Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Russian rocket strikes on significant Ukrainian cities Tuesday eliminated 18 individuals and hurt more than 130.

Speaking in his nighttime video address, the president stated more than 200 websites were struck, consisting of 139 houses.

Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s biggest cities, were the primary targets of Russian strikes Tuesday, with Ukrainian authorities detailing increasing varieties of casualties throughout the day, along with continuous efforts to rescue civilians caught under harmed or collapsed structures.

Ukraine’s flying force stated Tuesday that 21 out of 41 Russian rockets of different types had actually been damaged. “A significant number of missiles were shot down. Unfortunately, there were also hits,” Zelenskyy stated.

Russia’s Defense Ministry discussed the strike Tuesday, mentioning that “in the morning, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a group strike by high-precision long-range air- and ground- based weapons at Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities producing missiles and its parts, ammunition, and explosives.”

The Kremlin rejected the attacks targeted civilians or were performed in action to a declared Ukrainian attack on a market in Russian- inhabited Donetsk on Sunday in which 27 individuals passed away and 26 were hurt.

— Holly Ellyatt

Turkish lawmakers on Tuesday backed Sweden’s subscription in NATO, raising a significant difficulty on the formerly nonaligned nation’s entry into the military alliance.

The lawmakers validated Sweden’s accession procedure by 287 votes to 55, with 4 abstentions. The ratification will enter into impact after its publication in the Official Gazette, which is anticipated to be speedy.

Hungary then ends up being the only NATO ally not to have actually validated Sweden’s accession.

NATO-member Turkey had actually been postponing Sweden’s subscription for more than a year, implicating the nation of being too lax towards groups that Ankara considers as security risks. It has actually been looking for concessions from Stockholm, consisting of a harder position towards Kurdish militants militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a stopped working coup in 2016.

Read more here: Turkey’s parliament authorizes Sweden’s NATO subscription, raising secret a difficulty

— Reuters

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Tuesday advised members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group to “dig deep” as allies began their newest conference– even as the future of U.S. military financing stays in limbo.

Russian President Vladimir “Putin hopes that missiles and drones will demoralize the Ukrainian people, and break the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian military. So I urge this group to dig deep to provide Ukraine with more lifesaving ground-based air-defense systems and interceptors,” Austin stated in opening remarks.

He indicated the $250 million plan revealed by the U.S. in late December, that included air-defense munitions, air-defense system parts and different ammo.

He included there had actually been no “credible evidence” of the abuse or illegal diversion of U.S. devices, which Ukraine was utilizing it to protect itself versus Russia.

Austin likewise applauded allies for their contributions, and singled out “significant announcements” by Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The U.S. federal government cautioned that the December plan would be the last one as long as a budget plan that would authorize the release of more funds stays in poitical limbo. Congress has actually still not passed the expense, that includes $110 billion for both Ukraine and Israel.

— Jenni Reid

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated Tuesday that “massive” Russian strikes reveal the requirement to reinforce Ukraine’s air defenses.

His remarks came throughout the Ukraine Defense Contact Group as it held its 18 th conference essentially. The U.S.-led group makes up more than 50 nations which are supporting Ukraine through the arrangement of military devices.

Allies have actually currently provided a series of air defense systems, consisting of Patriots, IRIS-T and NASAMS, while NATO is offering winter season devices, demining devices and fuel.

Stoltenberg stated NATO would support a boost in ammo production and revealed it had actually concluded agreements to buy approximately 220,000 155- millimetre weapons shells worth $1.2 billion to renew allied stocks as they send their own to Ukraine.

— Jenni Reid

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s check out to North Korea is not likely to occur before the governmental election in March, the Kremlin’s press secretary stated Tuesday.

“In North Korea, no, these are more promising plans. We proceed from the fact that when the schedules are agreed upon, the president will take advantage of this proposal,” the Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov informed press reporters, Russian news firm TASS stated, when responding to the concern whether this journey might occur before Russia’s governmental elections in March.

Asked about the possibility of Putin’s check out to Turkey before the governmental elections, Peskov stated that it was possible.

“Yes, we follow the truth that it [the visit] can occur before the elections,” he stated.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated rescue operations are continuing in Ukraine after a barrage of Russian strikes on significant cities, consisting of Kyiv and Kharkiv.

“The rescue operation continues after another Russian attack against our cities and people – deliberate terror against ordinary residential buildings in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Pavlograd. Unfortunately, there are casualties and deaths,” Zelenskyy stated on Telegram.

In Kyiv, 22 individuals are now understood to have actually been hurt as an outcome of the shelling in the early hours, the president stated. Meanwhile, initial information from Kharkiv revealed 5 individuals were eliminated and 51 individuals, consisting of 4 kids, were hurt. One individual passed away in strikes on Pavlohrad in Dnipro, main Ukraine.

“Our heroic rescuers, those who are always the first to arrive at the sites of enemy shelling, despite all the difficulties, continue their very important work for the sake of saving people,” Zelenskyy stated.

Russia states it does not intentionally target civilians in the war.

—Holly Ellyatt

Russia’s Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin discussed the current rocket strikes on Ukraine Tuesday, rejecting that civilians had actually been targeted in the attacks.

In a declaration on Telegram, Russia’s defense ministry commented that “in the morning, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a group strike by high-precision long-range air- and ground- based weapons at Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities producing missiles and its parts, ammunition, and explosives.”

“The goal of the strike has been achieved. All the assigned targets have been engaged,” the ministry stated, without offering more information.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated 6 individuals had actually been eliminated in the current strikes, which targeted Kyiv, Kharkiv and other locations of Ukraine, and 73 individuals had actually been hurt, some seriously.

The Kremlin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov rejected that the current strikes were more retaliation for a declared Ukrainian strike on a market in the Russian- inhabited city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Saturday in which 26 individuals passed away.

Asked by a press reporter whether the shelling of Kyiv and Kharkiv might be called a reaction to the Donetsk shelling, Peskov stated “no we can’t[call it that] We continue the SMO [special military operation] and we do not strike civilian targets– this is what makes us various from the Kyiv program,” he stated.

Russia and Ukraine both reject intentionally targeting civilian facilities in the war.

— Holly Ellyatt