Russia Ukraine war live: Moscow launches hypersonic missile attack as UK pledges to send more drones

Russian forces struck grain silos in the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, destroying the grain inside, regional senior investigator for the Ukrainian police Serhii Bolvinov reported.

Two air-dropped gliding bombs were launched over the previous night, hitting grain storage facilities and a processing building. According to Bolvinov, the security guards on duty were not injured and no casualties were reported.

“Destroyed crops and destroyed premises – the Russians continue to raid civilian objects,” Bolvinov wrote on Facebook.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has proposed an international working group on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the minister wrote on Facebook on Jan. 14. Umerov presented the plan at the fourth meeting of national security advisors regarding the Peace Formula in Davos, Switzerland. He suggested creating a group at the level of Ministers of Defense and National Security Advisors to “jointly work out a mechanism for the withdrawal of (Russian) troops.” “It’s impossible to talk about restoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine without the complete withdrawal and disarmament of Russian troops and terrorist organizations from the temporarily occupied territories,” Umerov wrote.

Watch the moment that a bear rescued from an abandoned zoo in Ukraine arrives into his new home at a Scottish zoo on Friday, 12 January.

Yampil is an Asiatic black bear who survived shelling in the Donetsk region, and has now been permanently rehomed to the Five Sisters Zoo in West Lothian, Scotland, finishing a trip of 690 miles.

Brian Curran, owner of Five Sisters Zoo, said: “We are so pleased to say that Yampil has arrived here safe and well, and is settling in perfectly in his forever home here with us.

The 12-year-old bear will be watched closely to see if he displays any signs of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) after experiencing a warzone.

China needs to be involved in talks to end the war with Russia, Ukraine’s top representative said after a high-level diplomatic meeting ahead of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Sunday it was important that Russian ally China was at the table when Kyiv convenes further meetings on its peace formula.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will lead a delegation in Davos this week. Asked if President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would meet Li, Yermak told a news briefing “let’s see”, adding he had not seen the Ukrainian president’s final agenda.

Top foreign policy advisers from Western countries and Ukraine met on Sunday to help push forward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace formula that aims to end Russia‘s war on his country.

The fourth such meeting of national security advisers took place in the Swiss town of Davos, where Zelensky attended the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting starting Tuesday.

He will endeavor to keep up international focus on Ukraine’s defense amid eroding support for Kyiv in the West and swelling distractions like conflict in the Middle East.

Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis hosted Sunday’s conference attended by more than 80 delegations that aims to build on the previous closed-door efforts in Denmark, Saudi Arabia and Malta last summer and fall.

One of Russia’s most popular novelists has been designated a foreign agent over his objections to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Holly Evans reports.

Boris Akunin, who was once a best-selling author in Russia, has been added to a register of “terrorists and extremists” by the justice ministry.

Books by Mr Akunin, whose real name is Grigori Chkhartishvili, had already been removed from book shelves after voicing his opposition to president Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine will not be able to give up Soviet aircraft in favour of Western ones overnight, and French military jets may coexist on Ukrainian airfields with American and Soviet ones, the head of the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Kyiv has pressed Western allies to supply increasingly sophisticated arms and ammunition, including armoured vehicles, tanks, long-range missiles and U.S.-made F-16 fighters.

The first F-16 jets are expected to arrive in Ukraine later in 2024, although their impact on the war could be limited by the strength of Russia’s air force.

Ukraine-UK security agreement provides Kyiv with confidence in fighting Russia, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Mr Zelensky said Kyiv would continue working with its European partners to ensure development of the country’s security and Nato membership

“The Ukraine-UK security agreement provides us with confidence as we defend ourselves against Russian aggression and lays the groundwork for strong security positions until Ukraine joins Nato,” he said on X.

“The United Kingdom is the first country with which we have reached such a security agreement. We will keep working with other partners to ensure the development of our security. We are making Ukraine stronger step by step.”