Ukraine inflicting 'heavy losses' on Russians attacking Dnipro bridgehead
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Ukraine is inflicting “significant losses” on Russian forces attacking its bridgehead over the Dnipro river.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank, said Russia’s attempts to push Ukrainian soldiers back over the river are failing because of “persistent command and communication problems” that are causing large numbers of casualties.
It cited multiple reports from Russian bloggers claiming that air defence units have to wait for permission from their superiors to fire on Ukrainian drones, helicopters and aeroplanes, allowing the aircraft to strike their targets at will.
“Russian commanders also reportedly take several hours to approve artillery strikes and require units to send target coordinates and video or photo confirmation of targets before approving strikes,” the ISW added.
Ukrainian forces have therefore been able to maintain their positions in the face of repeated “heavy attritional attacks”, it said.
The vital bridgehead was first established by Ukrainian marines in November and has been held ever since.
03:17 PM GMT
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03:16 PM GMT
Today's headlines
Volodymyr Zelensky made an unannounced visit to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia
He said the West’s hesitation about providing new aid was to Vladimir Putin’s advantage
Lithuania pledged £170million ($219million) in new military aid
Ukraine held secret talks with the G7, Saudi Arabia, India and Turkey to discuss its conditions for peace with Russia, it was reported
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said fatigued and badly trained Russian pilots twice bombed villages controlled by Moscow’s forces
Canada has failed to deliver a £318million ($406million) surface-to-air missile system which it promised Ukraine a year ago, it emerged
Russian nationalists demanded a major new offensive near Kharkiv in a bid to stop further Ukrainian strikes on Belgorod
The Moscow nightclub that hosted an “almost naked” party in December was ordered to close for 90 days
A court ruled Ukrainian Supreme Court justice who was sacked following accusations he had a Russian passport must be reinstated
Ukraine branded the American sandwich chain Subway a sponsor of Russia’s invasion because it has 500 franchises still active in the country
02:43 PM GMT
Ukraine brands Subway sandwich chain a 'sponsor of war'
Ukraine has called the American sandwich chain Subway a sponsor of Russia’s invasion.
Kyiv’s National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP) said there are more than 500 Subway shops in Russia which pay “hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes”.
“There were no attempts by the company’s management to condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the NACP said.
It also accused the chain of advertising with two social networks sanctioned by Ukraine, VK and Odnoklassniki, and delivering food using the firm Yandex, which the NACP claimed co-operates with Russian police and security services.
Subway has said previously that its Russian outlets are all owned and operated by independent franchisees.
The NACP says its “international sponsors of war” list aims to reduce “the financial and technological ability of the terrorist country to kill Ukrainians”.
02:12 PM GMT
Pictured: Kharkiv underground classroom
01:52 PM GMT
Russia to manufacture new glide bomb
Russia will start manufacturing a new glide bomb in 2024, news agency Tass has reported.
The media organisation said the Drel bomb is designed for use against armoured vehicles and anti-air defences.
Glide bombs are dropped by aeroplanes outside of the range of anti-air defences. They glide on a guided flight path to their target.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said last month that the Russian air force had reduced its use of glide bombs after three Su-34 fighters were shot down by Ukraine on December 21.
01:32 PM GMT
Lithuania promises £170m in new aid to Ukraine
Lithuania has pledged £170million ($219million) in new military aid for Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky visited the country on Wednesday and will later travel to Estonia and Latvia.
President Gitanas Nauseda said the funds would be used to send ammunition, generators and armoured personnel carriers.
“We will train Ukrainian soldiers and strengthen cooperation in the defence industry,” he said.
Arvydas Anusauskas, the country’s defence minister, added that: “Lithuania will not tire of supporting Ukraine’s fight for freedom, just as we ourselves have not tired of striving for the restoration of Lithuania’s independence for 50 years.”
The three Baltic States have been among Ukraine’s most staunch defenders since Russia invaded, having been annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940.
01:16 PM GMT
Zelensky: West's hesitation over new aid helps Putin
The West’s hesitation about providing more military aid to Ukraine helps Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“He is not going to stop,” Mr Zelensky told a press conference on a visit to Lithuania. “He wants to occupy us completely.
“And sometimes, the insecurity of partners regarding financial and military aid to Ukraine only increases Russia’s courage and strength.”
He added that “Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova may be next” if Ukraine does not withstand Russia’s invasion.
01:02 PM GMT
Before and after: Kharkiv children's camp struck by Russian missile
12:50 PM GMT
Ukraine needs more anti-air weapons, Zelensky says
Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine needs more anti-air weapons to defend itself from a recent uptick in Russian air strikes.
In recent days, Russia hit Ukraine with a total of 500 devices. “We destroyed 70 per cent of them,” Zelensky said at a press conference as he visited Vilnius, Lithuania.
“Air defence systems are number one that we lack.”
12:35 PM GMT
Supreme court justice reinstated after being fired for Russian passport accusations
A Ukrainian Supreme Court justice who was sacked following accusations he had a Russian passport must be reinstated, a court has ruled.
Kyiv’s district administrative court ruled on Wednesday that Bohdan Lvov, the former head of the Supreme Court’s commercial chamber, should be given his job back and paid the salary he would have earned during his “forced abstention”.
Mr Lvov sued the Supreme Court after being sacked in September, as dual citizenship is illegal in Ukraine.
He denied having Russian nationality and said his removal was motivated by “parties interested in economic disputes” being considered by the chamber.
Ukraine’s migration service announced in December without explanation that it is no longer investigating the grounds for taking away Mr Lvov’s Ukrainian citizenship, having been instructed to do so by Volodymyr Zelensky in response to the accusations made against him.
12:18 PM GMT
'Almost naked' party Moscow nightclub ordered to close
The Moscow nightclub that hosted an “almost naked” party in December has been ordered to close for 90 days.
A court in the capital’s Lefortovsky district ruled on Wednesday that the Mutabor venue must shut for three months for breaching “sanitary and epidemiological requirements”.
The nightclub hosted a controversial party attended by celebrities and socialites on December 21 at which they were encouraged to wear as little as possible.
It left conservatives irate and saw Vacio, one attendee, sentenced to 15 days in prison after he went wearing nothing but a Balenciaga sock.
He has since been imprisoned for a further 10 days and handed Russian army call-up papers, although he is reported to have a medical exemption.
The Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov described those who attended the party as “traitors” who partied “while our guys on the front line are dying”.
12:10 PM GMT
Dozens of schoolchildren evacuated from Belgorod
Dozens of Russian schoolchildren have been evacuated from the border city of Belgorod after increasingly frequent Ukrainian air strikes.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional govenor, said that “today the first group of our children left Belgorod for the Voronezh region”, adding 93 would be evacuated in total.
11:59 AM GMT
Italy's defence minister calls for peace talks
Italy’s defence minister has called for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
Guido Crosetto, a senior player in Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, said Vladimir Putin is showing a willingness to negotiate.
“From this perspective ... it would seem that the time has come for incisive diplomacy, alongside military support, because there are a number of important signals coming from both sides,” he said.
Mr Crosetto insisted that Ukraine’s “full territorial integrity and recognised borders” remained the “goal of the entire international community”.
But he called on Kyiv to accept “new realities” in the war and the West to acknowledge that Ukrainian politics is “no longer as united as in the past in supporting President Zelensky’s policy”.
Although criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky has increased in Ukraine in recent months, none of his major allies or opponents supports ending the war with Russia.
11:41 AM GMT
Iran develops new drone targeting Ukraine's Western weapons
Iran has developed a new attack drone for Russia which aims to seek out Western-donated missile launchers being used by Ukraine, Sky News has reported.
A source told the broadcaster that a “few units” of the Shahed-107 drone may have been offered to Moscow in a £1.6million ($2million) deal.
This reflects “the significant force design work Iran is engaged in to support Russia’s interests regarding Ukraine”, the source said.
The source also said Russia is expecting to receive surface-to-surface missiles from Iran “soon” and will be able to manufacture 4,000 of its own Shahed drones every year by 2025.
Almost all of the drones used by Russia in Ukraine are the Iranian-designed Shaheds.
11:23 AM GMT
Nationalists demand major offensive to stop Ukrainian attacks on Russia
Russian nationalists have demanded a major new offensive near Kharkiv in a bid to stop further Ukrainian strikes on Belgorod.
Dozens have been killed and hundreds injured in strikes on the city, which is just 20 miles from Ukraine’s north-eastern border, in recent weeks.
Now calls have been made for the Russian army to advance along hundreds of miles of front line to establish a nine-mile-deep “buffer zone” that would push Ukrainian missile launchers out of range of the city.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank, said the proposed offensive contradicted “the Russian military’s likely inability to conduct an operation to seize significant territory in Kharkiv Oblast in the near term”.
“A Russian incursion 15 kilometres in depth and several hundred kilometres in width would be a massive operational undertaking that would require a grouping of forces far larger and significantly better resourced than what Russian forces currently have concentrated along the entire international border with Ukraine, least of all in Belgorod Oblast,” it said.
Russia has not won any major military advance since May last year, when Wagner mercenaries spearheaded the taking of Bakhmut after a brutal months-long battle for the city.
The calls for a new offensive near Kharkiv came after Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, said on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin’s government would do “everything” to stop increasingly frequent Ukrainian strikes on Belgorod.
The most deadly attack came on December 30, when 25 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
10:55 AM GMT
Navalny jokes in court about 'almost naked' celebrity party
Alexei Navalny was on good comedic form as he made his first court appearance since being transferred to a penal colony inside the Arctic Circle last month.
The imprisoned Russian opposition leader saw a challenge against his treatment in prison rejected by Judge Kirill Nikiforov, appearing via video link on Wednesday.
The judge laughed when Mr Navalny, 47, asked if the Melekhovo prison colony, where he was transferred from, had thrown a party to celebrate his departure.
He then went on to ask if they had staged a naked party, a reference to the controversial “almost naked” celebrity party in Moscow on December 21 that drew the ire of conservatives.
10:39 AM GMT
Pictured: Zelensky arrives in Lithuania
10:26 AM GMT
Canada fails to deliver promised £300m NASAMS to Ukraine
Canada has failed to deliver a £318million ($406million) surface-to-air missile system which it promised Ukraine a year ago, it has been reported.
Broadcaster CTV News reported that the American-made National Advanced Surface-To-Air Missile System (NASAMS) was pledged in January 2023 and paid for in March but has since been delayed for unknown reasons.
When the promise was announced last January, its ministry of defence said: “Canada’s NASAMS donation will help Ukraine strengthen its air defence systems against destructive air attacks on military sites, civilian critical infrastructure and population centres.”
The ministry “either does not know or will not say when it expects delivery”, CTV reported.
10:08 AM GMT
Tired Russian forces bombed own village, says MoD
Russian pilots twice bombed villages controlled by Moscow’s forces because they were fatigued and badly trained, Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
In its latest defence intelligence briefing, the MoD said the incidents in Petropavlovka, Voronezh, and Rubizhne, occupied Luhansk, occurred during “combat sorties” carried out on January 2 and January 8 respectively.
The bombing in Petropavlovka, 80 miles from the border of north-eastern Ukraine, injured four civilians and destroyed six houses.
The shelling in Rubizhne saw five locals evacuated from their homes because of the damage caused by a FAB-250 bomb.
“Russia’s continued propensity for munition accidents is likely exacerbated by inadequate training and crew fatigue, leading to poor execution of tactics during missions,” the MoD said.
The two incidents were a repeat of an “abnormal discharge of aviation ammunition” by an Su-34 fighter jet that injured several people in the border city of Belgorod in April last year.
09:38 AM GMT
War in Ukraine a 'civilisational struggle against West', Russians believe
Almost two-thirds of all Russians believe the war in Ukraine is part of a broader “civilisational struggle between Russia and the West”, new polling has revealed.
A poll of 1,046 Russians by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC) found that 64 per cent supported that view, with 63 per cent supporting the continuation of the war in Ukraine.
No less than 62 per cent said they believed the world treats Russia unfairly, as 66 per cent said they plan to vote for Vladimir Putin in March’s presidential election and 65 per cent said rising prices had affected them.
Vadim Volos, NORC’s vice president, said: “The Russian public on the whole views their country’s actions in Ukraine as a justified response to an outside threat.”
09:20 AM GMT
Ukraine held 'secret peace talks' with G7, Saudi Arabia and India
Ukraine held secret talks with the G7, Saudi Arabia, India and Turkey to discuss its conditions for peace with Russia, it has been reported.
Bloomberg reported the summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, on December 16 aimed to counter Russia’s attempts to depict Ukraine as unwilling to negotiate an end to the war.
The G7 members are said to have rejected calls from attendees outside the group to engage directly with Russia on a potential ceasefire.
They reportedly insisted that any peace deal must respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
09:07 AM GMT
Russia forcing farmers in occupied Ukraine into army
Russia is forcing farmers in the occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to join its army, Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) has said.
It accused local authorities in the regions of sending letters to farms telling all men of military age to sign up.
If they do not, fines of up to 400,000 rubles (£3,500) are threatened.
The HUR said it believed the mobilisation push had been prompted by Russian losses at the front line and the Kremlin’s reluctance to call men up in its internationally-recognised territory ahead of March’s presidential election.
08:51 AM GMT
Zelensky visits Baltic states
Volodymyr Zelensky has landed in Lithuania and is set to visit Estonia and Latvia later on Wednesday.
“Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are our reliable friends and principled partners,” he wrote on X. “Today, I arrived in Vilnius before going to Tallinn and Riga.”
He added: “Security, EU and Nato integration, cooperation on electronic warfare and drones, and further coordination of European support are all on the agenda.
“But first and foremost, our gratitude. For the uncompromising support for Ukraine since 2014 and especially now, during Russia’s full-scale aggression.”
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are our reliable friends and principled partners.
Today, I arrived in Vilnius before going to Tallinn and Riga.
I will hold talks with the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the Seimas, as well as meet with politicians, the media, and the…— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 10, 2024
08:43 AM GMT
Pictured: Ukrainian basic training
08:37 AM GMT
Scholz to 'push EU to increase aid'
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, will push the European Union and its member states to increase military aid to Ukraine, it has been reported.
Citing a German official, Politico report that Mr Scholz will up the ante at an upcoming EU summit in February.
The report emerged the day after he told a press conference that Germany’s “significant” contribution would “not be enough to secure Ukraine’s security in the long run”.
08:11 AM GMT
Putin grants citizenship to Bosnian Serb 'war criminal'
Vladimir Putin has granted citizenship to a Bosnian Serb accused of war crimes during the 1990s Bosnian War.
Ratko Samac is accused of participating in the mass expulsion of civilians from the town of Kljuc, in which 150 people were killed.
He has lived in Russia since 1999 and Moscow has previously rejected a Bosnian extradition request.
07:57 AM GMT
West condemns Russian use of North Korean missiles
Nearly 50 countries have joined the United States in condemning North Korea for sending ballistic missiles to Russia.
The Western nations and the European Union issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling for an immediate end to the deliveries.
“Our governments stand together in resolute opposition to arms transfers between the DPRK and Russia,” it read, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.
“The transfer of ballistic missiles, along with any other arms and related materiel, from the DPRK to Russia flagrantly violates multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.”
John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesman, said on Tuesday that Russia had increased its use of the rockets in Ukraine, one of which landed in Kharkiv on January 6.
07:44 AM GMT
EU to ‘scale up’ support for Ukraine
The European Union will “scale up” its support for Ukraine, Belgium’s prime minister has promised.
Alexander de Croo’s remarks came after the country started its six-month term leading the European Council, the EU’s political executive.
“The EU will further scale up its support to Ukraine,” he said.
He added: “We will continue bringing our economies and people closer while Ukraine progresses on its accession path.
“We stand with you, now and in the future.”
