Moldovan President Maia Sandu has strongly condemned the latest spate of Russian attacks on Ukraine after fragments of a fired missile were found in the north of the country. She wrote on Twitter: “Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine has again had a direct impact on the Republic of Moldova.” The country is on the side of those “who have lost relatives in Dnipro and throughout Ukraine. Peace must prevail.” President Sandu has been in office since 2020. Your pro-Western government receives significant financial aid from the European Union. This week the country was announced that it would be supplying German tanks to its armed forces.
+++ 06:22 At least 14 dead after attack in Dnipro +++
At least 14 people have been killed and 64 others injured in the Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentin Resnichenko, told Telegram. Emergency shutdowns of the power grid occurred in most of the Ukrainian regions after the new wave of attacks yesterday. The attack in Dnipro hit a nine-story high-rise building. According to the governor, a 15-year-old girl was among the dead. Seven children were injured, the smallest was only three years old. So far, 38 people have been recovered from the rubble, the governor said. Rescuers worked that night to free a woman whose voice they had heard from the rubble.
+++ 05:40 Ukrainian ambassador: “German tanks are essential for survival” +++
‘Ahead of the negotiations between the western allies about further arms deliveries to Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev urged the German government to quickly provide his country with Leopard 2 main battle tanks. “German weapons, German tanks are essential for survival,” he says in an interview. “We have very little time to discuss. And we expect our allies to understand that and act properly.” On Friday next week, the defense ministers of Ukraine’s western allies will discuss further military support for Ukraine at the US Ramstein Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate.
+++ 04:30 Kyiv: Russia cancels planned exchange of prisoners of war +++
According to Ukraine’s prisoner of war exchange authority, Russia canceled a planned new exchange at the last minute. The office of the Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has not yet commented on the sudden cancellation. On Saturday, Moskalkova said via telegram that Russian soldiers in Ukrainian captivity had allegedly reported on extortion. Ukraine has not responded to the allegations. Reporters from the Reuters news agency have not yet been able to verify the allegations. Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners on a number of occasions throughout the 11-month war, most recently on January 8.
+++ 02:54 Prigozhin: My mercenary group is the most experienced army in the world +++
The Russian entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin boasts about the achievements of the mercenary group Wagner, which he founded. “It’s probably the most experienced army in the world,” he says in a video message. It is a fully independent force with its own air force, tanks and artillery. Prigozhin says the quality of the group’s weapons is high, discipline is extremely high, and coordination between management, commanders, and fighters is close. The Wagner group is fighting in Ukraine alongside regular Russian forces, which Russian critics have accused of mismanagement and military failure.
+++ 02:10 Great Britain delivers 14 main battle tanks to Ukraine +++
In the coming weeks, Great Britain plans to provide Ukraine with 14 Challenger 2 battle tanks. The government in London announced this late in the evening. The UK defense and security authorities see an opportunity to act as Russia “is on the defensive due to supply shortages and dwindling morale (of its troops).” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak therefore wanted to “encourage allies” to launch their support for Ukraine planned for 2023 “as soon as possible in order to achieve maximum effect”.
+++ 01:21 Lindner criticizes Putin’s handling of Navalny +++
The FDP chairman and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner criticizes the way Russian President Vladimir Putin dealt with the regime critic Alexej Navalny, who is in solitary confinement. “Navalny has been in prison for almost exactly two years because he campaigns for civil rights and denounces corruption in Russia,” Linder told the editorial network Germany (RND). “Now he’s apparently being denied even medical care. That says everything about the character of Putin’s regime.” Supporters and family members of the imprisoned Kremlin opponent had previously expressed concern about the 46-year-old’s health. Navalny was again unable to attend a court hearing because he was too ill for it, his spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch wrote on Twitter. Navalny’s lawyer had criticized the fact that his client was suffering from fever, chills and coughing, but was denied medical help.
+++ 01:13 Mayor of Dnipro: Hear people in the rubble +++
At least 12 people have died in a rocket attack on a multi-storey apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said. Rescue teams and volunteers continue to search for people buried in the rubble – some with their bare hands. “Some send SMS,” says the deputy mayor of Dnipro in a video on social media. You can also hear people shouting from the rubble.
Read more here.
+++ 00:29 Rheinmetall: Can deliver “Leopard” tanks in 2024 at the earliest +++
According to the armaments group Rheinmetall, it will not be able to repair Leopard 2 battle tanks for Ukraine until 2024 at the earliest. “Even if the decision is made tomorrow that we can send our Leopard tanks to Kyiv, delivery will take until the beginning of next year,” says CEO Armin Papperger in the “Bild am Sonntag”. The group owns 22 decommissioned “Leopard 2” tanks and 88 vehicles of the predecessor model “Leopard 1”. The repair will take almost a year, said Papperger. “The vehicles are not only repainted, but have to be converted for a war effort. They are completely dismantled and then rebuilt.” Without an order, the group could not make the tanks operational, as this would cost several hundred million euros.
Read more about it here.
+++ 23:33 Moscow: UN General Assembly may not convene a Russia tribunal +++
According to Russia, the UN General Assembly is not authorized to convene an international criminal court for Russia. There is no legal basis for such plans, said the Deputy Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, Dmitry Polanski, on the Russian state broadcaster RT. “It’s a popular idea in the West and it’s being exploited for populist and political reasons, but really it just makes people laugh.” The Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Emine Japarova, announced on Thursday before the UN General Assembly that Ukraine would present a draft for a new criminal court before the end of this year. This is to prosecute those responsible for the attack on Ukraine.
+++ 22:03 Selenskyj on Russia: “Evil knows no borders” +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling for the Russian terror to be stopped – just as the Nazis were once stopped in Ukraine. In return, he also appeals to the western partners to supply more weapons. “Evil knows no bounds,” he says in his video speech every evening. He complains that Russia not only “sows the seeds of death”, but that the rocket fire has hit the country’s energy infrastructure again – particularly hard in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine and in the capital Kyiv. Work is in full swing there to restore the supply, as the government in Kyiv announced. A total of six areas of the country were affected by power outages, it said.
+++ 21:26 rocket on residential building: Ukraine corrects the number of victims +++
At least nine people were killed in a Russian rocket attack on an inhabited skyscraper in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to preliminary information from the authorities. Authorities said 64 people were injured, including at least 12 children. Nine dead and 60 injured had previously been reported. A 15-year-old girl was among the dead. Rescue workers pulled people out of the rubble of the partially collapsed house. 72 apartments were destroyed; a total of between 100 and 200 people were reported in the house.
The emergency services are still looking for victims.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/AP)
+++ 21:05 Russia cancels prisoner exchange at short notice +++
Russia canceled a prisoner exchange agreed with Ukraine at short notice. This is communicated by the Ukrainian coordination staff for dealing with prisoners of war Telegram with. Again “Kyiv Independent” reported that the warring parties had agreed on the exchange of 40 prisoners. However, Russia canceled “at the last minute”.
+++ 20:32 rocket hits residential area in Dnipropetrovsk – one dead +++
According to the local authorities, one person was killed in an attack on a residential area in the Dnepropetrovsk region. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Valentyn Reznichenko shares Telegram announced that a rocket had landed in the nearby town of Kryvyi Rih. One person was killed and one injured in the impact, and houses were damaged.
+++ 20:01 Great Britain announces details of tank deliveries for Monday +++
The British government plans to finalize its plans to supply Ukraine with Challenger 2 main battle tanks on Monday. Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace will brief Parliament on details of the delivery of main battle tanks, artillery and other military equipment earlier this week, Secretary of State James Cleverly said. According to the broadcaster “Sky News”, Great Britain wants to deliver around a dozen tanks to Ukraine. So far, western states have not supplied Ukraine with main battle tanks of their own production.
You can read earlier developments in the Ukraine war here.