January 30, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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are making a full-scale offensive and whether their tactics have changed, but that it seems Wagner fighters have now been replaced by Russian paratroopers.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 They have now been replaced by paratroopers, who also suffer losses almost every day, not only in manpower but also in armored vehicles," he added.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.

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.

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 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.

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."