Russia-Ukraine struggle: Putin’s forces struggling vital losses in east as Kyiv strikes Russian border – dwell

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and mentioned Polish help of Ukraine’s defence wants, Kyiv mentioned.

The assertion didn’t point out the blockade of Ukraine’s border by Polish farmers and truckers, which began in November and has induced vital disruption to Ukraine’s financial system.

In September, Warsaw mentioned it will cease exporting weapons to Ukraine and would as an alternative make investments the cash in arming Poland, which has been one in every of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since russia invaded final yr, with essentially the most “trendy weapons”.

The row between the neighbouring international locations started when Poland imposed an import ban on Ukrainian grain, together with wheat and maize, after an EU-brokered deal expired.

The deal, which ended on 15 September 2023, allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia to ban the sale of Ukrainian grain, which they declare has flooded the European market and undercut home grain costs since Putin’s invasion, damaging their economies.

However Ukraine launched a authorized problem on the World Commerce Organisation (WTO) on Monday after Poland reinstated the ban, claiming the nation had failed to satisfy its “worldwide obligations”.

Tons of of Russian troopers have defected from Vladimir Putin’s military utilizing an “I need to dwell” hotline arrange by Ukraine, navy intelligence officers in Kyiv have revealed.

Created simply days earlier than russia’s partial mobilisation of 300,000 reservists in September 2022, the hotline has reportedly acquired tens of 1000’s of calls and has led to 220 troopers defecting to Ukraine.

Kyiv’s navy intelligence unit (GUR), which launched the initiative, mentioned a web site that accompanies the hotline has been visited greater than 48 million instances in 15 months.

Jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny quipped that there was nothing extra invigorating than a stroll in freezing Yamal, Siberia, within the early hours of the morning, following his exile to a distant penal colony in December.

After weeks of hypothesis round his wellbeing, Mr Navalny was tracked all the way down to the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp within the Yamal-Nenets area, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow, final month.

However in a Telegram message, Mr Navalny has joked in regards to the freezing situations and the walks he has to do in the course of the early hours of the morning.

“It has not been colder than -32C but. Nothing fairly invigorates you want a stroll in Yamal at 6.30am within the morning. Even at this temperature, you may stroll for greater than half an hour provided that you handle to develop a brand new nostril, new ears and new fingers,” he mentioned.

Ukraine’s energy grid operator has mentioned extreme winter climate has left greater than 1,000 cities and villages with out electrical energy in 9 areas.

Electrical energy consumption was at this week’s highest ranges as temperatures fell to about -15C in lots of components of the nation, grid operator Ukrenergo mentioned.

“The consumption degree continues to develop as a result of appreciable drop in temperature throughout the nation,” it mentioned on the Telegram messaging app, including that electrical energy consumption within the morning was already 5.8 per cent greater than the day earlier than.

The struggle between Israel and Hamas is taking consideration away from the Ukraine battle, the UK overseas secretary has mentioned.

“It’s definitely taking consideration away from Ukraine, which I feel is a pity,” Lord Cameron instructed MPs on the overseas affairs choose committee.

“I feel it’s the job of the strongest supporters of Ukraine – of which I’d say Britain is rightly one – to do every little thing we will to maintain it as excessive up the agenda as potential,” he added.

A US citizen has been arrested on drug fees in russia amid tensions between Washington and Moscow over Putin’s struggle in Ukraine.

Robert Woodland Romanov, who’s reported to have been born in russia and later adopted by an American couple, was ordered to stay in custody for 2 months on fees of getting ready to get entangled in unlawful drug trafficking pending an official investigation.

It comes as Washington has sought to win the discharge of jailed People Paul Whelan and journalist Evan Gershkovich, however mentioned affords thus far have been rejected by the Kremlin.

A Ukrainian poet who was serving as a volunteer on the struggle frontline towards russia’s invasion has been killed, his mom mentioned in a Fb publish, Arpan Rai stories.

The writers affiliation PEN Ukraine additionally confirmed the loss of life of poet Maksym Kryvtsov.

“Poet and soldier Maksym Kryvtsov died within the struggle. This was reported by his mom, and later by Ukrainian writers on their pages in social networks,” it mentioned in a press release on Fb on Sunday.

Russian operatives have been pictured sporting uniform patches bearing the title of a Soviet counter-intelligence company arrange by Joseph Stalin in the course of the Second World Warfare, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has mentioned.

“In late 2023, Russian politicians claimed that the Soviet counter-intelligence (CI) organisation ’Smersh’ was being re-established. In early January 2024, an open-source picture confirmed operatives apparently sporting Smersh uniform patches,” the ministry mentioned.

“An abbreviation of the Russian phrase for ‘loss of life to spies’, Joseph Stalin established the unique organisation which existed from 1941-1946. Within the West, it grew to become identified by way of its fictionalised portrayal in Ian Fleming’s James Bond books.

“It’s unclear whether or not the brand new title signifies any substantive new capabilities or function for russia’s CI perform, or whether or not it’s merely a re-badging. Nevertheless, it gives one other instance of how the Russian authorities consciously sofa the russia-Ukraine battle within the spirit of the Second World Warfare, and their robust concentrate on the supposed infiltration of exterior threats into the nation.”

The UK is to launch a £300m drive to push Vladimir Putin additional out of the worldwide power market by an funding in hi-tech nuclear gasoline, The Unbiased’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin stories.

Ministers will vow to finish what they are saying is russia’s reign as the one business producer of a sort of enriched uranium wanted for the following technology of reactors.

It comes because the world prepares for the second anniversary of russia’s invasion of Ukraine subsequent month.