Live blog: Russia at UN denies deporting Ukrainian children

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

1720 GMT –– Russia has flatly rejected allegations that it had deported Ukrainian children since its incursion, but said at the UN that more than 700,000 had moved into its territory.

Ukraine has said that 20,000 children have been forced to move to Russia since the war erupted in February 2022. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the action "a genocide".

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child spent two days questioning Russia on its record, as part of a regular review that all countries have to undergo.

The independent experts pressed Russia on the deportation allegations, wanting to know how many children were affected, where they were sent to, by whom and for what reasons.
Ukraine says that only about 400 children have so far been repatriated.

The International Criminal Court issued a war crimes arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 accusing him of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. The ICC has levelled similar charges against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights.

Russia is not a member of the ICC and insists the warrant against Putin is "void".

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1712 GMT –– Oscar-nominated '20 days in Mariupol' – from normality to ruins

Laying out the horrors of the early days of Russia's offensive against Ukraine, documentary "20 days in Mariupol" was nominated for an Oscar.

Almost two years on from the start of Russia's attack, the film recounts the dying days of a major city.

"Wars start with silence", filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov says on day one of the 2022 onslaught, as he enters Mariupol by car with his colleague, Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka.

The journalists, both Ukrainian, know that the southern strategic port will be one of the first targets for Moscow's troops.

Chernov films the last images of a still "normal" city before it was reduced to rubble.

1703 GMT –– Russian strikes kill eight, create new panic across Ukraine

A wave of Russian missiles hit Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, killing eight people and wounding dozens as new panic spread among exhausted residents.

Rescue workers in Kharkiv –– Ukraine's second city that is near Russia's border –– hauled survivors from smouldering piles of rubble as apartment blocks were set ablaze and toppled by the strikes, AFP journalists reported.

Authorities said seven people were killed in the northeastern city of Kharkiv in the overnight barrage that also wounded more than 50 people.

The toll rose after emergency services said they pulled out "the body of a dead woman from under the rubble of a destroyed high-rise building".

1658 GMT –– US defence chief urges more support for Ukraine

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged more support for Ukraine during his first public appearance, albeit virtually, since his controversial medical treatment.

"I urge this group to dig deep to provide Ukraine with more life-saving ground-based air-defence systems and interceptors," Austin said at the 18th Ukraine Defense Contact Group, as he spoke from home.

"Ukraine has answered Putin's cruelty with courage and defiance. After almost two years of war, Ukraine's people and troops stand strong against Russian aggression and occupation," he added.

"So, let's be clear. Our support for Ukraine's struggle against tyranny makes all of our countries more secure. If we lose our nerve, if we flinch, if we fail to deter other would-be aggressors, we will only invite even more bloodshed and chaos," he said.

1655 GMT –– Kremlin revels in Ukraine aid uncertainty

The Kremlin said that the West was giving up on Ukraine and had "thrown away" billions of dollars in support since Moscow launched its full-scale military offensive.

Western financial and military assistance has been a crucial lifeline for Kiev since Russia ordered its troops into the country in February 2022, but political wrangling in both Washington and Brussels has left future funding in doubt.

Russia appeared to revel in the uncertainty.

"The Europeans very well understand that the money has been thrown into the wind," state news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying. He said a drop in funding left Zelenskyy "in a very difficult position."

"They've stopped giving him money, there are not enough shells for him abroad and he has domestic trouble," Peskov said.

1229 GMT –– NATO signs key artillery ammunition contract to replenish allied supplies

NATO signed a $1.2-billion contract to make tens of thousands of artillery rounds to replenish the dwindling stocks of its member countries as they supply ammunition to Ukraine to help it defeat Russia's offensive.

The contract will allow for the purchase of 220,000 rounds of 155-millimeter ammunition, the most widely sought-after artillery shell, according to NATO’s support and procurement agency.

It will allow allies to backfill their arsenals and to provide Ukraine with more ammunition.

But the shells will not arrive quickly — delivery on orders takes anywhere from 24 to 36 months, the NATO agency said.

The European Union plans to produce 1 million artillery rounds for Ukraine have fallen short, with only about a third of the target met.

Senior EU officials have said that they now expect the European defence industry to be producing around one million shells annually by the end of this year.

1037 GMT — Russia strikes Ukrainian military-industrial facilities: Moscow

Russia has launched missile strikes on Ukraine's military production facilities and successfully hit all intended targets, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

The strikes were carried out with air- and land-based missiles against enterprises producing missiles, explosives and ammunition, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian officials said earlier that Russia unleashed a mass air strike on Ukraine on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding more than 60 others.

They said the early-morning missile attack mostly targeted the country's two largest cities, Kiev and Kharkiv.

1019 GMT — Kremlin says Russia is not targeting civilians

The Russian military does not target civilians when it hits objects in Ukraine, the Kremlin has said when asked to comment on what Ukraine said were deadly Russian strikes on the cities of Kiev and Kharkiv.

Asked if the strikes were Moscow's response to what Russia said was a Ukrainian artillery attack on the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Sunday that killed 27 people, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters:

"No, you cannot say that. We are continuing our special military operation and our military does not hit social facilities and residential neighbourhoods and does not hit civilians, unlike the Kiev regime.

"This is what fundamentally distinguishes our military from the military of the Kiev regime."

0837 GMT — No imminent military threat from Russia towards any NATO ally: Stoltenberg

NATO has said it does not see any imminent military threat from Russia towards any member of the alliance but was keeping up its deterrence with the largest exercise in decades set to kick off later his week.

"We do all of this to ensure that we have the ... forces in place to remove any room for miscalculation or misunderstanding in Moscow about our readiness to protect every inch of NATO territory, and as long as we do that, there will be no attack against the NATO territory," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

0801 GMT — Ukraine military says it destroyed 21 out of 41 missiles launched by Russia

Russia has launched 41 missiles at Ukraine and air defences destroyed 21 of them, the Ukrainian military said.

"The enemy launched a combined missile attack on Ukraine, using cruise, ballistic, air and anti-aircraft guided missiles," Ukraine's Air Forces said on the Telegram messaging app.

"As a result of combat operations, the Air Force, in cooperation with the Air Defence Forces, destroyed 15 X-101/X-555/X-55 cruise missiles; 5 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 1 X-59 guided missile," it added.

0736 GMT — Russian strikes on Kiev, Kharkiv kill 2, injure dozens: Ukraine

Dozens of people were injured and two killed following an overnight aerial barrage by Russian forces targeting the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the second-largest city Kharkiv, officials have said.

"Twenty-eight people were injured as a result of the strikes on Kharkiv. Unfortunately, two women aged 56 and 40 died," the regional governor Oleg Synegubov, announced, while in the wider Kiev area, officials said 13 people had been injured.

0512 GMT — Russia launches missile strike on Kiev, says Ukraine's military

Russia has launched a missile strike on Kiev and the region surrounding the capital, a Ukrainian military official said.

"Air defence engaged in Kiev. Stay in shelters until the air-raid alarm goes off!" Serhiy Popko, head of Kiev's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Kiev's region military administration said on Telegram that air defence systems were engaged in repelling Russia's missile attack in the region as well.

0132 GMT — Norwegian factory gears up to supply ammunition to Ukraine

Around the clock, glowing slabs of steel move from one machine to the next in a Norwegian factory producing artillery shells desperately needed by Ukraine.

In Raufoss, some 100 kilometres north of Oslo, its factory is producing shell cases "non-stop", which will then be filled with explosives elsewhere.

"As long as we have the right machines and the right operators, there are no limits to the specifications we can meet," process engineer Sigbjorn Overboe explains.

"Precision can be down to the micron [one-millionth of a metre]".

However, the process, which includes several stages of treating the metal, is relatively slow and, therefore, struggles to keep up with the rate of consumption in Ukraine.

To speed up production, Norway announced last week that it would invest $191 million to boost its ammunition and missile production capacity.

0034 GMT — US senators race to win border deal as Ukraine hangs in balance

Senate negotiators were labouring to win wide support for a deal on border policy as they entered what could be a pivotal stretch for a painstakingly negotiated compromise that could open the door for Republican votes to replenish US wartime aid for Ukraine.

A core group of negotiators has worked in private for nearly two months over changes to US border and immigration policy and hoped to unveil the legislation later this week.

"The entire world understands what’s at stake here in the Senate in the coming weeks," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a floor speech.

It's a goal shared with President Joe Biden, who is requesting $110 billion from Congress to provide wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel, support allies in the Asian-Pacific and overhaul the US immigration system. However, the emergency funding package has been delayed months in Congress after Republicans insisted that border policy changes also be included in the package.

Democrats have bemoaned the Republican decision to tie Ukraine aid with border policy changes. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sought to underscore the urgency of the situation, saying that Ukraine is running low on ammunition.

"The future of the war in Ukraine hangs in the balance," Schumer said. "The security of our Western democracy hangs in the balance."

2331 GMT — Zelenskyy calls for unity as Russia rules out peace plan

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pledged to take whatever measures were needed for the smooth operation of Ukrainian enterprises after the detention of a prominent banker caused an uproar in the business community.

In his new video address, Zelenskyy said he had held "difficult" talks with prominent businessmen and was resolved to iron out the serious problems business people were confronting.

But Zelenskyy added that Ukrainians in wartime had to remain united and committed to a common goal of thwarting Russia's assault on their country, launched nearly two years ago.

"During wartime, we must be united by one task: the strength of Ukraine, the power of our society, our economy," he said.

2100 GMT — Russia rules out peace plans backed by Kiev and West

Russia's foreign minister has clashed with the United States and Ukraine's supporters at a UN meeting where Moscow ruled out peace plans backed by Kiev and the West, and China warned that further global chaos could impact the slowing global economy.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia's top diplomat, claimed that Ukrainian forces have been "a complete failure" on the battlefield and are "incapable" of defeating or weakening Russia.

He told the UN Security Council that Moscow is always ready to negotiate peace, but he claimed peace plans presented by Ukraine and its Western "masters" are "only used as cover to continue war and continue getting money from Western taxpayers."

"All of these formulas are a road to nowhere, and the sooner Washington, London, Paris and Brussels realise this the better for Ukraine and the West," he said, warning that their "crusade against Russia has already created new, clear, reputational and existential risks."

For our live updates from Monday (January 22), click here.