German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he will appoint a regional official as the new defense minister following the resignation of the much-criticized Christine Lambrecht.

The defense minister-designate, Boris Pistorius, is a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party and has served as interior minister of Lower Saxony state since 2013.

“I am very pleased to have won Boris Pistorius, an outstanding politician from our country, for the post of defense minister,” Scholz said in a written statement.

“Pistorius is an extremely experienced politician who has administrative experience, has been involved in security policy for years and, with his competence, assertiveness and big heart, is exactly the right person to lead the Bundeswehr through this change of era,” the chancellor added.

Pistorius, 62, is scheduled to receive his certificate of appointment from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and take his oath of office in parliament on Thursday, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

— Associated Press

The White House called Russia’s bombing of a missile strike on a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro “brutal and barbaric,” and a violation of international humanitarian law.

“We will continue our work to hold Russian forces accountable,” White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said of the attack, which killed at least 40 people and wounded many more.

Pentagon spokesman U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder also condemned the attack, but declined to say whether the missile that hit the residential building was a hypersonic weapon.

— Amanda Macias

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin says that if Russia were to win the war in Ukraine, it should send the message that invading another country leads to gains of land or natural resources.

She says Europe and other Western democracies should send Putin the message that “we will support as long as needed — five years, 10 years, 15 years, whatever it takes — we will support Ukraine, and this will not stop.”

Speaking at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Marin added, “it’s for Ukrainians to decide when they are ready to negotiate when they are ready to make some peace agreement.”

She says “the story might have been very different” if Western allies had acted stronger when Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014. The European Union member that shares a long border with Russia is seeking NATO membership.

Marin says Finland believed it was best to stay out of the alliance for its own security but then it saw “Russia is attacking another neighbor and we cannot rely on that relations anymore, so we have to seek partnership elsewhere.”

All 30 NATO states must approve Finland and Sweden joining the Western military alliance, with just Turkey and Hungary yet to sign on. Turkey is demanding the Nordic countries tighten counterterrorism measures.

— Associated Press

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the missile that struck a residential building in Dnipro was a Russian anti-ship missile.

Zelenskyy called the strike, which has killed at least 44 people and wounded many more, an “unspeakable horror.”

“An ordinary residential building. Destroyed by an anti-ship missile — an aircraft carrier killer, which was developed back in the days of the Soviet Union,” Zelenskyy said during a nightly address.

“This is an unspeakable horror and this is a routine. Unfortunately, this is the routine of the war that Russia brought to our land,” Zelenskyy added. “We want to interrupt the routine of war. And restore the routine of peace.”

— Amanda Macias

U.S. President Joseph Biden met with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands at the White House and discussed ways to “further deepen” cooperation and address “global issues of mutual interest.”

“They reviewed our steadfast political, security, economic, and humanitarian support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s brutal war of aggression, including our efforts to hold Russia accountable for its abuses and for the war crimes committed by Russian forces,” according to a White House readout of the meeting.

The two leaders also discussed trade and the importance of secure supply chains.

— Amanda Macias

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley met in person for the first time with his Ukrainian counterpart.

Milley traveled from a military base in Poland to an undisclosed location near the country’s border with Ukraine, according to a report from The Washington Post. The meeting was previously not disclosed for security purposes.

Milley also visited Grafenwoehr, Germany where the U.S. and allies host combined arms training of Ukrainian troops. The nation’s highest military officer is due in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday for a NATO military chief meeting.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about ways to aid Ukraine, according to a White House readout of the call.

“The leaders discussed their steadfast support for Ukraine and condemned Russia’s aggression,” the readout added.

Earlier in the day, Scholz named Boris Pistorius as Germany’s next defense minister after Christine Lambrecht resigned Monday over criticism of her handling of the slow supply of offensive weapons to Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

Three vessels carrying 119,000 metric tons of grain and other food products have left Ukrainian ports, the organization overseeing the export of agricultural products said.

Two ships are destined for Turkey and are carrying wheat. The third vessel is headed to China with corn.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July among Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw three key Ukrainian ports reopen.

So far, more than 650 ships have sailed from Ukrainian ports.

— Amanda Macias

Romania receives NATO’s powerful Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, surveillance aircraft. The militarized Boeing 767 plane is equipped with long-range radars and sensors designed to detect incoming air and surface threats.

Romania will use the aircraft to monitor Russian military activity near the borders of the 30-nation military alliance.

The Western military alliance has strengthened its presence in the region since Russia invaded Ukraine, which borders Romania, a NATO member. AWACS planes can detect aircraft hundreds of kilometers away, making them a key capability for NATO’s deterrence and defense posture.

The planes arrived near Bucharest, and are part of a fleet of 14 NATO Boeing E-3A AWACS aircraft, usually based in Geilenkirchen, western Germany.

— Daniel Mihailescu | AFP | Getty Images

Ukraine’s first lady told the World Economic Forum she would deliver a letter to China’s delegation setting out President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposals for ending Russia’s war against his country.

China, like Russia a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is an important partner for Moscow and has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a speech urging delegates to do more to help end the war, Olena Zelenska said she planned to hand the letter to Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He — who spoke after her — for passing on to President Xi Jinping.

She said she also had letters for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss President Alain Berset.

“Today I will give the colleagues participating in this part (of the forum) ‘formula letters’ from the president of Ukraine,” she said in Ukrainian.

— Reuters

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited Russian troops involved in Ukraine, the ministry said.

“Sergei Shoigu thanked the servicemen who courageously perform tasks in the special military operation zone, and presented state awards to the servicemen for their dedication and heroism,” the ministry said in a statement on its Telegram messaging app.

Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation,” while Kyiv and its allies say it is an unprovoked, imperialist land grab.

 Reuters was not able to independently verify the Russian defense report. 

— Reuters

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the European Parliament to establish a special tribunal to investigate Russian crimes against Ukraine and hold Moscow accountable.

“I call on members of the European Parliament to support the establishment of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine by passing a relevant resolution this week,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

“No impunity for Russia’s political and military leadership. They must be held accountable,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

A backlog of 32 vessels loaded with agricultural goods are waiting to depart Ukraine for their global destinations, the organization overseeing the export of crops from the country said.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July among Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw the reopening of three key Ukrainian ports.

Last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield demanded Russia cooperate in the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Thomas Greenfield blamed a backlog of ships on “Russia’s deliberate slowdown of inspections.”

“This backlog means extra expense and extra delay for millions of tons of grain, a majority of which is destined for developing countries. The backlog means 2.5 million tons of grain are just sitting there, waiting to move,” she said before the U.N. Security Council, adding that some vessels have been waiting for over a month.

Since the deal was signed, more than 650 ships carrying 17.6 million metric tons of grain and other food products have left Ukrainian waters.

— Amanda Macias

The United Nations has confirmed at least 7,031 deaths and 11,327 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, because the armed conflict can delay fatality reports.

“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes,” the international organization wrote in a release.

— Amanda Macias

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.

Andrei Medvedev, who joined the group on July 6, 2022, on a four-month contract, said in a video posted by the Gulagu.net rights group that he had crossed the border into Norway before being detained by Norwegian police.

Medvedev, an orphan who joined the Russian army and served time in prison before joining Wagner, said he had slipped away from the group after witnessing the killing of captured deserters from Wagner.

“I am afraid of dying in agony,” Medvedev told Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the Gulagu.net rights group, which said it had helped Medvedev leave Russia after he approached the group in fear for his life.

He said he crossed the border, climbing through barbed-wire fences and evading a border patrol with dogs, and heard guards firing shots as he ran through a forest and over thin and breaking ice into Norway.

Norwegian police said a foreign citizen had been arrested on the night of Thursday to Friday after illegally crossing the Russian-Norwegian border in the Arctic and was seeking asylum.

His Norwegian lawyer said Medvedev was now in the “Oslo area” but did not give details.

“What is important for him (Medvedev) is that immigration authorities clarify his status as soon as possible,” lawyer Brynjulf Risnes told Reuters.

Medvedev had not yet talked with Norwegian security police and no agreement for an interview had been made, Risnes said. “I am sure that will be a question at some point,” said Risnes, who declined to say where Medvedev was fighting in Ukraine.

“He says he has taken part in battle, which he says were clear battle situations … and that he has not been in contact with civilians,” said Risnes.

— Reuters

Ukraine has repeatedly asked its Western allies to provide it with battle tanks to help it fight Russia but up until now, its Western allies appeared reluctant to do so.

That could be about to change, experts note, and some announcements could be made when Ukrainian and Western officials meet later this week in Germany to discuss the country’s military needs.

“My understanding is that a deal has essentially been worked out,” John E. Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told CNBC Monday.

“We know that the laggard here has been Germany, and it seems that the Germans have now been persuaded that one, they’ll let other countries which have Leopard tanks send them to Ukraine — that, I’m confident of — and I also think it’s highly likely, but I’m not as confident, that you’ll see Germany send some Leopards as well,” he said.

Read the whole story here

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the Russian economy was likely to have shrunk by 2.5% in 2022, but that it was performing better than most experts had predicted.

Putin, who was speaking at a meeting with top officials including the finance minister and central bank chief, said real wage growth needed to be stimulated.

— Reuters

Ukraine’s allies need to apply more pressure on Russia through sanctions, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Sanctions have some impact on the Russian economy. Sometimes our expectations are higher than [the] real result but it does not mean that sanctions are not effective. They are effective but with a certain time lag,” Nausėda told Joumanna Bercetche.

“Of course the success of Ukraine’s armed forces in the battlefield are just critically important,” Nausėda said, calling for the provision of better air defense systems and tanks to the country.

He also discussed the difficulty of Ukraine getting NATO membership in the near-term due to the ongoing conflict and the need for the alliance to find “guarantees” for the country without membership; and Lithuania’s commitment to strengthening its own armed forces and increasing military spend to 3% of GDP.

— Jenni Reid

The Kremlin has commented further on Russia’s proposals to increase the number of military personnel it has to 1.5 million, as announced in December, saying the West was a threat to Russia.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked by reporters to comment on discussions held by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu today on increasing the number of troops within Russia’s armed forces over the next few years. Russia’s defense ministry says it currently has 1.1 million military personnel, state news agency Tass reported.

Peskov said the defense ministry’s proposals to increase the size and structure of the armed forces was “due to the war that the countries of the collective West are waging, a proxy war that includes elements of indirect participation in hostilities, and elements of economic, financial war, legal war, going beyond the legal field, and so on,” he said, referring to the war in Ukraine, which Moscow (and equally many analysts in the West) see as a proxy war between the West and Russia.

“The security of our country must be unconditionally ensured, and in this case the Ministry of Defense is fulfilling its role,” Peskov said, in comments translated by NBC.

There are continuing concerns in Russia that another wave of mobilization could take place as Russia looks to increase its manpower in Ukraine.

In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no need for more mobilization but that there hasn’t been enough to allay fears of another draft. Peskov claimed Tuesday that the “topic is constantly artificially activated both from abroad and from within the country. I still suggest that you remember all the time the relevant statements that President Putin made on this matter.”

— Holly Ellyatt

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro at the weekend has risen to 44, Ukraine’s emergency services said Tuesday.

As of 1p.m. local time, 44 people are known to have died, including five children, and 79 people were injured, including 16 children, the emergency services said on Telegram.

They said in a previous post that, among the 47 reports of missing persons, 18 have been found dead while four people were found alive in hospitals. Twenty people are still missing.

The emergency services said 425 people were involved in the search and rescue operation, which it said has been completed.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia said on Tuesday that its armed forces would undergo “major changes” from 2023 to 2026, including changes in its composition and administrative reforms.

The defense ministry said that the changes would happen as Russia boosts the number of its military personnel to 1.5 million.

“Only by strengthening the key structural components of the Armed Forces is it possible to guarantee the military security of the state and protect new entities and critical facilities of the Russian Federation,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

— Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly instructed the new commander of Russia’s armed forces in Ukraine to seize the eastern Donbas region by March.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, told the domestic Freedom TV channel that Putin had ordered Gen. Valery Gerasimov, a Putin loyalist and head of Russia’s armed forces, to seize the region within months.

“Putin does not pay attention to reality, that is why he has not changed his global goals: the destruction of Ukrainians as a people, a separate nation and the destruction of Ukraine as an independent state,” he said, according to comments translated and reported by news agency Ukrinform.

Adding that the priority for Russia was capturing the Donbas (an aim openly and often stated by Moscow), Yusov said Gerasimov had been set a timeline for doing so, noting “this goal is to seize Donbas and form a security zone there, but already by March.”

Gerasimov was appointed as the commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine last week as Russian forces have made few advances in recent months, instead becoming caught in attritional combat in Donetsk, particularly around Bakhmut where intense fighting has continued for months.

Yusov said Russia had previously set deadlines for capturing parts of Ukraine but that each time, these had been postponed. CNBC was unable to verify the information in Yusov’s comments.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine says its forces are continuing to fight in the Donetsk town of Soledar, which Russia claimed to have fully captured last week, and said Russian forces are trying to move toward nearby Bakhmut, which is seen as their larger target in the region.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, commented on national television on Monday that “eastern Ukraine remains the main target of the aggressor’s attack.”

“The enemy focused the main efforts on the Bakhmut direction, especially near Soledar, where battles are raging. Ukrainian units continue holding the defense in the city itself and its outskirts,” Cherevatyi said, according to comments reported by news agency Ukrinform.

Soledar cannot be considered to have been captured by Russia, he said, as battles for the city are still underway.

“Our armed forces are making every effort to make them [Russian forces] pay an incredible price for every inch they are trying to move over,” Cherevatyi said.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War noted in an update Monday that Russian forces made additional territorial gains north of Bakhmut and may be intensifying attacks south of the city, near Klishchiivka.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday evening that he had received the latest briefings from commanders and intelligence chiefs regarding the war.

“The situation in the Donetsk direction was considered separately and in detail. Soledar, Bakhmut and other cities against which Russia has concentrated its last most prepared forces,” he said. “We also reviewed the situation on the southern front. We see what Russia is preparing,” he said, providing no further details.

— Holly Ellyatt

Monday was just Day Two for Ukrainian soldiers at the U.S. military’s new training program, but the message was coming through loud and clear.

These are urgent times. And the lessons they will get in the next five weeks on weapons, armored vehicles and more sophisticated combat techniques are critical as they prepare to defend their country against the Russian invasion.

“This is not a run of the mill rotation,” U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday afternoon as he met with commanders. “This is one of those moments in time where if you want to make a difference, this is it.”

Milley, who visited the sprawling Grafenwoehr training area to get his first look at the new, so-called combined arms instruction, has said it will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks.

He spent a bit less than two hours at “Camp Kherson” — a section of the base named after a city in Ukraine where Ukrainian troops scored a key victory against Russia last year. More than 600 Ukrainian troops began the expanded training program at the camp just a day before Milley arrived.

— The Associated Press

The death toll from a weekend Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 40, authorities said Monday, as Western analysts pointed to indications the Kremlin was preparing for a drawn-out war in Ukraine after almost 11 months of fighting.

About 1,700 people lived in the multi-story building, and search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since Saturday’s strike to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued so far and 30 more remained missing. Authorities said at least 75 were wounded.

The reported death toll made it the deadliest single attack on Ukrainian civilians since before the summer, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project. Residents said the apartment tower did not house any military facilities.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called the strike, and others like it, “inhumane aggression” because it directly targeted civilians. “There will be no impunity for these crimes,” he said in a tweet Sunday.

Asked about the strike Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military doesn’t target residential buildings and suggested the Dnipro building was hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense actions.

— Associated Press

Ukraine is growing increasingly prepared for an attack near its border with Belarus, according to NBC News.

Belarus and Russia began joint military exercises on Monday. That’s elevated concerns that Russia will launch a new ground offensive near the Belarus-Ukraine border as it did in February, NBC News reported.

NBC News spoke to one Ukrainian solider who described the need to be on high alert as an attack could come anywhere within in a span of thousands of miles along the border.

Read more here.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Germany should send Ukraine all the weapons it needs to defend itself against Russia’s invasion, including tanks.

Delivering the keynote speech at a ceremony marking former conservative Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble’s half-century in parliament, he implicitly criticised Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s reluctance to send heavier weaponry.

“I call for decisive actions by the German government,” he said, to applause from gathered, mostly conservative, German legislators. “For all sorts of weapons to be delivered. The battle for freedom and our future is raging as we speak… Tanks must not be left in storehouses, but placed in their hands.”

— Reuters

Latvia’s President Egils Levits said it’s important to maintain support for Ukraine as the war with Russia continues.

“The first reason is that the international community should keep the standard of international law, which is provided for in the Charter of the United Nations from 1945, and we cannot afford to lower this standard,” he told CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche in Davos, Switzerland.

“Therefore all states that have committed to peaceful order in the world should commit to helping Ukraine resist this unlawful attack,” he added.

Latvia — which itself declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, shortly before its collapse — has been, and remains, a staunch ally of Ukraine. Levits said Russia’s invasion was the “gravest violation of the sovereignty of a democratic state” and that solidarity between democracies was vital.

“I think all states which are lawful and which want to keep the standard of international law, there is only one decision and that is to support Ukraine.”

— Holly Ellyatt

The EU’s rejection of Russian energy commodities following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine won’t last forever, Qatar’s energy minister said at the weekend.

“The Europeans today are saying there’s no way we’re going back” to buying Russian gas, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, energy minister and head of state gas company QatarEnergy, said at the Atlantic Council Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.

“We’re all blessed to have to be able to forget and to forgive. And I think things get mended with time… they learn from that situation and probably have a much bigger diversity [of energy intake].”

Europe has long been Russia’s largest customer of most energy commodities, especially natural gas. EU countries have dramatically cut down their imports of Russian energy supplies, imposing sanctions in response to Moscow’s brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Read more on the story here

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Germany should send Ukraine all the weapons it needs to defend itself against Russia’s invasion, including tanks.

Delivering the keynote speech at a ceremony marking former conservative Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble’s half-century in parliament, he implicitly criticised Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s reluctance to send heavier weaponry.

“I call for decisive actions by the German government,” he said, to applause from gathered, mostly conservative, German legislators. “For all sorts of weapons to be delivered. The battle for freedom and our future is raging as we speak… Tanks must not be left in storehouses, but placed in their hands.”

— Reuters

The death toll following a Russian missile strike on a nine-story apartment building in the city of Dnipro has risen.

Citing information from the head of the Ukraine’s National Police Ihor Klymenko, the National Police posted on Telegram that as of 10:30 a.m. local time, 36 people had been killed, including two children.

Seventy-five people are known to have been injured in the attack, including 15 children, while 39 were rescued, including six children, the post states. Search and rescue works are continuing, the police added.

Following that update, a post on Telegram by Ukraine’s emergency services said that 40 people had perished in the attack, including three children.

The attack took place on Saturday and destroyed 72 apartments and damaged 230 others, news agency Ukrinform reported.

The Kremlin said Monday that its armed forces “do not strike at residential buildings or at social infrastructure facilities. The strikes are carried out on military targets — camouflaged or obvious,” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agency Tass.

— Holly Ellyatt

The Kremlin has said heavy armored vehicles supplied to Ukraine “will burn,” days after Britain said it would supply Challenger 2 tanks to the country.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked by reporters to comment on recent moves by Ukraine’s Western allies to supply Kyiv with heavier armored vehicles.

He replied “nothing could change” the intention of Western countries to supply such equipment but that it would not make a difference to the war, or “special military operation,” according to comments reported by state news agency Tass and translated by Google.

“The special military operation will continue. These tanks are on fire and will burn just like the rest. The goals of the special military operation will be achieved,” he added.

On Saturday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the U.K. would provide 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, making it the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been repeatedly asking for.

Russia criticized the move, saying it would only escalate the war. The Russian Embassy in London tweeted that “Challenger 2 tanks will hardly help the Ukrainian military turn the tide in the field. Yet they will become legitimate large-scale targets for Russian forces.”

— Holly Ellyatt

The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol in Crimea said on Monday that air defenses had downed seven drones over the city in what he called a “failed Ukrainian attack.”

Sevastopol, which is on the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014, has come under repeated air attack since Russia invaded Ukraine in Febuary. Russian officials have blamed the attacks on Ukraine.

Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said all the drones were downed over the sea, with no damage to any infrastructure. He denied reports in Ukrainian media that there were explosions in the city, and said air defenses were continuing to monitor the skies, in a post on his Telegram channel.

— Reuters

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz for her dismissal, she said in a statement on Monday, the culmination of growing skepticism about her ability to bring the German army into shape against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.

“Today I asked the chancellor to dismiss me from the office of federal minister of defence,” Lambrecht, a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), said in the statement.

Her decision to step down comes as Germany is under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv, and Germany’s defense capabilities have been called into question after several Puma infantry tanks were put out of service during a recent military drill.

— Reuters

Multiple windows of a children’s hospital in Kherson city in southern Ukraine have been blown out during a Russian attack, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Posting on Telegram, Tymoshenko said the damage had occured when it came under “enemy fire” but gave no further details.

“This time, they attacked a children’s hospital. As a result, about 30 windows in the neonatal (6-story) building were broken,” he said, according to a Google translation of his comments.

There is no information about any casualties, he added. CNBC was unable to immediately verify his report.

— Holly Ellyatt

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Monday that Ukraine likely maintained positions in Soledar, a town Russia claims to have fully captured.

The ministry said intense fighting continued in both the Kremina and Bakhmut areas of the Donbas front over the weekend.

“As of 15 January 2023, Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) almost certainly maintained positions in Soledar, north of Bakhmut, in the face of continued Wagner Group [private military company] assaults,” the ministry said in an intelligence update on Twitter.

Around Kremina, a town in Luhansk around 40 miles north of Bakhmut, fighting has been characterized by a complex series of local attacks and counter-attacks in wooded country, the U.K. said, noting that overall, “the UAF continue to gradually advance their front line east on the edge of Kremina town.”

“Over the last six weeks, both Russia and Ukraine have achieved hard-fought but limited gains in different sectors,” the ministry noted.

“In these circumstances, a key operational challenge for both sides is to generate formations of uncommitted, capable troops which can exploit the tactical successes to create operational breakthroughs.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine is reeling from a major Russian missile attack on the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine on Saturday after an apartment block was hit.

Dnipro’s regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said in an update on Telegram Monday morning that 35 people had been killed in the attack, including two children. He added that 39 people had been rescued and 75 were known to have been injured in the attack, among them 14 children.

Ukraine’s emergency services said Sunday that there were 45 reports of missing persons and that “while 11 people have been identified, the fate of 34 people is being clarified.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday evening that a rescue operation continued as debris was cleared at the site of the strike, an attack that the president characterized as a terrorist act by Russia.

“As of now, the fate of more than 30 people who could have been in the house at the time of the terrorists’ missile hit remains unknown,” he said in his daily address.

“Dozens of people were rescued from the rubble, including six children. We are fighting for every person! The rescue operation will last as long as there is even the slightest chance to save lives.”

Zelenskyy called on Russians to condemn the attack, stating, “I want to say to all those in Russia – and from Russia – who even now could not utter even a few words of condemnation of this terror… Your cowardly silence, your attempt to “wait out” what is happening will only end with those same terrorists coming after you one day.”

Ukraine’s Air Force said the apartment block was struck by a Russian Kh-22 missile, an anti-ship missile which is known to be inaccurate. Russia has said previously it does not deliberately target civilians but there have been multiple instances of civilian infrastructure, including schools, residential buildings and hospitals, being hit in missile strikes.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the dynamics of the war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” are positive.

“The dynamics are positive. Everything is developing within the plan of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff. And I hope that our fighters will please us more than once again with the results of their combat work,” Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel, as reported by state news agency Tass.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday said Russian forces had captured Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region the previous day, after several days of conflicting reports over whether the town had fallen under Russian control.

A spokesperson for the ministry said controlling Soledar made it possible to cut off the supply routes of Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut and to then surround the town, a key target for Russia for months as it looks to extend its control over the Donetsk region, neighboring Luhansk and the entire Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has not conceded defeat in Soledar, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Sunday evening that “the battle for Soledar, for Bakhmut, for the whole Donetsk region, for the Luhansk region continues without any respite, without any stop.”

— Holly Ellyatt

The Kremlin’s press spokesman said Britain has not requested any help from Moscow following the disappearance of two Britons near the zone of intense fighting in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

The men, Chris Parry and Andrew Bagshaw, were working as volunteers in the country helping people to evacuate and were last seen traveling toward Soledar, the epicenter of fierce fighting between Russia and Ukraine this week. Around 500 civilians are believed to still be in the town despite the intense battles in and around the town.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked by reporters to comment on a claim by the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, that the body of one of the two missing Britons had been found. Prigozhin’s press service did not say which of the men it had found, or provide any evidence to support Prigozhin’s claim, but posted images of their passports on Telegram, claiming the documents had been found on the body.

Peskov claimed the men were “militants,” without providing evidence. The Britons’ families say the men were aid workers.

“We do not have any information on this. The only thing we know, again only from media reports, is that we are talking about British citizens who, in fact, were militants, participated in hostilities with weapons in their hands, and, it seems, their documents were found on the battlefield. But we don’t know the details.”

“This is an area where fighting continues, a special military operation, so sometimes it is difficult to get some information quickly,” Peskov said, adding that Britain had not asked Moscow for help.

Asked whether Moscow was ready to help if requested, Peskov said it would depend on “what they would ask for” but requests would be considered.

“And what could be our help here? It depends on what can be formulated by the British side. But I am not aware of any contacts. I do not know, maybe there were some contacts through the Foreign Ministry. I am not aware of this.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia is building up its forces in Ukraine but Ukrainian forces are holding out in fierce fighting for the eastern town of Soledar, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said on Thursday.

She told a news briefing that the number of Russian military units in Ukraine had risen to 280 from 250 a week earlier as Moscow tried to gain the “strategic initiative”.

“Fighting is fierce in the Soledar direction,” Malyar said. “They (the Russians) are moving over their own corpses.”

“Russia is driving its own people to the slaughter by the thousands, but we are holding on,” she said.

Another senior military official, Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov, told the briefing that the military situation in Ukraine remained “difficult”, with the heaviest fighting on the eastern front.

Russian forces were trying to cut through Ukrainian lines and surround Ukrainian troops, he said.

Gromov also said the danger of an attack being launched from Belarus, a Russian ally to the north of Ukraine, would remain throughout this year.

— Reuters

Russian troops struck the southern region of Kherson 90 times on Wednesday, killing one civilian and injuring five others, according to the regional governor.

“According to the data from Kherson Regional Military Administration, Russian invaders shelled the Kherson region’s territory 90 times,” Kherson Regional Military Administration head Yaroslav Yanushevych said on Telegram in an update on Wednesday’s military activity.

Artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, mortars and tanks were used in the attacks, he added.

As for Kherson city, the regional capital, Russian forces shelled the city 27 times, he said, attacking residential quarters. “Enemy shells hit the maternity hospital, private and apartment buildings,” Yanushevych said in comments translated by Google.

CNBC was unable to verify the information in the report.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian troops struck the southern region of Kherson 90 times on Wednesday, killing one civilian and injuring five others, according to the regional governor.

“According to the data from Kherson Regional Military Administration, Russian invaders shelled the Kherson region’s territory 90 times,” Kherson Regional Military Administration head Yaroslav Yanushevych said on Telegram in an update on Wednesday’s military activity.

Artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, mortars and tanks were used in the attacks, he added.

As for Kherson city, the regional capital, Russian forces shelled the city 27 times, he said, attacking residential quarters. “Enemy shells hit the maternity hospital, private and apartment buildings,” Yanushevych said in comments translated by Google.

CNBC was unable to verify the information in the report.

— Holly Ellyatt

Satellite images collected and released by Maxar Technologies show the destruction wrought upon the eastern Ukrainian towns of Soledar and Bakhmut in Donetsk, where fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces has been going on for months.

Maxar collected new high-resolution satellite imagery between Jan. 3-10 that helps to convey the magnitude and intensity of the ongoing fighting in the area around both towns, with both Russia and Ukraine claiming to have killed hundreds of each other’s troops on a daily basis.

The satellite imagery released by Maxar reveals thousands of bomb craters in fields and along roads in and around the two towns as well as the destruction of homes, schools and farm buildings.

The image above shows destroyed buildings destroyed in Bakhmutske, just to the immediate south of Soledar. The one below shows fields marked by craters from relentless artillery exchanges.

A Maxar satellite image showing the destroyed Pokrovske School to the east of Bakhmut:

Here’s what farm buildings in Yakovlivka, south of Bakhmut, looked like before fighting in eastern Ukraine became intense in August 2022.

Here’s what the same farm buildings looked like in images taken in early January 2023:

The redeployment of Russia’s elite airborne forces, the VDV, to the Donbas in eastern and southern Ukraine signals that military commanders are trying to employ them in line with their intended function as an “elite rapid reaction force,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday.

The ministry noted that, over the last two days, heavy fighting has continued both around the town of Soledar in the Donetsk region, and on the approaches to Kremina in the neighboring Luhansk region.

“Since the start of January 2023, Russia has almost certainly allocated elements of the 76th Guards Air Landing Division of the VDV (airborne forces) to reinforce the Kremina front line after assessing the sector was significantly vulnerable,” the ministry noted in its latest intelligence update on Twitter.

“Until November 2022, Russia committed almost the whole of the deployable VDV as long-term, ground-holding troops along the front line in the Kherson area,” it noted.

“Now redeployed to the Donbas and southern Ukraine, commanders are likely attempting to employ VDV more in line with their supposed doctrinal role as a relatively elite rapid reaction force,” it said.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again rejected Russia’s claims to have to have encircled and captured the salt-mining town of Soledar in Donetsk, saying fighting continues for the town in eastern Ukraine.

“Now the terrorist state [Ukraine frequently labels Russia in this way] and its propagandists are trying to pretend that some part of our city of Soledar — a city that was almost completely destroyed by the occupiers — is allegedly some kind of Russia’s achievement,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Wednesday.

“But the fighting continues. The Donetsk direction is holding out. And we do everything, without stopping for a single day, to strengthen Ukrainian defense,” he said.

There were confusing reports Wednesday as to whether Russian and Wagner Group (a private Russian military company) forces had taken control of the town, after the head of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed Tuesday that his force had captured the town.

The Kremlin said Wednesday, however, that reporters should await a statement from the Ministry of Defense on the status of Soledar.

Later, the ministry said its elite airborne units, the VDV, had surrounded Soledar from the north and south but that “assault squads” were fighting in the town center. The update from the Russian Ministry of Defense was seen by some as a bid by the Russian military — which has been criticized by Prigozhin — to assert its authority and undermine the Wagner Group leader.

President Vladimir Putin’s military reshuffle on Wednesday, in which he put loyalist Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, in charge of troops fighting in Ukraine and replacing Gen. Sergei Surovikin — who was supported by Prigozhin — has also been seen as part of the power struggle between the military and Prigozhin and his Wagner Group.

— Holly Ellyatt

Vladimir Putin has put the overall head of the Russian military in direct command of the Ukraine war, but the appointment probably will not sit well with some quarters in Russia, according to an intelligence assessment released late Wednesday.

Valery Gerasimov will take direct responsibility for executing the so-called “special operation” in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday.

Gerasimov had served as chief of the General Staff, or head of Russia’s armed forces. Pro-war elements in Russia widely blame Gerasimov for their military’s inept performance in the war.

The move to put him in charge “is likely to be greeted with extreme displeasure by the Russian ultra-nationalist and military blogger community, who have increasingly blamed Gerasimov for the poor execution of the war,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update.

Gerasimov replaces General Sergei Surovikin, who took operational command of the war only three months ago.

In contrast to Gerasimov, Surovikin has been praised by ultra-nationalists for his “more realistic” approach, the U.K. ministry said. He had previously led Russian forces in Syria and oversaw the brutally indiscriminate bombardment of Aleppo.

Surovikin will now report to Gerasimov.

As deputy commander in Ukraine, Surovikin’s “authority and influence is almost certainly hugely reduced,” the UK ministry said.

— Ted Kemp

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley will head to Germany next week for another meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

The Ukraine Defense Contact group, a coalition of nearly 50 countries supporting Ukraine’s military needs, has met several times since it was formed in April.

Among the topics to be discussed at Ramstein Air Base will be Ukraine’s desire for main battle tanks and modern fighter jets for its fight against Russia.

“When it comes to the kinds of capabilities that we provide them, we’ll continue to have that conversation with them, with our international allies and our partners, and we’ll take a variety of considerations into account,” Pentagon press secretary U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said announcing the trip.

— Amanda Macias

Russia’s top military officer was put in charge of troops fighting in Ukraine, a move that appears to reflect the Kremlin’s dissatisfaction with the current leadership and flaws in the military’s performance.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was named the new commander of the unified group of forces in Ukraine.

The previous commander, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, was demoted to become Gerasimov’s deputy along with two other generals.

The reshuffle, which was formally ordered by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, clearly came on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval, signaling that he still has trust in his top military leaders who have faced broad criticism for the troops’ performance in the conflict.

It also suggests a recognition of flaws in carrying out what Putin called “the special military operation” in Ukraine.

While announcing Gerasimov’s appointment, the Defense Ministry said it was aimed at improving coordination between various forces fighting in Ukraine.

“Raising the level of leadership of the special military operation is linked to the expansion of the scale of the tasks being fulfilled as part of it and the need to organize closer interaction between branches of the military and to increase the quality of supplies and the efficiency of directing groups of forces,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

— Associated Press

The White House declined to say whether the U.S. would specifically provide Ukraine with main battle tanks.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a daily briefing that President Joe Biden reaffirmed U.S. support in Kyiv’s fight, adding that Washington “will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

She declined to elaborate on the makeup of additional U.S. security assistance packages.

Last week, Washington announced its largest package since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began nearly a year ago.

The upcoming military aid package, the 29th such tranche, brings U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s fight to about $24.9 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration.

New to this aid package are 50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, armored tracked vehicles manufactured by U.S. defense firm BAE Systems. Bradleys are typically equipped with a rotating turret, mounted 25mm gun and TOW anti-tank missiles. The U.S. will provide 500 TOW anti-tank missiles and 250,000 rounds of ammunition for use with the Bradleys.

— Amanda Macias

Russian oil producers have had no difficulties in securing export deals despite Western sanctions and price caps, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told a televised online government meeting on Wednesday.

“We’ve been in constant contact with the companies, the contract making for February has been completed, and on the whole, the companies are not saying they have problems as of today,” Novak told the meeting led by President Vladimir Putin.

Russian oil production has so far shown resilience in the face of the sanctions, imposed after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, and of the price caps, introduced by Western countries last month.

Putin last month signed a decree that banned the supply of crude oil and oil products from Feb. 1 for five months to nations that abide by the cap.

Novak said the main problem for Russian oil was a high discount to international benchmarks as well as rising freight costs.

— Reuters

Ukraine is continuing to reject Russian claims that its forces have captured the Donetsk town of Soledar.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern military command, told Ukrainian television Wednesday that “Soledar is not under the control of the Russian Federation. Heavy fighting is going on there now,” he said, in comments translated by NBC News.

Cherevatyi claimed Russians had “carried out a special information operation” to promote the claim that Russian forces had already captured Soledar but said “this is not true.”

“The situation there is difficult, but it is under the control of the state leadership of our armed forces. We are working on making management decisions that will allow us to stabilize the situation in the city and cause maximum damage to the enemy with minimal losses from our side,” he added. 

This morning, Ukraine’s operational update said Soledar was among the settlements in Donetsk that were being shelled, while Reuters reported that from the outskirts of the town, plumes of smoke could be seen rising, describing the incoming artillery fires as “relentless.”

CNBC was unable to immediately verify Cherevatyi’s claim. On Tuesday, the head of the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, which has been fighting in the area around Soledar and Bakhmut for months, claimed that his fighters had taken “control of the entire territory of Soledar” while urban warfare was continuing.

Capturing Soledar would be a coup for Russia as it seeks to advance further and capture nearby Bakhmut. Ultimately, Russia wants to take full control of Donetsk and the wider Donbas region.

— Holly Ellyatt