Summary of events today

 

8m ago

18.30 GMT

We will now be closing the blog. Here is a summary of events today:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jan/15/russia-ukraine-war-live-rescuers-work-though-night-after-deadly-russian-missile-attack-on-dnipro-apartment-block

 

• The number of people killed in a missile attack on a residential block in Dnipro has risen to 29, the regional governor said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported that at least 73 people were wounded and 39 people had been rescued as of Sunday afternoon. The city government in Dnipro said 43 people were reported missing, the Associated Press reported.
• Vladimir Putin has told Russian state television that what he dubs the “special military operation” in Ukraine has gained positive momentum, Reuters reports. The Russian president told Rossiya 1 that he hoped soldiers would deliver more wins after Russia claimed control of the eastern Ukrainian saltmining town of Soledar – a claim disputed by Kyiv.
• Claiming responsibility for the missile strikes across Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that it achieved its goal. A ministry statement posted on Telegram said: “All designated targets have been hit. The goal of the attack has been achieved.” However, it did not mention the attack on the Dnipro residential building.
• Battle tanks from German industrial reserves wanted by Ukraine will not be ready to be delivered until 2024. The warning from arms manufacturer Rheinmetall will dampen Kyiv’s hopes that the UK’s promise to deliver Challenger 2 tanks would encourage other European nations to swiftly follow suit.
• The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said “now is the time to accelerate and go further and faster” in giving Ukraine the support it needs. In a column for the British tabloid the Sun on Sunday, Cleverly writes that the Russian army is on the defensive and morale among its troops is pitiful, pinning it on the “shambolic state of Russian military logistics”.
• The MoD says there is a realistic possibility that Russian leaders hope an increase in the change in the age of conscription to 30 will be “less alarming” than announcing another round of the unpopular “partial mobilisation” process, which Putin did in September.
• Ukraine can expect more deliveries of heavy weapons from Western countries soon, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with German newspaper, Handelsblatt, on Sunday.
• The German ministry of defence has said Russian leadership and forces responsible for war crimes in Ukraine “must be held accountable”. German foreign affairs minister Annalena Baerbock will be travelling to the Hague, it added.
• An ammunition explosion caused by “careless” handling of a grenade in Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine killed three soldiers and injured 16, Reuters reports Russian news agencies as saying.
• Belarus’ Security Council said on Sunday that joint air force drills with Russia, due to start next week, were purely defensive in nature and would focus on reconnaissance missions and how to thwart a potential attack, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
• The UK prime minister has confirmed the country will provide tanks to Ukraineto help Kyiv’s forces “push Russian troops back”.Downing Street said Rishi Sunak made the pledge during a call on Saturday morning with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and that Sunak offered Challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems as a sign of the UK’s “ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine”. Russia’s embassy in Britain said the move would only “intensify” the conflict.