January 26, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Moscow sees the delivery of modern Western battle tanks to Ukraine as “direct involvement” in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.

"There are constant statements from European capitals, from Washington that them sending various weapons systems, including tanks, to Ukraine in no way means the involvement of these countries or the alliance in the hostilities that are taking place in Ukraine,” Peskov said in a daily press call with reporters.  

Peskov's comments come after Germany agreed to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine following weeks of diplomatic pressure.

Berlin has also said it will approve the re-export of the German-made tanks from other European allies that have stocks of the tank.

Germany is planning to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine by the end of March, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced Thursday. 

''We will deliver our Leopards – at the latest by the end of march,'' Pistorius told reporters at a news conference during a visit to a German armed forces training camp in Altengrabow. 

On Wednesday, Germany confirmed it will deliver 14 Leopard 2 tanks from its own Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) stock to Kyiv, following weeks of diplomatic pressure on Berlin.  

When asked by a reporter on Thursday why it had taken Germany so long to announce the deliveries of the tanks, Pistorius justified Germany taking its time.   

''We did not hesitate – we negotiated with our allies – we talked to our partners and friends about what is the best thing to do now and that takes time," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is “not interested” in meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for peace talks in an interview with Sky News that aired Thursday. 

Asked whether the war in Ukraine could be resolved through peace talks with Putin, Zelensky said: “It is not interesting for me. Not interesting to meet, not interesting to speak.”  

Zelensky told Sky News there were many more casualties on Russia’s side than Ukraine’s, adding that “in the east, they are losing a large number of people, a huge number, but they don’t care. They are not counting people, that’s a fact. We are counting their people.”  

During the interview, which was taped on Wednesday, Zelensky learned Germany had agreed to send German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine after weeks of diplomatic pressure on Berlin to do so. 

Zelensky said he was “very pleased,” but he also said the timeframe in which they were delivered to the war-torn nation was “critical.”  

Thursday’s wave of Russian air strikes damaged energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, causing “major troubles with the power supply,” regional governor Maksym Marchenko said on Telegram. 

“There are hits and damage to several energy infrastructure facilities in the Odesa region and other regions of the country,” Marchenko wrote.

The strikes came less than 24 hours after the historic center of the regional capital, the port city of Odesa, was added to the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay had said then he hoped the move would help protect the city from the war.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday that the attack was in response to the listing.

“Among [the] targets of today’s mass missile strike, Russia struck Odesa causing massive power outages,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter. “This destruction is Putin’s response to UNESCO inscribing Odesa on its World Heritage List yesterday and placing it under reinforced protection of the World Heritage in Danger List.”

More than 30 Russian missiles were reportedly launched at Ukraine on Thursday morning, just hours after two dozen attack drones were shot down.

Missile strikes have been reported in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the Odesa and Vinnytsia regions.

Poland will receive its first Abrams tanks from the United States in the spring, defense minister Mariusz Błaszczak said Thursday.

Błaszczak told public broadcaster Polskie Radio 1 that 58 of the US-made tanks will be delivered in the coming months, and Polish troops had been undergoing training on the vehicles "for some time." 

In December, the US approved a $3.75 billion sale of Abrams tanks to Poland.

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” reads a note from the US State Department published at the time.

“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a credible force that is capable of deterring adversaries and participating in NATO operations.”

Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine: The announcement on the first delivery of these tanks comes as Poland prepares to send some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Marcin Przydacz, head of the Polish president's International Policy Bureau, said the country will send "one company" of tanks.

He would not specify exactly how many tanks Poland intended to send but said that a company of tanks was usually made up of “between 10 and 14 Leopard 2 vehicles.” 

One person has died and at least two have been wounded in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv after Russia launched a new wave of missile attacks on Thursday morning, city mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on Telegram.

“There is information about one dead and two injured as a result of a missile hit in the Holosiyivskyi district,” he said. Klitschko also reported explosions in the Dniprovskyi district.

Earlier Monday, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told national television that more than 30 missiles had been fired at Ukraine from strategic bombers that took off from Russia’s Murmansk region.

Missile strikes have also been reported in the Vinnytsia region.

An air raid alert remains in place across the country. 

Ukrainian air defenses are working to intercept Russian attacks after Moscow's forces fired more than 30 missiles at Ukraine on Thursday morning, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian television that around six Russian Tu-95 aircraft had “taken off from [Russia's] Murmansk region and have launched missiles."

Some missiles hit Ukraine's west-central Vinnytsia region, Gov. Serhiy Borzov said on Telegram, but no casualties were reported. 

The head of the Kyiv city military administration, Serhii Popko, said on Telegram that more than 15 cruise missiles had been launched “in the direction of Kyiv” and all had been shot down. 

An air raid alert is in place across the country. 

Drones repelled: Separately, Ukraine’s Air Force Command has said its air defenses shot down 24 attack drones sent by Russia overnight 

The attacks come after the United States and Germany said Wednesday they would send battle tanks to Ukraine. 

The more Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to break NATO, the stronger it gets.

Not for the first time in the war in Ukraine, President Joe Biden took decisive action that closed fissures in the alliance. He announced Wednesday he would ship 31 advanced US tanks to Kyiv’s military in a move that prompted a reluctant Germany to drop its resistance to sending its own tanks and could unlock similar moves all over Europe.

This represented a significant symbolic, political and military win for Ukraine. It hopes what it calls its new “iron fist” will punch through entrenched Russian lines in the east, could fuel an advance on Russia’s land bridge to annexed Crimea in the south and will stave off a feared Russian spring offensive.

It took Biden’s statesmanship to end the most public and damaging Western rift of the war so far. The US had previously said its Abrams tanks were too complex and too high maintenance for the Ukraine war and didn’t suit the terrain. But Biden’s change of heart, which gives Germany cover, underscores Washington’s view that Western unity against Putin is critical to saving Ukraine.

Indeed, Putin’s major goal off the battlefield is to forge splits between the Western allies and to disrupt or end the flow of weapons on which Ukraine’s survival as an independent nation depends.

His failure, despite fierce Russian public threats designed to bully European nations into balking at tank transfers, also comes after a mild winter robbed Russia of another prong of its strategy — starving Europeans of gas imports during freezing weather in hopes they’d pressure their own leaders to step back from supporting Ukraine.

Read the full analysis here.

Switzerland's Federal Council has granted a new exemption to its arms embargo to allow the use of Swiss demining equipment in Ukraine in some cases. 

Switzerland, though not a member of the European Union, will also implement the EU's ninth round of sanctions against Russia, including the sanctioning of around 200 additional individuals and entities, the government said Wednesday. 

Swiss stance: Switzerland has blocked the requests of several European countries, including Germany and Denmark to re-export Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine, arguing the moves would violate the country's long-held neutrality. 

However on Tuesday, a key Swiss parliamentary committee recommended waiving a law that bans the re-export of Swiss-made armaments in cases where at least two-thirds of the United Nations General Assembly determines there has been an illegal use of force.

Parliament's Security Policy Committee, which proposed the amendment, argued it would still "respect the law of neutrality" because it would not allow the direct export of war material to conflict zones. 

The motion has yet to be voted on in parliament.