Live blog: West must halt weapons parts supplies to Russia — Ukraine

Friday, January 19, 2024

1201 GMT — Ukraine has urged the West to "get serious" about curbing Russia's arms production by shutting loopholes that allow it to keep sourcing key parts.

"The West must get serious about strangling Russia's ability to produce weapons," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a social media post.

"According to some data, up to 95% of the foreign-produced critical components found in Russian weapons destroyed in Ukraine come from Western countries," he added.

"Ukraine would require less assistance and would lose fewer lives if all of the murky schemes and sanction evasion loopholes were thoroughly tracked down and completely closed," Kuleba said.

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1531 GMT — Baltic states to build new defences on Russia, Belarus borders

The three Baltic states agreed to build new defences on their borders with Belarus and Russia, given security concerns in the region over Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.

"The ministers signed an agreement in Riga, according to which Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will construct anti-mobility defensive installations in the coming years to deter and, if necessary, defend against military threats," the Estonian defence ministry said in a statement.

It added that the installations would be on the borders with Russia and Belarus.

"Russia's war in Ukraine has shown that, in addition to equipment, ammunition, and manpower, physical defensive installations on the border are also needed," Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said, quoted in the statement.

1517 GMT — Russia summons French envoy over 'growing' role in Ukraine

Russia summoned France's ambassador in Moscow and issued a formal complaint over his country's alleged "growing involvement" in the conflict in Ukraine.

The move comes just days after Moscow claimed — without providing evidence — that it had killed a group of French mercenaries in a strike on the northeastern town of Kharkiv.

"On 19 January, French Ambassador P. Levy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and presented with evidence of Paris's growing involvement in the conflict over Ukraine," Russia's foreign ministry announced in a statement.

France's Foreign Ministry denied it had mercenaries in Ukraine, a spokesman dismissing the claim as "another clumsy Russian manipulation".

0950 GMT — Ukraine claims new attack on oil depot in Russia

Ukraine's military intelligence service was behind an attack in the Russian border region of Bryansk that left an oil depot ablaze, a source in the Ukrainian security services has told AFP.

The source confirmed reports in Ukrainian media that the drone attack was part of a special operation, which came one day after Kiev claimed another attack on an oil storage facility in the northern Leningrad region of Russia.

0818 GMT — Belarus considers nuclear deployment for 'strategic deterrence'

The new military doctrine of Belarus considers the deployment of nuclear weapons in the country as a forced measure of strategic deterrence, the TASS news agency reported, citing the Belarusian Defence Ministry.

TASS said on Friday that the new military doctrine also describes the actions the Belarusian army would take in case of any armed aggression against Minsk's allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which comprises several former Soviet republics, or the Union State of Belarus and Russia.

At the same time, Minsk says it is ready to resume dialogue with NATO countries, "provided their aggressive rhetoric against Belarus is stopped", TASS reported.

Belarus, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, shares borders with NATO members Poland and Lithuania as well as with Russia and Ukraine.

0457 GMT — Russia shoots down Ukrainian drone over Bryansk region

Russian air defence forces shot down a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over the Bryansk region of Russia, the Russian Defence Ministry has said, according to TASS news agency.

"The UAV was destroyed at about 6:40 a.m. Moscow time," the ministry said. "It was a fixed-wing UAV that was approaching the border between Russia and Ukraine."

The ministry also stressed that the UAV was likely carrying explosives and was intended to attack targets in Russia.

2237 GMT — Any Ukraine defeat would not end well for Europe: Lithuania

If Ukraine does not defeat Russia, Moscow's victory would not end well for Europe, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has told the AFP news agency, as he warned Russia might not be contained in its neighbourhood.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, where the war in Ukraine has dominated discussions.

Landsbergis warned Europe had "not awakened to the reality" that the conflict in Ukraine is "Europe's war", as he called on the continent to do more to prepare for any possible future aggression by Russia against other European countries.

"There is no scenario in this that if Ukraine doesn't win, that could end well for Europe," Landsbergis said. "There's a chance that Russia might not be contained in Ukraine," he warned.

One way Europe could do more on defence was "common procurement; we could procure things that are needed to defend Europe", the minister said. "Some of us might have thought that somebody else has to do it or pull the weight. But it's Europe's war."

0112 GMT — North Korea diplomat returns after meeting Putin in Moscow

North Korea's foreign minister has returned from Russia after a rare official visit and meeting with President Vladimir Putin as part of closer cooperation that Washington said could drastically change the security threat posed by Pyongyang.

Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and a government delegation returned home, official news agency KCNA said without elaborating on her meetings in Moscow.

Earlier this week, KCNA said Choe and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed strengthening the "strategic and tactical cooperation" and implementing the agreement between their leaders to forge closer ties when they met in September.

Choe's visit was the latest in a series of high-level exchanges since last year amid growing criticism of Pyongyang's role in the Ukraine war by allegedly shipping artillery and missiles to Russia.

Both North Korea and Russia deny the accusation and also the charge that Pyongyang was receiving advanced technology for developing strategic military capability from Moscow in return.

For our live updates from Thursday (January 18), click here.