As the Russo-Ukrainian War enters its 342nd day, we will review the main events.
Here is the situation as of Tuesday, January 31, 2023:
Struggle
- Russian rockets have killed three people in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials say, while fighting rages in eastern Donetsk Oblast, where Russia has again shelled the key town of Vuhledar.
- According to the governor of the region, Russia has transferred additional forces and equipment to its western Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.
Weapon:
- President Emmanuel Macron has said that France does not rule out sending fighter jets to Ukraine, provided such equipment is not used “to touch Russian soil” or “weaken the capabilities of the French army.”
- The defense minister said Norway would send part of its fleet of German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine “as soon as possible”, possibly by the end of March.
- The Croatian president has criticized Western countries for supplying Ukraine with heavy tanks and other weapons, saying such arms supplies will only prolong the war.
- France and Australia have agreed to cooperate in the production of “several thousand” 155-mm shells to help Ukraine.
- Tanks provided by the UK to Ukraine will be on the front lines until the summer, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said.
- According to the defense minister, the Ukrainian military will spend almost $550 million on drones this year, and 16 supply contracts have already been signed with Ukrainian manufacturers.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister says it’s “quite possible” that the New START nuclear arms control treaty with the US will end after 2026.
Diplomacy:
- The President of Ukraine says he met Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine and discussed the consequences of Russian missile and drone strikes with regional authorities.
- Finland’s foreign minister says it is keeping its plan to join NATO at the same time as northern neighbor Sweden, despite Turkey’s potential bloc on the latter’s bid.
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has urged South Korea to increase military support for Ukraine, citing other countries that changed their policy of refusing to supply arms to countries in conflict following Russia’s invasion.
- The Kremlin accused Boris Johnson of lying after the former British prime minister said that President Vladimir Putin had threatened the United Kingdom with a missile attack during a phone call ahead of an invasion of Ukraine.
- Iran has called Ukraine’s Charge d’Affaires in Tehran over a Ukrainian official’s comments about a drone attack on a military plant in the central Iranian province of Isfahan, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
- High-ranking Chinese diplomat Wang Yi will visit Moscow in February, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti reports, citing two sources.
