Russian artillery fire down nearly 75pc, say US officials

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Here is a recap of today's top stories.

• Russia is fighting Britain and the US and is "not at war with Ukraine", one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies has said.
• The parents of one of the British men missing in Ukraine have spoken of feeling "raw" following their son's disappearance.
• Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, has argued that the UK should "absolutely" supply Ukrainian forces with British tanks.

Russia is fighting Britain and the US and is "not at war with Ukraine", one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies has said.

Nikolai Patrushev, the Russian Security Council Secretary, told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper: "The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv - this is a military confrontation between Russia and Nato, and above all the United States and Britain.

Patrushev, who is seen by diplomats as one of the major hardline influences on Putin, said: "The Westerners' plans are to continue to pull Russia apart, and eventually just erase it from the political map of the world."
 

He added: “We are not at war with Ukraine, because, by definition, we cannot have hatred for ordinary Ukrainians."

The parents of one of the British men missing in Ukraine have spoken of feeling "raw" following their son's disappearance.

The country's national police said Andrew Bagshaw, 48, and Christopher Parry, 28, were last seen on Friday.

They were heading to the town of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region of the country, where heavy fighting is reported, and contact with them was lost.

Christine Parry, the mother of Mr Parry, a humanitarian volunteer, told MailOnline: "It's all very raw at the moment. We are just trying to inform family members about what is going on."

His father Robin Parry is reported to have said: "We are all very proud of Chris and the work he has been doing."

Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, has argued that the UK should "absolutely" supply Ukrainian forces with British tanks.

The Tory MP told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "This is our war, but we've left the Ukrainians to do the fighting.

"It's not just the moralistic issue here, it's the fact that Russia is now pushing this against the wider West, so I very much welcome the fact that we're now thinking about sending main battle tanks.

"It does show how far we've come in our willingness to look Putin in the eye and not be spooked by his rhetoric, and we're finally sending this much-needed serious hardware to Ukraine."

He added that the West needs to "recognise we should not be leaving this to the Ukrainians" and that "we should have more confidence in ourselves to stand up" to the Russian president.

Ukrainian refugees who have settled in Liverpool and local schoolchildren will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest handover and allocation draw at the end of the month.

The international music show will take place at the 11,000-capacity Liverpool Arena in May, culminating in the grand final on Saturday 13, after the city was chosen to host the competition on behalf of 2022 winners Ukraine.

Presenters Rylan Clark and AJ Odudu will host the live draw from Liverpool on January 31, assisted by young people from a local school and members of the Ukrainian community who have been living in the city since the Russian invasion.

Russia recorded a budget deficit of 2.3 per cent of its gross domestic product in 2022, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday, reflecting the burden of the Ukraine war on state finances.

Before Russia launched its invasion in February last year, it had targeted a state budget surplus of 1 per cent of GDP for 2022.

As recently as September, President Vladimir Putin was predicting a surplus of close to half a trillion roubles.

Siluanov said the deficit had come in at 3.3 trillion roubles ($47.45 billion).

Britain has not yet made a final decision on whether to send tanks to Ukraine, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said today.

It comes after Britain was reportedly considering becoming the first country to send Western tanks to Ukraine in what would be a major stepping up of international support.

Defence sources said the UK could supply Volodymr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, with Challenger II – the British Army’s main battle tank – to encourage other Western allies to follow suit and stop the war.  

The European Union will impose new sanctions on Belarus as it keeps up the pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine and extends measures to those countries that support Russia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.

"We will keep pressure on the Kremlin for as long as it takes with a biting sanctions regime, we will extend these sanctions to those who militarily support Russia's war such as Belarus or Iran," von der Leyen said at a news conference.

"And we will be coming forward with new sanctions against Belarus answering their role in this Russian war in Ukraine."

Nato must further strengthen its support for Ukraine, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference on Tuesday.

"We are determined to take the partnership between NATO and the EU to the next level," said Stoltenberg, who added that Russia's Vladimir Putin had "failed" in his attempts to divide Western allies regarding the conflict in Ukraine.

One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said that Moscow was now fighting the US-led Nato military alliance in Ukraine and that the West was trying to wipe Russia from the political map of the world.

"The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv - this is a military confrontation between Russia and Nato, and above all the United States and Britain," Patrushev told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper in an interview.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev is seen by diplomats as one of the major hardline influences on Putin, who has promised victory in Ukraine despite a series of battlefield setbacks.

"The Westerners' plans are to continue to pull Russia apart, and eventually just erase it from the political map of the world," Patrushev said.

Russia has reportedly appointed Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of the country's ground forces, state-owned news agency TASS is reporting, despite fierce criticism from leading hawks over his performance in Ukraine.

Lapin, previously commander of Russia's central military district, was blasted last October by hawkish allies of President Vladimir Putin after Russian forces were driven out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, a key logistics hub.

His appointment follows other sweeping changes to Russia's military leadership in the course of the 11-month war, in which Moscow's forces have seized large areas of south and eastern Ukraine but suffered a series of painful defeats and retreats.

Russian mercenary group Wagner said it was fighting "heavy, bloody battles" for control of the town of Soledar as part of Russia's months-long offensive to capture Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

"On the western outskirts of Soledar there are heavy bloody battles. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are honourably defending the territory of Soledar," Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on social media.

The Kremlin-linked businessman, who has been hit with Western sanctions, also dismissed allegations that Ukrainian forces were deserting front lines en masse in Soledar.

"Let's be honest with ourselves. The Ukrainian army is bravely fighting for Bakhmut and Soledar. Reports of their mass desertion are not true," Prigozhin said, cited by his press office on Telegram.

Italy intends to supply Ukraine with a missile defence system to help protect it against Russia attacks but must deal with technical issues before it can be dispatched, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday.

Tajani was speaking after Italian newspaper la Repubblica reported on Monday that a decision on the supply of new arms to Ukraine had been delayed until next month due to political tensions, cost considerations and equipment shortages.

Two weeks ago Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Rome was considering supplying air defences after a phone call with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in which she reaffirmed her government's "full support" for Ukraine.

Britain’s Challenger II will be the most capable armoured vehicle gifted to Ukraine, if Rishi Sunak’s government decides to increase military support for Kyiv.

The protection provided by the Chobham and Dorchester armour - the exact composition of which is graded secret - will enable the vehicles to survive direct hits from Russian T-72 tanks.

There will be some in Whitehall’s security establishment fearful such advanced military secrets will fall into Russian hands.

Read more from Dom Nicholls here 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address 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 was covered with Russian corpses.

"Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength," Zelensky said. He did not spell out what he meant by gaining time or strength.

"Russia's Soledar axis is highly likely an effort to envelop Bakhmut from the north, and to disrupt Ukrainian lines of communication," Britain said in an intelligence briefly.

Nikolai Patrushev, the Russian Security Council Secretary, and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said that the West was trying to cleave Russia apart and aimed to wipe it from the political map of the world.

"In the face of emerging military threats, it is important for us to have such armed forces and special services so that Russia's adversaries would not even think they could fight us," Patrushev told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper.

“OK,” he says, steeling himself for a moment, before sprinting through a deserted village to the sound of intense artillery fire.

Alone, and using just his mobile phone as a guide, Christopher Parry races through Bakhmut, in Ukraine, to save a civilian, Oksana, who is desperate to be rescued.

Shared on the day local police say the 28-year-old from Cornwall disappeared, this is among the videos posted by the software engineer to show the bone-chilling danger he is putting himself in to save more than 250 innocent Ukrainians from almost certain death.

Read: Christopher Parry: The brave aid worker risking danger in Ukraine to help ‘good against evil’

The US is weighing up sending Stryker armoured combat vehicles to Ukraine as part of the upcoming aid package to Ukraine in a move that could be announced next week.

Two sources familiar with the discussion told Politico that the move is being considered.

No final decision has been made. 

Last Friday, the US pledged a further $3 billion in military aid for Ukraine, which included 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles. 

A Russian warship armed with hypersonic cruise weapons has held exercises in the Norwegian Sea, the defence ministry has said.

"The crew of the frigate 'Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov' conducted an air defense exercise in the Norwegian Sea," the ministry said.

Last week, President Vladimir Putin sent the frigate to the Atlantic Ocean armed with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles, a signal to the West that Russia will not back down over the war in Ukraine.

The Russian energy ministry said on Tuesday it has been working on additional measures to limit discounts to international benchmarks on Russian oil prices, after the West imposed price caps.

President Vladimir 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.

Britain is considering becoming the first country to send Western tanks to Ukraine in what would be a major stepping up of international support.

Defence sources said the UK could supply Volodymr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, with Challenger II – the British Army’s main battle tank – to encourage other Western allies to follow suit and stop the war.  

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, is understood to be supportive of efforts to send British tanks to Ukraine and spoke to Mr Zelensky last week.

Read more on the story from James Crisp and Dom Nicholls here

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We will be guiding you through all the latest developments in Ukraine.