Ukraine war in the live ticker: +++ 03:33 UNHCR: Russian rocket attacks do not trigger a new escape movement +++

Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 03:33 UNHCR: Russian rocket attacks do not trigger a new escape movement +++

According to the United Nations, the Russian rocket attacks, which are currently violent, have not triggered any new large-scale flight from Ukraine. That’s what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said in Kyiv. During a visit to the neighboring Republic of Moldova, the authorities confirmed to him that there are currently not more people leaving Ukraine. However, because of the winter, fewer people are returning to Ukraine than before Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s power system began last October. “Winter is very tough with the conflict in some regions,” says the 65-year-old.

+++ 02:32 UNHCR: Kremlin violates child protection in times of war +++
According to the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Russia violates the principles of protecting children in times of war. “Giving them (Russian) citizenship or adopting them goes against the basic principles of child protection in wartime situations,” Grandi said in a Reuters interview. The refugee organization is unable to estimate the number of children affected because access to them in Russia is extremely restricted.

+++ 01:03 Ambassador: Israel is helping Ukraine “behind the scenes” +++
According to the Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, his country supports Russia’s attacked Ukraine more than is publicly known. Israel is helping, “but behind the scenes and much more than is known,” the diplomat told the newspapers of the Funke media group. He pleads for understanding for Israel’s reticence on the subject: “We have the Russians in Syria. As you know, the Israeli army regularly blocks arms deliveries from Iran to Syria and Lebanon. These include Iranian drones and missiles that Russia in the Ukraine uses,” said Prosor.

+++ 23:43 Macron defends willingness to talk with Moscow +++
French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to continue speaking to Russian officials. Some would have accused him of “speaking to Russia – and I will continue to speak to Russia,” said Macron at a reception in the Elysée Palace for the Lunar New Year celebrated in many Asian countries. In his message, Macron also appealed to China to influence Russia. “All our countries” should “hold a position of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity”. This applies “regardless of the friendships and alliances that you may cultivate,” said Macron.

+++ 22:21 According to Prime Minister Schmyhal, Ukraine needs another 17 billion US dollars in financial aid +++
According to Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal, Ukraine needs another 17 billion US dollars in financial aid. The money will be used for repairs to the power grid, clearing mines and rebuilding the infrastructure, he says. For example, five high-voltage systems were hit during the Russian air raids on Thursday.

+++ 21:59 Ukraine: 800 wounded soldiers in Russian captivity – last exchange fails +++
Dmytro Lubinets, the head of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on human rights, explains Radio FreeEuropethat 800 badly wounded Ukrainian soldiers are being held as prisoners of war in Russia. According to Lubinets, there are 200 seriously wounded Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine. The ombudsmen of Ukraine and Russia previously discussed the “return” of the wounded prisoners of war without any conditions, Lubinets said. Russia and Ukraine have agreed to exchange 40 prisoners of war, Russian human rights ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova said on January 11. Lubinets and Moskalkova will meet in Turkey on January 11. However, Russia is canceling a planned January 14 exchange of prisoners of war with Ukraine after the tenth rocket attack, the Ukraine Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reports. Russia reportedly refused the exchange “at the last minute.”

+++ 21:42 Orban is said to have described Ukraine as no man’s land – Kyiv orders Hungary’s ambassador +++
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has announced that it will summon the Hungarian ambassador over “completely unacceptable” comments by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. A spokesman for the ministry said on Facebook that Orban had told journalists that Ukraine was a no man’s land and compared it to Afghanistan. The government in Budapest is deliberately trying to destroy relations between the two countries, it said. We reserve the right to take further measures. A statement from the NATO and EU member Hungary is not available.

+++ 21:21 Ukrainian Ambassador in France: Have commitments for 321 battle tanks +++
According to Ukraine, it has received commitments from several countries for a total of 321 main battle tanks. This is what the Ukrainian ambassador in France tells the BFM broadcaster.

+++ 21:03 Latvia and Russia each have ambassadors +++
In response to the expulsion of the Russian ambassador from Latvia, Russia is also expelling the Latvian ambassador. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow is asking Ambassador Maris Riekstins to leave Russia within two weeks. The ministry criticizes Latvia’s “total Russophobia” and emphasizes that Riga bears “full responsibility for the current situation”. Russia had already downgraded diplomatic relations with Estonia on Monday and expelled the Estonian ambassador. In response, Estonia had also asked the Russian ambassador to leave Tallinn. As a result, neighboring Latvia also expelled the Russian ambassador.

+++ 20:45 Selenskyj calls the situation at Wuhledar and Bachmut “extremely tense” +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj describes the situation in the hard-fought east of his country as persistently difficult. “The situation at the front and especially in the Donetsk region – near Bakhmut and Wuhledar – remains extremely tense,” says Zelenskyj in his evening video address. “The occupiers are not only storming our positions – they are also deliberately and systematically destroying towns and villages around them. With artillery, air force and rockets.” Previously, the Russian army reported new attacks on Wuhledar. Only recently, together with the notorious mercenary group Wagner, they conquered the city of Soledar, also located in Donetsk, after extremely costly battles.

+++ 20:26 North Korea etches against US tank delivery: “everything will go to pieces” +++
North Korea condemns the US decision to supply Ukraine with tanks. Russia’s ally says Washington is waging a sinister “proxy war” to destroy Moscow. According to the Korean Central News Agency, the statements came from Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. She says the Biden administration “further crosses the red line” by sending tanks to Ukraine and that the decision “reflects a sinister intent to realize its hegemonic goal by further escalating proxy warfare to destroy Russia.” “I have no doubt that given the indomitable fighting spirit and might of the heroic Russian army and people, any military equipment that the US and the West boast of will be shattered,” she says, adding that North Korea always “in the same trenches” with Russia.

+++ 20:07 Hungary will protect Slovakian airspace +++ in the future
In the future, Hungary will take part in the protection of Slovakia’s airspace. This was announced by Slovakian Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad after a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Kristof Szalay in Budapest. He reminds that Poland and the Czech Republic have been protecting Slovak airspace since last autumn. Now that Hungary is joining in with its 14 Swedish Gripen C/D fighter jets to jointly monitor Slovakia’s airspace, this is becoming a “real project of the Visegrad Four.” “It shows that the Visegrad Group is still important for all of us,” Nad said in a joint press conference with Szalay, according to the Slovakian news agency TASR.

+++ 19:50 on Holocaust Remembrance Day: Putin justifies invasion with “Neo-Nazis in Ukraine” +++
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly accused “neo-Nazis in Ukraine” of committing crimes against civilians. “Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies,” Putin said. “This is evidenced by the crimes against civilians, ethnic cleansing and punitive measures organized by neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Our soldiers are fighting bravely against this evil.” Moscow repeatedly uses the accusation that neo-Nazis are committing crimes in Ukraine to justify its military deployment in the neighboring country. Putin has called the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “neo-Nazi” and has repeatedly spoken of a “genocide” against the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine. One reason for the military operation is the “denazification” of Ukraine. The Ukrainian government and the country’s Jewish community have denied the claims.

+++ 19:34 Pistorius considers special assets to be insufficient +++
Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius no longer considers the special assets of 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr to be sufficient. “The 100 billion won’t be enough,” Pistorius told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “We also have new maintenance costs with every new system. So with every new device there are new and higher running costs.” The new defense minister also considers the regular budget of around 50 billion euros per year to be insufficient in the long term. “I don’t think that’s enough.” Defense experts have warned that the special credit line of 100 billion euros will not be enough to comprehensively and modernly equip the Bundeswehr again. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl, recently spoke of a financial requirement of 300 billion euros.

You can read earlier developments in the Ukraine war here.

source site-34