Ukraine-Russia war latest: Blow for Putin’s forces as Crimea airfield hit

Indian premier Narendra Modi is likely to visit Ukraine next month for his first visit since Russia’s full-scale invasion, local media reports.

Ukraine’s embassy in New Delhi told Reuters it had no information on such plans to share immediately, and there was no immediate response from India’s foreign ministry.

Western countries have imposed sanctions on Moscow following its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but “friendly” nations such as India and China have continued to trade. India has refrained from directly blaming Russia, while urging the two nations to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

Mr Modi met Vladimir Putin in Moscow just weeks ago, as a Russian missile struck a hospital in Kyiv killing at least 41 people. The Indian leader told Mr Putin that the death of innocent children was “painful and terrifying”.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed unhappiness over Mr Modi’s visit, calling it a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts” to see him hug “the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day”.

The final date of Mr Modi’s visit is not yet confirmed, The Print reported.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has claimed Russia’s leadership is “hyper rational” and that Ukraine will never be able to fulfil its hopes of becoming a member of the European Union or Nato.

The hard-right leader claimed in a televised speech that global power would shift away from the “irrational” West towards Asia and Russia, claiming that “we Westerners pushed the Russians into this bloc as well.

In contrast to the “weakness” of the West, Russia’s position in world affairs is rational and predictable, Mr Orban claimed, saying the country had shown economic flexibility in adapting to Western sanctions since invading Crimea in 2014. “The strongest international appeal of Russian soft power is its opposition to LGBTQ,” he claimed.

He added that Ukraine would never become a member of the EU or Nato because “we Europeans do not have enough money for that”. “The EU needs to give up its identity as a political project and become an economic and defence project,” Mr Orban added.

The EU opened membership talks with Ukraine late last month, although a long and tough road lies ahead of the country before it can join the bloc. A declaration at the end of the Nato summit this month said the alliance will support Ukraine on “its irreversible path” towards membership.

Ukraine attack drones hit a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber at a military airfield in northern Russia, Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing a military intelligence source.

“As a result of the military intelligence of Ukraine’s operation near Olenegorsk, a long-range TU-22M3 supersonic bomber was hit at the Olenya military airfield, the base of the Russian occupiers’ strategic aviation,” the source told the outlet, without giving more details.

The airfield, from which Russian strategic planes take off to launch missile attacks on Ukraine, is some 1,100 miles from the Ukrainian border, the outlet added.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has warned his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that the Washington would take action against Chinese firms aiding the war in Ukraine.

The pair held an extensive discussion about Taiwan on Saturday, where Mr Blinken raised concerns about Beijing’s recent provocative actions, a senior US official said.

As part of the 80-minute discussion on the sidelines of a regional summit, Mr Blinken also discussed China’s support for Russia’s defence industrial base and warned that the US would take action against Chinese firms aiding Moscow’s war, the official said, adding there was no commitment from Mr Wang on the issue.

Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Lozuvatske in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported, citing claims by Russia’s defence ministry.

Lozuvatske lies some 50 kilometres southeast of the city of Dnipro.

Russia has lost 573,510 troops since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv has claimed.

That includes 1,210 casualties suffered by Vladimir Putin’s forces over the past day alone, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces claimed on Saturday.

The Ukrainian military claimed Moscow had also lost some 8,311 tanks, 15,885 artillery systems, 905 air defence systems, 28 ships and one submarine.

The president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, Vadym Guttsait insisted that Russian and Belarusian athletes “do not exist” for Team Ukraine.

Russia and Belarus are banned from competing in the Olympics due to International Olympic Committee (IOC) sanctions regarding their involvement in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, in December the IOC confirmed that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to complete as neutrals at Paris 2024 – Individual Neutral Athletes (INA) – under strict eligibility conditions.

Asked at a press conference how Team Ukraine would prepare to face Russian athletes, Guttsait said: “All the athletes in the Olympic Village have had the impact by Russia and war in Ukraine so they all know what’s going on right now in our country.

“All the Ukrainian athletes who are now in the Olympic Village have now felt the war themselves. Some of them lost their families, or part of their families, relatives. Some of them lost friends and close people, so, for us, the Russian and Belarusian athletes do not exist. We don’t greet them, we don’t say hello and we don’t look at them.”

Rebecca Johnson has the full story:

Ukraine’s air defences shot down four attack drones and one missile fired by Russia in an overnight attack, the Ukrainian air force has said.

“All targets were shot down by the Ukrainian Defence Forces in Dnipro, Poltava, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions,” the military said in a statement.