Here is the situation as it stands on Saturday, January 28, 2023:
Fighting
- Ukrainian troops were locked in a “fierce” confrontation with Russian fighters for control of the town of Vuhledar southwest of Donetsk.
- The latest wave of Russian shelling killed at least 10 Ukrainian and wounded 20 others, the office of Ukraine’s president said.
Diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy extended a provocative invitation to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach to visit the front-line city of Bakhmut after the sport’s body said a “pathway” should be explored to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
- Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, condemned the decision by the United States to supply Ukraine with advanced battle tanks to help fight Russian forces, accusing Washington of crossing a “red line” and escalating a “proxy war” designed to destroy Moscow.
- Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki in Asmara as part of his Africa tour aimed at boosting international support for Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.
- European Union ambassadors discussed extending sanctions to Belarus, Moscow’s ally, to crack down on Russian companies routing banned products through its neighbour.
- Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor said it blocked CIA and FBI websites, accusing the US government agencies of spreading false information, the state-owned TASS news agency reported.
- Russia is violating the “fundamental principles of child protection” in wartime by giving Ukrainian children Russian passports and putting them up for adoption, the UN refugee agency chief told Reuters news agency.
- Japan tightened sanctions against Russia following its latest wave of missile attacks in Ukraine, adding goods to an export ban list and freezing the assets of Russian officials and entities.
Military
- A total of 321 heavy tanks have been promised to Ukraine by several countries, according to its ambassador to France.
- Ukraine said it is setting up drone assault companies within its armed forces as part of an idea to build up an “army of drones” that will be equipped with Starlink satellite communications.
- Poland will send an additional 60 tanks to Ukraine on top of the 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks it has already pledged, the Polish prime minister said in an interview with Canadian television on Thursday.
