Summary of the day
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he had “very productive talks” with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, who visited Kyiv today. The Ukrainian leader said the two countries would be able to resolve problematic issues.
Tusk underlined that Warsaw and Kyiv would work in a spirit of friendship to resolve differences.
Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, said that he “discussed the free movement of goods across the border” with Tusk and that the sides agreed to resume intergovernmental consultations.
EU foreign ministers discussed support to Ukraine.
With ministers focusing much of their attention today on the situation in the Middle East, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, insisted that Ukrainians should not worry and that the EU’s support for Kyiv would continue as strong as ever.
Borrell also said Ukraine “needs more and faster military support now”.
Latvia’s foreign minister, Krišjānis Kariņš, said that “if we do not help Ukraine stop Russia now, it will be only all the more expensive for us later”.
Elina Valtonen, Finland’s foreign minister, said there’s a need to fulfil Ukraine’s immediate defence needs, but that Europe also needs to ramp up its defence industry and capabilities.
Zelenskiy announced a proposal aimed at granting ethnic Ukrainians and their descendants Ukrainian citizenship.
There is movement toward a meeting between Zelenskiy and Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, a senior Ukrainian official said.
The UK updated its travel advice “to advise against all but essential travel” to the regions of Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Chernivtsi in western Ukraine. Previously, there was advice against all travel to the whole of Ukraine.
The UK has provided satellite photographs of North Korean cargo shipments to Russia to a panel of UN experts.
The Kremlin has drawn up a bill to confiscate property and valuables from Ukraine war critics convicted of, among other crimes, “discrediting the Russian army” or calling for foreign sanctions.
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Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, said that he “discussed the free movement of goods across the border, the development of border infrastructure and energy cooperation” with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk.
“We agreed to resume intergovernmental consultations,” he said.
Productive meeting with 🇵🇱 PM @donaldtusk. We discussed the free movement of goods across the border, the development of border infrastructure and energy cooperation. We agreed to resume intergovernmental consultations. Grateful for the support for Ukraine's intentions to become… pic.twitter.com/bP5ZxAJ8Id
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) January 22, 2024
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Critics of Ukraine war could have property seized under new Russian law
A bill to confiscate property and valuables from Ukraine war critics convicted of, among other crimes, “discrediting the Russian army” or calling for foreign sanctions, has been drawn up by the Kremlin.
The draft legislation to the Russian criminal code was registered in Russia’s State Duma on Monday, where it has been backed by all of Russia’s main political parties and appears likely to pass into law.
The bill aims to allow the Russian government to seize money and property used or intended to finance illegal activity or that which is believed to threaten Russia’s security, as determined by a court order.
It would also allow law enforcement to seize honorariums received by journalists or researchers convicted of writing “fake information” about the invasion of Ukraine, or to seize other more valuable property including cars or flats as a substitute, lawyers said.
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Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defence minister, said he spoke with his Belgian counterpart, Ludivine Dedonder.
He said:
Grateful for Belgium’s participation in the air force capability coalition, particularly in the pilot training programme.
Highly appreciate Belgium’s unwavering support for Ukraine.
Belgium will provide €611m in military aid this year and has a long-term commitment to supporting the modernisation of our defence forces.
Had a productive phone call with the Minister of Defence of Belgium, Ludivine Dedonder @DedonderLudivin.
— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) January 22, 2024
Discussed the recent developments on the front lines and the prospects of defence cooperation between our countries.
Grateful for Belgium’s participation in the air force… pic.twitter.com/eVDwEM5lff
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UK updates travel advice for Ukraine
The UK has updated its travel advice for parts of Ukraine “following a change in the risk assessment on the ground”.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice has been updated to advise against all but essential travel to the regions, known as oblasts, of Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Chernivtsi in western Ukraine. This is a change from the previous advice against all travel to the whole of Ukraine.
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'Very productive talks' with Poland's Tusk, Zelenskiy says
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had “very productive talks” with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, who is visiting Kyiv today.
“We appreciate Poland’s unwavering support and the new military aid package for Ukraine, as well as a new form of cooperation aimed at larger-scale arms purchases for Ukrainian needs: a Polish loan for Ukraine,” he said, noting that “opportunities for future joint arms production” were also discussed.
At a news conference, the Ukrainian president said the two countries would be able to resolve problematic issues including those related to border protests, Reuters reported.
“We discussed with the [Polish] prime minister that all critical issues that exist can be resolved at the level of governments, and work on this will begin shortly,” he said.
Today, we had very productive talks in Kyiv with @DonaldTusk about all aspects of Ukrainian-Polish bilateral relations.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 22, 2024
We appreciate Poland's unwavering support and the new military aid package for Ukraine, as well as a new form of cooperation aimed at larger-scale arms… pic.twitter.com/m5QCm67acD
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The fire that caused the suspension of some operations at the Ust-Luga Baltic Sea terminal, belonging to the Russian fuel producer Novatek, has been extinguished, Reuters reported, citing local authorities.
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Russia is taking “necessary measures” to defend its citizens and key infrastructure, the Kremlin said today, Reuters reports.
Moscow had claimed that Ukrainian shelling killed 27 people at a market on the outskirts of Donetsk. Kyiv has rejected responsibility for deaths on occupied territory.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “the [Russian] ministry of defence, our air defence assets, other relevant agencies … are taking necessary measures to protect against this kind of terrorist attack”.
He added:
The Kyiv regime is continuing to show its vicious side in that they are striking civilian infrastructure. They are striking people, civilians.
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Here are more images from Ukraine today
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There is movement toward a meeting between Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, Andriy Yermak said today.
Yermak, who heads the Ukrainian president’s office, said that the date, location and possible agreements would be the focus of a meeting with the Hungarian foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, on 29 January.
Ми точно рухаємось до зустрічі Президента 🇺🇦 @ZelenskyyUa та прем’єр-міністра 🇭🇺 @PM_ViktorOrban.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) January 22, 2024
Це і буде основним завданням під час нашої з міністром закордонних справ @DmytroKuleba зустрічі з міністром Петером Сіярто.
Про це розповів в інтерв‘ю:https://t.co/sawYjaOFsp
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Tusk underlines 'spirit of friendship' to resolve differences with Ukraine
In Kyiv, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said that there was nothing more important than supporting Ukraine in its war effort against Russia.
Tusk also underlined that while there were “some conflicts of interest”, the sides would work “in a spirit of friendship to resolve any differences as quickly as possible”, according to his office.
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Kyiv needs 'faster' support, Borrell says
As EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels, the bloc’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, said that “Ukraine needs more and faster military support now”.
We start today’s Foreign Affairs Council #FAC with FM @dmytrokuleba connected via VTC to discuss the situation on the ground and the EU’s continued support to #Ukraine.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) January 22, 2024
Ukraine needs more and faster military support now, so 2024 becomes the year Ukraine prevails. pic.twitter.com/L8RYO6dLXv
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In an intelligence update published today, the British defence ministry said: “Ukraine’s ports exported more agricultural products in December 2023 than at any other point since Russia’s invasion, almost certainly driven by the reopening of Ukraine’s main Black Sea ports and the establishment of a unilateral shipping export channel.”
It added:
Ukraine has achieved this because it has largely prevented the Russian Black Sea fleet from operating in the western Black Sea, where it is held at risk by Ukrainian missiles and uncrewed surface vessels.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 22 January 2024.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 22, 2024
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/UrKAtu1Vea #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/St460o0xV0
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In an update this morning, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said that during the day yesterday, there were “68 combat engagements”.
“The enemy launched a total of four missile strikes and 102 airstrikes, as well as 80 MLRS attacks at the positions of Ukrainian troops and at various settlements,” the general staff said, Ukrinform reported.
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The Lithuanian foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, has arrived in Brussels with a mission to reinvigorate the EU’s support for Ukraine in the face of continued Russia’s “madness”.
If they [Ukraine] are unsuccessful, we have to be ready to answer the question, who will contain Russia then? And there’s nothing else who could contain Russia, apart from Nato and apart from the countries who are closest to Russia. And that means also my country. It means Poland. That means other countries on the eastern flank. And so it’s a battle of self preservation as well for Europe.
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Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, is visiting Kyiv today.
🇵🇱🇺🇦 PM @DonaldTusk arrived in #Kyiv, where he will meet with President @ZelenskyyUa and PM @Denys_Shmyhal. pic.twitter.com/izoaxyMDsG
— Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (@PremierRP_en) January 22, 2024
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Stopping Russia will get more expensive later, Latvian minister says
Latvia’s foreign minister, Krišjānis Kariņš, told reporters this morning that “we have to open up our eyes and realise that Russia will not stop its war in Ukraine – the only way that Russia will stop is if it’s actively stopped”.
He added:
The Ukrainians are willing to put up the fight. The Ukrainians need our western, undivided support – European Union support.
So we have to come finally to the decision to make sure that we have the funding for Ukraine for the coming years, so they can continue to sustain their government.
And we also have to make sure that we provide the weapons and the ammunition that they need in order to do this task.
For anyone who thinks that it’s expensive to support Ukraine, that this money is better spent elsewhere, I can only say it will only get more expensive in the future. If we do not help Ukraine stop Russia now, it will be only all the more expensive for us later, because Russia will not stop.
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Elina Valtonen, Finland’s foreign minister, has underscored the need for “significantly more volume” and long-term support for Ukraine.
Asked about the importance of the European Peace Facility, an instrument the EU has used to provide military assistance to Ukraine, the minister said:
Finland has been one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine, also on a bilateral basis, though we deem it important that the European Union is unified in this and each country contributes according to the capital key.
So whichever means is necessary to fulfil the immediate needs that Ukraine has now, but also our position is very firm on this: we have to find a strategic, long-term way of also ramping up our common European defence industry and our capabilities.
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Zelenskiy proposes changing Ukrainian citizenship rules
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a video posted on social media this morning that he is submitting a draft legislative proposal allowing the “introduction of multiple citizenship.”
It will allow all ethnic Ukrainians and their descendants from around the world to have our citizenship. Of course, except for citizens of the aggressor country.
All those who, during various emigration waves, were forced to leave their homeland and ended up in Europe, the United States, Canada, countries of Asia and Latin America.
All those who help us despite being hundreds and thousands of kilometres away from their homeland.
Foreign volunteers who took up arms to defend Ukraine, all those who fight for Ukraine’s freedom as if it were their homeland. And Ukraine will become such for them.
When all Ukrainians join hands, they won't raise them to surrender. We all fight. And today, this is true not only for the Dnipro's two banks. Today, the unity of Ukrainians spans both hemispheres of the Earth. In every corner of which, on February 24, there were people… pic.twitter.com/ylDwWkOLyj
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 22, 2024
'Don't worry,' EU foreign affairs chief tells Ukrainians as ministers focus on Middle East
Arriving at the foreign affairs’ meeting this morning in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said: “The fact that we are engaged [in] looking for a solution in the Middle East doesn’t mean that we are not continuing supporting Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister is expected to speak at today’s session via videoconference.
Don’t worry, don’t worry, Ukrainians have not to worry – European support continues as stronger as ever, and it will continue.
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North Korea is accused of supplying weaponry to Russia in breach of international law. In a Guardian exclusive this morning, Andrew Roth writes that UK intelligence has sent photographs backing up those accusations to UN experts.
An unpublished UK defence intelligence report seen by the Guardian shows imagery taken between September and December of three Russian ships, the Maia, Angara and Maria, loading containers at North Korea’s revived Najin port before transiting to Russian ports in the far east. While the agency said it could not identify what was in the containers, it followed a US announcement last week that ballistic missiles from North Korea had been used by Russia in Ukraine last week.
The report, along with other evidence from the US and other countries, was provided to the UN panel of experts on North Korean proliferation, which is expected next month to publish its first final report since suspected North Korean shipments of ammunition to Russia sharply increased this year.
The deliveries have been cited as enabling military strikes against Ukraine in December and January that “killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more”.
Prosecutors in Kharkiv told the Guardian that suspected fragments of North Korean-made Iskander missiles had been sent to Kyiv for analysis and said the missiles had subtle differences: hand-drawn lettering for serial numbers, and a different nozzle exhaust cone and welding.
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Opening summary
Here are the things to know on Monday 22 January:
EU foreign affairs ministers are meeting today in Brussels. They will have an informal videoconference with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and are expected to discuss the future of European support for Kyiv.
Ukraine has said this morning that Russian forces overnight attacked with eight Iranian-designed Shahed drones, which were all shot down. The attacks took place across southern and central areas of Ukraine.
The UK has provided satellite photographs of North Korean cargo shipments to Russia to a panel of UN experts as part of an attempt to trigger an official investigation into arms deals in violation of international sanctions.
At least 25 people were killed and 20 injured when shelling hit a suburban shopping area in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to local officials, who said shells were fired by the Ukrainian military. Ukraine’s Tavria military units fighting in the area denied they attacked the market, and Russia’s claims could not be independently verified.
A fire that broke out at a chemical transport terminal near St Petersburg in Russia, after two explosions on Sunday was due to an attack by Ukrainian drones, the BBC reported. An official source in Kyiv told the BBC that the “special operation” of the SBU security service masterminded the attack at Ust-Luga port with drones that were “on target”.
Russia’s capture of the village of Krokhmalne in the Kharkiv region is a “temporary phenomenon”, the Ukrainian ground forces command spokesperson, Volodymyr Fityo, said. Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday, in its morning summary, that Russian forces had taken control of the village.
Russia has lost approximately 376,030 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed on Sunday. The number, which has not been independently verified, includes 760 casualties over the past day.
North Korea is Russia’s largest arms supplier at present, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday. In the interview, Budanov also said Moscow was losing as many or more troops than it can recruit and that the Wagner group still exists, despite reports saying it had been dismantled.
Europe needs to “step up” and provide more funding for Ukraine, the UK’s defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has said. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Shapps said: “Europe needs to step up and do their part to make sure that Ukraine can continue to defend herself.”
Russian forces struck Zaporizhzhia region 95 times across 16 localities in the last day, reported the Kyiv Independent, citing regional governor Yurii Malashko. He said a 71-year-old man was injured in Huliaipole due to artillery shelling, where there were also two reports of destroyed residential buildings.
Slovakia’s new culture minister, Martina Šimkovičová, has reversed a ban on cooperating with Belarus and Russia, reports the Kyiv Independent, citing an article by the Slovakian publication Pravda. Pravda reported that leaked documents showed the reversal would be effective from 22 January.
Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk believes that tennis has forgotten the war in Ukraine and she hopes that the success of Ukrainian women at the Australian Open will generate further attention for the issue.
