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Latest Developments in Ukraine: Jan. 31

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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EST.

7:50 a.m.: Ukraine’s push for fighter jets to help beat back Russia’s invasion force risks straining the unity of Ukraine’s Western allies, amid fears that the move could escalate the nearly year-long conflict and draw them deeper into the war, The Associated Press reported.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov was due in Paris Tuesday where discussions about the possible delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine was expected to be on the agenda.

Kyiv officials have repeatedly urged allies to send jets, saying they are essential to challenge Russia’s air superiority and to ensure the success of future counteroffensives that could be spearheaded by tanks recently promised by Western countries.

There was no indication that a decision on warplanes to Ukraine might come any time soon and no sign that Western countries have changed their earlier stance on the issue. Ukraine’s allies also have ruled out providing Kyiv with long-range missiles able to hit Russian territory, signaling a similarly cautious stance on warplanes.

Both Ukraine and Russia are believed to be building up their arsenals for an expected offensive in coming months. The war has been largely deadlocked on the battlefield during the winter.

Asked about Lithuania’s call for Western countries to provide Ukraine with fighter jets and long-range missiles, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the comments “reflected an aggressive approach taken by the Baltic nations and Poland, who are ready to do everything to provoke further escalation without thinking about consequences.”

7:35 a.m.:

7:20 a.m.: Russia said on Tuesday that calls by the president of Lithuania to supply Ukraine with fighter planes highlighted the “extremely aggressive position” of the Baltic states and Poland, and that “major European countries” should counterbalance their stance, Reuters reported.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Monday that NATO should stop drawing “red lines” and should supply Ukraine with whatever weapons it needed, including fighter jets and long-range missiles.

Asked about those comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “In general, we see an extremely aggressive position from representatives of the Baltic countries and Poland. They are apparently ready to do anything to provoke the growth of further confrontation, with little regard for the consequences.”

He added: “Of course, it is very sad that under these conditions the leaders of major European countries, who drive all European processes, unfortunately do not play a balancing role.”

7:05 a.m.:

6:55 a.m.: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Japanese premier Fumio Kishida pledged on Tuesday to strengthen ties, saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its growing military cooperation with China had created the most tense security environment since World War Two, Reuters reported.

The comments came in a statement issued during Stoltenberg’s trip to Japan following a visit to South Korea on which he urged Seoul to increase military support to Ukraine and gave similar warnings about rising tension with China.

“The world is at a historical inflection point in the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II,” the two leaders said in the statement.

It also raised concerns about Russia’s nuclear threats, joint military drills between Russia and China near Japan, and North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons.

Stoltenberg told reporters a Russian victory in Ukraine would embolden China at a time when it is building up its military, “bullying its neighbors and threatening Taiwan.”

6:40 a.m.: A large Russian force has advanced hundreds of metres in a major new assault on a Ukrainian-held bastion in southeastern Ukraine this week, though it is unlikely to force a significant breakthrough there, Britain said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Russian officials claimed the advance had secured a foothold in the coal-mining town of Vuhledar. Kyiv has acknowledged heavy fighting there but says it has repelled the push so far while inflicting heavy losses on the attackers.

In an intelligence update offering rare battlefield detail, the British ministry said Russia was attacking the town with a force at least the size of a brigade, a unit normally comprising several thousand troops with a full range of capabilities.

So far, the Russians had likely advanced from the south several hundred meters beyond the Kashlahach River, which it said had marked the front line for months. The small river flows on the edge of the town of Pavlivka, about two kilometers south of Vuhledar.

6:25 a.m.:

6:10 a.m.: Finnish, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic unions will quit a global media federation on Tuesday in protest at “corruptive activity,” including most recently allowing Russian state media journalists in Ukraine to stay as members, the Finnish union said according to Reuters.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which represents 600,000 journalists in 146 countries, calls itself “the global voice of journalists,” many of whom strive to reveal corruption and wrongdoings.

It denounced the accusations as “false, defamatory and damaging.”

The Nordic members accused the IFJ of longstanding undemocratic practices, unethical finances and of allowing the Russian state media representatives to continue as members.

“We call this corruptive activity,” Hanne Aho, the chairwoman of the Union of Journalists in Finland, told Reuters.

“We have decided to resign together with the Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic unions. We will hand in our letters of resignation on Tuesday.”

Aho said the Nordic unions had for years tried to raise problems internally within the IFJ, with their latest disappointment being the IFJ not taking action against the Russian Union of Journalists for setting up regional journalists’ associations in Ukrainian territories invaded by Russia.

“They have been able to do so in all tranquility without the international federation expelling the Russian union,” Aho said.

The IFJ said its executive committee had triggered a formal process for suspending and expelling the Russian Union of Journalists. It said expenditure was formally audited every year, adding that it had sought to answer all questions posed by the Nordic unions.

“We entirely reject what are false, defamatory and damaging allegations,” IFJ Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Dear told Reuters in an emailed response.

5:30 a.m.: According to Reuters, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had met with newly-arrived U.S. ambassador Lynne Tracy and they had discussed arms control.

5:05 a.m.:

4:40 a.m.: A Russian court on Tuesday fined streaming service Twitch 4 million roubles ($57,000) for failing to remove what it said were “fakes” about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, Reuters cited the Interfax news agency as reporting.

Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Moscow has long objected to foreign tech platforms’ distribution of content that falls foul of its restrictions, with Russian courts regularly imposing penalties.

4:10 a.m.: Russia’s Gazprom said it will ship 24.5 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, a volume in line with recent days, according to Reuters.

3:30 a.m.: Ukraine’s foreign ministry criticized Croatian President Zoran Milanovic on Tuesday for saying Crimea would never return to Ukrainian control, describing his comment as “unacceptable” Reuters reported.

Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. In remarks on Monday detailing his objection to Zagreb providing military aid to Kyiv, Milanovic said it was “clear that Crimea will never again be part of Ukraine.”

“We consider as unacceptable the statements of the president of Croatia, who effectively cast doubt on the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.

3:05 a.m.:

2:20 a.m.: Russia and Belarus have started a week-long session of staff training for the joint command of their regional grouping of forces, the Belarusian defense ministry said on Tuesday.

The training is part of preparation for joint drills the two countries will hold in Russia in September, the ministry added in its statement, Reuters reported.

1:50 a.m.: Russian forces have likely conducted attacks around the Ukrainian towns of Pavlivka and Vuhledar in the past three days and may be aiming to develop a new axis of advance into Donetsk, Britain said in a regular intelligence update on Tuesday.

“There is a realistic possibility that Russia will continue to make local gains in the sector,” the update added.

“However, it is unlikely that Russia has sufficient uncommitted troops in the area to achieve an operationally significant breakthrough.”

1:32 a.m.: NATO will continue to strengthen its partnership with Japan amid the ongoing Ukraine war, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday during a visit to Japan, where he will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Reuters reported.

“The war in Ukraine matters for all of us, and therefore we’re also very grateful for the support that Japan is providing, using also the planes and the cargo capabilities,” Stoltenberg said during a brief speech after surveying the Japanese Self Defense Force’s Iruma Air Base.

His trip, which included a stop in South Korea, is aimed at bolstering ties with Western allies in Asia in the face of the war in Ukraine and rising competition with China.

Speaking in Seoul on Monday, Stoltenberg urged South Korea to increase its military support to Ukraine, citing other countries that have changed their policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict following Russia’s invasion.

1:05 a.m.: Human Rights Watch published a new report on Tuesday on the alleged use of banned anti-personnel landmines by Ukraine during the Russian invasion. These “butterfly mines” are “about the width of a child’s cupped hands” and “cannot be disarmed; they must be detonated or destroyed.”

This is exactly what makes them so dangerous. VOA’s White House correspondent Anita Powell had the full report.

12:30 a.m.:

12:01 a.m.: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s bid this week to rally support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion during his first South American tour fell flat, with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reiterating his view both parties shared blame, Reuters reported.

Scholz has sought to project unity on Ukraine during his whistlestop three-day tour, thanking all three countries he has visited — Argentina, Chile and Brazil — for condemning Russia’s invasion at the United Nations General Assembly last year.

But the fallout of the war and harsh sanctions on Russia, such as soaring food and energy prices, have hit the region particularly hard, raising questions over the West’s approach. Skepticism also abounds about interventionism and sanctions given its own past.

On the final leg of his South American tour, Scholz on Monday became the first foreign leader to visit Lula since his inauguration. Europe is seeking to re-set ties with Brazil which were frosty under far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.

In a joint news conference in Brasilia, Scholz said he was delighted by Brazil’s return to the world stage. But he grew stony-faced as his fellow leftist leader expounded his views on the Ukraine war.

“I think Russia made the classic mistake of invading another country’s territory, so Russia is wrong,” Lula told reporters.

“But I still think that when one won’t, two won’t fight. You have to want peace,” he said, adding that he had heard very little from either side about finding a peaceful end to the war.

Lula also said Brazil would not provide ammunition to Ukraine for German-made Gepard anti-aircraft guns, as reportedly requested by Germany.

Brazil would work with other countries to help achieve peace in Ukraine, as his country has not taken sides, he said.

China has an important role to play in peace talks, he added, which he will discuss on a planned visit to Beijing in March.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.


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