January 30, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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A former Wagner mercenary says the brutality he witnessed in Ukraine ultimately pushed him to defect.

Wagner fighters were often sent into battle with little direction, and the company’s treatment of reluctant recruits was ruthless, Andrei Medvedev told CNN’s Anderson Cooper from Norway’s capital Oslo, where he is seeking asylum after crossing that country’s arctic border from Russia.

“They would round up those who did not want to fight and shoot them in front of newcomers,” he alleges. “They brought two prisoners who refused to go fight and they shot them in front of everyone and buried them right in the trenches that were dug by the trainees.”

CNN has not been able to independently verify his account and Wagner has not replied to a request for comment.

The 26-year-old, who says he previously served in the Russian military, joined Wagner as a volunteer. He crossed into Ukraine less than ten days after signing his contract in July 2021, serving near Bakhmut, the frontline city in the Donetsk region. The mercenary group has emerged as a key player in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Medvedev said he reported directly to the group’s founders, Dmitry Utkin and Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

He refered to Prigozhin as “the devil.” If he was a Russian hero, he would have taken a gun and run with the soldiers,” Medvedev said.

Prigozhin has previously confirmed that Medvedev had served in his company, and said that he “should have been prosecuted for attempting to mistreat prisoners.”

Medvedev told CNN that he did not want to comment on what he’d done himself while fighting in Ukraine.

Read more here

There’s a growing rift at the top of the Russian government between Vladimir Putin’s official military and the off-the-books mercenary force that has achieved some gains in Ukraine.

The oligarch figurehead of the private military company Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been openly critical of Russia’s military and its bureaucracy.

Recruiting for tens of thousands of fighters in Russian jails, Wagner offers freedom and cash after a six-month tour.

Videos of these prison yard pitches made by Prigozhin have been shared on social media, and prison-rights groups in Russia estimate 30,000 have taken up the offer, according to an excellent analysis of what we know about Wagner and Prigozhin by CNN’s Tim Lister. Read Lister’s story.

Brutal tactics for its fighters. A Ukrainian assessment of Wagner tactics suggests the convicts are pushed to the front lines in a human wave. Wagner is using “convicts as cannon fodder to try and storm Ukrainian positions with almost no fire support,” as CNN’s Fred Pleitgen said in a video report he filed after talking to Ukrainian tank operators.

Lister, Pleitgen and CNN’s Victoria Butenko wrote about Wagner’s tactics after seeing the Ukrainian assessment. The focus is on small groups of fighters – a dozen or fewer – guided by drones.

Deserters are said to be shot. The wounded are left behind on battlefields for hours, according to the assessment. Prisoners account for the bulk of Wagner’s casualties as they are pushed to storm Ukrainian positions. More experienced fighters with better equipment follow.

US officials have said Wagner appears to be dueling with Russia’s military for power in the Kremlin.

“In certain instances, Russian military officials are actually subordinate to Wagner’s command,” John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council, said late last year. “It’s pretty apparent to us that Wagner is emerging as a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries.”

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The pine forests near the city of Kreminna have become one of the hottest combat zones in the war in eastern Ukraine. Almost every weapon seems to be at work here, artillery, howitzers, tanks and mortars. But perhaps the most important is the smallest: The reconnaissance drone.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have been fighting here for nearly two months. If the Ukrainians can break through Russian lines and reach Kreminna, they can disrupt Russian supply routes.

But it’s a much tougher proposition than it was at the end of last year. Russia’s defensive lines have been reinforced with heavy weapons and long-range artillery.

A year ago, one of the Ukrainian drone operators, who gave his name only as Ruslan, was a snowboard and kayak instructor. Now he’s watching the movement of Russian armor along the forest tracks, expertly skimming his drone across the treetops.

Arriving at a foxhole, the drone operators’ vehicles are carefully maneuvered under tree cover. The Russians have reconnaissance drones too, and Ukrainian drone operators are regarded as high-value targets.

Their job is to provide real-time intelligence on Russian positions and movements, and also to help Ukrainian artillery fix targets. 

A few miles away, the battalion Ruslan is a part of, Dnipro-1, has its own drone workshop, where NATO-issue grenades are carefully sawn in half to be reconstituted as small, free-fall munitions. Under a table sits a slab of C-4 plastic explosive. It’s a painstaking and demanding process, churning out one handmade munition every 20 minutes.

Some of the unit’s drone munitions are essentially fragment grenades dropped on infantry – and especially fighters from the Russian private military contractor Wagner fighters around Bakhmut. Heavier versions can damage or disable a tank.

The commander of Dnipro-1’s drone unit goes by the name of Graf. He says that drones have become “one of the most important elements of this war – both for us and the enemy. Nothing can be executed without drones.”

And that makes his men targets.

“At the moment the drone operator is one of the most dangerous jobs. The enemy knows we are the eyes of our army. As soon as they locate a drone operator, they use all kinds of weaponry: barrel artillery, MLRS, tanks,” Graf says.
“We have a high rate of casualties among the pilots, the enemy is always looking for us,” he says.

Read more here

White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby on Monday defended the Biden administration’s decision not to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, pointing instead to the aid the US is providing, including Abrams tanks.

“What I can tell you is that there’s a lot of capability that is being sent, and will be sent in the coming weeks and months,” Kirby told CNN. “The kinds of capabilities that we know will be critical to helping Ukrainians again in the fighting now in the wintertime, as well as the kind of fighting that we expect that they’re going to be doing in the spring.”  

Kirby said he believes the decision, announced last week, to send Abrams tanks to the region wasn’t one that was made too late, even amid reports of Russia gaining territory in eastern Ukraine.

“The decision on the tanks — and it wasn’t just the US, it was the Germans as well, and the Brits before that — was really designed to help Ukraine get ahead of the fighting that we think … everybody’s going to see come spring,” he said. “So, this was actually one of those cases where we are trying to forecast the kinds of needs that Ukraine is going to require when the weather turns better – and we can expect that the Russians will try to go on the offensive then.”

Some background: President Joe Biden answered, “No,” when asked by a reporter whether he would send the jets to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sought fighter jets to help sustain his war effort against Russia. Biden has consistently said the planes aren’t on the table, even as he has given aid in other areas.

A married couple in the southwestern Russian city of Krasnodar was arrested Sunday for professing anti-war sentiments during a private conversation in a restaurant, according to the independent Russian monitoring group OVD-Info.

OVD-Info told CNN that Aleksey Ovchinnikov was sentenced to 15 days in prison for petty hooliganism, while his wife Olesya Ovchinnikova received a 1,000 rubles ($14) fine.

Olesya Ovchinnikova is also facing charges for discrediting the Russian army, according to reporting from local media 93.RU, citing her lawyer.

CNN has sought comment from the couple’s lawyer. The restaurant where the incident is said to have taken place, “Na Drovoh,” would not comment to CNN.

Crackdown on anti-war sentiments: OVD-Info said at least 61 cases related to expressing anti-war views were initiated in Russia in 2022 on the charges of justification of terrorism on the internet, with 26 leading to sentencing so far.

In another notable case, 19-year-old Olesya Krivtsova was charged over social media posts that authorities say discredit the Russian army and justify terrorism. She posted an Instagram story about the explosion on the Crimean bridge in October that also criticized Russia for invading Ukraine, according to Russian officials.

President Joe Biden said Monday he wouldn’t send American fighter jets to Ukraine, even as the United States ramps up military assistance in the form of artillery and tanks. 

“No,” Biden said when asked by a reporter whether he would send F16 jets to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sought fighter jets to help sustain his war effort against Russia. Biden has consistently said the planes aren’t on the table, even as he has given aid in other areas.

Last week, for example, Biden announced he would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, despite top US officials saying previously the heavy-duty vehicles were a poor fit for the country’s military.

Speaking on the White House South Lawn, Biden also said he wasn’t sure whether he would visit Europe next month for the one-year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine.

In response to a separate question, Biden said he was planning to visit Poland, but wasn’t sure when.

CNN reported last week the White House was exploring the possibility of a Biden visit to Europe to mark 12 months since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Some background: Ukrainian leaders have renewed their appeals for Western fighter jets. “I sent a wish list card to Santa Claus last year, and fighter jets also [were] including in this wish list,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told CNN last week.

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged Friday that Zelensky had asked for fighter jets. “We are constantly talking to the Ukrainians about their needs, and want to make sure that we’re doing the best we can to meet them – and if we can’t, that some of our allies and partners can,” Kirby said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Monday they have not received any requests from Ukraine for fighter jets.

“We do not have such a request formulated [from Ukraine],” Macron said at a joint press conference at The Hague where the two leaders were meeting to prepare the next EU council of February.

Macron said that while no requests had been received by France, “nothing is off-limits in principle.” He insisted that the usefulness of each request must be considered carefully.

Macron said the weapons requested should not escalate the conflict.

“That is to say that the equipment we deliver is not of a nature to touch Russian soil, but to help the effort of resistance and protection of Ukrainian soil,” Macron explained.

The French president added that the capacity of the French army to protect its own soil and its nationals should not be weakened by weapons transfer.

The Dutch prime minister also said that The Netherlands had not received any requests for F-16 fighter jets.

“There is not necessarily any taboo, but it would still be a very important step. If this were to happen, we would consider it, we would see what the situation is with our allies,” Rutte said.

France does not operate F-16s but does operate the French-made Rafale fighter jet.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on allies for “timely” implementation of “strong decisions.”

“There’s no time for continued reflections, we need to make decisions,” Zelensky said. “The key issue is efficiency.”

“Decisions were good, but it is crucial that strong decisions are timely. It is of great importance for us to react quickly,” he said while speaking alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Zelensky also said that Ukraine shared “all the intelligence information we get” with partners. “There can be no secrets.”

He thanked Denmark for its donation of Caesar howitzers, and said that he is confident that Russia’s offensive will not have a positive outcome. “I am confident in our army. I think we will be gradually stopping [Russians], fighting them and will be preparing our own big counter-offensive.”

Heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, specifically in and around the city of Bakhmut. One Ukrainian commander called it “a living hell.”

Meantime, the British defense secretary said the 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks pledged to Ukraine should reach that country in the next few months while France and Australia said they would collaborate on a project to produce “several thousand” artillery shells for Ukraine.

Here’s what to know:

Should Russia obtain Iranian ballistic missiles for use in its war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force has warned that it does not have the means to defend against them.

“Russia is still willing to receive UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles from Iran. Those are ballistic missiles. We do not have means to defeat them,” Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for the Air Force Command, said Monday on Ukrainian television.

As of November, Iran was preparing to send about 1,000 more weapons, including surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine, officials from a western country that closely monitors Iran’s weapons program told CNN at the time.

Reuters, in October, cited two Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats in reporting that Tehran had promised to provide Russia with those weapons. “The Russians had asked for more drones and those Iranian ballistic missiles with improved accuracy, particularly the Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles family,” one of the Iranian diplomats, who was briefed about the trip, told Reuters.

The Iranian government acknowledged in November that it had sent a limited number of drones to Russia in the months before the start of its invasion of Ukraine, but has denied supplying military equipment for use in the war in Ukraine.

“Russia has Kinzhal-type missiles that strike at ballistic trajectory,” Ihnat said on Monday. “They have Kh-22 missiles that strike at ballistic trajectory, and they have S-300 and S-400 rockets that strike at ballistic trajectory. Those are challenges and threats we are facing at the moment.”

Ihnat said that in order to “defeat ballistic threats,” Ukraine needed air defense systems like the latest-generation American Patriot PAC-3, and the French-made SAMP/T (Sol-Air Moyenne Portée/Terrestre)

The US has not announced details about the Patriot Air Defense System it plans to provide for Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers were set earlier this month to begin training on the Patriot missile system.

Previous reporting from Kylie Atwood, Ellie Kaufman, Oren Liebermann, and Haley Britzky in Washington, and Celine Alkhaldi in Abu Dhabi.

France and Australia said on Monday that they would collaborate on a multi-million dollar project to produce “several thousand” artillery shells for Ukraine.

The announcement came as foreign and defense ministers of both countries were meeting in Paris.

“Several thousand 155-millimeter shells are going to be manufactured in common, with an unprecedented partnership between Australia and France,” said French defense minister Sébastien Lecornu during a press conference.

The French defense minister specified that Nexter — the French arms company — would be partnering with Australian companies which would be providing the powder for the shells.

“This forms part of the ongoing level of support that both France and Australia is providing Ukraine to make sure that Ukraine is able to stay in this conflict and be able to see it concluded on its own terms,” Australian defense minister Richard Marles added.

Neither minister would specify quantities beyond “several thousand” artillery shells but they indicated this would be a long-term collaboration.

More on artillery to Ukraine: CNN reported in early January that the US had moved some of the 300,000 155-millimeter shells that the US and Israel agreed would be transferred to Ukraine. In November, a US official told CNN that the US intended to buy 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition from South Korean arms manufacturers to provide to Ukraine.

The 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks pledged to Ukraine by the United Kingdom should reach that country “this side of the summer,” the British Defense Secretary said on Monday.

“It starts with training on the individual operation of the platforms, then on training on being able to join together with formation units to be able to fight as a formed unit, because that’s important,” Ben Wallace said in parliament. “And then from there, those tanks will be put in.” 

Warning of Russia’s continued attempts to encircle Bakhmut, a local Ukrainian commander has said that any possible Ukrainian withdrawal from the embattled eastern city would be done with the sole aim of saving Ukrainian military lives.

“If our command decides to withdraw from Bakhmut, that would be with the only purpose of saving lives of our servicemen,” said Denys Yaroslavskyi, who commands a unit currently in Bakhmut.

Yaroslavskyi also warned that “super qualified” regular Russian military troops are now assisting Wagner private military contractors in assaulting the towns surrounding Bakhmut. That was echoed by another local Ukrainian commander, Volodymyr Nazarenko, who said that Russian paratroopers were taking part in the Bakhmut fight.

“They are just coming forward, they do not take cover, they are coming all-out,” Yaroslavskyi said on national television on Monday.

More on Moscow’s eastern offensive: Russian forces have been making slow but steady gains both north and south of Bakhmut. The last remaining routes under Ukrainian control into the city have come under heavier Russian fire in the past week, according to Ukrainian officials and commanders.

He said that the road north of Bakhmut, towards, the town of Krasna Hora, is almost entirely under Russian control. The Wagner group on Sunday claimed to have taken control of the town of Blahodatne, further north along that road.

“It is way too dangerous for volunteers to enter the city now,” Yaroslavskyi said. “There are locals who remain there but they live in the basements now. Everyone who wanted to leave the city has already left. There is no electricity, no water supply, no sewage or gas, no connection, no nothing. There won’t be a single surviving building in Bakhmut.”

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed reporting to this post from Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in a phone call on Monday, the Kremlin said in a statement. 

“Further development of bilateral cooperation in the political, trade, economic and energy fields, as well as cooperation within the framework of OPEC+, to ensure the stability of the world oil market were discussed,” the statement added. 

The phone call comes ahead of an OPEC+ meeting on February 1. 

In October 2022, OPEC+ agreed to slash production by two million barrels per day, twice as much as analysts had predicted, despite an intense pressure campaign from the United States, which had warned Arab allies that such a move would increase prices and help Russian President Vladimir Putin continue to fund his war in Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia defended the decision after oil prices steadily pulled back.

More on the organization: OPEC members collectively supply about 37.1% of the world’s crude oil production. Together, OPEC members control about 79.9% of the world’s total proven crude reserves.

Finland remains committed to its application for NATO membership alongside Sweden and hopes the bid will be approved by July, according to the country’s foreign minister.

Finland had the “patience” to see out the membership process as Turkey continues to delay its approval of Sweden and Finland’s applications, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said during a press conference in Helsinki on Monday.

Tensions between Sweden and Turkey have heightened in recent days, triggered by a recent protest outside Stockholm’s Turkish Embassy which saw a Swedish far-right politician set a copy of the Quran alight.

Finland had patience owing to the fact that it had received “security assurances when we started this NATO path” from the US, UK and other European allies, Haavisto added.

“All of these countries guaranteed that if something bad happens when we are on the waiting list, so to say, or when we are during this grey period, these countries will be of our help,” Haavisto told reporters Monday.

Haavisto said Finland and Sweden both considered NATO’s Vilnius Summit in July to be an “important milestone” for the military alliance. “We hope that both Sweden and Finland could and would be members of NATO before the Vilnius summit.”

The new American ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, met with a senior Russian diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow on Monday for the first time.

She was greeted by a small group of people standing next to the ministry entrance, chanting, “war is a business for the US,” according to a video posted by Russian state media TASS and RIA Novosti.

Tracy was confirmed by the US Senate on Dec. 21 and sworn in on Jan. 9. She met with Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs.

“Ambassador Tracy begins her tenure in Moscow focused on maintaining dialogue between our capitals at a time of unprecedented tension,” the US Embassy in Moscow said in a statement. “She will be an advocate for the safety and fair treatment of all U.S. citizens detained in Russia. Ambassador Tracy also looks forward to supporting the long-standing connections between the American and Russian people.”

The meeting comes amid tensions between both countries over Moscow’s war in Ukraine and the United States’ recent announcement to send tanks to Kyiv alongside other allies.

In an interview released Monday, Ryabkov told state news agency RIA Novosti that the decision by the US and NATO allies to send tanks to Ukraine has made it “pointless” for Moscow to engage in any talks with Kyiv.

Ukraine plans to spend 20 billion Ukrainian hryvnia ($545 million) buying drones — or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) — this year, the country’s defense minister announced Monday on Facebook.

“Development of Ukrainian UAV market is one of key focus areas for the Ministry of Defense,” Oleksiy Reznikov said in the statement. “Following consultations with the General Staff and testing/trials, sixteen contracts have been made by the Ministry of Defense with domestic UAV producers.”

“We will increase UAVs purchases for the Defense Forces in 2023, and we plan spending about 20 billion UAH,” he said.

The announcement comes as Ukraine continues to face rounds of Russian missile attacks and has renewed calls for Western jets and long-range missile systems.

Two years ago, Moscow eyed a US-German standoff over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as a litmus test of transatlantic power.

Russia had invested heavily in the 750-mile undersea pipeline linking it to Germany and wanted to increase global sales and ramp up economic leverage over Europe and its power-hungry heavy industries. Germany, a leading consumer, was on board from the get-go. Washington was not.

The United States didn’t want the new, high-capacity subsea supply to supplant old overland lines that transited Ukraine, providing vital revenue to the increasingly Westward-leaning leadership in Kyiv.

Russia reasoned that if Washington blocked Nord Stream 2, which it ultimately did, then it would show that European power no longer flowed through Berlin, but actually via the White House.

Fast-forward two years, and reading that transatlantic dynamic post-Angela Merkel, and particularly post-Russian President Vladimir Putin’s failing invasion of Ukraine, has become one of the most pressing political questions vexing the Kremlin.

Rare moment of steely leadership: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s refusal, in his words, “to be pushed” to go it alone in sending tanks to Ukraine — instead standing his ground and demanding US President Joe Biden join him in the venture, risking Putin’s wrath — has shown the transatlantic power dynamic has shifted.

Europe has been slow to respond to the deep fissures in US politics and the uncertainty another Trumpian-style presidency could wreak on its allies. Decades of a reasonably unshakable reliance, if not complete trust, in the US, has been replaced by stubborn European pragmatism — and Germany leads the way.

Read the full analysis here.

The “constant” fighting in and around the eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut has been “a living hell” as Russian forces try to take control of the Kostiantynivka-Bakhmut highway, a Ukrainian commander said in an interview on Ukrainian television Monday.  

“Because for five or six months, near Bakhmut has been a living hell. The enemy is constantly attacking. And we can observe more about how the weather is changing, which, by the way, has a great impact on the combat capability, morale, and living conditions of each soldier,” said Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of the “Svoboda” battalion of the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard.

He said he couldn’t say for certain whether Russian forces are making a full-scale offensive and whether their tactics have changed, but that it seems Wagner fighters have now been replaced by Russian paratroopers. 

Nazarenko went on to say the Ukrainian fighters “are doing an incredible job” and are “real heroes.”

“The enemy is trying to take control of the Kostiantynivka-Bakhmut highway. They are not successful in it. Our fighters are doing their best: The Armed Forces and the National Guard are doing an incredible job; they are real heroes. And the enemy is suffering huge, huge losses,” he said.

CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims about the losses. 

“What we see is that Wagner is almost completely destroyed. They have now been replaced by paratroopers, who also suffer losses almost every day, not only in manpower but also in armored vehicles,” he added. 

Two people were injured as a result of Ukrainian shelling in the village of Bezlyudovka in Russia’s Belgorod Region, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said Monday, according to state news agency TASS.

The two individuals hurt in the shelling have been taken to the hospital in medium-severity condition and are receiving all necessary medical assistance, according to TASS. 

Six private homes have been damaged by shell fragments in Bezlyudovka, the regional governor said, according to TASS.

Some background: Belgorod, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Ukrainian border, has been struck previously. In December, the governor said one person was killed and eight others injured in strikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the southern city of Mykolaiv, according to a video on his Instagram channel. 

Together, they visited wounded Ukrainian soldiers in the hospital, where Zelensky handed out medals to medical military staff.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the southern Mykolaiv region on Monday, where he met with regional officials, his office said in a statement.

Zelensky “held a meeting with the leadership of the region and the regional center, the command of the Kherson operational grouping of troops and the heads of law enforcement and security agencies of the Mykolaiv region,” his office said. “The participants discussed the operational situation in the south of Ukraine and the consequences of Russia’s missile and drone attacks.”

Zelensky and local officials also discussed “the current state of the region’s energy infrastructure, the means of its protection, and the pace of its recovery,” according to the statement. 

The strategic town of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine has seen heavy fighting as Russian forces attempt to take control of the major logistical hub.

Russian attacks have also killed civilians in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.

Here are the latest headlines:

Both Ukrainian and Russian forces are claiming hits on Vuhledar, in the Donetsk region, as intense battles for control of the strategic town in eastern Ukraine continued on Monday.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Monday Ukrainian units defending the contact line near Vuhledar have “recently ‘welcomed’ the occupiers and turned their temporary stay on our land into a living hell” by inflicting heavy losses.

CNN has not been able to independently verify those claims.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Monday Russian forces had made progress in the area.

“Units of the ‘Eastern’ group of forces, continuing their successful offensive, took more advantageous positions and inflicted fire on units of the 1st Tank Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the settlement of Vuhledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” said the ministry.

Earlier Monday, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) told Russian state media that Russian forces had established a presence in the eastern part of Vuhledar.

In his nightly address Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation in the area is “very tough” as “Bakhmut, Vuhledar and other areas in the Donetsk region are under constant Russian attacks.”

“There are constant attempts to break through our defense. The enemy does not count its people and, despite numerous casualties, maintains a high intensity of attacks,” Zelensky said.

Vuhledar is a major logistics hub and its seizure would help cut off the Ukrainian army’s supplies, and enable Russian and separatist forces to launch strikes on the Ukrainian military in several directions, according to DPR separatist officials.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he does not envision sending fighter jets to Ukraine.

“The question of combat aircraft does not come up at all,” he said in an interview with German newspaper Tagesspiegel on Sunday.

Scholz warned against “entering into a constant competition to outbid each other when it comes to weapons systems.”

It comes after leaders of the United States and Germany each announced Wednesday that they would send contingents of tanks to Ukraine.

The German chancellor said Sunday that he had made clear Berlin would not send ground troops into Ukraine, adding that debates over weapons deliveries “should not be conducted for reasons of domestic political profiling.”

“It is important to me now that all those who have announced their intention to supply battle tanks to Ukraine do so,” Scholz said.

“[Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky has repeatedly underscored his willingness to make peace and presented a peace plan in November. It is up to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine and end this terrible irrational war that which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives,” he said.

Scholz said he would speak to Putin again. It’s “necessary to talk,” he said, but it’s “clear that as long as Russia continues the war in unabated aggression, the current situation will not change.”

“There should be no illusions: Putin wants to annex parts of his neighboring country by force. And that is absolutely unacceptable,” Scholz added

The deficit in Ukraine’s power system is “significant” and all regions will be subject to outages throughout the day due to damage caused by Russian missile attacks, Ukraine’s national energy company said in a statement Monday. 

“The power grid is still recovering from the previous series of hostile missile attacks that damaged power plant units. As a result, electricity production at the operating power plants cannot fully cover consumption,” Ukrenergo said.

The company said the power grid has suffered 13 missile and 15 drone attacks, which have caused significant damage to high-voltage network facilities and power plants.

“All regional power distribution companies have been notified of consumption limits that act throughout the day. As a reminder, each regional power distribution company draws up schedules of planned hourly outages to ensure that the consumption of the region is within the approved limit,” Ukrenergo said.

As of Monday morning, no emergency outages caused by exceeding the limits have been applied yet, but if the limits are exceeded in some regions, outages may be applied, the company said. 

Restoration of energy infrastructure damaged during the massive attack on January 26 continues, Ukrenergo said. “However, after each subsequent Russian attack on the energy infrastructure, the restoration becomes more difficult and takes longer,” it said. 

The company reiterated that a number of power plants, including the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, remains under Russian control.

Dialogue between Russia and NATO is difficult to talk about because there are no substantive contacts between the two, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

“As far as contacts with NATO are concerned, there are no such contacts,” Peskov told reporters.
“You know that at some point NATO stopped any substantive contacts with our country. Therefore, at the moment it is very difficult to talk about such contacts,” he added.

Commenting on the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine, Peskov said the situation is “dead-locked” and leads to NATO countries being more directly involved in the conflict.

“But it is not capable of and will not change the course of events potentially. The special military operation will continue,” he said.

The Kremlin has repeatedly referred to its invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation.”

The Kremlin said Monday former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claim about Russian President Vladimir Putin threatening him with a missile in a phone call ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “is a lie.”

“What Mr. Johnson said is not true. More precisely, it is a lie,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a regular conference call.

Peskov said he’s aware of what was discussed during that conversation, but stressed “there were no missile threats.”

According to Peskov, “Speaking about the security challenges for the Russian Federation, Putin noted that in the event of Ukraine joining NATO, the potential deployment of NATO or American missiles near our borders would mean that any missile would reach Moscow in a matter of minutes.”

“If this passage was understood in this way, it is a very awkward situation,” he added.

Johnson told the BBC earlier Monday that Putin threatened him with a missile that “would only take a minute.” The exchange was released as a preview to the documentary “Putin vs the West,” scheduled to release later Monday, which examines Putin’s interactions with world leaders.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been accused by a Ukrainian presidential advisor of being a “promoter of war, murder and destruction” following the committee’s decision to consider ways for Russian athletes to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games.

Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted Monday that the IOC was offering Russia “a platform to promote genocide & encourages their further killings.”

“Obviously [Russian]-money that buys Olympic hypocrisy doesn’t have a smell of [Ukrainian] blood. Right, [IOC president Thomas] Mr. Bach,” Podolyak added.

In a statement published Wednesday, the IOC emphasized the body’s “strong commitment to the unifying mission of the Olympic movement” and that “no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport.”

The IOC went on to say that athletes’ participation under strict conditions, for example participating as “neutral athletes” and not representing their state, should be explored.

For context: Last week, the IOC outlined a multi-step plan for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris and the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan. Athletes’ rights group Global Athlete and Ukrainian Athletes responded to the move with a joint statement, saying that the IOC’s plan to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes only strengthens “Russia’s propaganda machine.”

Battles are underway in the south and east of Ukraine as authorities report more casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure on Monday.

Donetsk region

Donetsk region continues to see some of the heaviest fighting. On Monday, the Ukrainian military said that Russian forces are trying to advance toward Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

At least one person was killed in the city of Krasnohorivka, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region military administration.

Kherson region

Russian forces have fired 42 times in the region in the last 24 hours, the regional military administration said Monday. “The enemy attacked civilian settlements of the region with artillery, MLRS, mortars, tanks, and infantry fighting vehicles,” it said.

At least three people were killed by Russian shelling in the city of Kherson on Sunday and eight civilians sustained injuries of varying severity, the regional military administration said.

Kharkiv region

At least one person was killed and three wounded in the city of Kharkiv on Sunday, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration.

Preliminary investigations suggest the missile was fired from an S-300 air defense system, he said.

“The missile hit a 4-story residential building in the Kyivsky district,” said Syniehubov. “The upper floors and roof of the building were destroyed, and a large-scale fire broke out.”

Kupiansk, Vovchansk, Strilecha, Dvorichna and other towns came under enemy fire, added Syniehubov, with private houses, shops and other buildings damaged.

In Kupiansk, a 41-year-old man was wounded as a result of enemy shelling, he said.

Zaporizhzhia region

The situation remains relatively stable as Russian forces are concentrating on holding occupied territories in the region, the Zaporizhzhia region military administration said Monday. 

Russian shelling damaged residential houses and buildings in various parts of the region, the regional police said.

Russian forces have established a presence in the eastern part of the town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) told Russian state media on Monday. 

“Our units continue their advance toward Vuhledar. We can say now that the units have gained a foothold in Vuhledar’s east, and work is underway on its outskirts, too,” Denis Pushilin told state channel Russia 24, adding that fighting continues near the town.

Pushilin said that it is too early to say when Vuhledar could be taken under Russian control.

Vuhledar has been the scene of fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces as the town is a major logistics hub and its seizure would help cut off the Ukrainian army’s supplies, Pushilin said. 

Yan Gagin, an adviser to Pushilin, told Russian state news agency TASS earlier that the seizure of Vuhledar would make it possible to deliver strikes on the Ukrainian military in several directions.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov claims Ukraine is “dragging its feet” on negotiations to create a safety zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

“The negotiation process is not easy. We forwarded our proposals to Rafael Grossi, the director general of the [International Atomic Energy Agency]. To the best of our knowledge, Kyiv has not yet provided a clear answer to the initiative of the IAEA head. By the looks of it, it is simply dragging its feet,” Ryabkov said in an interview with Russian state news agency RIA Novosti released Monday. 

Since last fall, Grossi has reiterated the urgency of creating a safety zone around the plant in southeastern Ukraine, which has been under the control of Russian forces since March last year.

Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russian forces of storing heavy weaponry inside the complex and using it as cover to launch attacks, knowing that Kyiv’s forces can’t return fire without risking hitting one of the plant’s reactors.

According to RIA, Ryabkov accused Kyiv of giving “the impression that it is using this facility for nuclear blackmail” and claimed the IAEA has no right to interfere in its security. 

The decision by the United States and NATO allies to send tanks to Ukraine has made it “pointless” for Moscow to engage in any talks with Kyiv, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency RIA Novosti in an interview released Monday.

“Under the current conditions, when Washington announced the decision to supply tanks, and its vassals, including Ottawa, are competing over who will supply armored vehicles, especially old ones, to Ukraine, and how many of them… it’s pointless to talk,” Ryabkov said, accusing Washington of using Ukraine as a “testing ground” for its weapons. 

“We are willing to consider any serious initiatives to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but so far no one has articulated them properly,” he added.

Ukraine received a boost last week when Germany said it would send 14 of its Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv, while also permitting other countries that possess the Leopards, including Norway, to supply them.

In addition to the Leopards, Ukraine is set to receive heavy armor from both the United States, which is sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks, and the United Kingdom, which has pledged 14 Challenger tanks.

Prisoner swaps: Ryabkov also said Russia and the US will continue negotiations on the exchange of prisoners, but such an ultra-sensitive issue “loves silence,” he said, adding there are few realistic options for an “all for all” prisoner exchange, RIA reported. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday asked South Korea to reconsider its rule on not exporting weapons to countries in conflict so it could help arm Ukraine in repelling Russia’s invasion.

“I urge the Republic of Korea to continue and to step up the specific issue of military support,” he said in a question and answer session after a speech to the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies in Seoul.

“Several NATO allies who had as a policy never to export weapons to countries in conflict have changed that policy now,” Stoltenberg said, citing Germany, Norway and NATO applicant Sweden as those which have changed their arms export policies to help Ukraine.
“After the brutal invasion of Ukraine, these countries changed their policy because they realized that when you are facing a brutal invasion where a big power – Russia – invades another one in a blatant way as we have seen in Ukraine, if we believe in freedom, if we believe in democracy, if we don’t want autocracy and tyranny to win, then they need weapons.
“When the full-fledged invasion happened last year, many countries changed their policy because they realized that the only way to stand up for democracy, to help Ukraine prevail, and to create the conditions for a lasting peace was to deliver military support.”

Some context: A South Korean presidential decree that enforces the country’s Foreign Trade Act says its exports can only be used for “peaceful purposes” and “shall not affect international peace, safety maintenance, and national security.”

South Korea is also a signatory to the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty, ratified in 2014 with the intention of keeping close control on who gets weapons and under what conditions they can be used.

Read more here.

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson said Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in a phone call last year prior to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“He threatened me at one point and said, ‘You know, Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile it would only take a minute. Or something like that. You know…jolly,” Johnson said in an interview with the BBC.
“I think that from the very relaxed tone that he was taking, the sort of air of detachment he seemed to have, he was just playing along with my attempts to get him to negotiate.”

Johnson told the BBC he warned Putin during the phone call in February 2022 that invading Ukraine would lead to Western sanctions and more NATO troops on Russia’s borders.

“[Putin] said, ‘Boris, you say that Ukraine is not going to join NATO any time soon.’ He said it in English: ‘Any time soon. What is any time soon?’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s not going to join NATO for the foreseeable future. You know that perfectly well,” Johnson said of the call. 

The exchange was released as a preview to a BBC documentary “Putin vs the West,” scheduled for release Monday, which examines the Russian president’s interactions with world leaders.

Neither Putin nor the Kremlin have publicly commented on the alleged threat. 

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Dug in amid the rolling hills west of Bakhmut, the tanks of the Ukrainian army’s 28th Mechanized Brigade are helping to hold the line against a growing Russian offensive.

They are battered and bruised by nearly a year of combat, but despite their age they are cherished by their crews.

The young tank commander, who goes by the call sign David, sees his unit’s role as crucial in holding the line, and preventing a Russian advance towards the straggling industrial town of Konstantinyvka.

“We just work against them. If we don’t, they will come closer and we will lose our houses and families. We stand here to let people peacefully live in their houses. If the Russians come to Konstantinyvka — what will happen? They will destroy it, not leaving a stone standing.”

The 28th has had a long war already. It was in the south helping to liberate Kherson before being sent half-way across the country. But it prides itself on one of the lowest casualty rates among Ukrainian brigades.

As David talks, the air is split by the sound of outgoing fire from tanks and artillery. A howitzer is in action on the other side of the hill. Their targets are positions held by the Russian mercenary group Wagner south of Bakhmut, several miles away.

But the 28th uses its 125-millimeter shells sparingly. “We have problems with ammunition, we are running low on it,” David says. “But that’s the only problem we have. We get enough spare parts, our commanders work all the time to sustain and repair the tanks.”

Sometimes, all it needs is the appearance of a tank in forward positions to scatter Wagner fighters, who are mostly lightly-armed infantry.

“When we come and fire, the enemy goes silent for two to three days,” David says. “They won’t fire at our guys in the trenches. If our tanks and artillery don’t fire, our infantry will suffer.”

Read more:

Ukrainian forces in Soviet-era tanks near Bakhmut.

Related article Ukraine is relying on Soviet-era tanks to hold the line until Western reinforcements arrive | CNN

An elderly woman was killed and three other people were injured after a missile hit a residential building in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said said on Telegram.

Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv’s military administration, said on Telegram that the building in the city’s Kyivskyi district was struck by a Soviet-era S-300 long-range missile.

The building was partially destroyed and residents have been evacuated, Synehubov said, adding emergency services are on site. 

Turkey may respond “differently” to Finland’s NATO bid than to Sweden’s, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, according to state news agency Anadolu, amid rising tensions between Stockholm and Ankara.

Both Sweden and Finland have applied to join the 30-member military alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked renewed security concerns across the region. All NATO members, of which Turkey is one, must accept their bids for membership to be approved.

“We may respond differently to Finland if necessary. Sweden would be shocked when we respond differently to Finland,” Erdogan said at a meeting with youth in the country’s Bilecik province.

Turkey has previously urged Sweden to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.

Erdogan said Ankara has given a list to Sweden of 120 people to be extradited to Turkey, according to Anadolu. 

Last week, Ankara called for a February meeting between Turkey, Sweden and Finland to be postponed, according to Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber, which cited unnamed diplomatic sources.

More context: Turkey-Sweden relations suffered a further blow this month following a rally outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm at which an anti-immigration politician set a copy of the Quran alight. The incident sparked anger in Ankara, where protesters took to the streets and burned the Swedish flag outside the Swedish Embassy in response.

In addition to the 14 Leopard 2 tanks pledged, Poland said Friday that it will send 60 more modern battles tanks to Ukraine.

“Fast-paced” negotiations are underway with Western allies to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles and aircraft, according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.

“In my opinion, there are two very important positions on the negotiating table for this stage of the war right now: long-range missiles — key missiles that will allow the destruction of the Russian rear infrastructure, primarily the artillery depots, a large number of which are located, for example, on the territory of Crimea — and also aviation,” Podolyak said on Ukrainian media Saturday, adding the negotiations are “fast-paced.”

Podolyak said the process of training Ukrainian soldiers to use new equipment is also underway. He added that Ukraine requested “a concrete number of tanks” from its Western partners without mentioning how many. 

For context: Germany earlier this week promised to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, while the US pledged 31 M1 Abrams tanks, Poland said it will provide 60 tanks and the UK already committed 14 Challenger 2 tanks.

The German defense minister said, however, that it was “out of the question” for Germany to supply fighter jets.

Read CNN analysis on the potential for Western jets to enter the Ukrainian arsenal here.

At least three people have died and six more were wounded by Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Sunday, a statement from the city council said.

A nurse and a canteen employee were among those hurt, both of whom were described to have “moderate injuries.”

The shelling hit warehouses, a hospital, a bus station and a school playground, and damaged buildings and vehicles in the region, the Kherson City Council said earlier Sunday.

More context: Russian President Vladimir Putin claims he’s annexed the region and that the people there are now Russians. But his troops have left Kherson, and now they’re shelling civilians they once vowed to protect.

Olesya Krivtsova sports an anti-Putin tattoo on one ankle and a bracelet that tracks her every move on the other.

The 19-year-old from Russia’s Arkhangelsk region must wear the device while she is under house arrest after she was charged over social media posts that authorities say discredit the Russian army and justify terrorism.

Russian officials added Krivtsova to the list of terrorists and extremists, on a par with ISIS, al Qaeda and the Taliban, for posting an Instagram story about the explosion on the Crimean bridge in October that also criticized Russia for invading Ukraine.

Krivtsova, a student at Northern (Arctic) Federal University in the northwestern city of Arkhangelsk, is also facing criminal charges for discrediting the Russian army for making an allegedly critical repost of the war in a student chat on the Russian social network VK.

Currently, Krivtsova is staying under house arrest in her mother’s apartment in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, banned from going online and using other forms of communication.

Kichin said the teenager may face up to three years in prison for discrediting the Russian army and up to seven years in prison under the article of justification of terrorism. However, Krivtsova’s legal defense hopes for a softer punishment such as a fine.

Read more here.