February 2, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has come under renewed Russian attack Thursday, one day after a strike there left at least three people dead, according to a CNN team in the city.

Two missiles landed near an ongoing rescue operation in the residential neighborhood that was hit on Wednesday night.

CNN bore witness to the missile strikes on the city – hearing the first incoming strike, and then seeing the second.

According to preliminary information, Thursday’s strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the regional military administration, but it was not clear how many.

The city's mayor, Oleksandr Honcharenko, confirmed that there had been a strike on Kramatorsk and urged residents to stay in bomb shelters.

Wednesday night's attack left eight people wounded, two of whom are in critical condition, Honcharenko said.

Top generals from the United States and Ukraine discussed recent military developments and what Russian forces might do next during a phone call, the Ukrainian president’s office said Thursday.

“The interlocutors were briefed on the current situation on the frontline, particularly in the Donetsk and southern directions,” the Ukrainian readout said. “In addition, the parties exchanged views on possible actions of the enemy in the near future.”

On the call were Valerii Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President’s Office; Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor. 

Yermak thanked the US "for its powerful support of Ukraine and strengthening our defense capabilities," according to the readout.

He also underlined the Ukrainian government's commitment "to cleansing the authorities from corruption risks.”

Russian shelling has killed two people in Ukraine’s Kherson region overnight, according to local officials.

In Kherson city, a 25-year-old man was killed in his home, and a 44-year-old woman was killed in Komyshany, just west of Kherson city.

“At night, residents of the central part of Kherson city woke up to explosions,” the Kherson regional civil-military administration said on Telegram.

In the village of Komyshany, the regional administration said a 44-year-old woman was killed by shrapnel at home.

The Kherson region prosecutor's office said it had opened criminal proceedings.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia will be stronger after the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

When asked if Moscow was ready for peace in Ukraine, Lavrov said: “I am definitely for peace. I am for peace. I don't remember who it was who said, 'If you want peace, prepare for war.' I do not share this philosophy. I share the idea that I would formulate this way: 'If you want peace, always be ready to defend yourself.'” 

“This US conviction of its superiority is the main reason why we are standing up to the United States and those who, along with them through Ukraine, are waging a hybrid war against us,” Lavrov added

Lavrov also said that Russia is “unlikely” to turn to ex-Soviet countries for their help in Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. 

A joint European Union-Ukraine summit due to be held in Kyiv on Friday is “a very strong signal” of support, a senior EU official said in a briefing ahead of the meeting.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels this week, a senior EU official said that holding the meeting in Kyiv during Russia’s invasion "is a signal first of all to Ukrainians, of support, in person, being there.”

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, arrived in the Ukrainian capital Thursday, alongside her commissioners, ahead of the summit. 

This is the 24th summit between the European Union and Ukraine, but the first since the start of Russia’s invasion and also since the European Council granted Ukraine the status of candidate country.

Leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine’s progress towards becoming a full member state of the EU, response to Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine, further support for Ukraine and global food security.

However they didn’t want to speculate on when this process would conclude, as historically it takes years to become a full member country of the EU.

A second senior EU official welcomed Ukraine's recent anti-corruption efforts, including a recent government shake up amid a growing corruption scandal.

“Of course, much work remains to be done on this and we are working with Ukraine on that,” the official added.

On January 24, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said that “anti-corruption measures are of course an important dimension of the EU accession process." 

A former Russian army officer has claimed that he witnessed torture of Ukrainian soldiers while stationed in the south of that country last year.

Konstantin Yefremov told the BBC in an exclusive interview that he had been part of a mine clearance unit in Chechnya in the months leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and had been on an exercises deployment in Crimea on February 24 last year.

Yefremov, who has since fled Russia, told the BBC he then found himself on an air base in the southern city of Melitopol, where Russian forces had captured a Ukrainian soldier.

“The Ukrainian had a blindfold on. The colonel put a pistol to the prisoner’s forehead and said, ‘I’m going to count to three and then shoot you in the head,” Yefremov told the BBC through a translator. “He counted and then fired just to the side of his head. On both sides.”

The BBC shared an image of Yefremov’s military identification and said that it had geolocated images that the former officer took while deployed in Ukraine.

“The interrogations, this torture, continued for about a week,” Yefremov told the BBC. “Every day. At night. Sometimes twice a day.”

Austria has revoked the diplomatic status of four Russian diplomats, labeling them "personae non gratae" and giving them a week to leave the country.

The ministry did not specify in the statement what the acts were. 

Ukraine’s defense minister said Wednesday that Kyiv believes Russia will mark the first anniversary of its invasion next month with a renewed offensive.

Reznikov was echoing repeated warnings from Ukrainian officials in recent weeks about an anticipated spring offensive from Moscow's forces. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Tuesday that the coming months of the war will be “defining.” 

Ukraine’s General Staff, in its daily morning update on Thursday, said Russian forces were “active in reconnaissance and preparing for an offensive.”

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv ahead of a “EU-Ukraine Summit” on Friday.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the meeting on Tuesday but provided no details on who would attend. He told Politico in an interview published Monday that Ukraine, which was granted European Union candidate status in June last year, has an "ambitious plan" to join the bloc within the next two years.

Some context: Ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian authorities conducted a series of anti-corruption raids across the country, uncovering stashes of cash as well as luxury watches and cars.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his government is working on “new reforms” that will make the country “more human, transparent and effective” as he prepares to meet EU officials Friday.

Anti-corruption measures are “an important dimension of the EU accession process,” said Ana Pisonero, a spokesperson for the European Commission, on Jan. 24.