Sweden and Finland must send up to 130 “terrorists” to Turkey for the NATO proposal
Ukrainian forces repelled fresh Russian offensives in the east, Ukraine’s military said on Jan. 16, as Western allies debate whether to send aid requested by Kiev, such as heavy tanks, as it tries to break through Russian lines.
Meanwhile, the death toll in a Russian missile strike on an apartment building housing about 1,700 people in Dnipro, central Ukraine, has risen to 40, the Ukrainian military said. According to the authorities, around 30 people are still missing.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “the strike hit a residential building in Dnipro [January 14] one of the deadliest strikes in Ukraine since the Russian offensive began last February.”
“The Secretary-General condemned this attack and said this was another example of suspected violations of the laws of war,” he added.
Sweden, the EU presidency, condemned the Dnipro attack “in the strongest terms”. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson added that “deliberate attacks on civilians are war crimes”.
WATCH: As search teams searched the ruins of Dnipro for survivors and bodies, volunteers provided hot food to those left homeless by the attack and helped them salvage their belongings.
The attack on Dnipro was part of a broad wave of Russian missile strikes that included Ukraine’s largest cities – the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Speaking to reporters on January 16, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again denied that Russian forces had targeted the residential building, suggesting instead that it had been hit by Ukrainian air defense operations.
Russian forces continued to target Ukrainian positions and civilian settlements in Luhansk and Donetsk, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a daily report on January 16, as uncertainty continued over which side controls Soledar – which Russian forces have bombed to mostly rubble.
The Russian military has said it is in control of Soledar, a claim Kiev denies, saying heavy fighting continues in and around the strategic salt mining town in the Donetsk region.
A Russian victory in Soledar would allow Moscow’s forces to get closer to the larger southern city of Bakhmut, where fierce fighting has raged for months.
British Ministry of Defence said that on January 15, Ukrainian forces “almost certainly retained their positions” in Soledar, where intense fighting continued over the weekend.
The Ukrainian military said Russian forces also continued to target energy and civilian infrastructure in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions.
As the fighting continues, with both sides apparently suffering heavy losses, Kiev has called for heavier weapons, such as tanks and armored vehicles, to help it punch holes in Russia’s front lines.
Over the weekend, Britain pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, making it the first Western country to heed the calls.
On January 16, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pressed Germany to follow suit and supply Ukraine with more weapons, including Leopard 2 tanks.
Warsaw and Helsinki have already committed to sending some of their Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Analysts say the Leopard 2s are superior to Russian tanks and would give Kiev a clear advantage.
The calls come as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin prepares to visit Berlin on Jan. 19 and then attend a Defense Contact Group meeting with Ukraine the next day at the U.S. military base in Ramstein to discuss additional support — including military aid — to Ukraine with allies.
In an afternoon video speech on January 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he expected “a key decision on arms deliveries from our partners” at the Ramstein meeting.
“What happened in Dnipro – the fact that Russia is preparing new attempts to seize the initiative in the war, the fact that the nature of military operations on the front requires new decisions on arms deliveries – only emphasizes the importance of coordinating all efforts of the coalition defending Ukraine and freedom to speed up decision-making,” he said .
Austin’s visit comes as U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said an expanded and more complex combat training program for Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Jan. 15.
Milley said the program, which focuses on large-scale combat, aims to get a battalion of about 500 Ukrainian soldiers back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to six weeks.
Milley plans to visit Grafenwoehr’s practice area, where the program is underway, on January 16.
“This support is really important for Ukraine to be able to defend itself,” Milley told The Associated Press. “And we hope to get this together here in a short period of time.”
The United States has already trained more than 3,100 Ukrainian soldiers to operate and maintain certain weapons systems, including howitzers, armored vehicles, and the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Other Western allies are also training the weapons they provide.
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on January 16 after coming under severe criticism for Berlin’s hesitant response to Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
Lambrecht’s departure comes as Germany is again under intense pressure to supply tanks to Kiev after other Ukrainian allies pledged such equipment.
On January 16, Peskov denied that such deliveries would have any impact on the progress of the conflict, saying that British tanks promised to Ukraine would “burn up” on the battlefield.
“The special military operation continues. These tanks are burning and burning,” Peskov said, using Moscow’s term for the invasion of Ukraine.
He added that such deliveries “don’t change the situation on the ground. It just prolongs this story.”
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on January 16 that the agency would increase its presence in Ukraine to help prevent a nuclear accident after Russian strikes were also reported in the southern Zaporizhzhya region, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Currently, only the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant, which is close to the front lines, has a permanent IAEA presence of up to four experts.
“@IAEAorg expands presence in #Ukraine to help prevent nuclear accident during ongoing conflict,” Rafael Grossi said on Twitter.
“I am proud to lead this operation in Ukraine, where we operate in all parts of the country [nuclear power plants] to provide assistance in the field of nuclear security,” he said.
Belarus also announced on January 16 that Moscow and Minsk began joint air force exercises. Belarus said the drills are defensive, but the announcement comes as concerns grow that Moscow is pushing Minsk to join the war in Ukraine.