Ukraine news – live: Kyiv fighting ‘for every metre’ as France says it’s open to sending fighter jets
Russia is making gains in Ukraine’s Donetsk but facing fierce resistance for “literally every metre”, according to a Moscow-backed local official.
Administrator Denis Pushilin said that the Russian forces were making advances in Bakhmut, Maryinka and Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine, running north to south to the west of Donetsk city.
Moscow’s gains were “not clear-cut, that is, here there is a battle for literally every metre”, he said, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.
Military analysts have said that Ukraine still controls Maryinka and Vuhledar – which are now on Russia’s radar after capturing the small mining town of Soledar – and that these areas were witnessing less intense Russian attacks on Monday.
This comes as French president Emmanuel Macron said he has not ruled out sending fighter jets to Ukraine, in a positive sign for Kyiv which has been seeking top notch military aid from allies.
Mr Macron said certain conditions would have to be met by Ukraine before France sent jets.
Key points
France sets conditions on sending jets to Ukraine
Russian business offers cash bounties to destroy Western tanks in Ukraine
Germany warns against arms race
France open to sending fighter jets to Ukraine
Monday 30 January 2023 20:59 , Liam James
President Emmanuel Macron said France was open to sending fighter jets to Ukraine, but laid out multiple conditions before such a significant step might be taken.
France has sent Ukraine air defence systems, rocket launcher units, cannons and other military equipment and has pledged to send armoured surveillance and combat vehicles, but has stopped short of sending battle tanks or heavier weaponry.
Asked at a news conference in The Hague on Monday if France is considering sending warplanes, Mr Macron said “nothing is excluded” as long as certain conditions are met.
Among those conditions: that providing such equipment would not lead to an escalation of tensions or be used “to touch Russian soil”, and that it would not “weaken the capacities of the French army”, Mr Macron said.
He also said Ukraine would have to formally request the planes.
Allies have held back from pledging war planes over fears of a Russian response but after several states took the previously unthinkable step of sending tanks, the terms of support for Ukraine have changed.
Russia is having its ‘big revenge’, warns Zelensky
04:00 , Liam James
Russia has begun its “big revenge” for Ukraine’s resistance to its invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, as Russian forces claimed a series of incremental gains in his country’s east.
Mr Zelensky has been warning for weeks that Moscow aims to step up its assault on Ukraine after about two months of virtual stalemate along the front line that stretches across the south and east.
He said Russian attacks in the east were relentless despite heavy casualties on the Russian side, casting them as payback for Ukraine‘s success in pushing Russian forces back from the capital, northeast and south earlier in the conflict.
“I think that Russia really wants its big revenge. I think they have [already] started it,” Zelenskiy said.
“Every day they either bring in more of their regular troops, or we see an increase in the number of Wagnerites,” he told reporters in the southern port city of Odesa.
Biden says US won’t provide F-16 jets to Ukraine
03:22 , Arpan Rai
Joe Biden has said the US would not be providing Ukraine’s armed forces with the American-made F-16 fighter jets that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and members of his government have asked for.
Mr Biden was addressing reporters upon his return to the White House when he was asked if the US would offer the single-engine multirole fighters to Kyiv.
He replied: “No”.
The president’s statement comes amid a renewed push by Pentagon officials to provide the jets, which are manufactured by Lockheed Martin and used by a variety of US allies, in the wake of his decision to allow Kyiv to acquire American-made M1 Abrams tanks.
Read the full story here:
Biden says US won’t provide F-16 jets to Ukraine
Slovenian authorities ‘hold 2 alleged Russian spies'
03:00 , AP
Slovenian authorities have apprehended two alleged Russian spies suspected of using an agency dealing in real estate and antiques as a front for their activities in the Nato member, media reported Monday.
Slovenia’s respected Delo newspaper and the Siol news portal cited the public prosecutor’s office as confirming the arrests.
Slovenian police confirmed that two individuals had been arrested in December for suspected espionage but did not disclose which country they were accused of working for.
“They are suspected of being members of a foreign intelligence service,” police spokesman Drago Menegalija said.
Report: Slovenian authorities hold 2 alleged Russian spies
Boris Johnson told ‘a lie’ over Putin missile attack claims, says Kremlin
02:00 , PA
The Kremlin has suggested Boris Johnson told “a lie” when the former prime minister said that Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to threaten him with a missile strike.
The former Downing Street incumbent made the claim in a new three-part series for BBC Two looking at how the West grappled with Mr Putin in the years leading up to the war in Ukraine.
Mr Johnson, talking about a phone call between the two leaders ahead of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, said: “He sort of threatened me at one point and said: ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute,’ or something like that.”
But the Kremlin disputed the claim, saying there were “no threats with missiles” during the bilateral conversation held in February 2022.
Boris Johnson told ‘a lie’ over Putin missile attack claims, says Kremlin
Five civilians killed as fighting remains deadlocked, say Ukrainian officials
01:00 , Liam James
Fighting has remained largely deadlocked in eastern Ukraine, where Russian shelling killed five civilians over the past day, according to Ukrainian officials.
The casualties included a woman who was killed and three others who were wounded by the Russian shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the country’s north-east, regional governor Oleh Syniyehubov said.
Ukraine war a ‘massive wakeup call’ for British Army, say veterans and experts
00:00 , Liam James
The Ukraine war should provide a “massive wakeup call” for how the government looks to fund the British Army, former soldiers and military historians have warned amid criticism over its ability to defend the UK and its allies (William Mata writes).
Rishi Sunak has come under fire from veterans and members of his own party after a US general said the army could no longer defend the UK. The army is currently 76,000 strong but would shrink to 73,000 if downsizing plans go ahead. It is already half the size it was in 1990 and the smallest it has been since Napoleonic times.
Former soldier Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a British Army officer from 1988 to 2012, told The Independent: “We thought the artillery was in good shape but that was before the Ukraine conflict, a lot of money was spent. But having been playing Star Wars [with focus on cyber and space security] the Ukraine war has shown that to be successful on the battlefield you need to focus on that.”
Ukraine war a ‘massive wakeup call’ for British Army, say veterans and experts
UK still a top-tier military power, says No 10
Monday 30 January 2023 23:00 , Liam James
London has insisted the UK remains a top-tier military power following claims a senior US general told defence secretary Ben Wallace the British Army is no longer regarded as a “top-level” fighting force.
Asked if Rishi Sunak still believes the UK is a top-level fighting force, his spokesman said: “Yes”, adding that the PM believes the British military personnel have “the equipment and capability to meet the threats they face”.
Defence sources told Sky News that cost-cutting measures have seen the status of the British Armed Forces decline in the eyes of world leaders. “You haven’t got a tier one, it’s barely tier two,” the US general reportedly told Mr Wallace.
France and Australia in joint arms pledge, moving on from Aukus snub
Monday 30 January 2023 22:00 , Liam James
France and Australia have unveiled plans to jointly manufacture ammunition for Ukraine as the two countries seek to shore up defence cooperation and move past a row over Canberra’s decision to ditch plans to buy French submarines.
The relationship hit historic lows in the autumn of 2021 with Paris accusing its allies of stabbing it in the back when Australia opted for nuclear-powered submarines built with US and British technology instead in what became known as the Aukus pact.
French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu said France and Australia had agreed to cooperate to make “several thousands” of 155-mm shells to help Ukraine, which he hoped could start being delivered in the first quarter of this year.
Mr Lecornu was speaking after meeting his Australian counterpart Richard Marles, the first joint high-level talks since the submarine row erupted.
Croatia’s president criticises tank deliveries to Ukraine
Monday 30 January 2023 20:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Nato-member Croatia’s president has criticised Western nations for supplying Ukraine with heavy tanks and other weapons in its campaign against invading Russian forces, saying those arms deliveries will only prolong the war.
Zoran Milanovic told reporters in the Croatian capital that it’s “mad” to believe that Russia can be defeated in a conventional war.
“I am against sending any lethal arms there,” Mr Milanovic said. “It prolongs the war.”“What is the goal? Disintegration of Russia, change of the government? There is also talk of tearing Russia apart. This is mad,” he added.
Mr Milanovic won the presidential election in Croatia in 2019 as a left-leaning liberal candidate, a counterpoint to the conservative government currently in power in the European Union and Nato-member state.
Boris Johnson told ‘a lie’ over Putin missile attack claims, says Kremlin
Monday 30 January 2023 19:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Kremlin has suggested Boris Johnson told “a lie” when the former prime minister said that Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to threaten him with a missile strike.
The former Downing Street incumbent made the claim in a new three-part series for BBC Two looking at how the West grappled with Mr Putin in the years leading up to the war in Ukraine.
Mr Johnson, talking about a phone call between the two leaders ahead of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, said: “He sort of threatened me at one point and said: ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute’, or something like that.”
But the Kremlin disputed the claim, saying there were “no threats with missiles” during the bilateral conversation held in February 2022.
Boris Johnson told ‘a lie’ over Putin missile attack claims, says Kremlin
Joe Biden’s decision to send tanks to Ukraine is about more than just politics
Monday 30 January 2023 18:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The decision by the Biden administration to reverse its previous stance and send tanks to Ukraine is a significant political and military move, Kim Sengupta writes.
The supply of the M1A1 Abrams has met the German stipulation on Leopard 2 tanks, for Berlin’s own forces – and those of other Nato states using them – to transfer them to Kyiv, with new offensives by both Russia and Ukraine due to begin in the spring.
The Abrams, the Leopards and the British-supplied Challengers will not, by themselves, win the war for Ukraine; but they will have a major impact on the battlefield and raise the scale and lethality of combat.
The number of tanks for a decisive tilt against the Russians are not adding up at the moment: although that may change.
Biden’s decision to send tanks to Ukraine is about more than politics | Kim Sengupta
Russian official says ‘small steps’ needed to reconcile with US
Monday 30 January 2023 17:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia‘s deputy foreign minister said that “small steps” would be needed for Moscow and the United States to come closer to agreement on bilateral issues, the RIA news agency reported on Monday.
“We hope that the tactics of small steps will allow us to come to mutually acceptable solutions on the most important issues of the bilateral agenda,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the RIA news agency in an interview.
Slovenia arrests two men suspected on spying for Russia
Monday 30 January 2023 16:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Slovenia’s state security service has arrested two men suspected of spying for Russian military intelligence, the Ljubljana-based Delo newspaper reported on Monday, citing sources.
The suspects, one of whom has citizenship of a South American country, operated under assumed identities from a rented office in the Bezigrad neighbourhood of the capital Ljubljana, the report said.
It said the two suspects have been charged with espionage for Russia‘s GRU military intelligence service and using false documents. If convicted, they could be jailed for up to eight years.
The Slovenian Intelligence Agency said the information gathered was “classified and therefore the agency does not make it public nor does it publicly comment on it.
“The Agency regularly informs the main bodies of the national security system on intelligence activities carried out by foreign entities and cooperates ... closely with Slovenian security authorities as well as with the EU and NATO authorities and services,” it said in an emailed response to Reuters.
NATO chief urges Seoul to send military support to Ukraine
Monday 30 January 2023 15:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday called for South Korea to provide direct military support to Ukraine, saying Kyiv is in urgent need of weapons to fight off the prolonged Russian invasion.
South Korea, a growing arms exporter with the large US-backed military, has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine while joining US-led economic sanctions against Moscow.
But the country has not directly provided arms to Ukraine, citing a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.
Speaking at a forum in Seoul, Stoltenberg urged South Korea to “step up on the specific issue of military support.”
He noted that several NATO members and allies, including Germany, Norway and Sweden, have changed their policies of not exporting weapons to countries in conflict to support 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. That’s the reality,” said Stoltenberg, who arrived in South Korea on Sunday on a trip that also includes Japan.
Stoltenberg also met South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday. They discussed South Korea’s commitment to support Ukraine and NATO’s possible role in dissuading North Korea from its growing nuclear ambitions following an unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests in 2022, Yoon’s office said.
South Korean officials didn’t confirm any specific discussions about sending arms to Ukraine.
Following his meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Sunday, Stoltenberg mentioned U.S. intelligence reports accusing North Korea of providing weapons to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, which he said highlights how security between the regions “is more and more interconnected.”
Russian business offers cash bounties to destroy Western tanks in Ukraine
Monday 30 January 2023 15:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
A Russian company said it will offer five million roubles - approximately £58,000 - in cash to the first soldiers who destroy or capture western-made tanks in Ukraine, after the Kremlin vowed Russian forces would wipe out any Western tanks shipped to Ukraine.
The United States, Germany and several other European countries are lining up to send Kyiv dozens of advanced combat tanks over the next few months to help boost Ukraine‘s military capacity as the war approaches the 12-month mark.
The decision has been criticised by the Kremlin as a dangerous escalation, and spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the tanks would “burn” on the frontlines.
Now a Russian company - Fores, a Urals-based firm which makes proppants for the energy industry - is offering cash payments to Russian servicemen who “capture or destroy” German-made Leopard 2 or U.S.-made Abrams tanks.
The company said it will pay five million roubles to the first Russian soldier to destroy one of the tanks, and 500,000 roubles- approximately £5,700- for all subsequent attacks.
Echoing language used by Russian officials and pro-war state TV hosts, Fores said NATO was pumping Ukraine with an “unlimited” amount of arms and escalating the conflict. It also said it would pay a 15-million rouble ($215,000) bounty on Western-made fighter jets, should they ever be delivered to Ukraine.
The tanks have not yet been dispatched to Kyiv, and it could take several months before the bulk of the promised deliveries are sent.
Finland to stick with Sweden in NATO bid, hopes for green light by July
Monday 30 January 2023 14:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Finland is sticking to its plan to join NATO at the same time as Nordic neighbour Sweden, and hopes to do so no later than July, Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto said on Monday.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO following Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey raised objections.
The three countries signed an agreement in Madrid over a way forward, but last week, Turkey suspended talks after protests in Stockholm that included the burning of a Koran.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan signalled on Sunday that Ankara could agree to Finland joining NATO ahead of Sweden and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday made similar statements.
However, Haavisto said Finland will stick with Sweden, its closest military partner, during the application process.
“Our strong wish is still to join NATO together with Sweden,” Haavisto told a news conference in Helsinki.
“We have underlined to all our future NATO partners, including Hungary and Turkey, that Finnish and Swedish security go together,” he said.
A spokesperson for Sweden’s foreign ministry declined to comment.
Zelensky visits southern Ukraine, meets Danish prime minister
Monday 30 January 2023 14:31 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen in the southern city of Mykolaiv on Monday during a rare visit by a foreign leader to a region close to the war front.
Zelensky greeted Frederiksen with a handshake on a snowy street before entering a hospital where they met soldiers wounded in Russia‘s invasion.
“It is important for our warriors to be able to undergo not only physical, but also psychological rehabilitation,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “I am grateful to all the medical workers who care about the health of our defenders. I wish them a speedy recovery!”
The two leaders also visited the Mykolaiv Commercial Sea Port, where they saw oil storage tanks hit by Russian enemy missiles and drones, and a heating point equipped with a water purification and distribution unit under a project implemented with Danish assistance.
Zelensky thanked Frederiksen for the assistance provided by Denmark, whose defence ministry said earlier this month that the country would donate 19 French-made Caesar howitzer artillery systems to Ukraine.
The president said he had also met local officials while in Mykolaiv region, which has frequently been under attack by Russian forces since the invasion 11 months ago.
“The region is heroically withstanding all the attacks of the terrorists (Russian forces). During the visit, I held a meeting on the current situation in the region,” he wrote.
“We discussed the operational situation in the south of Ukraine, the consequences of Russia‘s missile and drone attacks.”
Talks also covered the state of the region’s energy infrastructure and the region’s long-term recovery, Zelensky said.
Russia claims gains in relentless battles in east Ukraine
Monday 30 January 2023 13:58 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russian forces claimed incremental gains in eastern Ukraine on Monday adding up to their biggest advances in months, after relentless battles that Kyiv described as human wave attacks which showed Moscow had no regard for the lives of its own men.
The administrator of Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk province, Denis Pushilin, claimed troops had secured a foothold in Vuhledar, a coal mining town whose ruins have been a Ukrainian bastion since the outset of the war.
A day earlier, the head of Russia‘s Wagner mercenary force said his fighters had secured Blahodatne, a village just north of Bakhmut, a city that has been the focus of sustained Russian attacks for months.
Kyiv said it had repelled assaults on Blahodatne and Vuhledar, and Reuters could not independently verify the situations there. But the locations of the reported fighting indicated clear, though gradual, Russian gains after around two months in which front lines had largely been frozen in place.
“The situation is very tough. Bakhmut, Vuhledar and other sectors in Donetsk region - there are constant Russian attacks,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address late on Sunday.
“The enemy does not count its people and, despite numerous casualties, maintains a high intensity of attacks.”
Vuhledar sits south of Bakhmut, near where the eastern frontline protects Russian-controlled rail lines supplying Moscow’s forces in southern Ukraine. Mykola Salamakha, a Ukrainian colonel and military analyst, told Ukrainian Radio NV that Moscow’s assault there was coming at huge cost.
“The town is on an upland and an extremely strong defensive hub has been created there,” he said. “This is a repetition of the situation in Bakhmut - one wave of Russian troops after another crushed by the Ukrainian armed forces.”
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
Monday 30 January 2023 13:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has now been raging for more than 11 months, the conflict continuing to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.
Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russia’s western neighbour needed to be “demilitarised and de-Nazified”, an entirely baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president.
Ukraine has fought back courageously ever since and continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.
Read more from Thomas Kingsley and Joe Sommerlad:
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
China's top diplomat to visit Moscow in February
Monday 30 January 2023 13:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi is set to visit Moscow in February, Russia‘s Vedomosti newspaper said on Monday, citing two sources.
According to the newspaper, Wang may visit Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the sources said.
Reuters was not able to immediately verify the report.
Slovenia arrests two men suspected on spying for Russia
Monday 30 January 2023 13:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Slovenia’s state security agencies have arrested two men suspected of spying for the Russian military intelligence service, the Ljubljana-based Delo newspaper reported on Monday, citing sources.
The suspects, one of whom has citizenship of a South American country, operated under assumed identities from a rented office in the Ljubljana neighbourhood of Bezigrad, the report said.
The two suspects have been charged with espionage and using false documents. If convicted, they may face jail terms of up to eight years, the report said.
Slovenia’s intelligence agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report when contacted by Reuters.
More Russian forces moved to Kursk region on Ukrainian border -governor
Monday 30 January 2023 12:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia has moved additional forces and equipment to the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine to protect the frontier and ensure security, regional governor Roman Starovoit said on Monday, according to Interfax news agency.
Local authorities say that the region has repeatedly been subjected to Ukrainian shelling since Russia invaded Ukraine almost a year ago.
Some of Russia‘s troops entered from the Kursk region, although the areas of northeastern Ukraine that they seized have since been retaken by Kyiv’s forces.
Starovoit told a meeting of the regional government that a solid contingent of personnel from the armed forces, border guards and law enforcement agencies had already been formed in Kursk, but that “it is necessary to provide comprehensive support for the reception, deployment and arrangement of additional forces”.
Kyiv has repeatedly warned that Russia could make a new attempt to seize parts of northeastern Ukraine, pointing to increased joint military activity in Russia‘s close ally Belarus, another of the staging points for February’s invasion, around 200 km (120 miles) west of Kursk province.
In pictures: Kherson strikes damage residential homes
Monday 30 January 2023 12:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukrainian firefighters douse flames in a burning house following Russian shelling in the city of Kherson.
Ryanair hiring Ukraine staff in anticipation of return after war
Monday 30 January 2023 11:53 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ryanair is hiring significant numbers of Ukrainian pilots and cabin crew so that it will be ready to return to the country when the war with Russia ends, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said on Monday.
“We are very committed to returning to Ukraine as soon as it is safe to do so,” said O’Leary, who had said on the eve of the conflict that he was considering basing up to 20 aircraft in the country.
“We are hiring quite a number of Ukraine pilots and cabin crew specifically so that we can ... restore bases in Ukraine if and when it is safe to do so,” O’Leary told analysts after the release of third-quarter financial results.
Russian shelling kills 5 in tough eastern Ukraine combat
Monday 30 January 2023 11:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russian shelling killed at least five people and wounded 13 others during the previous 24 hours, Ukrainian authorities said Monday as the Kremlin’s and Kyiv’s forces remained locked in combat in eastern Ukraine.
The casualties included a woman who was killed and three others who were wounded by the Russian shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine‘s second-largest city in the country’s northeast, according to regional Gov. Oleh Syniyehubov.
Russian army shells Kherson ‘atrociously all day'
Monday 30 January 2023 10:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes on Kherson which damaged a hospital and residential buildings.
“Today, the Russian army has been shelling Kherson atrociously all day. Residential buildings, various social and transport facilities, including a hospital, post office, and bus station, have been damaged,” he said in his nightly address.
“Two women, nurses, were wounded in the hospital. As of now, there are reports of six wounded and three dead.”
Boris Johnson lied about Putin missile threat, Kremlin says
Monday 30 January 2023 10:13 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Kremlin said on Monday that former British prime minister Boris Johnson was lying when he said Vladimir Putin had threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that what Johnson said was not true, or “more precisely, a lie”.
Johnson, speaking to the BBC for a documentary, said the Russian leader had threatened him with a missile strike that would “only take a minute”.
“He threatened me at one point, and he said, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute’ or something like that,” Johnson said.
Russia seeks 'new level' of China ties
Monday 30 January 2023 09:58 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia said on Monday that it wanted to take ties with China to a “new level” and was looking forward to face-to-face talks with Beijing’s leadership as a Russian newspaper reported that China’s top diplomat would visit Moscow in February.
“We are convinced that the potential for Russian-Chinese bilateral cooperation is still far from exhausted,” Russia‘s foreign ministry said.
Russia aims to reach its target of $200 billion worth of trade between the two countries ahead of schedule and to “significantly deepen” its ties with Beijing, it said.
The deepening “no limits” partnership between the rising superpower of China and the natural resources titan of Russia is being watched by the West with some anxiety, though it is unclear just how deep the partnership is.
China has refrained from condemning Russia‘s operation against Ukraine or calling it an “invasion” in line with the Kremlin which casts the war as “a special military operation”.
After the West imposed the most severe sanctions in modern history on Moscow due to the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin says Russia is turning towards Asia - and China in particular - after centuries of looking to the West as the crucible of economic growth, technology and war.
The Russian foreign ministry’s comments came shortly after Russia‘s Vedomosti newspaper reported that China’s chief diplomat Wang Yi was set to visit Moscow in February.
According to the newspaper, Wang may visit Putin during his stay. The purpose of Wang’s visit is unclear but may be related to preparations for an upcoming visit to Russia by Chinese President Xi Jinping, it added.
When asked about the potential visit by Wang Yi, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular briefing that she was not yet aware of such a meeting.
Iran summons senior Ukraine diplomat over comments on drone strike
Monday 30 January 2023 09:28 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Iran summoned Ukraine‘s charge d’affaires in Tehran on Monday over his country’s comments on a drone strike on a military factory in the central Iranian province of Isfahan, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
In Ukraine, which accuses Iran of supplying hundreds of drones to Russia to attack civilian targets in Ukrainian cities far from the front, a senior aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky linked the incident directly to the war there.
“Explosive night in Iran,” Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted on Sunday. “Did warn you.”
A US official told Reuters that Israel appears to have been behind the attack.
Iran has acknowledged sending drones to Russia but says they were sent before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Moscow denies its forces use Iranian drones in Ukraine, although many have been shot down and recovered there.
