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31 minutes ago

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin rejects talks with Zelensky as North Korean cannon deployed

Vladimir Putin is ‘afraid of strong leaders’, says Volodymyr Zelensky

Arpan Rai,Tom Watling ,Andy Gregory
Wednesday 29 January 2025 21:00 GMT
Comments
Trump describes Ukraine war as ‘bullets whacking and hitting men’

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Russian president Vladimir Putin has refused to directly engage with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in any upcoming talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Mr Putin, who has spent 25 years in power in Russia, claimed to take issue with the fact that Mr Zelensky has been unable to hold elections since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

In response, Mr Zelensky said the Russian leader’s statements showed he was afraid of talks and sought to keep the conflict going indefinitely.

On the war front, more than a hundred drones targeted Russian oil facilities, including a nuclear power plant, in a major Ukrainian attack this morning, Russian officials said. The Russian defence ministry said that 104 drones were involved in raids across western Russia, 11 of which were destroyed over the Smolensk region.

This comes as North Korea is set to send more than 100 artillery systems to be used against Ukraine’s forces in the war, officials in Kyiv said.

A close ally of Russia, North Korea is about to double the number of artillery systems it has deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, said Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief.

31 minutes ago

France invites foreign ministers including Rubio to Ukraine meeting

France has invited foreign ministers from Ukraine, the UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the European Union, as well as new US secretary of state Marco Rubio, to discuss the war in Ukraine on 12 February, diplomats have told Reuters.

Andy Gregory29 January 2025 21:00
1 hour ago

Video report: The extraordinary lengths North Korean soldiers will go to avoid capture in Ukraine

The extraordinary lengths North Korean soldiers will go to avoid capture in Ukraine
Andy Gregory29 January 2025 20:30
1 hour ago

Alleged Russian spy says suspicions first raised on her way to base training Ukraine forces

A woman accused of spying for Russia has told jurors she began to raise questions while on her way to a US Army base believed to have been used to train Ukrainian soldiers on the Patriot missile system.

Bulgarians Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were allegedly part of a group which carried out surveillance on places and people of interest to the Russian state between August 30 2020 and February 8 2023.

Ivanova has claimed she was deceived, betrayed and controlled by her long-term partner Biser Dzhambazov, 43, who has admitted being in on the plot.

In late 2022, she began questioning what she was doing for the first time on the way to Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, southern Germany, the defendant said.

Emily Pennink reports:

Alleged Russian spy says suspicions first raised on way to Ukraine base

Katrin Ivanova denied being ‘a stupid person’, but said she was under the ‘control’ of her partner her at the time.

Andy Gregory29 January 2025 20:01
1 hour ago

Map: Where Putin’s forces are making gains in eastern Ukraine

Russia has claimed to have captured another key Ukrainian town as it looks to consolidate gains ahead of potential peace talks pushed by Donald Trump.

After months of heavy fighting, Russian forces claimed control of the town of Velyka Novosilka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk on Monday. The town is small, with a prewar population of only 5,000, but it has served as a key assembly area for offensive and defensive Ukrainian operations in the wider area, says Frontelligence Insight, a Ukrainian war tracker. It is also a key route linking towns further east to the rest of unoccupied Ukraine.

It is the second significant town in Donetsk to fall to the Russians this month after Moscow claimed control of Kurakhove roughly 20 miles to the northeast.

Russian forces have been steadily advancing in eastern Ukraine for months in an attack that has centred on the city of Pokrovsk, a linchpin of the wider Donetsk region’s defence. Ukraine’s general staff said there had been 85 Russian attacks on Monday in that direction.

Tom Watling reports:

Where Russian forces are making gains in eastern Ukraine: Mapped

Ukrainian forces fighting around Velyka Novosilka claim its Russian takeover will amount to nothing more than a flag-raising exercise

Andy Gregory29 January 2025 19:34
2 hours ago

Russia suffers 1,670 casualties, Ukraine claims in daily update

Ukraine claims to have inflicted a further 1,670 casualties among Vladimir Putin’s forces in another day of intense fighting along the front line.

Nearly 200 combat clashes were reported in the Ukrainian military’s daily update, with Russia said to have carried out 33 air strikes, fired more than 5,000 artillery shells, and deployed nearly 2,500 kamikaze attack drones.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed its troops had destroyed 10 Russian tanks, 24 armoured vehicles, and 29 artillery systems.

Andy Gregory29 January 2025 19:07
2 hours ago

Watch: Trump describes Ukraine war as 'bullets whacking and hitting men'

Trump describes Ukraine war as 'bullets whacking and hitting men'
Andy Gregory29 January 2025 18:40
3 hours ago

Zelensky hails boost in drone production as ‘bringing the war back to Russia'

While Russia has targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure throughout its near three-year invasion, forcing millions of civilians to endure power cuts through the winter, Ukraine has increasingly been striking back with attacks on energy facilities deep inside Russian territory in recent months.

The overnight wave of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil facilities came just hours after reports that work at the Ryazan oil refinery – among Russia’s largest – had been suspended as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has credited Kyiv’s booming drone production capacity with enabling the recent strikes, saying on Sunday: “I would like to thank all developers and producers of our long-range drones and missiles.

“Everyone can see their effectiveness. Our weapons are bringing the war back to Russia and reducing Russia’s military potential.”

Andy Gregory29 January 2025 18:13
3 hours ago

Ukrainian source claims four drones hit Russian oil depot and all hit target

A Ukrainian military intelligence source claimed to the Kyiv Independent that Lukoil’s depot in Kstovo was targeted by four drones in an overnight attack by Ukraine, all of which hit their target and caused “significant damage”.

In a post on social medi, the Ukrainian military said its attack on a refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region had caused a large fire. A video posted on social media that showed orange flames lighting up the night sky in the city of Kstovo. Lukoil’s Norsi refinery, Russia’s fourth largest, is based in Kstovo, which lies east of Moscow and about 800 km (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Andy Gregory29 January 2025 17:45
4 hours ago

Waves of Ukrainian drones target Russian power and oil facilities, Kyiv says

Ukraine has targeted Russian energy facilities and a big oil refinery that feeds Vladimir Putin’s war machine in multiple waves of drone strikes.

The Ukrainian military said the strike on the refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region had caused a large fire. A video posted on social media that showed orange flames lighting up the night sky in the city of Kstovo. Lukoil’s Norsi refinery, Russia’s fourth largest, is based in Kstovo, which lies east of Moscow and about 800 km (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed it had detected more than 100 drones in a major overnight attack, with the governor of the Smolensk region claiming one drone had been shot down near the largest nuclear power plant in Russia’s northwest.

Read more in this report:

Waves of Ukrainian drones target Russian power and oil facilities, Kyiv says

Ukraine hits second major Russian oil refinery in a week after Zelensky hails Kyiv’s growing long-range drone capabilities as ‘bringing the war back to Russia’

Andy Gregory29 January 2025 17:17
4 hours ago

Zelensky asks Trump to be on Ukraine’s side and reject Putin

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has urged US president Donald Trump to be on Ukraine’s side as the US attempts to broker a peace deal.

“We want him to be on the side of justice, on the side of Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said in the interview aired last night. “Putin is not afraid of Europe,” he said.

Mr Zelensky added Ukraine cannot recognise Russia’s occupation, but it preferred a diplomatic resolution.

The White House had no immediate comment.

Mr Trump has expressed willingness to speak to Mr Putin about ending the war, a contrast with the administration of Democratic former president Joe Biden, who shunned the Russian leader.

Andy Gregory29 January 2025 16:48

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