Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday the situation on the front lines in the east was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle.
FIGHTING IN THE EAST
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* The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia said on Sunday that fierce fighting was ongoing in the northern parts of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been the focus of Russian forces’ attention for weeks.
*Ukrainian forces remained in control of the village of Bilohorivka, the Luhansk region governor Serhiy Haidai said on Sunday, adding that the situation there is tense, but under control. Some Moscow-installed officials and pro-Russian military bloggers have recently claimed Russian advances in the direction of Bilohorivka, the last part of Luhansk held by Ukrainian forces.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield accounts.
* Two Russian missiles hit the center of Kharkiv, the administrative capital of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine’s northeast, with one of the missiles striking a residential building, local officials said on Sunday.
* Ukraine and Russia traded almost 200 prisoners of war in a swap, both sides said on Saturday, with the bodies of two British volunteers also being sent back to Ukraine.
ODESA POWER OUTAGE
* Odesa restored power to critical infrastructure on Saturday after a fire broke out at an overloaded substation, leaving nearly 500,000 people in the Ukrainian port city without electricity. The fire was a fresh blow after months of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid and officials said repairs could take weeks.
RUSSIAN OIL
* Price caps on Russian oil likely hit Moscow’s revenues from oil and gas exports by nearly 30% in January, or about $8 billion, from a year ago period, International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said on Sunday.
DIPLOMACY, ARMS
* British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Zelenskiy agreed on the importance of the international community speeding up assistance for Ukraine, Sunak’s office said after the two leaders spoke on Saturday.
* Zelenskiy revoked the citizenship of several former influential politicians on Saturday in the latest step to “cleanse” Ukraine of pro-Russian influences.
* The United States warned Turkey in recent days about the export to Russia of chemicals, microchips and other products that can be used in Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, and it could move to punish Turkish companies or banks contravening sanctions. (Compiled by William Mallard and Frances Kerry)
