Britain is considering supplying a handful of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, the first time a western country has indicated it may supply its homemade heavy armour to Kyiv in the war against Russia. No final decision by Downing Street has been made, British sources added, but Ukraine is hoping a positive move by the UK could help persuade Germany to follow suit later this month with its Leopard 2 battle tanks.
The US is reportedly considering sending Stryker armoured combat vehicles to Ukraine. The move could be announced next week, but no final decision has been made, Politico reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Germany has no plans to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a government spokesperson has said. Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister, said on Sunday that Berlin could not rule out the delivery of Leopard tanks – which are heavier fighting vehicles than the Marders – to support Ukrainian military forces in the future.
Two British men have gone missing in Ukraine, the UK Foreign Office has said. The men were named in reports as volunteers Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry. The pair were last known to have been travelling from Kramatorsk to Soledar on 6 January, according to Sky News.
Russian troops are making another attempt to advance on the town of Soledar in the eastern Donbas region, according to Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar. Russian attacks in recent days have focused on Soledar in an apparent effort to cut off the town. The capture of Soledar, which lies to the north-east of Bakhmut, would put Ukrainian forces in the area in danger of being encircled and offer Russia a potential avenue of approach against that city.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in nightly video remarks on Monday that Bakhmut and Soledar were holding on despite widespread destruction. He cited new and fiercer attacks in Soledar, where he said no walls have been left standing and the land is covered with Russian corpses. “Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine is reinforcing its positions around Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region, after days of relentless assaults by Russian forces spearheaded by the Wagner mercenary group. Bakhmut and Soledar have been the focus of intense efforts by Moscow to make progress in an area where Russian forces have been trying desperately to advance since early summer.
Two women have been killed and six people injured, including a 10-year-old girl, after a Russian missile attack on a market in a village in eastern Ukraine on Monday morning, officials said. A 60-year-old was among two women killed after the missile slammed into the village market in Shevchenkove, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of the city of Kharkiv, regional prosecutors said.
Strong doubts have emerged over Russian claims to have killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in barracks in Kramatorsk. Journalists visiting the city were unable to find evidence of large-scale casualties. However, the Kremlin said it was confident its defence ministry was correct when it said 600 Ukrainian service personnel had been “destroyed” in the attack.
The Kremlin has rejected a Ukrainian assertion that a senior Russian official has been floating the idea of a potential peace deal with European officials. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, told the country’s public broadcaster on Thursday that Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration, had been holding meetings with European officials in an attempt to force Kyiv to sign what he characterised as an unfavourable peace deal.
Italy will not make a decision on supplying new arms to Ukraine until next month, according to a report. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni faces resistance to the approval of a decree to send arms to Ukraine from her allies Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi, la Repubblica reported, as well as issues over cost considerations and military shortages.
China’s newly appointed foreign minister, Qin Gang, spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to discuss the “crisis” in Ukraine, the Chinese foreign ministry said. The ministry said Qin called for efforts to peacefully settle the crisis in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner will meet his Russian counterpart for talks in Turkey this week, news agencies from both countries reported. Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian commissioner, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that the meeting with Ukraine’s Dmytro Lubinets will take place during an international forum in Turkey between Thursday and Saturday. Talks are likely to include the possibility of further exchanges of prisoners of war.