Because the struggle enters its 700th day, these are the principle developments.
Right here is the state of affairs on Wednesday, January 24, 2024.
Combating
- A minimum of 18 individuals had been killed and greater than 130 injured after Russia focused Ukraine’s main cities in a wave of missile strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned. Russia launched practically 40 missiles of various sorts in “another combined strike to try to circumvent our air defence system”, he mentioned in a sombre night deal with warning the loss of life toll might rise. Eight individuals had been killed in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest metropolis, which was hit by three waves of assaults. Dozens of Kyiv residents had been additionally injured after Russian missiles hit house blocks within the capital.
- Celeste Wallander, an assistant secretary of defence at the USA Pentagon, mentioned the Russian missile and drone assaults had been a part of an try by Moscow to search out weaknesses in Ukraine’s army whereas further US funding for safety help is tied up in Congress.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed its air assault on Ukraine focused corporations producing weapons, missiles and ammunition and had been profitable. Requested by reporters concerning the raids and civilian casualties, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the Russian army “does not hit social facilities and residential neighbourhoods and does not hit civilians”.
Politics and diplomacy
- Turkey’s parliament voted 287-55 to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership after greater than a yr of delays that pissed off Western efforts to indicate resolve within the face of Russia’s struggle on Ukraine.
- NATO Secretary Common Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the Turkish transfer and mentioned he was relying on Hungary to “complete its national ratification as soon as possible”. Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban mentioned earlier he had invited his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson to Budapest to “negotiate” the accession deal.
- Russia rejected allegations that it had forcibly deported Ukrainian kids to Russia. Ukraine has mentioned that 20,000 kids have been pressured to maneuver to Russia because the struggle erupted in February 2022. The Worldwide Legal Court docket final yr issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his kids’s commissioner over the transfers.
- The US Central Intelligence Company launched a Russian-language video to try to persuade Russian intelligence staff to change sides and work as double brokers for Washington, amid perceived disaffection over the struggle in Ukraine.
- The documentary 20 Days in Mariupol was nominated for an Oscar. The movie recounts the Russian siege and brutal seize of the Ukrainian port metropolis in 2022.
Weapons
- NATO signed a 1.1 billion euro ($1.2bn) deal to purchase 220,000 rounds of 155mm artillery shells for Ukraine. The shells aren’t anticipated to reach within the nation for 2 to a few years.
- Coordinated raids in 5 European nations led to the arrest of three individuals within the Netherlands suspected of breaking sanctions to export technological and lab gear to Russia that would have army makes use of, EU judicial company Eurojust mentioned.
- US Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin opened a month-to-month assembly of about 50 nations that coordinate assist for Ukraine in opposition to Russia, however didn’t announce any new US help for Kyiv. Funding has been blocked by Republicans who need extra motion on US border points. Austin joined the assembly from house the place he’s recovering from surgical procedure for prostate most cancers.