Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv urges civilians to leave villages near north-east front; Russian city hit by ‘Ukraine drone’

From 41m ago 05.07 EST Ukraine urges civilians to leave villages near north-east front Authorities in Ukraine’s north-east region of Kharkiv have urged residents of more than two dozen villages near the frontline to evacuate because of worsening Russian attacks in the area, Agence France-Presse reports. Russian forces captured swathes of the Kharkiv region shortly after invading Ukraine in February 2022, and have kept up efforts to control the region despite losing ground there. “Given the security situation, we are introducing mandatory evacuation of the population from the Kindrashivska and Kurylivska communities of the Kupiansk district,” the Kharkiv regional governor announced on social media. Oleg Sinegubov said the order would affect about 3,043 people in the settlements, including 279 children.
Updated at 05.37 EST
14m ago 05.34 EST The Kremlin has declined to comment on a Bloomberg report that Chinese state-owned banks are tightening curbs on funding to Russian clients for fear of US secondary sanctions, describing it as a highly sensitive topic. Asked about the report, the spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said it was a matter for the companies and departments involved, and not for the Kremlin, Reuters reports. He said: This is a very, very sensitive area and it is unlikely that anyone will undertake to talk about it – you shouldn’t expect that. We continue to develop relations with China; it’s our very important strategic partner. Peskov said this was reflected in the higher-than-expected volume of bilateral trade with China, adding “we have confidently surpassed 200bn (dollars) and continue to grow”.
Updated at 05.38 EST
41m ago 05.07 EST Ukraine urges civilians to leave villages near north-east front Authorities in Ukraine’s north-east region of Kharkiv have urged residents of more than two dozen villages near the frontline to evacuate because of worsening Russian attacks in the area, Agence France-Presse reports. Russian forces captured swathes of the Kharkiv region shortly after invading Ukraine in February 2022, and have kept up efforts to control the region despite losing ground there. “Given the security situation, we are introducing mandatory evacuation of the population from the Kindrashivska and Kurylivska communities of the Kupiansk district,” the Kharkiv regional governor announced on social media. Oleg Sinegubov said the order would affect about 3,043 people in the settlements, including 279 children.
Updated at 05.37 EST
53m ago 04.55 EST North Korea’s foreign minister, Choe Son-hui, has said during her visit to Moscow on Tuesday that ties with Russia were developing in line with the plans of the two countries’ leaders, according to Reuters.
Updated at 05.20 EST
1h ago 04.32 EST Putin to receive North Korean foreign minister on Tuesday evening, Kremlin says Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, will receive North Korea’s foreign minister, Choe Son-hui, on Tuesday evening, the Kremlin has said. Pyongyang’s top diplomat is in Russia for a three-day visit and is holding talks with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Tuesday during the day, Reuters reports. The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Lavrov and his North Korean counterpart would meet Putin later in the day to update him on the progress of those talks. Sergei Lavrov walks with Choe Son-hui in Moscow. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia was developing relations with “our partner” North Korea in all areas and would build on agreements reached between the countries’ leaders when they met at a Russian space launch centre last year. In September, Putin welcomed the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s far east and promised to help North Korea build satellites. Separately, Russia is reported to be looking to North Korea and Iran to replenish its stockpiles of weaponry, including Soviet-era artillery shells and loitering munitions. South Korean intelligence officials said in November that Pyongyang had shipped more than 1m artillery shells to Russia.
Updated at 04.38 EST
2h ago 04.13 EST Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he has met Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, in Davos and discussed the frontline situation and the need to bolster Ukrainian air defences, among other topics. I met with NATO Secretary General @JensStoltenberg in Davos to thank the Alliance for its steadfast support.
We discussed the situation on the front lines. I informed the Secretary General of Russia's recent mass air strikes and emphasized the need to further strengthen… pic.twitter.com/yXkPgSpPel — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 16, 2024 Nato said last week that member states had outlined plans to provide “billions of euros of further capabilities” in 2024 to Ukraine. “Nato strongly condemns Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, including with weapons from North Korea and Iran,” Stoltenberg said.
Updated at 04.21 EST
2h ago 03.38 EST Images distributed by the Voronezh governor, Alexander Gusev, showed a damaged residential building where a young girl was reportedly injured by fragments of a drone that was shot down. “The girl, born in 2013, suffered cut wounds to her arm, leg and neck. Medical assistance was provided at the scene,” he said in a statement, according to AFP. The mayor of the region’s main city, also called Voronezh, said a state of emergency had temporarily been introduced in the aftermath of the attacks (see post at for more details at 08.13)
Updated at 03.50 EST
2h ago 03.18 EST Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in an interview made public on Monday, said there had been times when he had felt the urge to “punch in the face” his Russian opposite number, Sergei Lavrov, in talks at the start of Moscow’s invasion. Kuleba’s brief remarks were part of an hour-long informal interview with a Ukrainian video blogger. “The most difficult talks are those in which you feel simply that you want to go and punch your opposite number in the nose, but you really can’t do that,” he said. “And I can say that this occurred two or three times. One occasion was with Lavrov in [the Turkish resort of] Antalya in spring of 2022.” Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met for several rounds of talks in the weeks after the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Updated at 03.32 EST
3h ago 03.13 EST Summary Hello, this is day 692 of Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As we resume our live coverage, here are the major developments: The Russian city of Voronezh was placed under a state of emergency on Tuesday morning after what officials said was a Ukraine-launched drone attack. Russian fighter-bombers used to attack Ukraine are based near Voronezh.
Ukraine said it shot down a Russian A-50 spy plane and Il-22 command aircraft in the area of the Sea of Azov. Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s military commander in chief, said: “Ukraine’s air force destroyed an enemy A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft and an enemy IL-22 air control centre . I am grateful to the air force for the perfectly planned and executed operation in the Azov Sea region!”
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, arrived in Switzerland to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos and meet Swiss officials. On Sunday, Ukraine pushed ahead with its peace formula to end nearly two years of war with Russia with a meeting in Davos of national security advisers from around the world.
China must be involved in efforts to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, Switzerland’s co-chair of the Davos meeting Ignazio Cassis said.
Russia is mobilising about 1,000-1,100 recruits to its armed forces every day , Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR), said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Russia had probably “substantially inflated” the number of people it says have joined the country’s armed forces , with recruits being disproportionately drawn from impoverished and rural communities .
Russia said it had given more than 200 Ukrainian prisoners of war lengthy prison sentences, with some getting a life sentence , AFP reported. The state-run outlet RT quoted an investigative committee source as saying 242 soldiers were sentenced in occupied Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Russia was developing relations with “our partner” North Korea in all areas and would build on the agreements reached between the countries’ leaders when they met at a Russian space launch centre in 2023.
The UN and its partners appealed for $4.2bn (£3.3bn) from donors to support communities in Ukraine devastated by the war , as well as Ukrainian refugees, in 2024. The UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, urged diplomats in Geneva: “Please do not forget Ukraine while there are many other places in the world that grab our attention.”
The UK announced that it would send 20,000 service personnel to one of Nato’s largest military exercises since the cold war.
Updated at 03.16 EST

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