Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
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”. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, thanked Wallace, Rishi Sunak and the people of Britain for the “powerful contribution to our common victory over tyrany”, adding that tanks, APCs and artillery are “exactly what Ukraine needs to restore its territorial integrity”. The Kremlin said the tanks Britain plans to send to Ukraine “will burn”, warning the west that supplying a new round of more advanced weapons to Ukraine would not change the course of the war.
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.
Ukraine expects to receive the first €3bn of an €18bn macro-financial assistance package from the EU this week, its prime minister Denys Shmyhal said. Matti Maasikas, the EU’s top representative to Ukraine, said the package “brings much needed predictability and relief to Ukraine’s state budget”.
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.”
Ukraine’s forces have “almost certainly” maintained positions in Soledar, north of Bakhmut, according to the UK’s ministry of defence’s latest intelligence update. Over the weekend, intense fighting continued in both the Kremina and Bakhmut sectors of the Donbas front, the ministry added.
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.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog is expanding its presence in Ukraine to “help prevent a nuclear accident” during the ongoing conflict, the agency’s head, Rafael Grossi, has said. Grossi is in Ukraine this week to establish the “continuous presence” of nuclear safety and security experts at all the country’s nuclear power facilities, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its latest update on Ukraine on Friday.
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.
Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, has announced her resignation following a series of blunders and a growing impression that she has struggled to deal with the challenges of overseeing the country’s military since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Lambrecht’s resignation comes at a crucial moment with Germany expected to deliver battle tanks to Ukraine, in a huge decision for the country as it changes the longstanding direction of its defence policy.
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.
Zelenskiy thanks UK for 'powerful contribution to our common victory over tyranny'
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has thanked Britain and its prime minister and defence secretary after the announcement that UK will supply 14 Challenger 2 tanks as part of a new military support package for Kyiv.
Tanks, APCs and artillery are “exactly what Ukraine needs to restore its territorial integrity”, Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter.
Tanks, APCs and artillery are exactly what Ukraine needs to restore its territorial integrity. Thank you @RishiSunak, thank you @BWallaceMP, thank you British people for this powerful contribution to our common victory over tyranny.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 16, 2023
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