Summary
It is now approaching 6pm in Kyiv. Here is a quick roundup of the main updates from today:
Ukraine said it was behind a drone strike that sparked a huge inferno at an oil depot in western Russia on Friday, the latest in a series of escalating cross-border attacks. The strike is the second on a Russian oil depot in as many days, part of what Kyiv has called “fair” retaliation for Moscow’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
A fire tore through Ryazan oil refinery, Russia’s third-largest, on Friday, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper said, quoting emergency services. The fire at the oil refinery, controlled by Rosneft, has been put out and there were no injuries, RIA news agency reported.
A delegation of members of the Hamas militant movement has visited Russia, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Reuters reports the Russian side emphasised the need to release hostages during talks, the Foreign Ministry said.
Finland does not see any immediate military threat from Russia, the country’s prime minister Petteri Orpo said on Friday at a press conference with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson.
A Russian state prosecutor on Friday asked a court to jail Darya Trepova, a woman accused of killing a prominent military blogger by blowing him up at Ukraine’s behest, to 28 years in jail, the RIA news agency reported.
Britain brushed off a Russian plan to ban UK ships from fishing in Moscow’s waters on Friday as an example of Russia’s “self-imposed isolation”, while an industry body said it would have no impact because Britain’s fleet doesn’t fish there anyway.
The EU has started discussions on a new sanctions package for Russia that it aims to approve by 24 February, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
Belgium will supply a marine ship to an EU mission to protect ships from attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia in the Red Sea, Belgian broadcaster VRT reported on Friday, citing government sources.
About 160 people who applied for asylum at Finland’s eastern border last year have since disappeared, amid a sudden surge of asylum seekers arriving via Russia, Finland’s immigration authority said.
The Kremlin on Friday said there was no prospect of reviving the Black Sea grain deal and that alternative routes for shipping Ukrainian grain carried huge risks, Reuters reports.
Nato will launch its biggest military exercises in decades next week with about 90,000 personnel set to take part in months of drills aimed at showing the alliance can defend all of its territory up to its border with Russia, top officers said Thursday.
Police in the central Russian republic of Bashkortostan on Friday arrested more protesters incensed over the jailing of local activist Fail Alsynov, who campaigns for the protection of the Bashkir language, as a court sentenced nine demonstrators to short jail terms, reports AFP.
A Russian official says a Ukrainian drone has struck an oil storage depot in western Russia, causing a massive fire. Russian officials and news reports said four oil reservoirs with a total capacity of 6,000 cubic meters (1.6m gallons) were set on fire Friday after the drone reached Klintsy, a city of 70,000 people located about 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
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The official page of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine posted a picture of tank Bradley’s crew members, Serhii and Oleksandr after a video of a Ukrainian M2A2 Bradley IFV destroying a russian T-90M tank went viral.
Recently, a video of a Ukrainian M2A2 Bradley IFV destroying a russian T-90M tank went viral.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) January 19, 2024
Here are that Bradley's crew members, Serhii and Oleksandr.
True legends!
📷: 47th Mechanized Brigade pic.twitter.com/7FX9R434Hv
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