Two Women Killed in Missile Attack on Village Market in Ukraine War; Russia Denies Seeking Peace Agreement

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reported that the situation on the front line in eastern Ukraine has not changed significantly in the first week of the year. Heavy fighting is still taking place in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, particularly around Bakhmut and Soledar.

"Bakhmut is holding out against all odds," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday. "Most of the city is destroyed by Russian strikes, but our warriors are repelling constant attempts at a Russian offensive."

"Solder is also holding out," he continued. "There is even more destruction there, but it is extremely hard."

Russia's government has extended support to a legislative amendment that would classify maps that dispute the country's official "territorial integrity" as punishable extremist materials, the state-owned Tass news agency reported Sunday.

The new amendment, which was reported by Reuters, emerged after its authors pointed out that some maps distributed in Russia dispute the “territorial affiliation” of the Crimean Peninsula and the Kuril Islands.

Britain is considering supplying tanks to Ukraine for the first time since the war began, according to Sky News. This would be a significant move by the UK, and would likely increase tensions with Russia.

According to a Western source with knowledge of the conversations, discussions have been taking place for a few weeks about the delivery of the British Army's Challenger 2 main battle tank.

A Ukrainian source told a news outlet that giving tanks to Ukraine would encourage other countries to do the same.

Although Ukraine's Western allies have supplied them with lighter combat vehicles and weaponry, they have been reluctant to provide heavier tanks out of fear that Russia will see it as an escalation.

Ukraine has repeatedly asked Germany for Leopard 2 tanks, but Berlin has been cautious about supplying them. On Sunday, however, Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck said such a supply could not be ruled out.

Ukraine's allies are meeting next week to discuss the conflict and possible new assistance for the country. According to Sky News, no final decision has been made on whether to supply Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. The British Ministry of Defense has not confirmed or denied the suggestion.

Russian actor Artur Smolyaninov is facing criminal charges in his home country after allegedly making “anti-Russian” comments in a newspaper interview, investigators said on Monday.

Smolyaninov, who starred in the 2005 film “The 9th Company” about the Soviet Union’s ill-fated military campaign in Afghanistan, said in an interview last week that he would fight for Ukraine, not Russia, if he had to take part in the conflict. Smolyaninov believes that the Ukrainian people have the right to determine their own future, and he would be willing to fight to defend that right.

Smolyaninov stated last October that he was no longer living in Russia.

In an interview for Novaya Gazeta Europe, an actor made some comments that drew condemnation from members of the Russian parliament. One of the parliament members said that the actor should be barred from all state-contracted films.

"I will be appealing to the Investigative Committee to open a criminal case against this traitor," said lawmaker Biysultan Khamzaev to the RIA news agency.

The Investigative Committee said on Monday that it had launched a criminal case against Smolyaninov after he took part in an interview with a Western publication. However, the committee did not provide any further details about the case.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2014, dozens of actors and artists have fled abroad in fear of breaching the country’s tough new laws on spreading “misinformation” about the war in Ukraine or discrediting the Russian army.

Moscow has described its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation" designed to demilitarize and "denazify" the country. Kyiv and its Western allies, however, have characterized the invasion as an unprovoked act of aggression aimed at seizing territory.

Two women have been killed in a Russian missile attack on a market in the village of Shevchenkove in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, according to reports.

Earlier on Monday morning, a missile strike took place in the region, with officials first reporting the attack. According to the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, a child was wounded in the strike and two women were killed.

The occupiers launched a rocket attack on Shevchenkive village in Kupyan district, resulting in the death of two women. Three more women and a 10-year-old girl were injured in the attack.

Preliminary data suggests that Russian forces fired at a settlement from a S-300 air defense system in the Belgorod border region. Prosecutors and police investigators are collecting material evidence from the attack site as part of a pre-trial investigation into a potential war crime.

The Kremlin on Monday rejected a Ukrainian assertion that a senior Russian official has been floating the idea of a potential peace deal over Ukraine with European officials. The Kremlin said that no such discussions have taken place and that the Ukrainian claim is false.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, told the country’s public broadcaster on Thursday that Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration, had been holding meetings with European officials in an attempt to force Kyiv to sign a peace deal that he characterized as unfavourable.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed recent claims by Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko that the Russian government was behind his faked death, calling them "another fake."

The Belarusian Defense Ministry has announced that a joint tactical exercise involving the air forces of Belarus and Russia will take place from January 16 to February 1. The exercise will involve various types of aircraft from both countries, and will be aimed at improving the interoperability of the two air forces.

The Russian aerospace forces arrived in Belarus on Sunday, according to BelTA. The forces are expected to use all of Belarus' airfields and training areas during a tactical exercise.

The latest report on joint military exercises by allies Belarus and Russia comes days after another statement from the defense ministry that stated that the buildup of the regional military force of Belarus and Russia continues for the sake of ensuring the military security of the Union State of Belarus and Russia.

The joint regional military force is continuing to grow, with Russian personnel, weapons, and military hardware arriving in Belarus. This build-up is sure to increase tensions in the region.

According to BelTA, army units arriving in Belarus will take part in combat shakedown events in Belarusian military exercise areas.

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly stressed that the country will not enter the Ukraine war as an active participant. However, Minsk has allowed Russia to launch attacks on Ukraine from its territory and has provided logistical support to its neighbor. Joint military exercises with Russia, plus the formation of a joint military unit between the countries, have only deepened suspicions that Belarus could look to support Russia on the battlefield as the war drags on.

The defense ministry of Belarus has announced that the decision to create a Belarusian-Russian regional military force in Belarus is purely for the sake of enhancing the security and defense of the Union State of Belarus and Russia. This force will help to protect the border from any potential threats.

A top regional official in Ukraine has reported that a Russian military strike hit a village market in the Kharkiv region in the northeast of the country. One woman was killed in the strike and several others were hospitalized.

The enemy is once again launching missile strikes on the Kharkiv region. In the urban-type settlement of Shevchenkove, Kupiansk district, a missile strike was launched on the local market. All emergency services are working at the scene, Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, said in a post on Telegram.

Subsequent to the attack, a post was purportedly shown with images of the destroyed market. In the post, Syniehubov said that a 60 year-old woman had died and seven others had been injured and hospitalized, including a 13-year-old girl. CNBC was unable to verify the information in the posts.

The Russian government has announced its support for a new amendment that would classify maps that dispute the country's official territorial integrity as extremist materials. This news was reported by the state-owned TASS news agency on Sunday.

The amendment to Russia’s anti-extremism legislation stipulates that any documents or images that dispute the territorial integrity of Russia will be classified as extremist materials. This means that anyone caught with such materials could be subject to criminal charges.

Russia's anti-extremism legislation is sweeping and ambiguous, applying to religious organizations, journalists, businesses, and others. This has allowed the Kremlin to tighten its grip on opponents.

According to TASS, a new amendment has emerged after its authors pointed out that some maps distributed in Russia dispute the territorial affiliation of the Crimean Peninsula and the Kuril Islands.

In 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea, a move that was rejected by Ukraine and many other countries as illegal. Since then, Ukrainians and their government have often objected to world maps that show Crimea as part of Russia's territory.

Although Russia and Japan have not formally ended hostilities from World War Two, they remain in a standoff over a group of islands just off of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido. The Soviet Union seized these islands - known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories - at the end of the war.

The amendment must be proposed to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament. After a review, it must go through three readings before being sent to the Federation Council, the upper house, and President Vladimir Putin for signing.

According to the latest intelligence update from Britain’s Ministry of Defense, Russia appears to be reluctant to deploy its new-generation stealth fighter jets in the war in Ukraine, fearing their potential loss.

In a recent Twitter update, the Ministry of Defense noted that Russian Aerospace Forces have likely been using Su-57 FELON jets to conduct missions against Ukraine since at least June 2022. This is a significant development, as it suggests that Russia is continuing to escalate its military activity in the region despite international pressure to de-escalate the situation.

"The FELON is Russia's most advanced fifth-generation supersonic combat jet, employing stealth technologies and highly advanced avionics," the ministry said.

The article claimed that missions using the jets have likely been limited to flying over Russian territory and launching long range air-to-surface or air-to-air missiles into Ukraine.

It is believed that Russia is "highly likely prioritising avoiding the reputational damage, reduced export prospects, and the compromise of sensitive technology which would come from any loss of FELON over Ukraine," it was noted.

This is indicative of Russia's ongoing cautious approach to using its air force in the war.

Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday that Bakhmut is holding out against all odds, with most of the city destroyed by Russian strikes. Our warriors are repelling constant attempts at a Russian offensive there, he said, and although conditions are extremely hard, Soledar is also holding out.

"There is no such piece of land near these two cities where the occupier would not have given his life for the crazy ideas of the masters of the Russian regime," he said. "This is one of the bloodiest places on the frontline."

Zelenskyy said additional units were being deployed to the area in a bid to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses and intensify attacks on Russian forces.