Live blog: Russia's Wagner group head wants Ukraine's Bakhmut captured

Saturday, January 7, 2023

The founder of Russia's most high-profile mercenary group has declared that he wants his forces and the regular Russian army to capture the small city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine because it possessed "underground cities" that can hold troops and tanks.

"The cherry on the cake is the system of Soledar and Bakhmut mines, which is actually a network of underground cities," said Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia's Wagner private army group which is fighting in the battle of Bakhmut.

"It not only (has the ability to hold) a big group of people at a depth of 80-100 metres, but tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can also move about."

His comments were a reference to vast salt and other mines in the area, which contain a network of tunnels and underground rooms and hosted football matches and classical music concerts in more peaceful times.

Russia has declared a unilateral ceasefire with Ukraine until midnight on Saturday. But there have been reports of shelling in Bakhmut.

UK to host international meet on Ukraine war crimes probe

The UK will host a meeting of justice ministers in March to discuss ways to support the International Criminal Court's investigation of alleged war crimes in Ukraine, according to the government. 

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan is set to take part in the March meeting with ministers from around the world, London said.

The ICC based in The Hague is currently carrying out an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

Khan in December urged the international community to get behind and fund the ICC probe, saying: "We need the tools to do the job. We do not have those tools."

Ukraine hails US military aid 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has praised the United States for including tank-killing armoured vehicles in its latest multibillion-dollar package of military aid.

Zelenskyy said the aid was “exactly what is needed” for Ukrainian troops locked in combat against Russian forces, even as both sides celebrated Ortho dox Christmas on Saturday.

The latest package of US military assistance was the biggest to date for Ukraine. For the first time, it included 50 Bradley armoured vehicles and 500 of the anti-tank missiles they can fire. 

Russia vows to honour self-declared ceasefire in Ukraine until midnight

Russia's defence ministry said its forces in Ukraine would maintain a ceasefire it unilaterally declared in honour of Orthodox Christmas until midnight, despite Ukraine rejecting the truce offer.

In its daily briefing, the defence ministry said its troops had only returned artillery fire when fired upon by Ukrainian forces, whom it accused of shelling civilian areas - something Kiev often accuses Russian forces of.

Ukraine rejected Moscow's ceasefire offer as a cynical trick designed to give Russian forces the chance to rest and re-arm and said it would continue to try to recapture territory seized by Moscow. 

Little let-up in fighting as Ukraine, Russia mark Orthodox Christmas

Ukrainians and Russians marked Orthodox Christmas under the shadow of war, as fighting persisted despite Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin unilaterally ordering his forces to pause attacks.

War-scarred cities in eastern Ukraine saw no significant let-up in the fighting as AFP journalists in the town of Chasiv Yar south of the frontline city of Bakhmut heard heavy artillery fire throughout much of Saturday morning.

The Russian defence ministry insisted on Saturday the army was observing the ceasefire but also said that it had repelled the Kiev forces' attacks in eastern Ukraine and killed dozens of soldiers on Friday.

Ukrainian authorities said that three people were killed on Friday.

Russia-backed official: Drone shot down over Sevastopol

The Moscow-backed governor of the Russian-occupied Crimean city of Sevastopol said that air defences had shot down a drone in what he suggested was the latest attempted Ukrainian attack on a port where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based.

Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-backed governor of the city alleged that the incident had occurred in the early hours of January 7, which is Orthodox Christmas.

"Even the sacred holiday of Christmas was not a reason for these inhuman people to halt their attempts to attack our Hero City," Razvozhaev said.

Putin observes Christmas at Kremlin church

Russian President Vladimir Putin stood at a midnight service at a Kremlin church as he marked Orthodox Christmas darkened by Moscow's assault on Ukraine.

Putin attended the service at the Cathedral of the Annunciation, originally designed as a church for the Russian tsars.

He stood alone as Orthodox priests in golden robes conducted a ceremony holding long candles, pictures released by the Kremlin showed. 

Head of Ukraine church conducts Christmas service at landmark monastery

Hundreds of worshippers attended a historic service at the famed Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Christmas under the shadow of war.

In a first, Metropolitan Epifaniy, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, led a Christmas divine liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral of the 11th century Lavra, the pro-Western country's most signifiant Orthodox monastery.

Hundreds of believers including men in military uniform gathered to attend the service under a tight police presence, an AFP correspondent reported from the scene. 

Zelenskyy hails supply of 'more cannons and shells'

A US commitment to supplying Kiev with Bradley Fighting Vehicles for the first time is exactly what Ukraine needs, Zelenskyy has said in a video address.

"For the first time, we will receive Bradley armoured vehicles — this is exactly what is needed," Zelenskyy said, thanking US President Joe Biden and the US Congress.

Zelenskyy also thanked Germany, which will send Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles and a Patriot air defence.

"So, as of now, there are more air defence systems, more armoured vehicles, western tanks — which is a first — more cannons and shells ... and all this means more protection for Ukrainians and all Europeans against any kind of Russian terror," he said.

People in occupied Ukraine town mark Christmas after church is shelled

Worshippers in the eastern occupied Ukrainian town of Volnovakha have marked the Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve in a makeshift chapel that was set up in a home after their church suffered shelling damage.

Vera Barda, 74, said the congregation had initially met in a tent after the church was hit during what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

"I offered the priest (my place) saying there was a stove and electricity, so it was warmer than in a tent ... he agreed at once an d in three weeks we restored everything," she said.

During the service, carried out in a converted cramped room decked out in icons, an Orthodox priest dressed in a ceremonial white robe burned incense while the mainly elderly congregation made the sign of the cross.

US calls Russia's ceasefire a 'cynical' ploy

The United States has said that strikes in eastern Ukraine showed that a Christmas ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin was a "cynical" ploy.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price recalled that he had called the ceasefire "nothing but cynical" when Putin announced it Thursday and Price told reporters: "I think that assessment has been borne out given what we've seen over the course of the day."

US says Russia's war aims lack manpower, morale

President Vladimir Putin's aim of seizing Ukrainian territory has not changed, but Russian forces continue to suffer from military weaknesses, including the amount of troops they have, the Pentagon said, as Washington hopes the latest record weapons package for Kiev will help Ukraine retake territory occupied by Russia.

"Putin has not given up his aims of dominating Ukraine and continuing to acquire Ukraine's territory," said Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defence focusing on Russia and Ukraine.

"But the reality of Russian weaknesses, the Russian armed forces weaknesses has collided with those aims," Cooper said, adding that Russian troops also suffer from low morale

For live updates from Friday (January 6), click here.