2023-01-16T06:27:20Z
Russia and Belarus began joint air force drills on Monday, which have triggered fears in Kyiv and the West that Moscow could use its ally to launch a new ground offensive in Ukraine.
* Belarus said its air force drills with Russia are defensive in nature, but the move comes as concerns grow that Moscow is pushing Minsk to join the war in Ukraine.
* Ukraine has continuously warned of possible attacks from Belarus, but the Kremlin has denied that it has been pressuring its neighbour to take a more active role in the conflict in Ukraine. Minsk has said it will not enter the war.
* Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of Belarusian Security Council, said the situation on the country’s southern border with Ukraine was “not very calm” and that Ukraine has been “provoking” Belarus.
* Ukraine saw little hope of pulling any more survivors from the rubble of an apartment block in the city of Dnipro on Sunday, a day after the building was hit during a major Russian missile attack.
* Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Monday that 35 people were confirmed dead so far and the fate of 35 more residents remained unknown.
* The chances are “minimal” of finding more survivors in the wreckage, the city’s mayor told Reuters in an interview.
* Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had launched a wave of missile strikes against Ukrainian military and infrastructure sites on Saturday. It did not mention Dnipro as a specific target.
* Ukrainian forces are fighting to retain control of Soledar in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday, contradicting Russian claims that Moscow’s forces had captured the small town.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said the special military operation – Russia’s term for the war – was showing a positive trend.
* Reuters could not verify the accounts.
* Britain will send 14 of its Challenger 2 main battle tanks and artillery support to Ukraine, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said on Saturday, disregarding criticism from the Russian Embassy.
* Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Saturday the G7 summit he will host in May should demonstrate a strong will to uphold the international order and rule of law after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Emergency personnel work at the site where an apartment block was heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Emergency personnel work at the site where an apartment block was heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A local woman holds her cat rescued by emergency workers at the site where an apartment block was heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Yevhenii Zavhorodnii
Ukrainian servicemen fire a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system towards Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak
Ukrainian servicemen have coffee before moving to their position on a frontline near the town of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak
A woman pushes a stroller loaded with a sack of coal for heating her house, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the village of Nykyforivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak
People take shelter inside a metro station during massive Russian missile attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
Natalya and Yelena, 65, who didn’t give their family names react while standing in a corridor of a temporary accommodation centre located in a local dormitory for civilians evacuated from the salt-mining town of Soledar in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Shakhtarsk (Shakhtyorsk) in the Donetsk Region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
People dance to music as they take shelter inside a metro station during massive Russian missile attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Emergency personnel work at the site where an apartment block was heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Emergency personnel work at the site where an apartment block was heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A satellite view shows a closer view of exploding munitions, in Bakhmut, Ukraine, January 3, 2023. Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies./Handout via REUTERS
A satellite view shows destroyed apartment buildings and homes, in Soledar, Ukraine, January 10, 2023. Satellite image ?2023 Maxar Technologies./Handout via REUTERS
