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Sweden offers Ukraine artillery as Russia threatens escalation
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukrainian strikes on Russian-annexed Crimea would be “extremely dangerous”, after the New York Times reported that US officials were warming to the idea of helping Kyiv strike the peninsula.
“This will mean raising the conflict to a new level that will not bode well for European security”, Reuters reports the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters at his daily briefing. Crimea, which is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, was annexed by Russia in 2014.
The comments came as the Swedish government announced it would be sending the Archer artillery system for use by Kyiv, a vehicle-mounted self-propelled gun howitzer made by Bofors BAE. It has long been requested by the Ukrainian side.
Peskov also commented on the remarks made earlier by Dmitry Medvedev that threatened a nuclear response if Russia were defeated in Ukraine. [see 7.43 GMT]
Peskov said the comments were in full accordance with Moscow’s nuclear doctrine.
Medvedev had said western politicians “repeated like a mantra: ‘To achieve peace, Russia must lose’”, but “it never occurs to any of them to draw the following elementary conclusion from this: the loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war”.
As well as the Archer artillery system, Sweden has committed to sending infantry fighting vehicles in a move announced in a press conference in Stockholm on Thursday morning.
Key events
Wallace: We’re in it for the long haul
Defence ministers from around the world will gather at the US airbase in Ramstein in Germany to make it clear to President Vladimir Putin that they stand by Ukraine, Wallace says.
President Putin is banking on us getting bored this year. He’s wrong. We will plan for this year and next year and the year after.
He adds:
We’re in it for the long haul.
It is now time to turn the momentum that Ukrainians have achieved, and to make sure Russia “understands that the purpose now is to push them back out of Ukraine” and to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty, he says.
Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, is speaking at a joint news conference with his Estonian counterpart, Hanno Pevkur.
Wallace says Putin made a number of assumptions when he ordered his troops to invade Ukraine last February: the first, that Ukrainians would not fight. The second, that his military would quickly crush any resistance.
Finally, Putin banked on the fact that he “thought the international community was fickle, that it wouldn’t stick together, that we wouldn’t see it through”. Wallace added:
None of those have turned out to be true. 2023 is about demonstrating to Putin that the international community isn’t fractured, that the international community is more than ever determined to stand by Ukraine to see it through.
Child among 14 confirmed dead in helicopter crash
Isobel Koshiw
Ukraine’s state emergency services has said the number of children confirmed dead in yesterday’s helicopter attack in Brovary is one, not three, as previously stated.
The child died when a helicopter carrying the leadership of Ukraine’s interior ministry crashed near a nursery outside Kyiv on Wednesday morning.
Ukraine’s national police carried out forensics on body fragments and as a result, the number of dead decreased, said Ukraine’s emergency services.
As of Thursday morning 16 victims were still in hospital, including six children, and 14 people were confirmed dead, including the child, according to the head of Kyiv region, Olekskiy Kuleba.
The Kremlin has said Russia will achieve its goals in Ukraine “one way or another” and the sooner Kyiv accepts its demands, the sooner the conflict will end.
Speaking to reporters, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said:
The sooner the Ukrainian regime shows its readiness to meet Russia’s demands – which will be achieved one way or another – the sooner everything will end, and the sooner Ukrainian people can begin to recover after this tragedy, which was started by the regime in Kyiv.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said Russia is ready to halt military operations if Ukraine meets its demands, but Moscow has not publicly outlined details of its negotiating position or what it is seeking from Kyiv in order to end hostilities.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he is “sincerely grateful” to the Swedish government after it announced a new package of military aid to Ukraine that will include armoured infantry fighting vehicles and the Archer artillery system.
The package is worth 4.3bn Swedish crowns (£339m), and will include about 50 of Sweden’s tracked and armoured Type 90 infantry fighting vehicles, which can be used to transport up to eight infantry soldiers and is equipped with a 40-mm automatic cannon.
The government did not specify how many Archer systems it would supply. The package will also include light, portable NLAW anti-tank weapons, mine-clearing equipment and assault rifles.
The infantry fighting vehicles, Archer systems and NLAW anti-tank weapons are “powerful weapons that Ukraine’s army needs”, Zelenskiy tweeted.
Sincerely grateful to the Government of Sweden & @SwedishPM for the new military assistance package to 🇺🇦. CV90 IFVs, Archer self-propelled howitzers & NLAW ATGMs are powerful weapons that 🇺🇦 army needs to liberate our land from the Russian invader. Together to a common victory!
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 19, 2023
Before the package was presented today, Sweden had announced around 5bn Swedish crowns of military aid to Ukraine as well as several instalments of humanitarian supplies.
Ukraine’s victory is of “almost indescribable importance” Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, told a news conference, adding that Ukraine was fighting for the freedom of all of Europe.
Sweden is increasing military assistance to Ukraine with heavy and advanced weapons. We stand with Ukraine together with our international partners. Ukrainian victory is essential for a free Europe. https://t.co/NPI4Cl0lXV
— SwedishPM (@SwedishPM) January 19, 2023
US, German defence ministers meet to discuss support for Ukraine
The US and German defence ministers met today as Berlin faces pressure to allow the transfer of German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Germany remains “one of our most important allies”, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said at the start of his meeting with Boris Pistorius, who hours earlier had been sworn in as Germany’s new defence minister.
Before the meeting, Austin thanked the German government “for all that it has done to strengthen Ukraine’s self-defence”, without specifically mentioning the issue of tanks.
Pistorius said Germany was ready to support Ukraine and that Berlin stood shoulder to shoulder with its allies. He said:
Together with our partners, we will continue to support Ukraine in its struggle for freedom and territorial independence and sovereignty.
Their meeting came as a German government source told Reuters that Berlin would allow Leopard tanks to be sent to Ukraine to help its defence against Russia if the US agreed to send its own tanks.
But US officials have publicly and privately insisted that Washington has no plans to send US-made tanks to Ukraine for now, arguing that they would be too difficult for Kyiv to maintain and would require a huge logistical effort to simply run.
Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy adviser, said the Pentagon still was not prepared to meet Ukraine’s calls for M1 Abrams main battle tanks.
A Swedish court has sentenced two brothers to prison for spying for Russia and its military intelligence service GRU for a decade, in what has been called one of the country’s worst cases of espionage.
Iranian-born Peyman Kia, 42, was sentenced to life, while his younger brother, Payam Kia, was sentenced to nine years and 10 months. A life sentence in Sweden generally means a minimum of 20-25 years in prison.
Between 2014 and 2015, Peyman Kia worked for Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency, and worked with a top-secret unit within the agency that dealt with Swedish spies abroad, according to local media.
Payam Kia, 35, helped his brother and “dismantled and broke a hard drive which was later found in a trash can” when his brother was arrested, according to the charge sheet obtained by the Associated Press.
The pair appeared before Stockholm district court, where they faced charges of working together to pass information to Russia between September 2011 and September 2021.
In its verdict, the court said it was “beyond reasonable doubt that the brothers, together and in consultation, without authorisation and for the benefit of Russia and the GRU, acquired, forwarded and disclosed information” to a foreign power with the purpose of damaging Sweden’s security.
Explaining the verdict of a life sentence, the court said the older brother had a “full understanding of the damaging effects – he has acquired, forwarded and disclosed the information to Russia, which constitutes the main threat to Sweden’s security”.
Although it had “not been possible to reach full certainty as to what happened”, the court said a picture of what happened “is sufficiently clear for the defendants to be held responsible”.
The brothers denied any wrongdoing throughout the trial, which was held behind closed doors and with evidence that is secret.
The case is believed to be one of the most damaging instances of espionage in Sweden’s history because the men compiled a list of all the employees within the Swedish security and intelligence service, known by its acronym Sapo.
The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, says he is in Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and members of his government.
The people of Ukraine “need and deserve our support”, Michel said in a video posted to Twitter.
On my way to #Kyiv.
Ukrainians are fighting for their land, for the future of their children.
But they are also fighting for our common European values of peace and prosperity.They need and deserve our support. pic.twitter.com/ewLY4E9udX
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) January 19, 2023
His trip comes just two weeks before the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is set to visit the Ukrainian capital for a summit.
Summary of the day so far …
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The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukrainian strikes on Russian-annexed Crimea would be “extremely dangerous”, after the New York Times reported that US officials were warming to the idea of helping Kyiv strike the peninsula. “This will mean raising the conflict to a new level that will not bode well for European security,” the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters at his daily briefing. Crimea, which is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, was annexed by Russia in 2014.
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The comments came as Sweden announced it would be sending the Archer artillery system for use by Kyiv, a vehicle-mounted self-propelled gun howitzer made by Bofors BAE. The country has also committed to sending infantry fighting vehicles in a move announced in a press conference in Stockholm on Thursday morning.
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A government source in Berlin told Reuters Germany would send German-made tanks to Ukraine so long as the US agreed to do likewise, as Nato partners remained out of step over how best to arm Ukraine in its war against Russia.
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Germany’s presiden,t Frank-Walter Steinmeier, promised further military support to Ukraine and warned the incoming defence minister that Germany’s armed forces must once again become capable of protecting the country. The Social Democrat Boris Pistorius was officially made minister on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Steinmeier.
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Dmitry Medvedev, the hawkish longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, has warned of a nuclear escalation if Russia is defeated in Ukraine, saying that western politicians “repeated like a mantra: ‘To achieve peace, Russia must lose’”, but “it never occurs to any of them to draw the following elementary conclusion from this: the loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war”. Peskov later said the comments made by the deputy chairman of the security council of Russia were fully in accordance with Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
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The former UK prime minister Boris Johnson, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said people spent too much time obsessing about Putin and worrying about escalating the conflict. “How can you escalate against a guy who is doing all-out war against a civilian population?” he said. He also cast doubt on whether Russia would use nuclear weapons and internationally isolate itself from countries like China.
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Oleksiy Kuleba, the governor of Kyiv, said on Thursday that 10 adults and six children remained in hospital after Wednesday’s helicopter crash, which killed the interior minister, Denys Monastyrskiy, and 14 others. Kuleba said families of the victims would receive financial assistance, and that children from the kindergarten damaged when the helicopter fell were studying in nearby preschools.
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Ukraine’s state broadcaster, Suspilne, is reporting that 11 people are still considered missing after Saturday’s attack on a high-rise building in Dnipro.
Sweden offers Ukraine artillery as Russia threatens escalation
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukrainian strikes on Russian-annexed Crimea would be “extremely dangerous”, after the New York Times reported that US officials were warming to the idea of helping Kyiv strike the peninsula.
“This will mean raising the conflict to a new level that will not bode well for European security”, Reuters reports the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters at his daily briefing. Crimea, which is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, was annexed by Russia in 2014.
The comments came as the Swedish government announced it would be sending the Archer artillery system for use by Kyiv, a vehicle-mounted self-propelled gun howitzer made by Bofors BAE. It has long been requested by the Ukrainian side.
Peskov also commented on the remarks made earlier by Dmitry Medvedev that threatened a nuclear response if Russia were defeated in Ukraine. [see 7.43 GMT]
Peskov said the comments were in full accordance with Moscow’s nuclear doctrine.
Medvedev had said western politicians “repeated like a mantra: ‘To achieve peace, Russia must lose’”, but “it never occurs to any of them to draw the following elementary conclusion from this: the loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war”.
As well as the Archer artillery system, Sweden has committed to sending infantry fighting vehicles in a move announced in a press conference in Stockholm on Thursday morning.
Reuters notes that the Swedish government has been silent on the number of Archer artillery systems that it is intending to send to Ukraine. Sweden has 48 Archer systems, which is a vehicle-mounted self-propelled gun howitzer made by Bofors BAE.
The Swedish government said it had ordered its defence forces to also prepare shipment of the system.
Sweden to send Archer artillery system as past of military aid package
The Swedish government has announced it is sending a further package of military aid to Ukraine, which will include the Archer artillery system, which the Ukrainians have long sought. The package also includes the anti-tank robot-57.
Fifty combat vehicles will also be sent, which Sweden’s energy and industry minister, Ebba Busch, this morning described as “one of the world’s best combat vehicles”.
Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister of Sweden, said “Ukraine’s desire for what they need most weighs heavily”.
The air alarm that was in place in Ukraine this morning has ended. It appears to have been caused by Russian planes taking off in Belarus, where the Belarus and Russian air forces have been carrying out joint drills.
Ten adults and six children remain in hospital after Brovary helicopter crash
Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of Kyiv, has provided an update on the situation following yesterday’s helicopter crash which claimed the life of interior minister Denys Monastyrskiy and 14 other people. He posted on Telegram to say:
As a result of the tragedy in Brovary, 16 people remain in hospitals, six of whom are children. Others receive treatment on an outpatient basis. Financial assistance will be allocated to the families of the victims.
The place where the helicopter fell has been cleared of debris. Windows and doors will be repaired in the damaged building in the near future.
Children from the damaged kindergarten are organized to study in nearby preschools, taking into account the wishes of the parents.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has promised further military support to Ukraine and warned the incoming defence minister that Germany’s armed forces must once again become capable of protecting the nation.
Social Democrat Boris Pistorius was officially made minister on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Steinmeier. The role of German president is largely ceremonial.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has destroyed Europe’s security order, Steinmeier said at the event, Reuters reports.
Steinmeier stressed that Germany would continue to support Ukraine militarily and would help “in the reconstruction of a battered country”. “Germany is not at war, but the years of the peace dividend from which we Germans have benefited so long and abundantly are over,” Steinmeier said.
“We have to respond to threats that also target us,” he said.
Pistorius is due to meet his US counterpart Lloyd Austin later today, and on Friday defence leaders from around 50 countries and Nato gather at Germany’s Ramstein air base to discuss how to supply Kyiv with more weapons.
A German government source has told Reuters that Berlin will only allow German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine if the United States agrees to send its own tanks.
Here is an image from Cambodia today, where Ukrainian demining teams are receiving training from their Cambodian counterparts.
Ukraine is currently experiencing an air alert. Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has posted to Telegram to tell residents:
Residents of Lviv oblast and the entire territory of Ukraine announced an air alert. There is a threat of a missile strike. Immediately go to a shelter or a room where the rule of “two walls” applies.
During almost 11 months of full-scale war, we have seen more than once what the enemy is capable of in his hatred and desire to destroy. Take care of yourself and your loved ones, warn those who might not have heard the sound of sirens.
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