40 Killed in Russian Missile Strike on Ukrainian Apartment Building; Poland Urges Germany to Provide Tanks to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the war in Ukraine is progressing positively, according to the defense ministry’s plan.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday that Russian forces had captured Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region the previous day. This follows several days of conflicting reports over whether the town had fallen under Russian control after months of fierce fighting.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday evening that Ukraine has not conceded defeat in Soledar, and that the battle for Soledar, for Bakhmut, for the whole Donetsk region, and for the Luhansk region continues without any respite or stop.

Ukraine is reeling from a major Russian missile attack on the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine. Forty people were killed after an apartment block was hit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday evening that a rescue operation continued as debris was cleared at the site of the strike. It was the single deadliest attack on Ukrainians since the summer began, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project.

The German and Dutch foreign ministers have condemned the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children by Russians, calling it a deliberate policy of cruel and inhumane abductions that is tearing families apart.

Since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine nearly a year ago, there have been accusations that Russians have been deporting Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories to raise them as their own. At least 1,000 children were seized from schools and orphanages in the Kherson region during Russia’s eight-month occupation of the area, and their whereabouts are still unknown, according to local authorities.

Russia has been accused of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories without consent, lying to them that they weren’t wanted by their parents, using them for propaganda, and giving them Russian families and citizenship.

"We call on Russia to provide information on the whereabouts of these children," said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at a joint press conference with her Dutch colleague Wopke Hoekstra in The Hague.

Hoekstra said that the Russian government's policy of abducting children is cruel and inhumane, and that the children involved must be returned to their own countries as soon as possible. He added that this policy is causing great trauma to both the children and their families.

According to NBC News, Ukraine is growing increasingly prepared for an attack near its border with Belarus.

Belarus and Russia began joint military exercises on Monday, raising concerns that Russia will launch a new ground offensive near the Belarus-Ukraine border. This would mirror the offensive Russia launched in February, according to NBC News.

NBC News spoke to one Ukrainian solider who described the need to be on high alert. He said that an attack could come anywhere within a span of thousands of miles along the border.

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 40, authorities said Monday. Western analysts say the strike indicates that the Kremlin is preparing for a long-term war in Ukraine.

About 1,700 people lived in the multi-story building that was struck by a bomb on Saturday. Search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since then to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued so far and 30 more remained missing. Authorities said at least 75 were wounded.

The death toll from the attack on the apartment tower in Ukraine is the highest reported since before the summer, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project. Residents said the tower did not house any military facilities.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, has condemned the recent airstrike in Syria as "inhumane aggression" because it directly targeted civilians. He has vowed that there will be "no impunity for these crimes" and has called for justice for the victims.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the Russian military does not target residential buildings, and suggested that the Dnipro building was hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense actions.

Latvia's President Egils Levits said that it is important to maintain support for Ukraine for two main reasons. Firstly, the war with Russia is continuing and secondly, Ukraine is a key partner for Latvia in terms of security and stability.

"The international community should maintain the high standards of international law set forth in the United Nations Charter," he told CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche in Davos, Switzerland. lowering these standards would be detrimental to everyone. "All states that have committed to peaceful order in the world should help Ukraine resist this unlawful attack," he added.

Latvia, which declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, is a staunch ally of Ukraine. Levits said Russia’s invasion was the “gravest violation of the sovereignty of a democratic state” and that solidarity between democracies is vital.I believe that all states which are lawful and which want to uphold the standards of international law should support Ukraine.

Finland will only provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine if Germany does so first, Finnish defence minister Mikko Savola said on Monday. He added that exporting the German-made equipment would require a permit from Germany.

"It depends very much on Germany's lead how we act with these Leopard tanks. These require a German export permit, and the German defence industry has a very strong role in this, in how substitutive equipment can be obtained," Savola told Reuters.

Last Thursday, President Sauli Niinisto said Finland could donate a small number of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine if a wider group of European nations also decided to do so. This would be a significant contribution to Ukraine's defense capabilities, and would send a strong message of support from the international community.

Savola said that the topic would be discussed later on in the week, and that the first discussion might take place at a meeting in Tallinn. Estonia has invited “like-minded countries” to this meeting, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected to meet with German and EU leaders at the U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany on Friday.

Berlin is facing pressure to quickly nominate a new defence minister ahead of Austin’s visit, following the resignation of Christine Lambrecht from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government on Monday.

Qatar's energy minister said at the weekend that the EU's rejection of Russian energy commodities following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine won't last forever.

"The Europeans are adamant that they will not return to buying Russian gas," said Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, energy minister and head of state gas company QatarEnergy, at the Atlantic Council Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.

Europe has been Russia's largest customer for energy commodities for many years, especially natural gas. However, EU countries have significantly reduced their imports of Russian energy supplies in recent years, in response to Moscow's brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called on Germany to provide Ukraine with the military support it needs to defend itself against Russia's invasion, including tanks.

Speaking at a ceremony marking former conservative Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble's half-century in parliament, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier implicitly criticized Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's reluctance to send heavier weaponry. Steinmeier said that Schaueble had always been a strong advocate for Germany's role in the world, and that he hoped Schaueble's example would inspire others to follow suit.

"I call on the German government to take decisive action," he said, to applause from gathered German legislators, most of whom were conservative. "We need to deliver all sorts of weapons to those who are fighting for our freedom and our future. Tanks must not be left in storehouses, but placed in the hands of those who need them."

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a nine-story apartment building in the city of Dnipro has risen.

As of 10:30 a.m. local time, 36 people had been killed in the Ukraine, including two children, according to Ihor Klymenko, the head of the country's National Police. This information was posted on the National Police's Telegram account.

Seventy-five people were injured in the attack, including 15 children, while 39 were rescued, including six children, the post states. Search and rescue efforts are continuing, the police added.

After the update, a post on Telegram by Ukraine's emergency services said that 40 people had died in the attack, including three children.

The attack occurred on Saturday and destroyed 72 apartments and damaged 230 others, according to Ukrinform.

The Kremlin has said that heavy armored vehicles supplied to Ukraine will be destroyed, days after Britain said it would supply Challenger 2 tanks to the country.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked by reporters to comment on recent moves by Ukraine’s Western allies to supply Kyiv with heavier armored vehicles. Peskov said that the Kremlin was aware of the situation and was monitoring it closely. He added that any move to supply Ukraine with military equipment would be a cause for concern.

He replied that Western countries have no intention of changing their policy of supplying military equipment, but that it would not make a difference to the war.

"The special military operation will continue," he said. "These tanks are on fire and will burn just like the rest. The goals of the special military operation will be achieved."

On Saturday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the U.K. would provide 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. This makes the U.K. the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been repeatedly asking for.

Russia has criticized the UK's decision to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, saying that it will only escalate the war. The Russian Embassy in London tweeted that "Challenger 2 tanks will hardly help the Ukrainian military turn the tide in the field. Yet they will become legitimate large-scale targets for Russian forces."

The governor of Sevastopol in Crimea, installed by Russia, said on Monday that air defenses had downed seven drones over the city in what he called a “failed Ukrainian attack.”

Sevastopol, which is located on the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014, has come under repeated air attack since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Russian officials have blamed the attacks on Ukraine.

Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev has denied reports that there were explosions in the city, saying that all the drones were downed over the sea and that air defenses are continuing to monitor the skies.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz for her dismissal, she said in a statement on Monday. This comes after growing skepticism about her ability to bring the German army into shape, especially in light of the Ukraine war.

I have asked the chancellor to dismiss me from the office of federal minister of defence, Lambrecht, a member of Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD), said in the statement.

She decided to step down as Germany is under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv. This comes after several Puma infantry tanks were put out of service during a recent military drill, raising questions about Germany's defense capabilities.

According to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, multiple windows of a children’s hospital in Kherson city in southern Ukraine have been blown out during a Russian attack.

Tymoshenko said that the damage had occurred when the ship came under enemy fire, but she did not provide any further details.

He said that the attackers targeted a children's hospital, resulting in the breakage of around 30 windows in the neonatal building.

No casualties have been reported, he added. However, this has not been verified by CNBC.

The British Ministry of Defense said on Monday that it is likely that Ukraine still has troops positioned in Soledar, a town that Russia claims to have fully captured.

The ministry said that fighting continued over the weekend in both the Kremina and Bakhmut areas of the Donbas front.

As of January 15, 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) are believed to have maintained their positions in Soledar, north of Bakhmut, despite continued attacks from the Wagner Group, a private military company. This information was released in an intelligence update from the ministry on Twitter.

In the area around Kremina, a town in Luhansk about 40 miles north of Bakhmut, fighting has been characterized by a series of local attacks and counter-attacks in wooded terrain, according to the U.K. The UAF has been slowly advancing its front line east on the outskirts of Kremina town.

The ministry noted that over the last six weeks, both Russia and Ukraine have achieved hard-fought but limited gains in different sectors.

In these circumstances, a key operational challenge for both sides is to generate formations of uncommitted, capable troops which can exploit the tactical successes to create operational breakthroughs.

Ukraine is still trying to recover from a devastating Russian missile attack that hit the city of Dnipro on Saturday. An apartment block was hit in the attack, causing extensive damage and leaving many people homeless. Ukraine's government has condemned the attack and is calling for international assistance in dealing with the aftermath.

Dnipro's regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said in an update on Telegram Monday morning that 35 people had been killed in the attack, including two children. He added that 39 people had been rescued and 75 were known to have been injured in the attack, among them 14 children.

Ukraine's emergency services said Sunday that there were 45 reports of missing persons. They added that 11 people have been identified, but the fate of 34 people is still unknown.

President Zelenskyy said Sunday evening that a rescue operation was still underway as debris was cleared from the site of the strike. He characterized the attack as a terrorist act by Russia.

At this time, the fate of more than 30 people who may have been in the house when the terrorists' missile hit is unknown. This was stated in the daily address given by the concerned party.

"We are rescue workers are doing everything we can to save lives after the devastating earthquake. So far, we have pulled dozens of people from the rubble, including six children. We will continue to search for survivors as long as there is even the slightest chance that someone may still be alive."

Zelenskyy urged Russians to speak out against the attack, saying, “I want to say to all those in Russia - and from Russia - who even now could not utter even a few words of condemnation of this terror... Your cowardly silence, your attempt to “wait out” what is happening will only end with those same terrorists coming after you one day.”

Ukraine's Air Force has said that an apartment block in the country was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile. This missile is known to be inaccurate, and Russia has said in the past that it does not deliberately target civilians. However, there have been multiple instances of civilian infrastructure, including schools, residential buildings and hospitals, being hit by missile strikes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the war in Ukraine is progressing positively from a Russian perspective. He referred to the conflict as a "special military operation" in an effort to downplay Moscow's involvement."

"The situation is positive. Everything is going according to plan for the Defense Ministry and the General Staff. And I hope that our fighters will continue to impress us with their combat skills," Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel, as reported by state news agency Tass.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday that Russian forces had captured Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region the previous day. This follows several days of conflicting reports over whether the town had fallen under Russian control.

A spokesperson for the ministry said that controlling Soledar would allow them to cut off the supply routes of Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut and then surround the town. This is a key target for Russia for months, as it looks to extend its control over the Donetsk region, neighboring Luhansk and the entire Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday evening that Ukraine has not conceded defeat in Soledar, and that the battle for Soledar, for Bakhmut, for the whole Donetsk region, and for the Luhansk region continues without any respite or stop.

Kyiv has denied Russia's claim of control over the contested Soledar area. Ukraine is set to receive more Western tanks, which will bolster its defences against any potential aggression.