January 27, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can read more on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here.

Russian forces continued to shell towns in the east on Friday, according to the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko. The town of Chasiv Yar, to the?west?of Bakhmut, had been shelled for over an hour and a half on Friday morning,?leaving two people dead and five wounded, and?damaging “around ten houses.”?

Here’s what else is happening:

Eastern attacks: Ukraine’s eastern front line is under heavy shelling, with the town of Vuhledar facing “permanent” assault, Kyrylenko said on Telegram Friday morning.?Two people died over the past 24 hours in what Kyrylenko described as the “permanent shelling of Vuhledar.”?He also reported two instances of “massive artillery shelling of Avdiivka overnight.”

Thursday’s missile attack: Two of the 70 missiles?fired by Russia toward Ukraine on Thursday?were Kinzhal-type hypersonic missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said, calling on the West to provide them with advance air defense systems that are capable of shooting these down. At least 11 people were killed across Ukraine after Moscow fired 70 missiles — including?two hypersonic missiles?— aimed at energy facilities?on Thursday. Ukraine’s state energy operator warned Friday the strikes caused?“substantial damage”?to the power grid.?

Military aid: Poland?plans to send 60 more?modern battle tanks?to Ukraine in addition to the 14 Leopard 2 tanks?it has already pledged, according to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.?

And in Belgium, the government announced its largest ever assistance package for Ukraine, including $97.5 million in military aid. The military aid is part of a larger package that also contains humanitarian and civilian assistance.

As for the US, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN Friday the newly announced tranche of Abrams tanks announced by the US as part of this week’s aid to?Ukraine?“will take many months before they can get on the ground.” Despite this timeline, Kirby said the Biden administration is “not going to waste time” in providing training and shoring up supply chains to ensure Ukrainian forces are best equipped to use them when they eventually arrive in?Ukraine.

And in Germany, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has ruled out Germany sending fighter jets to Ukraine, according to an interview with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Friday.

#Catch Up##

A Polish PT-91 tank drives through water at the military base in Bedrusko near Poznan, western Poland, on July 9, 2013.

Poland?plans to send 60 more modern battle tanks to Ukraine in addition to the 14 Leopard 2 tanks it has already pledged, according to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.??

Morawiecki is glad Poland?could “convince our allies and partners from Western Europe that they should be much more active in supporting Ukraine,” the prime minister told Canadian broadcaster CTV on Friday.

Germany’s decided earlier this week to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine after much diplomatic discussion.

Morawiecki said?Poland?likes to “lead by example,” and touted the country’s decision to send 250 tanks to Ukraine last year, adding that they were first country to do so.

“Right now, we are ready to send 60 of our modernized tanks, 30 of them PT-91,” the prime minister said, referencing the country’s main battle tank, PT-91 Twardy. “And on top of those tanks, 14 tanks, Leopard 2 tanks, from in our possession.”

Poland, he said, has made a habit of telling its partners “how many tanks we’ve already delivered.”???

Poland?last week harshly criticized Germany’s initial hesitancy to approve Warsaw’s request to transfer some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.??

Ukrainian pilots will take “about six months” to master the F-16 multi-role fighter jet, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Airforce, Yurii Ihnat, said at a briefing on Friday.

After Western nations acceded to provide Ukraine with tanks, some analysts quickly suggested that European and NATO allies would eventually provide Ukraine with older aircraft such as the F-16.

Ihnat added that in addition to pilots, “intensive training” would be necessary for ground crews servicing the F-16.?

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius pays his first visit to troops of the German armed forces at a military training area in Altengrabow, Germany, on January 26.

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has ruled out Germany sending fighter jets to Ukraine, according to an interview with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Friday.

”This is out of the question,” Pistorius is quoted as saying when asked whether Germany would send fighter jets to Kyiv.

It follows renewed public appeals by Ukraine’s government for Western fighter jets after Germany approved the delivery of Leopard 2 battle tanks earlier this week.

Pistorius, who took office last week following his predecessor’s resignation,?also told the newspaper that Germany’s 100 billion euro ($108 billion) special defense fund, which was set up last year, is no longer enough to cover its requirements.?

“The 100 billion will not be enough,” Pistorius said, adding that he believes Germany would also need to increase its annual regular defense budget, which is currently set at around 50 billion euros (about $54 billion).

Pistorius also said that Germany’s decision to suspend compulsory military service in 2011 “was a mistake,” adding that he was open to discussing a new model to strengthen the relationship between citizens and the state.

From left to right: Belgian Foreign minister Hadja Lahbib, Defence minister Ludivine Dedonder, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Minister for Development Cooperation and Metropolitan Policy Caroline Gennez during a press conference of the federal government on new aid to Ukraine, today in Brussels.?

The Belgian government has announced its largest ever assistance package for Ukraine, including $97.5 million in military aid.

The military aid is part of a larger package that also contains humanitarian and civilian assistance.

The military aide will include anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles, grenades and munitions, which will enable Ukraine to continue to “protect its citizens,” Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder said, adding that Belgium will also deliver military vehicles, trucks and light armored vehicles to Ukraine in the “coming weeks.”

Separate from the military aid, the package also contains 86 million euros ($93.3 million) in civilian aid, including 69 million euros ($74.9 million) dedicated towards humanitarian aid and 10.6 million euros ($11.5 million) dedicated towards the reconstruction of Ukraine.

This civilian aid will include medical supplies and ambulance, De Croo added.?

Graves of Russian?Wagner?mercenary group fighters are seen in a?cemetery?near the village of Bakinskaya in Krasnodar region, Russia, on January 22.

Satellite images of an area near a village in Russia show a rapidly expanding cemetery where many of those killed fighting for the Wagner Group — a Russian private mercenary organization?heavily involved in the war in Ukraine — are buried.?

Pictures of rows of fresh graves near the village of Bakinskaya in the Krasnodar region first started emerging on social media in December. And on Jan. 2, Russian State News Agency RIA Novosti showed Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin visiting the site and laying a wreath on one of the graves.?

“Here we bury fighters who indicated in their will that they want to be buried here,” Prigozhin explained, according to RIA. “Or orphans and those whose bodies, for some reason, relatives do not want to take.”

Satellite images show of rows of fresh graves near the village of Bakinskaya in the Krasnodar region, Russia, on November 24, 2022.

Satellite pictures taken by on Nov. 24, 2022, show three rows of graves on a new plot. When Prigozhin visited in early January, he told RIA Novosti that 93 graves had been dug. Another Maxar satellite picture taken on Jan. 24 shows the plot already virtually full, with 14 additional rows.?

Satellite images show of rows of fresh graves near the village of Bakinskaya in the Krasnodar region, Russia, on January 24, 2023.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Bakinskaya cemetery seen in satellite pictures, as well as a nearby secondary location in the nearby town of Goryachy Klyuch, may hold around 1,000 dead Wagner soldiers.

Local activists reported the mercenary group began using the Bakinskaya cemetery after it ran out of space at a Wagner-affiliated chapel in Goryachy Klyuch.

“The majority of the Wagner Group personnel buried at these sites were reportedly prisoners, a result of the Wagner Group‘s overwhelming reliance on prison recruitment and its operational use of these personnel in costly assaults,” the ISW said in its analysis on Friday.

“The high number of casualties is likely constraining the Wagner Group’s ability to continue offensive operations at a high pace and will likely prompt further prison recruitment efforts,” it added.

More on Wagner’s role in Ukraine: Wagner fighters have been locked in a long battle of attrition with Ukrainian forces as they’ve taken the town of Soledar and are now engaged in the assault on Bakhmut and surrounding villages. Ukrainian officials say Wagner has sent waves of infantry toward their positions and have suffered heavy losses in the process.

The high number of casualties earned the area the nickname of “meat grinder,” and the rapidly expanding graveyard in Bakinskaya illustrates the high death toll.?

According to Wagner founder Yevgeny Prighozin, only some of the group’s fighters are buried there.?

The US Treasury Department on Thursday designated Wagner a significant transnational criminal organization and imposed a slew of sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.

A senior official for the European Union?on Friday called for the creation of a “Free Radio Russia” project to enable independent Russian journalists to report without censorship from the Kremlin.?

“I want to launch a Radio Free Russia project,” said EU Commission Vice President Vera Jourová, similar to the idea of Radio Free Europe or Voice of America, founded to counter propaganda and transmit uncensored news and information during the Cold War and?World War II?respectively.??

It would not mean creating a brand-new radio station, she said during a speech in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, rather a platform “to support those who are doing a lot already, help them to create economy of scale and fill the gaps so they can produce more content and distribute it more widely without any editorial interference.”

Many independent journalists have been expelled from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in wake of its censorship, and so a number of news outlets such as Novaya Gazeta now operate in the EU, providing a “unique opportunity,” she said.?

The commissioner reflected on her childhood in Soviet-era Czech Republic to “reject” the argument that “all Russians” support Moscow’s government, urging Europe not to “give up on the Russian society […] regardless of how few or how many want to hear the real news, not Kremlin propaganda.”??

Some background: The Russian government adopted a law criminalizing the dissemination of what it calls “deliberately false” information about the Russian armed forces in early March, just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The maximum penalty under the law is 15 years in prison.

Latvian Ambassador to Russia Maris Riekstins seen at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, on April 28, 2021.?

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday that it has ordered Latvian Ambassador to Moscow Maris Riekstins to leave Russia within two weeks in a tit-for-tat move.

“Ambassador of Latvia M. Riekstins was ordered to leave the Russian Federation within two weeks,” according to a statement from the ministry.?

Earlier this week, Latvia expelled Russia’s ambassador in Riga, citing solidarity with Estonia.?

Moscow has blamed Riga for the deterioration of bilateral relations between the two countries.?

“It is emphasized that the provocative démarche of the Latvian authorities to lower the level of diplomatic relations will have consequences,” according to the statement.

A man helps a woman to get out from a crater next to damaged residential buildings following a Russian missile attack on January 26, in Hlevakha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine.

Two of the 70 missiles fired by Russia toward Ukraine on Thursday were Kinzhal-type hypersonic missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said, calling on the West to provide them with advance air defense systems that are capable of shooting these down.

“We need Patriot and SAMP/T systems to be able to (intercept these missiles),” Ukrainian Air Force Command spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said during a briefing.

SAMP/T systems are used for air defense primarily in Europe.

The United States has said it will send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, but the systems do not appear to be operational in the country yet. Ukrainian troops were set to begin training on the?Patriot system this month at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where the US conducts its own training on operating and maintaining the advanced air defense system.

France and Italy are finalizing an agreement to send SAMP/T systems to Ukraine, with an agreement expected in the coming weeks.?

Spanish national police officers lead away a 74-year-old man under arrest on suspicion of being the sender of?letter-bombs in November and December to the Ukrainian and U.S. embassies and several institutions in Spain, in Miranda de Ebro, Spain, on January 25.

A court in Spain ordered prison on remand for a Spanish man suspected of sending letter bombs late last year to?Spain’s prime?minister and the US and Ukrainian embassies in Madrid. The judge said Friday that the man’s intention was to disturb public peace in a way to create pressure for Spain to suppress its support to Ukraine.??

The six letter bombs, also “aimed to oblige” Spain “to drop its support shown for Ukraine against the Russian aggression,” investigating magistrate Jose Luis Calama wrote in the ruling, which the court sent to CNN and other media.???

The suspect, arrested on Wednesday at his home in northern Spain, is 74-year-old Pompeyo Gonzalez Pascual. He used Russian instant messaging apps like VK and the Swiss encrypted end-to-end email system, and is considered a flight risk, the judge added in the ruling.???

More on the suspect: CNN?reported?last Monday that US officials believe that Russian intelligence officers directed a Russian White supremacist group to carry out a letter-bombing campaign that rocked Spain late last year, citing current and former US officials.???

The suspect consulted Russian news websites, such as Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as other sites focused on weapons and chemicals, the judge wrote.???

A Spanish interior ministry statement last Wednesday said that although “it’s presumed that the suspect made and sent the explosive devices on his own, the police don’t rule out the participation or influence of other people in these events.”???

Spain’s aid to Ukraine: Spain has provided humanitarian and military support to Ukraine since the Russian invasion. More recently, Spain said it was willing to provide Ukraine with its Leopard tanks, but in coordination with the allies.

Five Russian men who have fled Russia after the government’s military mobilization order last September have been stranded at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport for months after authorities refused to accept them.

Three of the men arrived at the airport last October and two in November, according to their lawyer Lee Jong-chan. But since their applications for refugee status were denied by the South Korean Justice Ministry, they’ve been at the airport’s departure lounge for months waiting for a ruling on their appeal, according to Lee.

A news release issued last month by a South Korean human rights advocacy group called on the government to accept the men’s applications on grounds the men refuse to become a “tool of murder” and if they return home, “it is?highly likely?for them?to be detained or forcibly drafted.”

South Korea’s Ministry of Justice has dismissed their applications as “not being worthy of evaluation,” on the ground that a refusal of conscription was not a reason for refugee recognition,” according to Lee, who has reviewed the document from the ministry.

Lee argues that the men’s refusal to serve in the military “should be recognized as a political reason considering the current situation that the war [in Ukraine] is condemned by international law.”?

“[The men] are?political refugees who face persecution,” the news release from the activist group said, adding, “Those who apply for refugee status upon escaping political and religious persecution from their home countries have rights to protection under international law. … As a developed, democratic state that guarantees human rights, [South] Korea has been inconspicuously rejecting refugees who have objected to war.”??

The men have appealed the decision, and three of them will face their first court ruling on Jan. 31, during which the court will decide whether or not their case is “worthy of evaluation,” according to Lee. If the court rules in their favor, the Justice?Ministry will then have to review their applications for refugee status.?

South Korea has mandatory military service and takes draft evasion seriously.

A US Army M1 Abrams tank drives across a road during a multinational exercise at the Hohenfels training area in Bavaria, Germany, on June 8, 2022.

John Kirby, a White House national security spokesperson, told CNN Friday the newly announced tranche of Abrams tanks announced by the US as part of this week’s aid to?Ukraine?“will take many months before they can get on the ground.”

Despite this timeline, Kirby said the Biden administration is “not going to waste time” in providing training and shoring up supply chains to ensure Ukrainian forces are best equipped to use them when they eventually arrive in?Ukraine.

Pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, however, Kirby declined to say if he believes they’ll arrive by the end of 2023.

“I don’t want to get too specific, because we’re still working the plans out, but it’ll be many months,” Kirby told Kaitlan, but that in the meantime, a shipment of Leopard tanks courtesy of Germany will arrive on the ground in?Ukraine?“in short order.”

Kirby also wouldn’t say whether US President Joe Biden is considering a trip to the region to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, but told CNN Biden is “in close contact with President Zelensky —?they speak quite frequently, quite often.”

“I think that, you know, the President would certainly, at whatever appropriate time, would be willing to do [travel] to?Ukraine. But we’re not at that point right now,” he said.

Germany’s defense ministry on Friday confirmed Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in the country for training on the Marder infantry fighting vehicles Berlin has agreed to provide to the war-torn nation.?

“Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in Germany for training on the Marder infantry fighting vehicle,” a spokesperson from the country’s defense ministry told reporters at a press briefing.??

Earlier this month, Germany said it would provide Ukraine with 40 of the Marder vehicles and an additional Patriot anti-aircraft missile battery.???

Germany’s defense ministry told CNN Friday that the training would take place in Munster, Lower Saxony, and is expected to be completed by the end of March.??

The Marder is an infantry fighting vehicle used by the German military since the early 1970’s but continuously upgraded. While the German military is in the process of phasing the vehicle out, hundreds are still in service.???

An infantry fighting vehicle is a heavily armed armored vehicle used to move soldiers around the battlefield. It’s usually deployed together with main battle tanks.??

On Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the additional delivery of 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks to Ukraine. Training for Ukrainian soldiers on how to use the advanced battle tanks is set to begin “soon” in Germany, according to the defense ministry.??

Ukrainian servicemen fire a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun toward Russian positions on a frontline near Bakhmut in?Donetsk?region, Ukraine, on January 24.

Ukraine’s eastern front line is under heavy shelling, with the town of Vuhledar facing “permanent” assault, the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said on Telegram Friday morning.??

Two people died over the past 24 hours in what Kyrylenko described as the “permanent shelling of Vuhledar.”?

He also reported two instances of “massive artillery shelling of Avdiivka overnight.”

Russian forces continued to shell towns in the east during the day on Friday, Kyrylenko said in a later post. The town of Chasiv Yar, to the?west?of Bakhmut, had been shelled for over an hour and a half on Friday morning,?leaving two people dead and five wounded, and?damaging “around ten houses.”?

A spokesperson for?Ukraine’s military told one broadcast outlet that Russia was “constantly” trying to advance in the east, using “a barrage of personnel” to try and break through Ukrainian defenses.?

“The Russians are trying to break through our defenses, ignoring enormous losses of their own. It used to be a barrage of fire, now it is barrage of personnel,” Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s armed forces in the east, told UATV on Friday.

“They are constantly assaulting, trying to move forward,” he said. “Their key weapon now is manpower. In Bakhmut, those are the Wagner PMC but not exclusively… In Vuhledar, the key assault forces are marines and infantry units, along with conscripts.”?

A senior European Union official accused Russia on Friday of taking its war against Ukraine to a “different stage” by taking aim at civilians and non-military targets, prompting Germany and the US to supply?military equipment to Ukraine?in order for the country to better defend themselves.

Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, the secretary general of the European Union’s European External Action Service, Stefano Sannino, said Russia had “moved from a concept of special operation to a concept now of a war against NATO and the West.”

“I think that this latest development in terms of armed supply is just an evolution of the situation and of the way Russia started moving the war into a different stage,” Sannino, said, adding that Putin was launching “indiscriminate attacks against civilians and against cities.”

Here’s what else is happening:

Annexed Ukrainian regions to be put on Moscow time: The occupied parts of four Ukrainian regions – the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions – which Russia declared it had annexed in September will be ordered to use Moscow time, according to a post on Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Telegram channel.?

Kremlin says Washington “demonizing” Russian private mercenary Wagner group: The Kremlin said Friday that Washington has been “demonizing” the Russian private mercenary organization Wagner Group for years, following the US Treasury’s decision to designate the group as a significant transnational criminal organization. The?Treasury Department on Thursday designated the group, which is heavily involved in the war in Ukraine, as a significant transnational criminal organization, and imposed a slew of sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.

“Substantial damage” to Ukraine’s power grid after missile attack: Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s state-run energy operator, has said Thursday’s Russian missile strikes resulted in “substantial damage” to the power grid.?Russia launched 70 missiles at Ukraine on Thursday, 47 of which were intercepted, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily operational update on Facebook, and?Moscow’s forces also carried out 44 airstrikes, including 18 using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.

Djokovic’s father responds to criticism after posing with fan wearing pro-Russia “Z” symbol: The father of tennis star Novak Djokovic has responded to criticism after a video emerged on Wednesday of?him at the Australian Open posing with fans holding Russia flags, voicing his support for Russia. In a statement Friday that stopped short of an apology, Srdjan Djokovic said he was in Melbourne “to support my son only,” and “had no intention of causing such headlines or disruption.”??

Russia’s tightly-controlled state media has responded angrily to the shipments of Western tanks pledged to Ukraine this week – and that anger is shared by some Moscow residents.

Ukraine’s tanks “are going to hinder our troops,” Sergei told CNN in Russia’s capital. “But we are going to win regardless. It’s just enlarging the conflict,” he said, repeating the Kremlin narrative that Ukraine is a puppet government of the West.

“It’s going to bring on another world war,” an older woman added. “We remember WWII well, when I was just a kid. No one is going to win another world war.”

But that isn’t the only view found on Moscow’s streets. A number of Russians expressed exasperation with the conflict, and some were directly critical of President Vladimir Putin.

“It’s disgusting… they never should have started the war,” one woman said, calling Putin “guilty” of the invasion.

“There is a lack of public information,” another person said, expressing their frustration with the pro-war propaganda that fills Russia’s airwaves. “People should be explained things … it would be good if the experts started expressing their real opinions instead of obeying orders, from the government and Putin.”

Others feel the time is right for a Russian exit. “I think that this is a political war, and not a war for the people. Let them resolve this,” another woman said.

A film student, who has friends fighting in the conflict, said: “I’m on the verge of tears here. I just wish this special military operation never started in the first place, this war, and that human life was really valued.”

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi talks with a journalist in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 26.

The United Nations’ refugee agency chief on Friday accused Russia of violating the “fundamental principles of child protection in situations of war” by giving Ukrainian children Russian passports and putting them up for adoption.??

Due to limited access in Russia, Grandi said he could not provide statistics because it was “difficult to pinpoint the concrete aspects” to determine the number of children who had been given passports or put up for adoption.

“We are seeking access all the time, and access has been rather rare, sporadic and not unfettered,” he added.??

Russia had previously dismissed accusations that Ukrainian children have been abducted.??

“We categorically reject unfounded allegations that the Russian authorities are kidnapping children,” Russian diplomat at the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said last year, Russian state media TASS reported.??

Following a meeting with UNHCR’s Grandi on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a mechanism to return children and adults “forcibly deported to Russia” and “to bring to justice all those responsible for deportation.”

Maria Kostenko and Anna Chernova contributed to this report.?

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, with Ukrainian separatist regional leaders Vladimir Saldo, left, Yevgeniy Balitsky, second left, Leonid Pasechnik, right and Denis Pushilin, second right, seen during the annexation ceremony of four Ukrainian regions at the Grand Kremlin Palace, September 30, in Moscow, Russia.

The occupied parts of four Ukrainian regions which Russia declared it had annexed in September will be ordered to use Moscow time, according to a post on the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Telegram channel.?

The Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions will become part of Russia’s second time zone. “A draft law… has already been submitted to the government,” the post read.???

How did we get here? In September, President Vladimir Putin announced Russia would seize of nearly a fifth of Ukraine, declaring that the millions of people living there would be Russian citizens “forever.”

Under the annexation process, which is illegal under international law, Moscow said it would recognize four Ukrainian regions as Russian territory: Luhansk and Donetsk – home to two Russian-backed breakaway republics where fighting has been ongoing since 2014 – as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, much of which have been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began.

Putin’s announcement?followed so-called referendums in the regions that were universally dismissed as “shams” by Ukraine and Western nations.

The Kremlin said Friday that Washington has been “demonizing” the Russian private mercenary organization Wagner group for years, following the US Treasury’s decision to designate the group as a significant transnational criminal organization.

“Yesterday was not the first time we heard such statements from Washington demonizing?PMC (Private Military Contractor)?Wagner. This has been going on for many years,”?said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

“Such statements from Washington are unfounded. We never see any intelligible arguments,” he added.

Here’s some background: The US?Treasury Department on Thursday designated the?Wagner?Group, which is heavily involved in the war in Ukraine, as a significant transnational criminal organization, and imposed a slew of sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.

The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions for its illicit activities in the Central African Republic, saying in its statement?“the Wagner Group has also meddled and destabilized countries in Africa, committing widespread human rights abuses and extorting natural resources from their people.”

Peskov said Friday there was “no evidence or confirmation” provided to the public about claims of the group’s involvement in the Central African Republic.

The US Department of State concurrently announced a number of sanctions meant to “target a range of?Wagner’s key infrastructure – including an aviation firm used by?Wagner, a?Wagner?propaganda organization, and?Wagner?front companies,” according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Read more:

This general view shows the 'PMC Wagner Centre', associated with the founder of the Wagner private military group (PMC) Yevgeny Prigozhin, during the official opening of the office block on the National Unity Day, in Saint Petersburg, on November 4, 2022.

Related article US introduces new sanctions targeting Russia's Wagner mercenary group | CNN Politics

Secretary General of the European Union's European External Action Service Stefano Sannino speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club on January 27, in Tokyo, Japan.

A senior European Union official accused Russia on Friday of taking its war against Ukraine to a “different stage” by taking aim at civilians and non-military targets, prompting Germany and the US to supply military equipment to Ukraine in order for the country to better defend themselves.

Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, the secretary general of the European Union’s European External Action Service, Stefano Sannino, said Russia had “moved from a concept of special operation to a concept now of a war against NATO and the West.”

“I think that this latest development in terms of armed supply is just an evolution of the situation and of the way Russia started moving the war into a different stage,” Sannino, said, adding that Putin was launching “indiscriminate attacks against civilians and against cities.”

The EU’s latest actions are aimed at “just giving the possibility of saving lives and allowing the Ukrainians to defend (themselves) from these barbaric attacks,” he added.

Tanks promised: The leaders of the United States and Germany each announced Wednesday they will send contingents of tanks to Ukraine, reversing their longstanding trepidation at providing Kyiv with offensive armored vehicles and unleashing powerful new tools in Ukraine’s efforts to retake territory seized by Russia.

The announcement by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he will send Leopard 2 tanks was coupled with an announcement from US President Joe Biden that he was providing 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, reversing the administration’s longstanding resistance to requests from Kyiv for the highly sophisticated but maintenance-heavy vehicles.

The dual announcements made for a landmark moment that followed weeks of intense pressure on Berlin from some of its NATO allies. The decisions were the result of prolonged diplomacy between Germany, the United States and other European allies, and come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares for a new Russian offensive this spring.

Women stand next to damaged residential houses as workers repair electricity cables following Russian missile attacks on January 26, in Hlevakha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s state-run energy operator, has said Thursday’s Russian missile strikes resulted in “substantial damage” to the power grid.?

“The recovery of the power grid becomes harder, and lasts longer, after every Russian attack,” the company said in a statement posted to Facebook.

It noted that Ukraine had now suffered 13 missile attacks and 15 drone attacks on its energy facilities.?

Some background: Russia launched 70 missiles at Ukraine on Thursday, 47 of which were intercepted, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily operational update on Facebook.?

Moscow’s forces also carried out 44 airstrikes, including 18 using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. All self-detonating drones were shot down, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.?

Earlier,?Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the main targets were energy facilities.??

A woman stands on top of a crater next to a destroyed house after a Russian rocket attack in Hlevakha, Kyiv region on January 26.

Russia launched 70 missiles at Ukraine on Thursday, 47 of which were intercepted, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily operational update on Facebook.?

Moscow’s forces also carried out 44 airstrikes, including 18 using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. All self-detonating drones were shot down, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.?

Earlier,?Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the main targets were energy facilities.?

At least 11 people were killed and another 11 were injured across Ukraine, the country’s State Emergency Services reported Thursday. Meanwhile, emergency power outages were imposed in some regions.

The new round of missiles fired toward Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities came just hours after Germany and the United States announced plans to send modern tanks to the country.

The father of tennis star Novak Djokovic has responded to criticism after a video emerged on Wednesday of?him at the Australian Open posing with fans holding Russia flags, voicing his support for Russia.

In a statement Friday that stopped short of an apology, Srdjan Djokovic said he was in Melbourne “to support my son only,” and “had no intention of causing such headlines or disruption.”??

“I was outside with Novak’s fans as I have done after all of my son’s matches to celebrate his wins and take pictures with them. I had no intention of being caught up in this,” he said.?

He added that he would watch his son’s semifinal match against US star Tommy Paul from home on Friday “so there is no disruption … for my son or for the other player.”

Novak Djokovic will not be commenting on the situation, his management told CNN.

Earlier Friday, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia had urged the tennis star to state his position on the war following his father’s actions.

“I think for him to dispel the speculation it’s important to make a very strong statement about where he stands on this war,” Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko told CNN.

What the video showed: In a video posted on YouTube by a known Vladimir Putin supporter, Srdjan Djokovic can be seen posing with a fan outside Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena. The man is holding a Russia flag with Putin’s face on it and wearing a shirt with the “Z” symbol on his shirt, which is viewed as a sign of support for Russia, including its invasion of Ukraine.

Read the full story here.

Britain's armored vehicles prepare to move at the Tapa Military Camp, in Estonia, on January 19.

Those hoping that main battle tanks donated by NATO allies to Ukraine will have an immediate impact in its?war with Russia?may have to adjust their expectations.

After confirming it will receive deliveries of the American M-1 Abrams,?German Leopards?and?British Challengers, Kyiv is now confronted with the logistical and operational realities of incorporating an assortment of vastly different and complex heavy armor into effective fighting units.

But first, the Ukrainians must factor in the time line for delivery.

Even the most optimistic estimates say it will take months for the tanks to enter the battlefield in numbers to make a big difference, while in the case of Abrams tanks it could be more than a year before Ukraine is able to deploy them.

Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said Thursday that the United States would provide Ukraine with an advanced version of the Abrams, the M1A2.

The US does not “have these tanks available in excess in our US stocks,” she said, adding it will take “months to transfer” them to Ukraine.

Many analysts say it would make things easier for Ukraine to stick with one kind of tank, and that’s what makes Germany’s decision to allow Leopards into the fight so important.

Modern main battle tanks are complicated pieces of weaponry. Looking formidable and rugged on the outside, much of their effectiveness on the battlefield comes down to sophisticated electronic and computer systems at their core. Those systems find targets and train the tank’s main gun on them.

Maintaining the tanks, repairing them, and supplying the parts necessary requires detailed training all the way from the crews in the vehicles to the logistics trail supporting them, hundreds or maybe thousands of miles from the front lines in eastern Ukraine.

Read the full analysis here.

Japan on Friday announced additional sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow’s latest actions in Ukraine, banning the export of key strategic goods and freezing the assets of dozens of people.

The sanctions, which mostly take effect Friday, target Russian politicians, military personnel, businessmen, and companies.

They include 14 pro-Moscow figures linked to Russia’s illegal attempts to annex four regions in the south and east of Ukraine.

From Feb. 3, Tokyo will also ban exports to to 49 designated entities in Russia of goods that could be used to strengthen Moscow’s military forces.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said this includes semiconductor equipment and components, robots, generators, explosives, and vaccines.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in action during his quarterfinal match against Russia’s Andrey Rublev on Wednesday, January 25 in Melbourne.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia on Friday called on tennis star Novak Djokovic to state his position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after the player’s father was pictured at a demonstration with fans holding Russia flags.

Footage from the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday shows?Srdjan?Djokovic posing behind a Russian flag superimposed with President Vladimir Putin’s face.

Speaking to CNN Friday, Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko said the incident amounted to a “provocation” and “shines a negative light on Novak himself as he prepares for his semi-final.”

“I think for him to dispel the speculation it’s important to make a very strong statement about where he stands, and in this war, and I would like to see an apology from Novak Djokovic,” the ambassador said.

Tennis Australia told CNN that four people were ejected from the tournament on Wednesday for displaying pro-war imagery.?

CNN has reached out to both Srdjan?Djokovic and Novak Djokovic for comment.

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Novak Djokovic's father Srdjan was seen posing with flag-waving supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Australian Open in this image taken from a video on January 26.

Related article Novak Djokovic's father poses with fan wearing pro-Russia 'Z' symbol | CNN

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the West for further weapons supplies after?another wave of Russian missile strikes?targeted Kyiv and other cities across the country.

Ukraine said it was able to shoot down most of the 55 missiles fired by Russia, a feat Zelensky attributed to Western-donated air defense systems.?

“Today, thanks to the air defense systems provided to Ukraine and the professionalism of our warriors, we managed to shoot down most of the Russian missiles and Shaheds,” he said, referring to Iranian-made drones.

“These are at least hundreds of lives saved and dozens of infrastructure facilities preserved,” the Ukrainian president said.

Update on the eastern front:?Zelensky then shifted focus to the eastern Donbas region, where fighting remains the fiercest. Ukrainian troops are suffering heavy attrition in the east.

“The more Russia loses in this battle for Donbas, the less its overall potential will be,” he added.

Zelensky said his government is aware of Russian plans for future operations in Ukraine and assured his countrymen they were working to counter Moscow’s moves.

A General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon fighter jet flies at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas on Feb. 16, 2022.

The decision by Germany, the United States, and others to send main battle tanks to?Ukraine has gone further than many thought realistic just months ago.

Western nations, showcasing unity and wanting to head off a renewed Russian offensive, have cast aside fears that more advanced weaponry risked provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin.

With tanks checked off the list, Ukrainian leaders have renewed their public appeals for Western fighter jets.

Publicly, Western leaders eschew discussion of fighter jets going to Ukraine, and they were not officially on the agenda of a meeting between Ukraine and its allies in Ramstein, Germany, last week.

But while last year the delivery of fighter jets was declared by the Pentagon press secretary to bring “little increased capabilities, at high risk,” now Jon Finer, the US Deputy National Security Adviser,?says that?they have “not ruled in or out any specific systems,” including the F-16.

The Netherlands, too, elicited some raised eyebrows last week, when its foreign minister told a parliamentarian asking about F-16s that “when it comes to things that the Netherlands can supply, there are no taboos.”

The F-16, first developed in the 1970s, is a highly maneuverable fighter jet, capable of carrying six air-to-air or air-to-surface missiles under its wings. It’s no longer purchased by the US, but new iterations are still being purchased by countries like Bahrain and Jordan.

The fighter jet’s current manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, has taken note. Its chief operating officer, Frank St. John, acknowledged to the Financial Times this week that there was “a lot of conversation about third party transfer of F-16s,” and that a new iteration of the F-16 just entering production could help satiate potential demand.

Read the full analysis here.

US President Joe Biden speaks about the continued support of Ukraine in its fight against Russia at the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, January 25.

President Joe Biden is considering making a trip to Europe around the one-year anniversary of?Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?next month, two senior administration officials tell CNN.

A trip is not yet confirmed, and details have yet to be finalized. But one of the officials said that one stop under consideration is Poland, a key NATO ally currently housing thousands of American troops that also serves as a hub for Western weapons transfers to Ukraine. US service members are also training Ukrainian troops there.

It is highly unlikely that Biden would travel to Ukraine as part of this trip, however, one of the officials said, given the ongoing security concerns.

Biden’s aides have been planning for several weeks how they will mark the anniversary of the invasion, including potentially a major address. They hope to emphasize the resilience of the Ukrainian people, noting that when the war began, many assumed Kyiv would fall within days.

NBC News?first reported a trip to Europe was under consideration.

Read more here.

The US Treasury Department on Thursday designated the Wagner Group, a Russian private mercenary organization heavily involved in the war in Ukraine, as a significant transnational criminal organization, and imposed a slew of sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.

Here are the actions taken by both US departments:

The State Department announced sanctions on the following:

The department also announced it will take steps to impose visa restrictions “on 531 members of the Russian Federation military” associated with the assault on Ukraine.

The Treasury Department announced sanctions on the following:

The White House had previewed the significant transnational criminal organization designation and forthcoming sanctions against the?Wagner?group last week.

At least 11 people were killed and another 11 were injured across Ukraine as a result of Russian missile strikes Thursday, the country’s State Emergency Services reported.

In a statement, spokesperson Oleksandr Khorunzhyi provided the following additional details:

The missiles caused damage in 11 regions throughout Ukraine, Khorunzhyi added.

Here’s what Ukrainian officials have said about the impact of the Russian attacks:

The?Swedish?government was complicit in the burning of the Quran at a protest in?Stockholm?last weekend, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt ?avu?o?lu reportedly said Thursday.

Increased tensions between the two countries come at a time when Sweden is relying on Turkey to support its bid for membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) military alliance, of which Turkey is a member, in the light of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

?avu?o?lu blamed the Swedish government after police in Stockholm authorized the demonstration by right-wing politician Rasmus Paludan, and held it responsible for the burning of the Islamic holy book, according to state news agency Anadolu.

Turkish-Swedish relations suffered a major blow last week after the rally outside the city’s Turkish Embassy last Saturday at which anti-immigration politician Paludan set a copy of the Quran alight.

The incident sparked anger in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where protesters took to the streets and burned the Swedish flag outside the Swedish embassy in response.

Read more here.