Russia-Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy says Bakhmut is ‘holding on’

United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Iran could contribute to war crimes in Ukraine by providing drones to Russia.

“Their weapons are being used to kill civilians in Ukraine and to try to plunge cities into cold and darkness which, from our point of view, puts Iran in a place where it could potentially be contributing to widespread war crimes,” Sullivan told reporters.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has spoken with his newly appointed Chinese counterpart Qin Gang.

In a phone call, officials expressed satisfaction over the development of the bilateral political dialogue and practical cooperation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

They rejected “the US and its satellites’ policy to establish hegemony in world affairs, provoking confrontation between Russia and China for this purpose, interference in their internal affairs, attempts by the West to restrain the development of our countries by imposing sanctions and other illegitimate methods,” the statement said.

It added that Lavrov and Qin stressed the need for a unified approach to fundamental global development issues and positively assessed their interactions with international organisations, including the United Nations, Group of 20, and the coalition of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

The 56-year-old Qin was Beijing’s ambassador to Washington since July 2021 and succeeded Wang Yi as China’s foreign minister this month.

The Russian and Ukrainian human rights commissioners will meet in Turkey later this week, news agencies from both countries reported, to likely discuss more prisoner exchanges.

Interfax quoted the Russian commissioner, Tatiana Moskalkova, as saying the meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets would occur during an international forum in Turkey between Thursday and Saturday.

Ukraine’s Ukrinform news agency quoted Lubinets as saying the main issue was “the return of our heroes and heroines”, a reference to prisoner exchanges.

Russia and Ukraine have conducted numerous prisoner swaps since the war began last February.

“Separately, we want to raise the issue of the return of civilian hostages, whom the Russian Federation has detained en masse in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and whom it does not allow to go home,” Lubinets said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he spoke to Slovenia’s new President Nataša Pirc Musar and discussed “defence cooperation”.

On Twitter, the Ukrainian leader wrote: I had the 1st phone call with newly elected President of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar. We discussed defence cooperation, I invited her to take part in the implementation of the Peace Formula. Thanked for supporting [The] European integration of Ukraine. Invited her to visit Kyiv”.

I had the 1st phone call with newly elected President of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar @nmusar. We discussed defense cooperation, I invited her to take part in the implementation of the Peace Formula. Thanked for supporting European integration of Ukraine. Invited her to visit Kyiv.

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 9, 2023

According to RIA Novosti news agency, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova says that she plans to meet her Ukrainian counterpart in Turkey around January 12-14.

A government spokesperson said that Germany has no plans to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Last week the German government announced it was sending Marder fighting vehicles to the war-torn country, answering Kyiv’s calls for more heavy weapons to battle back against Russian forces.

Earlier on Monday, the economy minister also said Berlin could not rule out the delivery of the Leopard tanks, which are heavier fighting vehicles than the Marders.

Around 76 percent of foreign companies continue to operate in Russia, the head of Russia’s lower legislative chamber said.

Despite the exodus of dozens of foreign firms over the war in Ukraine, “75.9 percent of foreign companies stayed in Russia”, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Telegram.

“This decision speaks volumes: They believe in good prospects for the development of our country’s economy, they are satisfied with the business climate. Those who left suffer billions of dollars in costs”, said Volodin.

The senior lawmaker added that Russian companies replaced niches left open by foreign businesses and urged them to be “nationally oriented” so their earnings are spent on the development of Russia, underlining that it was a priority of the State Duma to provide legal support for such purposes.

Kyiv expects the EU to include Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom in its next round of sanctions, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says.

Shmyhal said after talks in Kyiv with Frans Timmermans, a vice president of the European Commission, that Rosatom should be punished over the invasion of Ukraine.

“We expect that the 10th package [of EU sanctions] will contain restrictions against Russia’s nuclear industry, in particular Rosatom,” Shmyhal said on Telegram. “The aggressor must be punished for attacks on Ukraine’s energy industry and crimes against ecology.”

Russia has occupied the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine since March, and Putin issued a decree in October transferring control of the plant from the Ukrainian nuclear energy company Energoatom to a subsidiary of Rosatom.

The United Kingdom is considering supplying Ukraine with tanks for the first time, British broadcaster Sky News reports, citing a Western source.

Sky said that discussions have been taking place “for a few weeks” about delivering the British army’s main battle tank, the Challenger 2, to Ukraine.

BREAKING: The UK is considering supplying Ukraine with British tanks for the first time to fight Russia's invading forces, Sky News understands.

Sky's @haynesdeborah says this would mark a "significant step up" in Western support.

More here: https://t.co/vUk10FjyRx pic.twitter.com/8ePNklr3yU

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 9, 2023

Here are four maps we update daily to chart the latest war developments:

Russia has opted out of a European convention on fighting corruption.

Putin asked the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, to stop following the Council of Europe’s convention on fighting corruption that Russia signed in 1999.

He argued that the opt-out resulted from the Council’s decision to restrict Moscow’s participation, which he called “unacceptable” and “discriminatory”.

The Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights organisation, suspended Russia’s participation shortly after it sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.

Peskov said Russia’s withdrawal from the anti-corruption convention would not hinder official efforts to combat the issue.

He added that Russia would continue anti-corruption cooperation with “friendly” countries and noted that such collaboration with “unfriendly” nations has ground to a halt.

Russian actor Artur Smolyaninov faces criminal charges after allegedly making “anti-Russian” comments in a newspaper interview.

In the interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe – a newspaper now banned in Russia – last week, Smolyaninov said he would fight for Ukraine, not Russia, if he had to participate in the conflict.

His interview was condemned by some Russian parliamentarians.

One member, Biysultan Khamzaev, said Smolyaninov should be barred from all state-contracted films.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said it has launched a criminal case against Smolyaninov after his interview with the “Western publication”, without providing further details.

According to Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, additional Western weapons to Kyiv will delay the end of the conflict.

On Twitter, the Russian embassy in the UK wrote: “Zakharova: West’s irresponsible actions & ammo supplies to Kyiv regime not only multiply victim numbers & delay Ukraine conflict end, but could also draw NATO into direct military confrontation with Russia. Yet instead of stopping, Ukraine’s Western sponsors build up their supplies.”

#Zakharova: West’s irresponsible actions & ammo supplies to #Kievregime not only multiply victim numbers & delay 🇺🇦conflict end, but could also draw #NATO into direct military confrontation with #Russia. Yet instead of stopping, Ukraine’s Western sponsors build up their supplies. pic.twitter.com/7gAXevgI3m

— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) January 9, 2023

A Russian missile has hit a village market in Shevchenkove, Kharkiv, killing two women and wounding four others, including a 10-year-old girl.

“The Russian army committed another act of terror against the civilian population – a child was wounded, two women were killed,” the regional prosecutor’s office said.

“An enemy missile hit the territory of the local market.”

In a written statement, prosecutors said they have opened an investigation into a potential war crime, referencing preliminary information that the attack came from an S-300 air defence system in Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.

The Ukrainian presidential office’s deputy head, Krylo Tymoshenko, has said two people were killed and 10 others were wounded on Sunday.

“Victims among the civilian population as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation for 01/08/2023 (as of 09:00 01/09/2023),” he wrote on Telegram.

“Donetsk region two dead, two wounded, Zaporizhzhia region – two wounded, Kharkiv region – three wounded, Kherson region – three wounded, according to regional military administrations.”

The Kremlin says it supports Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and condemns riots by supporters of the country’s ex-President Jair Bolsonaro.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the actions of the instigators of the riots, and we fully support Brazil’s President Lula da Silva,” Peskov told reporters.

The Bosnian Serb separatist leader has awarded Russian President Vladimir Putin with the highest medal of honour for his “patriotic concern and love” for the Republika Srpska entity, the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Putin is responsible for developing and strengthening cooperation and political and friendly relations between RS (Republika Srpska) and Russia,” the Bosnian Serb president, Milorad Dodik, said on Sunday at the awards ceremony in Banja Luka.

Dodik, who visited Putin in September in Moscow, has maintained close ties with the Russian president despite Russia’s war in Ukraine. The medal will be presented to Putin during the next meeting between the two, Russian Ambassador Igor Kalbukhov said.

“We believe that this award is an affirmation of the strategic determination of our relations aimed at strengthening the friendship of our brotherly people,” he said at the ceremony.

The Kremlin says new deliveries of Western weapons to Kyiv would “deepen the suffering of the Ukrainian people” and would not change the course of the conflict.

“This supply will not be able to change anything,” Peskov said.

Ukraine routinely asks Western allies for heavier weapons and air defences as the conflict continues.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied that a senior Russian official was discussing a potential peace deal with European officials.

Last Thursday, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration, had been holding meetings with European officials to force Kyiv to sign what he described as an unfavourable peace deal.

When asked about Danilov’s assertion, Peskov said it was “another fake”.

The Kremlin says it is confident about the defence ministry’s statement that 600 Ukrainian soldiers had been “destroyed” in an attack on Kramatorsk city.

“The Kremlin has absolute confidence. I would like to remind you of the president’s words that the main source of information is the Ministry of Defence,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing.

According to Reuters news agency, a Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk missed its targets, and there were no apparent signs of casualties, despite Moscow claiming it had killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers.