FOR THE first time since the invasion, the Ukrainian army is under more pressure than before.

It has been reported that Volodymyr Zelensky‘s troops could be fighting a losing battle in Luhansk, the northern part of Donbas region.

The Ukrainian General Staff says the Russians appear to be concentrating their forces for another push.

Ukraine’s Zelensky has said the Russians could be killing up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers a day in Donbas.

And in the city, civilians with somewhere to go have left.

Lida, she was being evacuated to the relative safety of western Ukraine on a special train told BBC News: “They bombed everything, we barely escaped. Glass is smashed, everything is scattered around. And I am not able to walk at all. Disabled. That’s how it is.

“Nine storey buildings, the upper floors are destroyed. All ruined.

“Putin‘s a scoundrel. We used to live peacefully. There was a Soviet Union and so be it. They divided Ukraine and Russia. So that’s why the problems began.”

Mitri, who said President Zelensky’s predecessor Petro Poroshenko would have reached a ceasefire agreement by now also shrugged when asked him if he would accept a deal that allowed Russia to control all of Donbas.

He added: “I don’t know. What could it change for me? The main thing is to stay alive.

“This is just the beginning, everything is still to come. If we survive, we’ll see how it goes.”

Read our Ukraine war blog below for the latest rolling news and updates…

Good morning, Milica Cosic with you today. I’ll be bringing you the latest news and updates on the Russia-Ukraine war.
Everything YOU need to know about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Here are the key questions answered regarding Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Putin tries soften war’s economic impact on Russia by raising minimum wage by 10%

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the government to raise retirement pensions and the minimum wage by 10%, while stating that not all economic problems were associated with the conflict in Ukraine.

Speaking at a televised meeting of Russia’s State Council, Putin said that inflation would not exceed 15% this year.

Incredible PoV video shows Ukrainian kamikaze drone smashing into Russian tank

THIS is the remarkable moment a Russian tank erupted into a fireball after a Ukrainian kamikaze drone smashed into it while the crew reportedly tucked into a picnic.

As the war rages into its fourth month, streets in Ukraine have become a graveyard for Russian machinery – with burnt-out tanks and vehicles littering the landscape.

Fresh footage obtained from the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine today shows defenders blasting a Russian tank as fighters are said to have been sitting on top boozing.

A spokesman for the force said: “SSO operators in Ukraine have developed skills in owning another type of modern weapon.

“An example of this is another destruction of an enemy tank along with the enemy’s manpower.

“According to our soldiers, the Russian occupiers were quietly drinking alcohol at one of the positions, sitting on the armour of their tank.

“However, the usual Russian occupation was abruptly interrupted by an unexpected attack from the air.”

The force said they used a “modern kamikaze drone equipped with a powerful explosive” to target the tank.

It suffered “irreparable damage” after the deadly device “flew straight into the tank” – with the attack filmed by a camera on the “killer drone”.

The SSO – which was founded in January 2016 and is headquartered in Kyiv – did not specify where in Ukraine the strike took place.

View the video here.
Putin is a ‘madman’

Alexei Navalny the jailed Russian opposition leader has condemned President Vladimir Putin in a live court hearing.

The opposition leader called him a “madman” who started a “stupid war” in Ukraine.

Navalny said: “This war was built on lies. One madman has got his claws into Ukraine and I do not know what he wants to do with it – this crazy thief.”

Navalny was previously sentenced by a court to nine years in a strict regime colony for fraud and contempt of court.
‘Most aggressive phase’

Putin is ‘entering most aggressive phase’ and is trying to ‘DESTROY everything’ in the Donbas region creating an ‘extremely difficult’ situation for Ukrainian forces.

Mr Motuzyanyk said Russian forces had not given up attempts to cross the river.

Ukrainian Defence Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk has said: “Now we are observing the most active phase of the full-scale aggression which Russia unfolded against our country.

“The situation on the [eastern] front is extremely difficult, because the fate of this country is perhaps being decided [there] right now.”
‘We must avoid a bad peace for Ukraine’

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, has said Ukraine has to be able to negotiate with Russia from a position of strength.

She said in a speech in Stockholm: “We must avoid a bad peace, a badly negotiated peace for Ukraine would mean a bad peace for us all.

“It is much more dangerous giving in to Putin, than provoking him. All these seemingly small concessions to the aggressor lead to big wars. We have done this mistake already three times: Georgia, Crimea and Donbas.”
‘Severodonetsk being destroyed round-the-clock’

According to the local governor, Severodonetsk has been hit by several attacks by Russian forces.

Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV “The city is being destroyed round-the-clock.

“They are dropping bombs from planes… using Grad and Smerch [multiple launch rocket systems], and artillery.”

He added: “Russian troops have approached close enough to shell it with mortars” and says “the situation in the city is very difficult,” and indicated that the next few days were critical.
Ukraine says it ‘badly’ needs rocket system

Ukraine’s foreign minister said Wednesday his country “badly” needed multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower as he pressed Western allies for heavy weapons at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he had come to Davos at a “very difficult moment on the frontline” as fighting rages in the eastern Donbas region.

“The battle for Donbas is very much like the battles of the Second World War,” Kuleba told journalists following talks with a slew of government officials and business leaders.

“Some villages and towns, they do not exist anymore,” he said.

“They were all turned into rubble by Russian artillery fire, by Russian multiple launch rocket systems. It’s devastating.”

Russia overwhelms Ukraine in a number of heavy weapons, but the biggest imbalance is with MLRS, mobile batteries of long-range rockets, he added.

Washington and European countries have poured billions of dollars’ worth of arms into Ukraine to help the country’s outgunned forces beat back the better-armed Russian invaders.

But Kuleba said that the MLRS “is really the weapon that we badly need.

Champion boxer dies defending Ukraine

A former amateur champion boxer has died aged 30 defending Ukraine against Russia.

Oleg Prudky was working for the Cherkasy Police special forces in the continued effort to fight the invaders.

Their city base was attacked on Sunday as he and three colleagues died.

Prudky was a two-time amateur champ in his homeland and was called up to Ukrainian Otamans team for the semi-pro World Series of Boxing competition – a team Vasyl Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk previously represented.

The Ukrainian Boxing Federation said: “We are sad to announce that the master of sports of international boxing class, champion of Ukraine Oleg Prudky, died in battles with the Russian occupiers.

“The Boxing Federation of Ukraine expresses its condolences to the boxer’s family! Eternal memory to you Olezh.”
Protesters speak out against Ukraine war on Cannes red carpet

Protesters speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine have taken to the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in the third such incident this week.

A group which contained Ukrainian filmmakers behind the 2022 film Butterfly Vision held up a banner which read “Russians kill Ukrainians. Do you find it offensive or disturbing to talk about this genocide?”.

The participants also covered their faces with transparent squares with the crossed eye image which is used in social media when content is deemed sensitive or disturbing.

During a photocall for the film, producers Darya Bassel and Yelizaveta Smith wore t-shirts with an image of an explosion on the front with the same message as the banner on the back.

The film’s Ukrainian director Maksym Nakonechnyi also wore a t-shirt that reads “Free Tayra” in reference to Ukrainian medic Julia Paevska, known as Tayra, who has reportedly been taken captive by Russian forces.

The film Butterfly Vision follows a female Ukrainian soldier who returns home from the front line after being held captive for months by Russian captors.

She later discovers that she is pregnant after being raped by her warden.

The protest was staged on Wednesday ahead of the film’s screening at the annual festival in the south of France.
Products to rocket in price as blockade is stopping access to Ukrainian ports

Staple food products are set to increase in price as Russian navy blockades are preventing commercial shipping to Ukrainian ports, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Since the start of the war, prices have already jumped up for some vital food supplies as a result of a Ukrainian grains not being able to be exported.

Calls have been made for the international community to help, with Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK stating that the international community has a responsibility to reopen Ukraine’s grain exports.

So far, the UK and allies have said there are “no current plans” for Royal Navy warships to help break Russia’s blockade.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence said: “There has been no significant merchant shipping activity in or out of Odessa since the start of the war. Russia’s subsequent naval blockade of key Black Sea ports has deterred the commercial shipping industry from operating in the area.

“Ukraine’s overland export mechanisms are highly unlikely to substitute for the shortfall in shipping capacity caused by the Russian blockade. As a result, significant supplies of Ukrainian grain remain in storage unable to be exported.

“Fighting has already placed indirect pressure on global grain prices. While the threat of Russia’s naval blockade continues to deter access by commercial shipping to Ukrainian ports, the resulting supply shortfalls will further increase the price of many staple products.”
US slams Russia’s citizenship plan in Ukraine

The United States on Wednesday denounced a Russian plan to fast-track citizenship in areas of Ukraine as a new effort to subdue people under its control.

State Department spokesman Ned Price voiced concern that the plan was part of “Russia’s attempt to subjugate the people of Ukraine — to impose their will by force.”

“That is something that we would forcefully reject,” Price told reporters.
Putin’s Ukraine food blockade risks global starvation

Vladimir Putin risks starving people around the world if he continues to blockade Ukrainian food exports, the UK Government has warned.

Defence minister Jeremy Quin told MPs there is a “significant risk to starvation on a global basis” due to Russia’s actions, and the UK is trying to assist efforts to free vital food supplies.

Liam Fox, Conservative former defence secretary, accused the Russian president of echoing the tactics of Joseph Stalin by using famine as a “weapon of war”.

Britain has said it has “no current plans” for Royal Navy warships to help break the Black Sea blockade but several MPs pressed the Government to coordinate action.

Conservative former minister Andrew Murrison told a Commons debate: “The blockade of Odesa is of extreme seriousness.

“Unless those silos are emptied in the next few weeks, there’ll be nowhere for the harvest to go and tens of thousands of people in some of the most vulnerable countries throughout the world will starve – with all the geopolitical consequences that will bring.

“That means, does it not, that we need to lift that blockade in Odesa as a matter of urgency. What are we doing to provide, for example, Harpoon missiles to ensure that the ships that are currently blockading Odesa are dealt with and we can clean up the Black Sea so that mines are not posing a threat?”
Putin tries soften war’s economic impact on Russia by raising minimum wage by 10%

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the government to raise retirement pensions and the minimum wage by 10%, while stating that not all economic problems were associated with the conflict in Ukraine.

Speaking at a televised meeting of Russia’s State Council, Putin said that inflation would not exceed 15% this year.

Russia passport plan ‘flagrant violation’ of Ukraine sovereignty, say Kyiv

Moscow’s plan to make it easier for Ukrainians living in Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine to receive Russian citizenship violates international law, Kyiv said Wednesday, accusing the Kremlin of “criminal” behaviour.

“The illegal issuing of passports… is a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as norms and principles of international humanitarian law,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Defence minister claims Russia ‘cannot win’ war amid UK military support for Ukraine

Defence minister Jeremy Quin reiterated that Russia “cannot win” and restated the military support given to Ukraine.

He told MPs: “So far, we’ve delivered in excess of 6,500 anti-tank missiles, many of which have been used successfully to repel columns of tanks, as well as eight air defence systems – including Brimstone and Starstreak missiles, the fastest in the world at some 2,000 miles an hour.”

Mr Quin highlighted the delivery of Wolfhound armoured vehicles and Stormer vehicles fitted with Starstreak launchers.
Ukraine accuses Moscow of ‘blackmail’ over food security

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday described as “blackmail” a Russian proposal to lift sanctions over its Ukraine invasion to avoid a global food crisis.

“This is clear blackmail. You could not find a better example of blackmail in international relations,” Kuleba said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
US closes another financial loophole for Russia

The US is cutting off another financial route for Russia to pay its international debts.

This move could push the country closer to default.

The US Treasury Department said it would end a waiver that had allowed US bondholders to accept payments, tightening sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.

While the new rules only apply to people in the US, they will make it difficult for Russia to make payments elsewhere.
Mariupol official says first cargo ship to depart port in coming days

A Russian-backed official in the occupied Ukrainian port of Mariupol said on Wednesday that the first ship to leave since pro-Russian forces completed their capture of the city would leave in the next few days, the TASS news agency reported.

The official said the ship would take around 3,000 tonnes of metals to Rostov-on-Don in Russia, TASS said.

Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry said that Mariupol’s port, a shallow-water harbour on the Azov Sea, was “operating normally”.
Zelenskyy calls for western unity as Russia advances

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the West for lacking unity on Wednesday, as the Russian invasion entered its fourth month and Moscow’s troops advanced in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting reached the edge of the industrial city of Severodonetsk, which is under fierce bombardment by Russian forces who are trying to encircle it in one of their key goals in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

An unrepentant Moscow told the West to lift sanctions to stave off a global food crisis sparked by the war between two countries that together produce nearly a third of the world’s wheat.

Zelensky renewed calls for heavy weapons from foreign partners, saying the billions of dollars’ worth already put up were not enough to help Ukraine’s outgunned forces.

“Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I can’t see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united,” Zelensky said via videolink to an event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Zelensky said Ukraine was grateful for US support, but urged Europe to step up, specifically naming neighbouring Hungary which is blocking an EU-wide embargo on Russian oil.

Ukraine claims Putin ‘survived assassination attempt’

VLADIMIR Putin has survived an assassination attempt after he was attacked during a trip, Ukraine this week claimed.

The country’s Chief of Defence Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, said there was an “unsuccessful attempt” against the Russian President’s life at the start of the war against Ukraine.

He told Ukrainian Pravda: “Putin was assassinated…

“He was even attacked in the line of, as they say, representatives of the Caucasus not so long ago.

“This is non-public information. Absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really took place… It was about 2 months ago.”

“Once again, he was unsuccessful. There is no publicity about this event, but it took place. “

The outlet said the full interview will be aired tomorrow.

Read more here.
Products to rocket in price as blockade is stopping access to Ukrainian ports

Staple food products are set to increase in price as Russian navy blockades are preventing commercial shipping to Ukrainian ports, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Since the start of the war, prices have already jumped up for some vital food supplies as a result of a Ukrainian grains not being able to be exported.

Calls have been made for the international community to help, with Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK stating that the international community has a responsibility to reopen Ukraine’s grain exports.

So far, the UK and allies have said there are “no current plans” for Royal Navy warships to help break Russia’s blockade.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence said: “There has been no significant merchant shipping activity in or out of Odessa since the start of the war. Russia’s subsequent naval blockade of key Black Sea ports has deterred the commercial shipping industry from operating in the area.

“Ukraine’s overland export mechanisms are highly unlikely to substitute for the shortfall in shipping capacity caused by the Russian blockade. As a result, significant supplies of Ukrainian grain remain in storage unable to be exported.

“Fighting has already placed indirect pressure on global grain prices. While the threat of Russia’s naval blockade continues to deter access by commercial shipping to Ukrainian ports, the resulting supply shortfalls will further increase the price of many staple products.”
Defence secretary urges Russia to do the right thing over grain exports

Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on Wednesday called on Russia to let Ukraine export its grain to help countries where grain scarcity could trigger hunger.

Russia must “do the right thing”, Wallace told reporters in Madrid where he met with his counterpart Margarita Robles.

He rejected the idea to lift sanctions against Russia in return for grain release and welcomed the suggestion to make Black Sea nations, such as Turkey, to escort the Ukraine grain shipments.
Ukraine is battling to keep control of a key highway

Ukraine is battling to keep control of a key highway leading to the front-line city of Severodonetsk.

Oleksandr Motuzyanyk the defence ministry spokesman, said in a briefing that alternative routes existed to supply Ukrainian units in Sievierodonetsk, which is enveloped on three sides by Russian forces.

Mr Motuzyanyk said that Russia’s aim was to fully surround Ukrainian units in the city.