Key events
Ukraine informs US of plan to sack top general – reports
We reported earlier this week that Ukraine’s top military commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, had refused to resign after being asked to by Zelenskiy.
Now, Reuters reports that Kyiv has informed the White House that Zelenskiy plans to sack Zaluzhnyi.
It says:
The move to oust General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who has clashed with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over military strategy and other issues, follows a Ukrainian counteroffensive last year that failed to recover significant amounts of Russian-held territory.
A source close to Zelenskiy’s office said the pair also have disagreed over a new military mobilization drive, with the president opposing Zaluzhnyi’s proposal to call up 500,000 fresh troops.
The source, however, added that the process for relieving Zaluzhnyi of his post as the commander in chief of Ukraine‘s armed forces was on hold for the time being as officials consider who his replacement should be.
It added:
There were no details on the timeline for the plan. Right now, both sides (the president and the general) have taken a pause in determining what the future will look like, and for now the status quo will remain until further notice.’
Ukraine’s air defences downed nine of 14 Russian drones in an overnight attack that hit energy infrastructure in the city of Kryvyi Rih, the air force and regional officials said on Saturday morning.
It is the second drone attack in two days on the central city of Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The mayor, Oleksandr Vilkul, said energy facilities were hit, resulting in blackouts for thousands of people. In some districts water supplies and heating were disrupted as temperatures hovered just below freezing. Hospitals switched to generators for electricity.
The air force said Iranian-made Shahed drones were shot down over four regions in central and southern Ukraine.
Opening summary
Welcome to today’s live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Here’s an overview of the latest developments:
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Fire has broken out at an oil refinery in Volgograd inside Russia, according to the Ukrainian state news outlet Ukrinform. It cited a Russian Telegram channel as saying Ukrainian UAVs hit the Lukoil refinery. Other reports of the attack were circulating online. Volgograd lies about 350km from the Ukrainian border.
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Ukraine’s air force said Russia attacked overnight with 14 Shahed drones from the directions of Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia and Chauda in Crimea, as well as two KH-59 guided air missiles from the Belgorod region in Russia. “The enemy directed a significant part of the Shaheds at the energy infrastructure facilities in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Mobile fire groups of the air force and the defence forces of Ukraine destroyed nine enemy UAVs in the Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Zhytomyr regions.”
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France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has confirmed two French aid workers were killed in a Russian strike in Ukraine, condemning the attack as “outrageous”. In Paris, the prosecutors’ anti-terrorist office announced on Friday that it had opened a war crimes investigation. Aid workers are non-combatants under international law.
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Ukrainian officials said the men died in a drone attack in Beryslav, southern Ukraine. “The brave French aid workers assisted people and we will always be grateful for their humanity,” said Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “My condolences go out to their loved ones.”
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Zelenskiy has welcomed the arrival of two new air defence systems that he said could “shoot down anything”, though he could give no details. Separately, US under-secretary of state Victoria Nuland said in Kyiv this week that a new “small-diameter” bomb able to hit targets at greater distances would soon arrive.
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Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andrii Yusov said Russia continued to refuse to hand over the bodies of prisoners of war who Moscow claims were killed in the downing of a Russian military transport plane. Russia has produced no proof that PoWs were onboard.
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The Ukrainian general staff said its forces had repelled 19 attacks around Avdiivka in the Donetsk region and a further 10 in nearby areas.
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The top UN court, the international court of justice (ICJ), has confirmed its jurisdiction to rule in most parts of a case brought by Ukraine over Russia’s 2022 invasion.
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US Senate negotiators have reached a deal on a proposal to overhaul the asylum system at the US border with Mexico. It clears the way for Democratic and Republican Senate leaders to begin the difficult task of convincing Congress to pass a national security package that will include tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine and immigration enforcement, as well as funding for Israel and other American allies.
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Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, announced he had suspended Toomas Nakhkur, who led the defence ministry’s department for technical policy and weapons development, while authorities investigate suspected corruption in the procurement of weapons.
