changes had been made necessary by the “proxy war” being conducted in Ukraine by the west.
More than 9,000 civilians, including 453 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion last February, Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential staff, said at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. “We will not forgive a single (act of) torture or life taken. Each criminal will be held accountable,” he said, adding that Ukraine wanted a special international tribunal to try Russian political leaders and reparations for the destruction caused by Russia’s invasion.
More than 7,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbour last February, the Office of the UN high commissioner for Human Rights said on Monday. The UN rights office said it had confirmed 7,031 civilian deaths but believed actual casualty tolls were considerably higher, given the pending corroboration of many reports and the inaccessibility of areas where intense fighting was taking place.
Russia and Ukraine have been working on a large prisoner exchange deal that will include 1,000 people in total, the Turkish ombudsman Şeref Malkoç said on Monday. The Russian human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets, met last week on the sidelines of an international ombudsman conference in Ankara.
Finland is prepared to support Ukraine in its war with Russia for “as long as needed”, its prime minister, Sanna Marin, said. “I think the only message that we need to send is that we will support Ukraine as long as needed. One year, two years, five years, 10 years, 15 years,” Marin said at Davos. Finland spent about €300m on support to Ukraine last year, around €190m of it on buying defence equipment.
The EU executive has confirmed it is releasing €3bn in emergency aid for Ukraine, the first tranche of an €18bn fund intended to help its government run essential public services during the winter. The money will pay public sector wages, pensions and keep schools and hospitals running, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said at Davos.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he spoke to Germany’s federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The pair discussed “the necessity of increasing defence support for Ukraine”, Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
A former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner Group who last week sought asylum in Norway has spoken of how he is “scared for his life”. Andrey Medvedev, 26, said in an interview last month with the Guardian that in Ukraine he had witnessed the summary killing of Wagner fighters accused by their own commanders of disobeying orders, sometimes in pairs.
Serbia’s president has called on Russia to stop recruiting Serbs to fight alongside its mercenary Wagner Group in Ukraine. Aleksandar Vučić criticised Russian websites and social media groups for publicising adverts in the Serbian language in which the Russian private mercenary group calls for volunteers to join its ranks. He denied reports that the Wagner Group had a presence in Serbia, where pro-Kremlin and ultranationalist organisations have supported the invasion of Ukraine.
The jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has vowed he will not give up his activism on the second anniversary of his return to Russia and imprisonment. Navalny’s daughter, Dasha Navalnaya, also posted a video calling for her father’s release, accusing the Putin regime of “tormenting and depriving” him “of any connection with the world in order to silence him”.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still here with all the latest from Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Finland vows years of support for Ukraine
Finland is prepared to support Ukraine in its war with Russia for “as long as needed”, its prime minister, Sanna Marin, said.
Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, she said:
I think the only message that we need to send is that we will support Ukraine as long as needed. One year, two years, five years, 10 years, 15 years.
Marin’s government spent about €300m on support to Ukraine last year, around €190m of it on buying defence equipment.
Finland’s president, Sauli Niinisto, last week said Helsinki could donate a small number of German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine if a wider group of European nations also decided to do so.
Updated
A veteran but low-profile politician is to be appointed as Germany’s new defence minister, the government has announced, filling the role at a crucial time when the country is under acute pressure to increase its commitment to Ukraine, especially by allowing it the use of tanks.
Boris Pistorius, 62, who has been the interior minister of the northern state of Lower Saxony for the past decade, will face his first major task on Friday when western allies meet at the US military’s Ramstein base in south-west Germany to discuss providing Kyiv with more weapons and equipment.
Germany has been extremely cautious so far about approving the sending of heavy Leopard tanks to Ukraine, owing to concerns that the decision could lead to an escalation of the war. Other countries in possession of the German-designed tanks need the permission of Berlin before they are able to be dispatched to another country.
Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, has posted images to Telegram of the damaged education facility in Kupiansk, which he says was struck at 2.30pm local time by an “enemy S-300 missile”. The images have been reproduced on social media.
❗Today, Russians hit Kupiansk Motor Transport Vocational College in Kharkiv region (North-East of Ukraine).
— Toronto Television / Телебачення Торонто (@tvtoront) January 17, 2023
The premises of the educational institution were almost destroyed. There were no casualties - Head of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Syniehubov. pic.twitter.com/44jFr9M9Uq
Synyehubov said: “According to preliminary information, there were no casualties. However, the premises of the educational institution were almost completely destroyed.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Suspilne, the Ukrainian state broadcaster, has reported on Telegram that its correspondents have heard explosions in Kherson.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted to Telegram after having a conversation with Germany’s federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In his message, Zelenskiy said:
Ukraine appreciates the important new defence decisions taken by the German leadership at the beginning of this year, as well as the significant support in the humanitarian, financial and defence spheres since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
During the meeting in the format of a video conference with federal president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, we discussed the situation on the frontline, the necessity of increasing defence support for Ukraine, the diplomatic process on the implementation of the Ukrainian peace formula.
Thank you for the comprehensive assistance of Germany to Ukrainians. For the assistance that made our army stronger, for the financial support. I would like to express particular gratitude to the citizens of Germany for sheltering Ukrainians in this difficult period.
Updated
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the office of president of Ukraine, has given details on Telegram of an attack on Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. He has written:
The occupiers attacked the educational institution with S-300 missiles. One of the educational buildings was destroyed. There are no casualties. Emergency services are on site.
Social media users have identified the target as the motor transport technical school. The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
A makeshift memorial has appeared in Moscow to commemorate the victims of Russia’s missile attack on a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Luxmoore shared images of the memorial at the foot of a statue of the Ukrainian writer, Lesya Ukrainka, in central Moscow.
A makeshift memorial has appeared in Moscow to the 40 Ukrainians killed in the Russian missile strike on Dnipro, with a framed photo of the demolished apartment block placed beside a monument to Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka. Russian TV has been largely silent about the tragedy. pic.twitter.com/ukwilL7YwB
— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) January 17, 2023
The jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has vowed he will not surrender to “corrupt judges, lying propagandists, and Kremlin crooks” on the second anniversary of his return to Russia and imprisonment.
Navalny, the most prominent opponent of Vladimir Putin, was arrested on arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on 17 January 2021, after recovering in Germany from being poisoned with novichok, a Soviet-made nerve agent, on a trip to Siberia in 2020. He has accused Putin of being behind the attack.
Navalny wrote on Twitter via his lawyer:
It has been exactly two years since I returned to Russia. I have spent these two years in prison. When you write a post like this, you have to ask yourself: How many more of such anniversary posts will you have to write?
1/6 It has been exactly two years since I returned to Russia. I have spent these two years in prison. When you write a post like this, you have to ask yourself: How many more of such anniversary posts will you have to write?
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) January 17, 2023
“Miserable, exhausted” Russia has been “pillaged, wounded, dragged into an aggressive war”, he continued. “Any opposition to this gang – even if only symbolic in my current limited capacity – is important.”
I said it two years ago, and I will say it again: Russia is my country. I was born and raised here, my parents are here, and I made a family here – I found a loved one and had kids with her.
4/6 I said it two years ago, and I will say it again: Russia is my country. I was born and raised here, my parents are here, and I made a family here - I found a loved one and had kids with her.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) January 17, 2023
He added:
I’m not going to surrender my country to them, and I believe that the darkness will eventually fade away. But as long as it persists, I will do all I can, try to do what is right, and urge everyone not to abandon hope.
6/6 I'm not going to surrender my country to them, and I believe that the darkness will eventually fade away. But as long as it persists, I will do all I can, try to do what is right, and urge everyone not to abandon hope.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) January 17, 2023
Russia will be happy!
Last week, Navalny said he had flu symptoms including a fever, but that he was being kept in a punishment cell at his maximum-security prison outside Moscow and denied basic medication.
Navalny “is in urgent need of medical assistance”, a German government spokesperson said on Saturday, reiterating a call for his release.
Navalny’s daughter, Dasha Navalnaya, has published a video today calling for her father’s release, accusing the Putin regime of “tormenting and depriving” him “of any connection with the world in order to silence him”.
Two years ago today my dad returned to Moscow to fight for a democratic, free and beautiful Russia. Today we are launching a campaign to free him. Join now! Say no to war! Free Alexey Navalny!https://t.co/fLz4R8PETU pic.twitter.com/qy96VZGsMl
— Dasha (@Dasha_Navalnaya) January 17, 2023
Updated
The US is imposing visa restrictions on 25 people for undermining democracy in Belarus with politically motivated trials of opposition leaders and activists, secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has announced.
The Belarusian government, led by President Alexander Lukashenko, continues to “repress the Belarusian people and their democratic aspirations”, a statement by Blinken said.
A statement by Blinken reads:
Those regime officials targeted in today’s action include members of the National Assembly of Belarus for their role in passing legislation to authorise the death penalty for persons convicted of supposed ‘attempted acts of terrorism,’ a charge used to repress and intimidate the democratic opposition and civil society.
The announcement comes as Belarus put its exiled opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, on trial in absentia on treason charges. Rights activists estimate about 1,500 people are in jail in Belarus on politically motivated charges.
Tsikhanouskaya, 40, fled Belarus after running against Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election which was followed by mass protests over alleged electoral fraud. Tsikhanouskaya, who now lives in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, faces a possible jail term of up to 15 years.
Blinken described Tsikhanouskaya’s trial as “politically motivated” and the latest example of the regime’s “efforts to intimidate and repress those who seek justice, respect for human rights, and a democratic Belarus”.
Updated
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said a French foreign legion soldier has been found dead in eastern Ukraine.
Writing on Telegram, Prigozhin said the body of Yevhenii Koulyk had been found in the territory of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.
It has not been possible to independently verify his claim.
Search and rescue operation in Dnipro ends as 20 people still missing
Ukraine’s defence ministry has said the search and rescue operation in the rubble of Saturday’s Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has been completed.
20 people are still missing and a further 79 people injured, including 16 children, according to local authorities, after the building was split in two with its middle reduced to rubble.
Search and rescue operation in Dnipro has been completed:
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) January 17, 2023
- 39 people were rescued, including 6 children;
- 44 people died, including 5 children;
- 79 people were injured, including 16 children;
- 47 reported as missing (23 found dead, 4 found alive). pic.twitter.com/hUUmOiuB23
The death toll from the strike is at 44, including boxing coach Mykhailo Korenovskyi, the only member of his family who had been home at the time.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he is “grateful” to the EU and Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, after Ukraine received the first €3bn in emergency aid for Ukraine.
The €3bn is the first tranche of an €18bn fund intended to help Ukraine’s government run essential public services during the winter.
Ukraine received the 1st €3 billion from the new €18 billion macro-financial program. I’m grateful to the EU & President @vonderleyen for the strong support. Preserving 🇺🇦’s financial stability is vital for our joint victory over the aggressor #РазомПереможемо #StandWithUkraine
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 17, 2023
Former Wagner Group commander who fled to Norway fears for his life
A former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner Group who last week sought asylum in Norway has spoken of how he is “scared for his life”.
Andrey Medvedev, 26, said in an interview last month with the Guardian that in Ukraine he had witnessed the summary killing of Wagner fighters accused by their own commanders of disobeying orders, sometimes in pairs.
After fleeing his unit, he crossed the border into Norway, near the Pasvikdalen valley, shortly before 2am local time last Friday, where he was arrested and detained by border guards.
“He has applied for asylum in Norway,” said Tarjei Sirma-Tellefsen, the chief of staff for the police in Finnmark, northern Norway.
Medvedev is the first known soldier from the Wagner Group who fought in Ukraine to flee abroad.
Before he left Russia, the Guardian spoke to Medvedev over several phone calls, in which he described in detail his time fighting with Wagner in eastern Ukraine.
Updated
A meeting between Russia’s foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, and the director of the CIA, William Burns, would “make sense”, the Kremlin has said.
The pair met in Ankara in November. At the time, US officials said Burns had cautioned Naryshkin about the consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and raised the issue of US prisoners in Russia.
Naryshkin told the Russian state-run Tass news agency that another meeting was “possible”.
Speaking to reporters, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said:
It can’t be ruled out, and of course this kind of dialogue makes sense ... I don’t know about exact dates.
Updated
Serbia’s president has called on Russia to stop recruiting Serbs to fight alongside its mercenary Wagner Group in Ukraine.
Aleksandar Vučić criticised Russian websites and social media groups for publicising adverts in the Serbian language in which the Russian private mercenary group calls for volunteers to join its ranks.
Speaking in a television broadcast, Reuters cites him as saying:
Why do you, from Wagner, call anyone from Serbia when you know that it is against our regulations?
Serb volunteers took part in fighting alongside pro-Russian forces in Ukraine in 2014 and 2015. Serbian law bans its citizens from participating in conflicts abroad and several people have been sentenced for doing so.
Vučić denied reports that the Wagner Group had a presence in Serbia where pro-Kremlin and ultranationalist organisations have supported the invasion of Ukraine.
Serbia is a candidate to join the EU, its main trade partner and investor, but it is also Russia’s traditional ally as the two countries share the same Slav origins, Orthodox Christian faith and similar languages.
Although it repeatedly condemned Russia’s invasion at the UN and several other international forums, Belgrade has also refused to impose sanctions against Moscow.
Updated
Dozens of Australian defence force personnel are to fly from Darwin to the UK this week to begin training Ukrainian troops.
The government has committed to sending up to 70 ADF members to join a UK-led training operation. A handful have already left Australia to prepare but the majority are departing this week.
The Albanese government will on Wednesday spell out more details of the mission. It says most of the troops will be from the Australian Army’s 5 RAR 1st Brigade.
“The training conducted under this operation will generate additional capacity within the armed forces of Ukraine and will focus on basic infantry tactics for urban and wooded environments,” the government said.
The aim was to help Ukrainian recruits “gain the military skills needed to defend their homeland”.
The troops will be seen off at a ceremony in Darwin on Wednesday. The government emphasised the mission did not involve any Australian troops entering Ukrainian territory.
Updated
The EU executive has confirmed it is releasing €3bn in emergency aid for Ukraine, the first tranche of an €18bn fund intended to help its government run essential public services during the winter.
Speaking to an audience at Davos, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, confirmed the release of the €3bn, which would pay public sector wages, pensions and keep schools and hospitals running.
Describing the funding as a strong message, Von der Leyen said:
We are in it for as long as it takes and stand by our Ukrainian friends.
The €18bn aid is the largest direct support to a non-member government the EU has ever provided, but was agreed with difficulty among the 27 member states. While 26 EU countries swiftly signed off the plan, agreement was delayed by Hungary’s rightwing nationalist government, which was seeking leverage over the EU in an unrelated dispute over its access to funds.
EU officials have previously estimated that Ukraine needs about €3bn-€4bn a month to keep going. The financial aid comes in the form of cheap loans with long repayment deadlines and requires EU member states to guarantee the loans and pay the interest.
The EU expects to usually disburse €1.5bn a month to Kyiv and wants other allies to help meet Ukraine’s monthly running costs.
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More than 9,000 civilians killed in Ukraine, including 453 children, says official
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential staff, said more than 9,000 civilians, including 453 children, had been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion last February.
Yermak was speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. He said:
We will not forgive a single (act of) torture or life taken. Each criminal will be held accountable.
He added that Ukraine wanted a special international tribunal to try Russian political leaders and reparations for the destruction caused by Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said in its latest update that 456 children had died since Russia invaded its neighbour in February. More than 897 children were injured, it said.
Its figures included a breakdown by region:
The largest numbers of affected children were reported in Donetsk region (429), as well as Kharkiv (269), Kyiv (117), Zaporizhia (84), Kherson (83), Mykolaiv (82), Chernihiv (68), Luhansk (66), and Dnipropetrovsk (57) regions.
The Office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Monday more than 7,000 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since the war began.
The UN rights office said it had confirmed 7,031 civilian deaths but believed actual casualty tolls were considerably higher, given the pending corroboration of many reports and the inaccessibility of areas where intense fighting was taking place.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here taking over from Martin Belam to bring you the latest from the Russia-Ukraine war. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
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Summary of today so far …
More than 7,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbour last February, the Office of the UN high commissioner for Human Rights said on Monday. The UN rights office said it had confirmed 7,031 civilian deaths but believed actual casualty tolls were considerably higher, given the pending corroboration of many reports and the inaccessibility of areas where intense fighting was taking place.
Rescue workers on Tuesday found the body of a child in the rubble of the high-rise residential building in Dnipro struck by Russia at the weekend, and the city’s mayor, Borys Filatov, said the official death toll had risen to 44. Ukraine’s emergency services said earlier that 25 people were missing after the weekend’s missile attack.
The Ukrainian presidential adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, has tendered his resignation after a public outcry over comments he made suggesting the Russian missile that struck the building in Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine.
Russia has announced it will make “major changes” to its armed forces from 2023-26, promising to shake up its military structure after months of setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine. In addition to administrative changes, the defence ministry said it would strengthen the combat capabilities of its naval, aerospace and strategic missile forces. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the changes had been made necessary by the “proxy war” being conducted in Ukraine by the west. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Russia and Ukraine have been working on a large prisoner exchange deal that will include 1,000 people in total, the Turkish ombudsman Şeref Malkoç said on Monday. The Russian human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets, met last week on the sidelines of an international ombudsman conference in Ankara.
Boris Pistorius, the Social Democrat interior minister of the state of Lower Saxony, will be Germany’s new defence minister, the government confirmed on Tuesday. His predecessor, Christine Lambrecht, quit yesterday after a series of blunders, with her critics saying she was not up to job of getting the German army into shape against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.
Nato surveillance planes are due to arrive in Romania Tuesday to bolster the military alliance’s eastern flank and help monitor Russian military activity. Nato announced last week it would deploy the Airborne Warning and Control System surveillance planes to Bucharest, where they would start reconnaissance flights solely over Nato territory.
The self-styled leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, has claimed that the city of Marinka, west of Donetsk, is on the brink of falling to pro-Russian forces.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. Léonie Chao-Fong will be here shortly to continue our live coverage.
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Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, has reported on Telegram that one person has been injured in Valuysky district in the region by shelling. He writes: “The wound is of minor severity, medical assistance is already being rendered. Shell fragments shattered windows in private households, one car was damaged.”
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Dnipro mayor says death toll from attack now 44
The death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the east Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 44, Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov has said.
“I am here. Already 44 dead,” Filatov wrote on Facebook, making clear he was visiting the scene of Saturday’s attack, Reuters reports.
Regional authorities said earlier on Tuesday that a child’s body was among the latest retrieved from the rubble.
Russia announces plan for 'major changes' to armed forces from 2023 to 2026
Russia has announced that it would make “major changes” to its armed forces from 2023 to 2026, promising to shake up its military structure after months of setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.
In addition to administrative reforms, the defence ministry said it would strengthen the combat capabilities of its naval, aerospace and strategic missile forces, Reuters reports.
“Only by strengthening the key structural components of the Armed Forces is it possible to guarantee the military security of the state and protect new entities and critical facilities of the Russian Federation,” defence minister Sergei Shoigu said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the changes had been made necessary by the “proxy war” being conducted in Ukraine by the west, which has been sending increasingly heavy weaponry to Ukraine to help it resist Russian forces. Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
The defence ministry, which has faced sharp domestic criticism for the ineffectiveness of its drive to take control of large tracts of Ukraine, vowed in December to boost its military personnel to 1.5 million.
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Boris Pistorius appointed new defence minister of Germany amid tank row
Boris Pistorius, the Social Democrat interior minister of the state of Lower Saxony, will be Germany’s new defence minister, the government confirmed on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
At Davos, Finland’s foreign minister has said he was hopeful a decision would be made to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine and his country was ready to participate in deliveries.
“We are currently in intensive discussions on what more we can do as the European Union, Nordic countries to help Ukraine,” Pekka Haavisto said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Reuters reports. “The discussion is ongoing about the Leopard tanks. I hope this decision will be made real and Finland definitely is ready to play its part in that support.”
Germany’s allies have ramped up the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to allow the supply of German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine ahead of a crunch defence ministers meeting on Friday.
Germany’s defence minister Christine Lambrecht quit yesterday after a series of blunders, with he critics saying she was not up to job of getting German army into shape against backdrop of Ukraine war. A replacement is expected to be rapidly appointed by Scholz, with Boris Pistorius, interior minister of Lower Saxony, being touted as a likely candidate in the media.
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Nato surveillance planes are due to arrive in Romania today to bolster the military alliance’s eastern flank and help monitor Russian military activity, Reuters reports.
Nato announced last week it would deploy the Airborne Warning and Control System (Awacs) surveillance planes to Bucharest, where they will start reconnaissance flights solely over Nato territory.
The aircraft deploying to Romania belong to a fleet of 14 Nato surveillance aircraft usually based in Germany. Around 180 military personnel will be deployed in support of the planes.
The self-styled leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, has claimed that the city of Marinka, west of Donetsk, is on the brink of falling to pro-Russian forces, according to a report from Tass. The Russian state-owned agency writes:
All high-rise buildings in the city of Marinka, west of Donetsk, have already been cleared and controlled by Russian forces, and there is reason to believe that this settlement will be liberated from Ukrainian troops as soon as possible.
It goes on to quote Pushilin saying “We see the work of our servicemen, who are clearing the territory metre by metre. We expect that in the very near future Marinka will completely come under the control of the DPR.”
Donetsk is one of the regions that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex, despite not being in full control of the territory. The self-proclaimed DPR, which was formed in 2014, is chiefly internationally unrecognised. Before the annexation announcement in September 2022, Russia, Syria and North Korea were the only UN member state to accept it as any kind of legitimate authority.
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Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych offers resignation over Dnipro comments
The Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has tendered his resignation after a public outcry over comments he made suggesting a Russian missile that killed at least 41 people in the city of Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine.
Reuters reports Arestovych announced his resignation on Facebook after publicly apologising and rowing back on his comments in a post on the Telegram messaging app. The Ukrainian air force says the apartment complex was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which Kyiv does not have the equipment to shoot down.
“I offer my sincere apologies to the victims and their relatives, the residents of Dnipro and everyone who was deeply hurt by my prematurely erroneous version of the reason for the Russian missile striking a residential building,” he wrote.
On Telegram he added: “Wrote a letter of resignation. I want to show an example of civilised behaviour. A fundamental mistake, then resign.”
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The Kyiv city authority has given some details of the mayor Vitali Klitschko’s visit to Davos. It says:
He met in Davos with the vice-chancellor and minister of economy of Germany Robert Habeck. They talked about further support and assistance. In particular, the transfer of weapons. Positive decisions have been made. Good news coming soon!
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted a message to Telegram featuring images of the war, including of the apartment block struck in Dnipro at the weekend, alongside the following words in English:
Now we need even greater cohesion throughout the free world. And this is the only way to end full-scale aggression and total terror. The energy of the struggling world must not weaken.
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Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, has reported that six regions are experiencing power cuts.
It posted to its Telegram channel:
There is a significant power deficit in the power system, especially in the morning and evening hours, Ukrenergo reported. Currently, due to exceeding the limits, emergency shutdowns have already been applied in six regions of Ukraine.
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At Davos, North Macedonia’s president has described the western Balkans as a soft spot in Europe’s security architecture and ripe for potential influence campaigns by Russia, Reuters reports.
“The soft spot in Europe’s architecture and danger from the Kremlin is the Western Balkans,” Stevo Pendarovski told an event at the World Economic Forum, adding that he believed the US should pay more attention to the situation in the region.
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Body of child found in Dnipro rubble, raising total death toll again
Rescue workers have this morning found the body of a child in the rubble of the high-rise residential building struck by Russia at the weekend, according to Ukrainian officials.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the office of president of Ukraine, posted an update to Telegram to say:
At 09.46am, the body of one dead child was found from under the rubble of a destroyed residential building on the 4th floor. A total of 41 people died (including four children), 79 people were injured (including 16 children), and 39 people were rescued (including six children).
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine, despite the evidence of the mounting death toll among the population, which the UN puts at more than 7,000. [See 5.40 GMT]
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Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv region in western Ukraine, has posted to Telegram to warn residents that the state energy company, Ukrenergo, has set a lower consumption target for the region than yesterday, and that “there is a greater probability of power outages”.
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Ukraine's emergency services say 25 people still missing after Dnipro attack
Ukraine’s emergency services have said 25 people remain missing after the weekend’s missile attack on a residential block in Dnipro, which killed at least 40 people including three children.
In a message posted to its official Telegram channel, the service said:
Dnipro: As of 8am on 17 January, 39 people were rescued, including six children. 40 people died, including three children. 79 people were injured, including 16 children.
We received 47 reports of missing persons, of which 18 persons were found dead, four persons were found alive with relatives, in hospitals, 25 persons are currently wanted.
Psychologists of the State Emergency Service provided assistance to 176 victims. Search and rescue operations and dismantling of dangerous structural elements are ongoing. Communal services removed more than 9,000 tons of construction debris and 41 damaged cars. A total of 415 people … were involved in the works.
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The UK Ministry of Defence has cast doubt on the accuracy of some of Russia’s long-range missile systems in its daily intelligence briefing. The ministry says:
An “AS-4 Kitchen” large anti-ship missile, launched from a “Tu-22M3 Backfire” medium bomber, highly likely struck a block of flats in Dnipro city which resulted in the death of at least 40 people. Russia falsely implied a Ukrainian air defence missile was responsible. “Kitchen” is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas.
The ministry went on to claim that “dysfunction of Russia’s long-range strike capability is more profound” and that “[Russia] highly likely struggles to dynamically identify targets, and to access rapid and accurate battle damage assessment”.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 17 January 2023
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 17, 2023
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/cJMPkLSUgH
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/cOHXJS6j6E
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog. I will be with you for the next few hours. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
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The Russian embassy in Australia has responded to the ban on Russian flags at the Australian Open, saying, calling it “another example of unacceptable politicisation of sports”:
❗️The decision to ban 🇷🇺Russian and 🇧🇾Belorussian flags from appearing onsite at the @AustralianOpen is another example of unacceptable politicisation of sports🔗https://t.co/pno9ALImJE pic.twitter.com/wVpY9OCMZF
— Russia in Australia (@RusEmbAU) January 17, 2023
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Tennis fans have been spotted hoisting a Russian flag at the Australian Open despite a ban introduced by Tennis Australia earlier on Tuesday in response to strong criticism from the Ukrainian ambassador.
As in many other sports, Russian and Belarusian tennis players are competing under a neutral banner at this year’s tournament due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Fans had initially been allowed to show their support for players from both countries, but not in a way that “could cause disruption”, according to TA.
A Russian flag was visible in the crowd during Kamilla Rakhimova’s first-round match against Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl on Monday, prompting calls from Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia and New Zealand for action to be taken.
TA on Tuesday confirmed a policy reversal that banned flags from Russia and Belarus anywhere at Melbourne Park for the rest of the year’s first grand slam.
Yet the red, white and blue of a Russian flag could been seen in the stands of John Cain Arena during Tuesday’s match between Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev and Austrian Dominic Thiem:
More now on Andrey Medvedev, the alleged former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner Group seeking asylum in Norway.
Rights group Gulagu.net, which advocates for prisoners in Russian detention, has published interviews with Medvedev, including one after his crossing into Norway, where he detailed his dramatic escape.
“When I was on the ice [at the border], I heard dogs barking, I turned around, I saw people with torches, about 150 metres (500ft) away, running in my direction,” Medvedev says in one video. “I heard two shots, the bullets whizzed by.”
According to Gulagu.net, Medvedev originally signed a four-month contract with Wagner in early July 2022 and claims to have witnessed executions and reprisals against those who refused to fight and wanted to leave.
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Ex-Wagner member seeking asylum in Norway
An alleged former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner Group has sought asylum in Norway, authorities say, after deserting the organisation that has played a central role in some of the major battles of the Ukraine conflict.
Andrey Medvedev, 26, reportedly crossed the border into Norway near the Pasvikdalen valley shortly before 2am last Friday, where he was arrested and detained by border guards.
The Norwegian directorate of immigration (UDI) confirmed to the Associated Press that Andrey Medvedev sought shelter in the country but “for reasons of security and privacy … cannot comment further on this matter”.
Police, who did not confirm his identity, said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that a man was “detained by Norwegian border guards and Norwegian police at 1.58am (0058 GMT)” on Friday morning.
“He has applied for asylum in Norway,” said Tarjei Sirma-Tellefsen, chief of staff for the police in Finnmark, northern Norway:
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7,000 civilians confirmed killed, but actual toll ‘considerably higher’, says UN
More than 7,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbour last February, the Office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) said on Monday.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and airstrikes,” an OHCHR statement said.
The UN rights office said it had confirmed 7,031 civilian deaths but believes actual casualty tolls are “considerably higher” given the pending corroboration of many reports and the inaccessibility of areas where intense fighting is taking place.
Most of the recorded civilian deaths occurred in government-held areas of Ukraine – 6,536 compared with 495 recorded in Russian-held areas. OHCHR did not attribute responsibility for the deaths.
Ukraine says the numbers of civilians killed could run into the tens of thousands. Both countries deny targeting civilians.
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Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments for the next while.
The Office of the UN high commissioner for Human Rights said on Monday that it had confirmed 7,031 civilian deaths over the course of less than a year of the war. The UN rights office noted that it believes actual casualty tolls are “considerably higher” given the pending corroboration of many reports and the inaccessibility of areas where intense fighting is taking place.
We’ll have more on this news shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:
Russia and Ukraine have been working on a large prisoner exchange deal which will include 1,000 people in total, Turkish ombudsman Seref Malkoc said on Monday. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets met last week on the sidelines of an international ombudsman conference in Ankara.
Britain will send a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to help push back Russia’s invasion, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has confirmed. Outlining details to the UK’s parliament, Wallace described the military support as “the most significant package of combat power to date to accelerate Ukrainian success”.
The announcement makes the UK the first western power to supply the Ukrainians with main battle tanks, which would be used to help train Ukrainian troops, and will heap further pressure on Germany to approve a wider delivery of the vehicles this week. Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, urged Germany to permit the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, adding that the move could unlock support from other nations.
Germany should take “decisive actions” and send “all sorts of weapons” to Ukraine to help its troops defend themselves against Russia’s invasion, Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said. Morawiecki, speaking in parliament, implicitly criticised the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, for his reluctance to supply Kyiv with heavier weaponry.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, and her Dutch counterpart, Wopke Hoekstra, condemned the deportation by Russians of thousands of Ukrainian children. Russia “must account for the whereabouts of these children”, Baerbock said at a joint news conference with Hoekstra, who said this “deliberate Russian policy” is “tearing families apart and traumatising children”.
Russia carried out two mass rocket strikes on Ukraine on Saturday, devastating an apartment block in the south-central city of Dnipro, where at least 40 people have died and scores were injured. Dozens are still missing, city official Gennadiy Korban wrote on Telegram on Monday. 75 people were wounded in the strike, including 14 children, he said. The victims from the attack included a 15-year-old girl, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest nightly address.
Russia and Belarus began joint air force drills this morning, triggering fears in Kyiv and the west that Moscow could use its ally to launch a new ground offensive in Ukraine. According to a statement published to the Telegram account of the Belarus ministry of defence, units from Russia’s aerospace forces arrived at the airfields of Belarus late on Sunday night. Shortly after 8am local time the ministry said the planned combat training tasks had begun.
Russia launched an attack on Ukraine’s south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, wounding civilians and destroying residential infrastructure, according to regional officials. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said “The occupiers launched a rocket attack on the regional centre. The rocket hit next to a five-story building. Five people, including two children aged nine and 15, were injured by glass fragments. The children were hospitalised.”
President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by phone on Monday where they discussed the conflict in Ukraine, according to readouts of the call from both sides. The pair discussed the question of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, the Kremlin said, as well as the export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports and ways to unblock fertiliser and food exports from Russia.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Ukraine could expect more deliveries of heavy weapons from western countries soon. Western allies will consider sending battle tanks to Kyiv ahead of a meeting in Ramstein in Germany on Friday, where governments are expected to announce their latest pledges of military support.
A Russian man who reportedly fought for the private mercenary Wagner group has crossed into Norway and requested political asylum, according to Norwegian authorities. Andrey Medvedev, who reportedly served as a high-ranking Wagner group member, has sought shelter in Norway, authorities confirmed to the Associated Press.
