Ukraine admits besieged town is ‘critical’

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Russia’s attempt to capture the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka has reached a “critical” stage, Ukraine has warned.
The Kremlin’s forces launched a renewed push to capture the town in October, with troops on three sides pounding the settlement with relentless artillery strikes in a bid to force a Ukrainian withdrawal.
Russian soldiers have begun reaching the outskirts in recent days, amid signs Ukraine could be about to lose its first major town in about nine months.
Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the Avdiivka’s military administration, warned on Tuesday the situation in the town is now “critical in some areas”.
“This does not mean that everything is lost, that everything is very bad. But the enemy is directing very large amount of forces at our city,” said Mr Barabash.
Capturing the town would provide another boost for Russia, which remains on the front foot as the second anniversary of its invasion approaches.
Thank you for following our live coverage of the Ukraine-Russia war. We’ll be back tomorrow bringing you all the latest. 
Striking a weapons deal with the US has proved a banana skin for Ecuador.
Russia has suspended imports of the fruit from the South American country and has begun buying them from India instead.
Although Russia has reported it is a pest control measure, the decision comes weeks after Quito agreed to a US weapons deal that will result in Ukraine receiving Soviet-era military equipment from the South American country.
The deal, worth an estimated $200 million (£15.9 million), has angered Moscow, with Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry spokesperson, saying last week that Ecuador had made a “reckless decision under serious pressure from external interested parties”.
However, Daniel Noboa, the Ecuadorian president, has said that Quito had every right to conduct the deal because it involved “scrap”.
Rafael Grossi, the UN nuclear watchdog chief, said he would visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine on Wednesday.
The proposed aim of the visit is to assess the safety of the facility, which was seized by Russia in the early stages of the war and has remained inactive for the past 18 months, following concerns over sharp cuts to Ukrainian facility staff by Russian authorities and question marks over whether its year-old uranium fuel remains safe.
See post at 10.29am for more details.
Salome Zurabishvili, the Georgian president, has denounced plans for a Russian naval base in the breakaway Abkhazia region as a threat to security in the Black Sea, AFP reported.
As Ukraine stepped up attacks on Moscow’s Black Sea fleet last October, Aslan Bzhania, the separatist leader of Abkhazia — a disputed territory in North Western Georgia — signed an agreement with Russia to establish a Russian naval base at the Black Sea town of Ochamchire “in the near future”.
During an address to parliament, Ms Zurabishvili said: “Russia’s plan to transform the Ochamchire port into its navy base is aimed at shifting the confrontation into the Black Sea, into our territorial waters, and at creating a threat to the strategic perspective of the Black Sea.”
Abkhazia is recognised as an independent state by Russia, though nearly all UN member states consider it sovereign territory of Georgia.
Ochamchire has been a base for Russian patrol vessels operating in the Black Sea since 2009 but is too shallow to receive larger vessels. But, Ukraine’s intelligence service said in October that Russia was actively “reconstructing the port infrastructure in some places to ensure that warships can be based there”.
Five Ukrainian intelligence officers secretly working for Russia as part of a powerful spy ring have been arrested, Kyiv has announced.
The four current and former officers were reportedly caught passing information about Ukraine’s military sites, defensive positions and energy facilities to Russia’s FSB security service.
“The security service of Ukraine neutralised a powerful agent network run by the FSB’s military counterintelligence which was operating in Ukraine,” Kyiv’s SBU security service said in a statement Tuesday.The agency shared photos of the men being arrested for treason with their faces blurred out.
The group is also accused of passing on information about defensive barriers near the Black Sea port city of Odesa, the location of rocket launchers in the northeastern Kharkiv region, and information on Ukrainian troop movements and vehicles, the general prosecutor in Kyiv said.
Nato member Latvia has re-introduced conscription to deter Russia from invading Europe, the country’s foreign minister told the Telegraph.
Compulsory service came into effect at the start of January, just weeks in advance of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We have reintroduced the draft,” said Krisjanis Karins, the foreign minister, adding: “We’re using that to increase the size of our active and ready reserve.”
All male citizens aged 18 to 27 will be required to complete a year of service, including those living abroad.
Those who refuse to serve could be fined or imprisoned though some exemptions will apply, including for those with health conditions, single parents and dual citizens who have already served abroad.
Read the full story here.
The Israeli ambassador has arrived at the Russian foreign ministry after being summoned over “unacceptable comments”, Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Moscow yesterday demanded that Simona Halperin report to Russia’s foreign ministry over remarks she made in an interview with Russia’s Kommersant newspaper published on Sunday, according to the Tass news agency.
In the interview, Ms Halperin accused Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, of playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. 
According to the ministry, Ms Halperin misrepresented Russia’s foreign policy stance in what it described as “an extremely unsuccessful start” to her diplomatic posting, which began last December.
Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, are to discuss the war in Ukraine and the Black Sea Grain Initiative during a visit to Ankara by the Russian leader, Turkey’s foreign minister has said.
Speaking at a news conference in Valletta, Hakan Fidan said Turkey was working with Ukraine and Russia to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to allow the safe export of Ukrainian grains via the Black Sea, after Moscow withdrew from the accord in July 2023.
Mr Fidan said: “Putin’s visit is scheduled for the near future. It is important to maintain a dialogue on various topics, meaning the Black Sea, grain, obviously Ukraine, as well as a number of other bilateral issues. There are a lot of topics, and it is important to get on the same page on them on a regular basis.”
The top diplomat added that “from this point of view, Turkey attaches great importance to the continuation of constant dialogue” with Russia.
The proposed visit, scheduled for Feb 12, would be the Russian leader’s first trip to a NATO-member country since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
The expected re-shuffle of Ukraine’s war-time cabinet will have no impact on Kyiv’s relations with its Western allies, Ukraine’s foreign minister said.
“I do not think that any changes in the government can influence our relations with our partners,” Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister, told a joint news briefing in Kyiv.
His comments come after Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that he is considering a “reset” to replace several senior officials amidst speculation that Gen Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s army chief, will be dismissed.
The commander-in-chief’s future has been up in the air since reports were published late last month claiming Mr Zelensky warned him in a private meeting that he would be replaced.
“We can have discussions about tactics inside of the team but we are all united around our strategic goal which is the defeat of Russia in Ukraine and restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. And there are no discussions whatsoever on this strategic goal,” said Mr Kuleba.
Leading Putin critic Alexei Navalny has been placed in a one-man cell in a remote Arctic penal colony, allies of the Russian dissident reported.
Kira Yarmysh, Mr Navalny’s press secretary, wrote on Twitter that the 47-year-old had already spent months in solitary confinement since he was jailed on his return to Moscow in 2021. He has since received three prison terms, including on charges of extremism, fraud and contempt of court and was sentenced to a further 19 years in August last year. 
Ms Yarmysh posted: “He has been in a punishment cell since Feb 1. They gave me another 10 days. This is already the 26th time, in total he will spend 293 days in the punishment cell.”
Russian shelling killed a 59-year-old woman in the souther Kherson region overnight, officials in the region said.
AFP reported that the strike targeted Novotyagynka, a village on the western bank of the Dnipro river, the de facto front line in the south of the country.
❗️Вночі армія рф знову атакувала житлові квартали ХерсонуВід влучання боєприпасу загорілась господарча споруда, існувала загроза перекидання вогню на інші будівлі.Рятувальники швидко загасили пожежу. pic.twitter.com/Hxjfw5M1oq
A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of Boris Akunin, a UK-based bestselling Russian author, for allegedly “justifying terrorism”.
The 67-year-old was charged in December 2023 after he was pranked by two pro-Kremlin activists into expressing support for Ukraine on a phone call.
In December, Russian authorities added Mr Akunin to Russia’s register of “extremists and terrorists” over the call, in which two pranksters posed as Ukrainian officials. A criminal case was opened against Akunin for “discrediting the army” – specifically for “justifying terrorism” and spreading “fake news” about the Russian military.
Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ordered Grigory Chkhartishvili, who is known under the pen name Boris Akunin, to be taken into custody once he’s detained.
Akunin, who lives in London, is one one of Russia’s most widely read contemporary authors and is best known for his historical detective novels.
He has been a longstanding critic of the Kremlin, and denounced Moscow’s assault on Ukraine as “absurd” shortly after the offensive began in February 2022.
After the authorities branded Akunin an extremist, one of Russia’s leading publishers, AST, announced it was suspending the printing and sale of his books. In an online statement, Akunin called his publisher’s move “an important milestone”, saying that Russian writers had not been accused of terrorism since Josef Stalin’s purges.
The Kremlin declined to comment on whether former Fox journalist Tucker Carlson visited Vladimir Putin’s office, Reuters reported.
Russian media captured images of Mr Carlson, 54, at various spots around Moscow on Monday, fuelling speculation that the he may become the first Western journalist to interview the Russian President Vladimir Putin since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
When asked if Mr Carlson had visited the Russian administration building in central Moscow, Dmitry Peskov, a  Kremlin spokesman, told reporters: “I am not commenting in any way on the movements of an American journalist.”
Security at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is still “fragile”, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief has said.
This follows staff cuts by Russian authorities occupying the facility, which is among the 10 largest atomic power plants in the world.
Rafael Grossi, who is visiting Kyiv, told AP that his upcoming visit to the plant will aim to assess the impact of recent personnel reductions after Russia denied access to employees of Ukraine’s Energoatom.
“This huge facility used to have around 12,000 staff. Now, this has been reduced to between 2,000 and 3,000, which is quite a steep reduction in the number of people working there,” Mr Grossi said. “To man, to operate these very sophisticated big installations you need a certain number of people performing different specific functions.”
“So far the situation is stable, but it is a very, very delicate equilibrium,” he said. “So this is why I need to see for myself what is the situation, what are the prospects in terms of staffing, medium-term and long-term as well.”
The International Atomic Energy Association has repeatedly expressed alarm about the risk of nuclear catastrophe posed by the facility, which has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The plant’s six reactors have been shut down for nearly 18 months, but it till holds large quantities of nuclear fuel that must be cooled. The collapse of the Kakhova Dam in June jeopardised access to the reservoir where water was drawn for cooling, while the presence of mines in and around the plant pose further risk.
The plant suffered yet another blackout last month, highlighting continuing nuclear safety concerns as battles rage nearby.
“All these things tell us that the situation in Zaporizhzhia continues to be fragile and it requires constant care,” Grossi said.
Josep Borrell, the European Union foreign policy chief, arrived in Kyiv this morning on a trip to underline the EU’s “unwavering support” for Ukraine as the war nears its third year, he said.
Mr Borrell said his talks in Kyiv would discuss support for Ukraine on both the military and financial sides, as well as Kyiv’s progress on reforms as part of its bid to join the 27-member bloc.
The arrival of Mr Borrell, who is on his fourth visit to Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, comes at a crucial moment in the war.
The European Union approved a four-year 50 billion euro (£43 billion) in economic assistance for Ukraine last week in a major boost for Kyiv which depends heavily on its Western allies for military and financial support.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media platform X that the EU aims to begin payments in March. The Ukrainian government has said it expects to receive about 4.5 billion euro from the EU next month.
The major aid package from the United States, however, still remains blocked in Congress amid political infighting.
Back in Kyiv for my fourth visit since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion. Here to discuss with our Ukrainian friends the EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine – on military side, on the financial side with the new Ukraine facility, as well as on the EU reform path. pic.twitter.com/fnvZuYWOJv
Millions of barrels of Russian oil are still being imported to the UK despite sanctions, research claims.
The BBC reported that a “loophole” has allowed Russia to export crude oil to countries such as India, where the fuel is refined and sold to the UK.
The UK Government denied there have been any imports of Russian oil since sanctions were imposed over the war in Ukraine in 2022, but a Government spokesman said that internationally recognised “rules of origin” defined that crude oil is classed as originating from the refining country.
The UK is among many Western countries to ban the import of oil products from Russia in a bid to target the amount of cash Moscow can generate from fossil fuels.
However, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) told the BBC that this “refining loophole” enables countries such as India and China, who have not sanctioned the Kremlin, to import Russian crude, refine it into oil products such as jet fuel and diesel, and export them to the UK.
Isaac Levi, the head of CREA’s Europe-Russia policy and energy analysis, said: “The issue with this loophole is that it increases the demand for Russian crude and enables higher sales in terms of volume and pushing up their price as well, which increases the funds sent to the Kremlin’s war chest.”
Progress towards a deal on US funding for Ukraine has stalled after Senate Republicans turn against a bill on border security and foreign military aid.
The wide-ranging $118 billion (£95 billion) package includes $20 billion for border security as well as $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel.
In an apparent about-turn, Mitch McConnell, senate republican leader, told a closed-door meeting of GOP senators on Monday to vote against the bill on Wednesday, AP reported. Just hours earlier, Mr McConnell had urged colleagues on the Senate floor that “it’s now time for Congress to take action.” 
With the funding stuck in Congress, the US defence department has halted shipments of ammunition and missiles to Kyiv.
Mike Johnson, the house of representatives speaker, declared it “dead on arrival” if it reaches his chamber.
“This Bill is even worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the president has created,” he said in a statement on Twitter.
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, may have left Vladimir Putin’s office yesterday evening, Russia state media outlet RIA Novosti reported.
Alongside footage of a black van, the news site wrote: “The car in which journalist Tucker Carlson allegedly travels around Moscow left the Russian Presidential Administration.”
Mr Carlson, said Russia is “doing very well” during a visit to Moscow but has remained coy about whether he will interview Vladimir Putin.
In a video captured during his visit, Mr Carlson said he wanted to “talk to people, look around, and see how it’s doing… and it’s doing very well.”
When asked if he would interview Mr Putin, he replied: “We’ll see.”
Good morning. We will be bringing you all the latest updates from the Ukraine war.