Ukraine and Russia updates: Putin’s forces launch barrage of drones and missiles, killing 4 in Kiev

Russia launched a drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital early Saturday, killing at least three people.

Timur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said the three were killed in the Shevchenkivsky district. Debris was also reported to have fallen in the Desnyansky district.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said windows were broken and smoke rose at the entrance to a residential building in Shevchenkivsky district, adding that water pipelines were also damaged.

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If US President-elect Donald Trump forces Ukraine to give up territory as part of a peace deal with Russia, it would not only send a “chilling” message to aggressors around the world but also risk violating international law. human rights lawyers have warned.

What to do about Ukraine will be one of the most pressing issues facing Trump when he returns to the White House on Monday, having promised to end the war in one day. His campaign aides are already slowly backing away from that particular promise.

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“Basically, the war in the Arctic has begun,” Russian Duma lawmaker Andrei Gurlyov said on Sunday, according to the Daily Beast, adding that Russia should try to strengthen its northern resources.

In December, President Trump floated the idea of ​​buying Greenland from Denmark, claiming the purchase was “absolutely necessary” to the “security” and “freedom” of the United States. Asked last week if he ruled out using “military or economic coercion” to acquire foreign land, he said: “No, I can’t guarantee either.” .

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Three lawyers who once represented late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were jailed in Russia on Friday as part of the Kremlin’s crackdown on opposition that reached levels not seen since Soviet times.

Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptzel were sentenced to three and a half to five years in prison by a court in the town of Petushki, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Moscow. They were arrested in October 2023 on suspicion of involvement in extremist groups, as Navalny’s network was recognized by authorities.

The case was widely seen as a way to increase pressure on opposition forces to deter defense lawyers from filing political lawsuits.

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According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), North Korea’s military has suffered an estimated 92 casualties each day since large-scale fighting began in the Kursk region on the Russian border in early December.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in early January that 3,800 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in Kursk. In Kursk, Russia is seeking to retake territory following a blitzkrieg attack on Kiev last August and a second attack late last year.

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Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said windows were broken and smoke rose at the entrances to homes in the city’s Shevchenkivsky district.

Water supply pipelines were also damaged, he added.

Lukyanivska metro station was closed after the glass entrance was damaged in the attack, but it was later reopened.

Drones and missiles were also shot down in many regions of Ukraine, including Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kiev, Khmelnitsky, Zhytomir, Kirobohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Donetsk.

Local governor Ivan Fedorov announced that Russian missiles had struck the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia, damaging homes and private cars and injuring 10 people.

He said in a statement that eight people, ranging in age from 28 to 69, were taken to hospital, including a 48-year-old woman in critical condition.

Former security adviser Gordon Brown has warned that it would be “extremely risky” for Britain to send peacekeepers to Ukraine, saying the “grotesquely underfunded” military does not have the resources to do so. he claimed.

However, many senior military officials have expressed concerns about the plan. They include Lord West of Spithead, a former Royal Navy admiral and former adviser to Mr Brown.

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Kiev’s military authorities said three people were killed and three more injured in the attack.

The fourth victim was believed to be dead, but the government later announced that the incident had not yet been confirmed.

Officials say the victims are two men, ages 43 and 25, and a 41-year-old woman.

Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the casualties included a security guard at a restaurant and people riding a minibus on the street.

The cost of the conflict between Israel and Hamas is enormous and tragic. In the hope that this phase will begin to end on Sunday, we sought to sum up the cost of lives lost, suffering of hostages, civilian victims and their families, and destruction of property, livelihoods, and hopes. .

Our goals are not sophisticated. It’s not news that wars are terrible, but it’s worth remembering that wars always bring more death and destruction than intended, and almost always last longer than expected.

Since its founding, The Independent has been a staunch supporter of human rights, self-determination and national security. We have always maintained that democracies must be prepared to take military action as a last resort to defend these principles. We supported, with reservations, an air operation against Slobodan Milosevic’s forces to protect the people of Kosovo from “ethnic cleansing.” And we opposed the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq because we thought the cost of removing Saddam Hussein was too high for any gains it might bring.

Today we stand with the people of Ukraine in their courageous resistance to Vladimir Putin’s aggression and welcome Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Kyiv to directly express that solidarity. However, there are limits to that support. We are not prepared to commit British troops to the defense of Ukraine, and we believe that the Ukrainians should be supplied with long-range missiles, but something that looks as if a NATO member would do so. I’m wary of that. It will be involved in a direct conflict with the Russian military.

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Ukraine on Saturday claimed two attacks on oil depots in western Russia, the latest salvo in Kiev’s air campaign against strategic targets on Russian territory.

Kiev’s General Staff announced that Kiev forces attacked storage facilities in the Kaluga and Tula regions overnight. A statement on each attack said damage was still being assessed, adding that the warehouses were supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

Kaluga region governor Vladislav Shapsha said in a telegram that an industrial site in the city of Lyudinovo was attacked and a fire broke out.

Seven drones were subsequently shot down, one of which landed in a “non-inhabited area,” he said.

Tula region governor Dmitry Milyaev said on Telegram that a fuel and lubricant tank caught fire at a facility in the region as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack.

The Ukrainian military has stepped up attacks on Russian territory, mainly oil depots and military production facilities, as it struggles to stop Russia’s steady advance on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.