Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
In other key developments:
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France’s newly appointed foreign minister, Stéphane Séjourné, met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday on his first official visit abroad, vowing that Paris would maintain its support. “Despite the multiplying crises, Ukraine is and will remain France’s priority,” Séjourné told Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, at a joint news conference earlier Saturday.
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Russia’s justice ministry designated one of the country’s most popular fiction writers a foreign agent because of his opposition to Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The historical detective stories of Boris Akunin, the pen name of Georgian-born Grigori Chkhartishvili, used to be bestsellers in Russia before the authorities turned on him for what they said were his unacceptable anti-Russian views.
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A prominent liberal priest faces expulsion from the Russian Orthodox church for refusing to read out a prayer asking God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine. In a verdict published on Saturday, a church court said Aleksiy Uminsky should be “expelled from holy orders” for violating his priestly oath.
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Ukraine suffered a massed Russian missile attack in the early hours of Saturday, its air force said, adding that Moscow had fired some of its most fearsome hypersonic missiles. Air defences shot down Russian missiles in at least five regions across Ukraine, according to local officials from those provinces. However, no details were given on whether any targets were hit, and far less information about the attack than usual was provided by officials. Ukraine’s air force warned during the attack that Russia had fired Kinzhal missiles – perhaps the hardest conventional Russian missile to shoot down, moving at several times the speed of sound.
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Russia, meanwhile, said it had destroyed all targets in a barrage of strikes on facilities producing ammunition and drones in Ukraine. “This morning the armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a group strike … against facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex,” the defence ministry said in a daily briefing. It said it was targeting places producing shells, gunpowder and unmanned aerial vehicles.
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Zelenskiy will speak in person at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos on Tuesday, according to the WEF’s event programme. Forum president Børge Brende last week told reporters Zelenskiy would give an address during the event, while more than 70 national security advisers from around the world would on Sunday discuss ways forward on the Ukrainian president’s peace plan.
Key events
Denmark will allocate a new aid package to Ukraine in the amount of more than 21 million dollars for the restoration of the southern Ukrainian city of Nikolaev. The assistance package, among other things, includes projects for demining agricultural land and reconstructing the dormitory of the Nikolaev State Agrarian University.
“Denmark is one of our most committed partners in the recovery process. In the spring of 2023, the country took patronage over Nikolaev and the Nikolaev region. Since then, we have already made progress in restoring the city – most of the projects of previous aid packages have either already been completed or are moving forward successfully,” said Alexander Kubrakov, Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine.
Earlier, Denmark and Sweden jointly announced a new package of military assistance for Ukraine worth about 240 million euros, which included infantry fighting vehicles, the BBC reported.
The weekly “Stand with Ukraine” rally outside Sydney’s town hall on Sunday called for Australia to send 45 Taipan helicopters it no longer uses to Ukraine.
Ukraine wants Australia’s decommissioned Taipan helicopters but they are reportedly being scrapped.
In September last year, the Australian Army’s MRH-90 helicopters were retired 14-months earlier than scheduled, after a crash in Queensland killed four defence personnel during a training exercise two months earlier.
Ukraine made an official request for the MRH-90’s on December 19, 2023, despite the aircraft’s safety and operational concerns.
“Our assessment of risk is different. We’re at war,” Anton Bogdanovych, who helped organise a rally of Ukrainian supporters in Sydney on Sunday, told Australia’s ABC news.
In its latest defence intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said the impact of the war with Ukraine on healthcare in Russia was “highly likely” being felt by Russia’s civilian population as they struggled to access hospital services and experience shortages of medical products due to treatment of wounded personnel.
North Korea fired an apparent intermediate-range missile into the sea on Sunday, South Korea and Japan said, as tensions run high after Pyongyang’s recent launches of an intercontinental ballistic missile and its first military spy satellite, Reuters reports.
The United States and its allies have previously condemned what they describe as Russia’s firing of North Korean missiles at Ukraine. with Washington calling it abhorrent and Seoul calling Ukraine a test site for Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable missiles. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied conducting any arms deals but vowed last year to deepen military relations.
North Korea has stepped up pressure on Seoul in recent weeks, declaring it the “principal enemy”, saying the North will never reunite with the South and vowing to enhance its ability to deliver a nuclear strike on the U.S. and America’s allies in the Pacific.
Pyongyang’s isolated government is forging closer ties with Moscow. Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will visit Russia from Monday to Wednesday at the invitation of her counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the North’s KCNA news agency said on Sunday.
“Pyongyang*s show of force should be of concern beyond Seoul, as its military cooperation with Moscow adds to the violence in Ukraine , and because it may be more willing to challenge the U.S. and its allies while global attention is fixed on the Middle East,” said Leif-Eric Easley, an international studies professor at Ewha Womans University, Reuters reports.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on three Russian entities and one individual involved in the transfer and testing of North Korea’s ballistic missiles for Russia’s use against Ukraine.
Russian shelling of Kherson has injured at least six residents, according to reports by local and national officials.
Russian forces fired 28 shells at Kherson on Saturday, hitting residential neighbourhoods and port infrastructure. The regional military administration reported today that at least six people were injured, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Kherson has been shelled on a regular basis ever since Russian forces left the city and retreated across the Dnipro River in November 2022.
The US president, Joe Biden, said during a press briefing on Saturday that Republicans would have “an awful lot to pay for” if they did not help pass military aid for Ukraine.
Republicans in the US Senate blocked a supplemental funding bill that included $61bn in aid for Ukraine in a procedural vote held on 6 December. Republicans in both chambers of Congress had demanded stricter border regulations in exchange for their support, and they said the bill failed to meet their requirements. Ahead of the 6 December vote, Biden had delivered an address to urge Congress to pass the bill, warning that a failure to act would only benefit Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president.
A former mayor of the Russian city of Vladivostok has enlisted to fight in Ukraine and departed for the front after he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Sunday, citing his lawyer.
Oleg Gumenyuk, a former Vladivostok mayor, was last year sentenced to 12 years in prison for taking bribes of 38 million roubles ($432,000). He served as mayor from 2018 to 2021, resigning amid a flurry of criticism of his record from local and federal officials, Reuters reports.
“According to an order issued to Gumenyuk, he was supposed to report to his military unit on December 22,” Kommersant cited Gumenyuk’s lawyer Andrei Kitaev as saying. Kitaev could not be reached for immediate comment.
Tens of thousands of Russian prisoners volunteered for service in Ukraine taking advantage of an offer of clemency for those who survive their stints at the front.
President Zelenskiy said he and Séjourné had discussed Ukraine’s defence needs including joint production of drones and artillery.
He posted on X :“We discussed Ukraine’s defense needs, including joint production of drones, artillery, and further strengthening of air defense. I updated Minister Séjourné on the Peace Formula’s progress. I thank France for its active role in this global effort.”
Today, I hosted France’s new Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné @steph_sejourne.
We discussed Ukraine’s defense needs, including joint production of drones, artillery, and further strengthening of air defense. I updated Minister Séjourné on the Peace Formula’s progress. I thank… pic.twitter.com/SX4je0iFbT
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 13, 2024
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
In other key developments:
-
France’s newly appointed foreign minister, Stéphane Séjourné, met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday on his first official visit abroad, vowing that Paris would maintain its support. “Despite the multiplying crises, Ukraine is and will remain France’s priority,” Séjourné told Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, at a joint news conference earlier Saturday.
-
Russia’s justice ministry designated one of the country’s most popular fiction writers a foreign agent because of his opposition to Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The historical detective stories of Boris Akunin, the pen name of Georgian-born Grigori Chkhartishvili, used to be bestsellers in Russia before the authorities turned on him for what they said were his unacceptable anti-Russian views.
-
A prominent liberal priest faces expulsion from the Russian Orthodox church for refusing to read out a prayer asking God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine. In a verdict published on Saturday, a church court said Aleksiy Uminsky should be “expelled from holy orders” for violating his priestly oath.
-
Ukraine suffered a massed Russian missile attack in the early hours of Saturday, its air force said, adding that Moscow had fired some of its most fearsome hypersonic missiles. Air defences shot down Russian missiles in at least five regions across Ukraine, according to local officials from those provinces. However, no details were given on whether any targets were hit, and far less information about the attack than usual was provided by officials. Ukraine’s air force warned during the attack that Russia had fired Kinzhal missiles – perhaps the hardest conventional Russian missile to shoot down, moving at several times the speed of sound.
-
Russia, meanwhile, said it had destroyed all targets in a barrage of strikes on facilities producing ammunition and drones in Ukraine. “This morning the armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a group strike … against facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex,” the defence ministry said in a daily briefing. It said it was targeting places producing shells, gunpowder and unmanned aerial vehicles.
-
Zelenskiy will speak in person at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos on Tuesday, according to the WEF’s event programme. Forum president Børge Brende last week told reporters Zelenskiy would give an address during the event, while more than 70 national security advisers from around the world would on Sunday discuss ways forward on the Ukrainian president’s peace plan.
