2023-01-17T10:10:21Z
Ukraine came a step closer on Tuesday to winning the fleet of Western battle tanks it hopes could turn the course of the war, after Germany said tanks would be the first item on the agenda of a new defence minister.
* A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who fought in Ukraine said he has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum in fear for his life after witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the frontline.
* Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych tendered his resignation on Tuesday after a public outcry over comments he made suggesting a Russian missile that killed at least 41 people in the city of Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine.
* Russia said on Tuesday that its armed forces would undergo “major changes” from 2023 to 2026, including changes in its composition and administrative reforms.
* Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region said on Tuesday they were in control of Soledar, repeating their earlier claim about the salt-mining town where intense fighting has taken place.
* NATO surveillance planes were due to arrive in Romania on Tuesday to bolster the military alliance’s eastern flank and help monitor Russian military activity.
* Germany’s allies on Tuesday ramped up the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to allow the supply of German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
* Russia’s foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, said on Tuesday that another meeting with U.S. CIA Director William Burns was possible, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
* The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said he hoped to make progress on a safe zone deal around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine, but stressed it was a tough negotiation.
* Russian and Belarusian flags have been banned from the Melbourne Park precinct during the Australian Open after a complaint from the Ukraine ambassador to the country.
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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
