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Boris Johnson attacks UK refusal to send Kyiv fighter jets
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Russian forces have surrounded the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a Moscow-backed leader in the Donetsk region has claimed.
“Bakhmut is now operationally surrounded, our forces are closing the ring around the city,” said Yan Gagin, an aide to Denis Pushilin, the Russia-backed leader of the illegally annexed region.
Bakhmut and villages on its southern approaches in Donetsk came under renewed Russian fire, Ukrainian army chiefs said late on Tuesday.
The city, the site of the longest battle of Russia’s war, was home to about 70,000 people before the war but officials say only a few thousand residents now remain, many of them living in underground bunkers to shelter from Russian attacks.
Mr Gagin’s claims could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has attacked Britain’s decision not to send fighter jets to Ukraine, urging western leaders to “give them what they need”.
The British former prime minister suggested it would “save time” if the UK and allies gave Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces the aircraft they had asked for now.
Britain and the US said they would not supply any warplanes, at odds with France and the Netherlands, which have signalled their openness to such a move.
Boris Johnson has condemned Rishi Sunak’s decision not to send fighter jets to Ukraine, as he urged western leaders to “give them what they need”.
The former Tory prime minister suggested that it would “save time” if the UK and its allies gave Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces the fighter jet aircraft they had asked for now.
“This is not the moment to delay any support to Ukraine, this is the moment to double down on our support. Give them what they need,” Mr Johnson told Fox News.
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Boris Johnson
Latvia has threatened to boycott next year’s Paris Olympics if Russian athletes are allowed to take part during the war in Ukraine and is calling on other countries to form a coalition to pressure international sports bodies:
Latvia has threatened to boycott next year’s Paris Olympics if athletes from Russia and ally Belarus are allowed to take part after the country’s invasion of Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has said Russia’s military must stop the shelling of Russian regions from Ukrainian territory, which he said had left many people homeless or without power.
Mr Putin was addressing a government meeting about restoring destroyed housing and infrastructure in regions of southwest Russia that border Ukraine.
“Of course, the priority task is to eliminate the very possibility of shelling. But this is the business of the military department,” he said in remarks published on the Kremlin website.
Ukraine does not claim responsibility for strikes in Russian territory but has described them as “karma” for Moscow’s invasion, which has razed Ukrainian cities and systematically targeted the country’s energy infrastructure, leaving people frequently without power and water in the depths of winter.
Putin cited the Russian regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, as well as Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine and annexed in 2014, as areas where housing had been damaged or destroyed.
People were facing “very acute” problems, and repairs and compensation were needed, he said.
“Many people found themselves in a difficult situation, lost their homes, were forced to move to relatives or to temporary places of residence, faced interruptions in the supply of water, heat, and electricity,” he said.
A Kremlin-backed regional leader in Donetsk claims the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has been surrounded by Russian forces, Reuters news agency reported.
“Bakhmut is now operationally surrounded, our forces are closing the ring around the city,” said Yan Gagin, an aide to Denis Pushilin — the Russia-backed leader of the illegally annexed Donetsk region.
Gagin claimed that fighting was now taking place for control of the Chasiv-Yar-Bakhmut highway.
Ukraine’s military leadership said there had been no let-up with Russian offensive operations, but spoke of heavy losses Russian forces were incurring in their battle for the town.
Downing Street has again ruled out supplying Ukraine with British fighter jets, despite Boris Johnson’s backing the idea.
Asked about the former prime minister’s attacks on the government for not sending jets, Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister welcomes all colleagues’ backing for Ukraine and is pleased the former prime minister is continuing his staunch support of the United Kingdom’s efforts to help Ukraine secure a lasting peace.”
But he said that Mr Johnson was “acting in his own capacity and not on behalf of the UK Government”.
The official said: “It’s currently not practical to send UK jets: we will continue to work closely with the Ukrainians to understand their needs and how allies can further support them.
“Given the complexity of UK fighter jets and the length of time required to train them we do not currently think it is practical to do so.”
Troops are fighting building to building in Bakhmut for gains of barely 100 metres a night, and the city was coming under constant Russian shelling, according to Ukrainian battleground reports.
Bakhmut came under renewed fire, as did the villages of Klishchiivka and Kurdyumivka on its southern approaches, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said late last night.
Russian forces also tried to advance on Avdiivka, the second focal point of Russian attacks in Donetsk region and Lyman, a town further north that was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in October, the military said. Further west, Russia fired on Vuhledar and a half dozen other towns and villages, it said.
A Ukrainian serviceman looks on in Bakhmut, Donetsk
Belarus said its armed forces are now in autonomous control of Russian-supplied nuclear-capable Iskander mobile guided missile systems after completing training in Russia as well as exercises on home soil.
The missiles are capable of hitting targets at a range of up to 310 miles, Minsk’s defence ministry said.
Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for their abortive attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in February last year, and a recent flurry of joint military activity in Belarus has fanned speculation that Moscow may be leaning on Minsk to join its war in Ukraine – something Minsk has ruled out.
The Iskander-M, codenamed “SS-26 Stone” by Nato, replaced the Soviet “Scud”. Its range reaches deep into Belarus’s neighbours Ukraine and Nato member Poland, whose relations with Belarus are badly strained
Polish president Andrzej Duda said US oresident Joe Biden will probably visit Central Europe in February but added he did not know which countries of the region he would be visiting.
“The president will most likely be coming to our part of Europe in February,” Mr Duda said during a press conference in Riga, Estonia, on Wednesday.
“Our part of Europe means Central Europe … this is an area stretching from Romania to Estonia. It is very difficult for us to answer where the president will be coming in detail, we do not have such information.”
Duda speaks in Riga today
A Moscow court has sentenced a Russian journalist to eight years in prison on charges of disparaging the military, the latest move in the authorities’ relentless crackdown on dissent.
Alexander Nevzorov, a television journalist and former legislator, was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the military under a law that was adopted soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine.
The law effectively exposes anyone critical of the Russian military action in Ukraine to fines and prison sentences of up to 15 years.
Nevzorov was accused of posting “false information” on social media about the Russian shelling of a maternity hospital in the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol. Moscow has fiercely denied its involvement.
The reporter, who moved abroad after the start of the Ukrainian conflict, had no immediate comment on the verdict.
Turkey looks positively on Finland’s application for Nato membership, but does not support Sweden’s bid, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said today.
“Our position on Finland is positive, but it is not positive on Sweden,” Mr Erdogan said of their Nato applications in a speech to his AK Party deputies in parliament.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the trans-Atlantic defence pact after Russia invaded Ukraine, but faced unexpected objections from Turkey and have since sought to win its support.
Ankara wants Helsinki and Stockholm in particular to take a tougher line against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terror group by Turkey and the European Union, and another group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.
The three nations reached an agreement on a way forward in Madrid last June, but Ankara suspended talks last month as tensions rose following protests in Stockholm in which a far-right Danish politician burned a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.
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