January 26, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Britain is aiming for its pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks to arrive in Ukraine by the end of March, defense department procurement minister Alex Chalk said Thursday. 

The UK government announced earlier this month that it would send “a squadron of 14 tanks” to Ukraine after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak committed to providing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with additional support.

Germany followed suit on Wednesday when Chancellor Olaf Scholz committed to sending 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, adding that those could be operational in around three months.

At least 11 people were killed and another 11 were injured across Ukraine as a result of Russian missile strikes, the country’s State Emergency Services reported.

In a statement, the service’s spokesperson Oleksandr Khorunzhyi provided the following additional details:

The missiles caused damage in 11 regions throughout Ukraine, Khorunzhyi also said.

“Most of the damages to the housing are in Kyiv region,” he added. “We have connected 88 power generators in order to supply electricity to social facilities such as hospitals, etc.”

The Ukrainian capital and wider Kyiv region have returned to their previous schedule of power outages, the city administration and DTEK energy company said on Telegram.  

The schedule was changed briefly and an emergency power outage had been introduced in parts of Ukraine, including the Kyiv region and others, after Russian missiles targeted energy facilities on Thursday, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko had said earlier in a post on Facebook.

He had noted that the worst situation was in Kyiv region, Odesa region and Vinnytsia region.

In the Odesa region, supply to critical infrastructure like hospitals has been restored but emergency power outages are still in effect otherwise, DTEK said in a separate Telegram post.

Earlier, local officials in the Kyiv and Odesa regions reported that energy facilities there had been hit.

Remember: Since Russia has been regularly targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure, the country has been in an electricity deficit. This has forced suppliers and authorities to devise a limited power supply schedule and residents often see scheduled power outages. In the event of a missile strike, authorities often move from scheduled power outage to emergency power outage. The impact on Ukrainians is especially hard during the biting winter temperatures.

Ukrainian air defenses successfully shot down the majority of a barrage of missiles launched by Russia, but one man was killed by falling missile fragments in Kyiv.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is "not interested" in peace talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and Germany has confirmed that it will deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine by the end of March.

Here are the latest headlines:

Russia launched 55 missiles at Ukraine on Thursday morning, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram, adding that the salvo was aimed at the country’s “energy facilities” and that some power substations had been hit. 

Ukraine shot down 47 cruise missiles, including 20 over the capital city, according to General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The missiles were launched from Russian warplanes and ships in the Black Sea, he added in his Telegram post.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has met with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Odesa in southern Ukraine on Thursday.

“In Odessa! To mark France's support to Ukraine's sovereignty, today as ever,” Colonna said in a tweet. 

Kuleba shared a photograph of the pair in Odesa and welcomed Colonna to the city in the caption.  

“Thanks for your brave visit. Looking forward to discussing France’s role in the international tank coalition, Grain From Ukraine, and Peace Formula," he tweeted. "The Ukrainian-French partnership remains crucial to ending Russian aggression and restoring peace.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is no match for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.

Peskov’s comments came in response to a question about Zelensky saying that he is “not interested” in meeting the Russian president for peace talks. 

“We know with what promises Zelensky was elected president, it is absolutely not difficult to remember them ourselves and remind those voters who voted for him in Ukraine,” Peskov told journalists during a daily press call. 

“He did not solve the problem of Donbass (Donbas in Ukrainian), he did not fulfil the Minsk agreements, moreover, as it turned out, he was not going to fulfil them, he was preparing for war,” he said. 

“Therefore, let’s put it this way, he himself has long ceased to be a possible opponent for Putin," Peskov continued. 

Here's what Ukrainian officials have said about the impact of the missiles that Russian forces fired across Ukraine on Thursday morning:

Kyiv city: Around 20 Russian missiles were shot down in the skies over Ukraine’s capital, said Serhiy Popko, head of city’s military administration. A 55-year-old man was killed by falling missile fragments, and two others wounded.

Kyiv region: The regional administration for the wider Kyiv region reported a “hit at an energy facility” but gave no further details.

Odesa region: Ukrainian air defenses destroyed three missiles over the region, governor Maksym Marchenko said on Telegram. The DTEK energy company said energy infrastructure had been damaged and warned the subsequent emergency power outages “may last for several days”.

Vinnytsia region: Earlier, regional governor Serhiy Borzov reported “hits by enemy missiles.” The region’s police chief Ivan Ishchenko said there were no known casualties.

The Australian Open has issued a warning to players after tennis star Novak Djokovic's father Srdjan was seen posing with flag-waving supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a video posted on YouTube by a known Putin supporter, Srdjan Djokovic can be seen posing with a supporter outside Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena. 

The man is wearing a pro-war "Z" symbol on his shirt, while holding a Russian flag with Putin’s face on it. The “Z” symbol, which has been seen on Russian military equipment and clothing, is viewed as a sign of support for Russia, including its invasion of Ukraine.

According to Australian Open rules, Russian and Belarusian flags are banned from the event. 

"Players and their teams have been briefed and reminded of the event policy regarding flags and symbols and to avoid any situation that has the potential to disrupt," an Australian Open spokesperson told CNN Thursday. "We continue to work closely with event security and law enforcement agencies."

The Australian Open spokesperson went on to say that "a small group of people displayed inappropriate flags and symbols and threatened security guards following a match on Wednesday night and were evicted."

CNN has reached out to both Novak and Srdjan Djokovic for comment.