Ukraine updates: Donetsk reports 27 dead in market shelling

Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the Donetsk region, said that at least 27 people were killed and 25 more injured after Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

The toll was revised late Sunday to 27 people who were killed in attacks from the 25 that Pushilin stated earlier. Officials said the shells had been fired by the Ukrainian military and had hit a market area.

Pushilin described it as a "horrific" artillery strike on a civilian area, adding that another strike in a separate neighborhood in the city had also killed at least one person.

Ukrainian forces have not commented on the attack and DW could not independently verify the claims.

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of a sharp escalation on civilian areas over the past two months. The frontlines of the war remain largely static.

Donetsk is one of the four partly-occupied regions of Ukraine that Russia unilaterally recognizes as a republic within its territory, a move many observers say violates international law.

Russian energy company Novatek said it had to suspend operations at a key Baltic sea oil and gas terminal on Sunday after a fire that was reportedly caused by a Ukrainian drone strike.

Novatek did not explicitly blame Ukraine but said the fire was a result of "external influence."

"The technological process at Novatek-Ust-Luga has been stopped, and an operational headquarters has been established to eliminate the consequences. Damage assessment will be carried out later," the company said.

According to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, the fire was caused by a special operation carried out by Ukraine's security services.

"The Ust-Luga Oil terminal in the Leningrad region is an important facility for the enemy. Fuel is refined there, which,among other things, is also supplied to Russian troops," a source told Interfax-Ukraine.

"A successful attack on such a terminal not only causes economic damage to the enemy, depriving the occupiers of the opportunity to earn money to wage war in Ukraine, but also significantly complicates the logistics of fuel for the Russian military."

Russian media reported that two storage tanks and a pumping station were damaged, but added that the blaze was now under control.

"No casualties as a result of a fire at Novatek's terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. Personnel were evacuated," added Aleksandr Drozdenko, the governor of Leningrad Oblast where the facility is located.

The Ust-Luga complex is a major export terminal on the Baltic Sea that processes natural gas condensate into naphtha, jet fuel and ship fuel components.

Russian forces have been steadily increasing the intensity of their offensive activity across the front in Ukraine over the past two weeks, the British Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update.

"A key enabler for this is highly likely the freezing ground conditions, which allows cross-country movement of armored vehicles," the update said.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported on January 19 that Russian attacks on the front line had increased by 27% compared to the previous day, according to the British ministry.

Additional data from the Ukrainian General Staff comparing the period of January 14-18 with the previous five-day period supports this increase in Russian assaults, the update said.

Russian forces have taken control of the village of Krokhmalne in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Russia's Defense Ministry said in its daily bulletin on operations in Ukraine, citing "successful active operations."

The capture of Krokhmalne has been confirmed by the Ukrainian military.

The small advance comes after the Russian ministry made a similar statement on Thursday saying its forces had taken control of a settlement named Vesele in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

While Russia has increased offensive pressure around eastern Ukrainian towns such as Kupiansk, Lyman and Avdiivka, its gains have so far been modest.

Ukrainian military spokesperson Volodymyr Fitio played down the latest news.  

"Our main goal is to save the lives of our defenders and they were moved to pre-prepared positions where they are now holding defenses to prevent the enemy from advancing further," Fitio said.

NATO's Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises are a sign of the alliance's "irrevocable return" to Cold War schemes, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state-run RIA news agency.

"An exercise of this scale marks the final and irrevocable return of NATO to Cold War schemes, when the military planning process, resources and infrastructure are prepared for confrontation with Russia," Grushko said.

NATO said Thursday it was launching its largest exercise since the Cold War, involving some 90,000 troops. The aim was to practice how US troops could reinforce European allies in countries bordering Russia and on the alliance's eastern flank in the event of a conflict with a "near-peer" adversary.

NATO did not mention Russia by name in its announcement. But its top strategic document identifies Russia as the most significant and immediate threat to the security of NATO members.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his willingness to visit Pyongyang soon during a meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in Russia last week, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.

The report comes as ties between Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un become ever closer amid growing US intelligence reports that Moscow is employing weaponry supplied by Pyongyang in its attacks on Ukraine.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman said Russia hoped Putin would visit North Korea "in the foreseeable future" at Kim's invitation.

Washington and its allies have condemned the alleged arms trade between the two countries as violating a number of UN Security Council resolutions.

Both Pyongyang and Russia have denied accusations by Washington and Seoul that North Korea has been transferring arms to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he expects the signing of several new Western defense packages by the end of February to help his country fight off the Russian invasion.

"We are preparing new agreements with partners — strong bilateral agreements," he said in his nightly video address, saying there were "already specific dates."

However, he did not name any of the countries involved in the agreements.

His remarks come as Western military and other aid to Ukraine slows, with Russia's full-scale invasion soon to enter its third year.

In a TV interview on Saturday, Zelenskyy also voiced apprehension about the consequences of a possible return to the White House by Donald Trump.

He called Trump's claims of being able to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of becoming president "very dangerous."

Trump has frequently lavished praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin, even after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

A fire has broken out at a terminal of Russia's largest liquefied natural gas producer Novatek in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, the regional governor said early Sunday.

"No casualties as a result of a fire at Novatek's terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. Personnel were evacuated," Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of Leningrad Oblast, posted on Telegram.

The terminal is situated 110 kilometers (70 miles) west of St Petersburg and just 35 kilometers from the Estonian border.

According to Novatek's website, the complex processes stable gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil, and gasoil.

Later, Novatek said that work at a terminal it controls on the Baltic Sea had been suspended after a fire it said was the result of "external influence."

Russian news outlet Shot reported on Telegram that residents had heard a drone before several explosions went off. Another news outlet, Fontanka, said at least two drones were spotted flying towards St. Petersburg before the fire was reported.

Both Russia and Ukraine have been targeting each other's energy infrastructure since Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022.

On Friday, an oil depot in Russia's western region of Bryansk, bordering Ukraine, was hit by drones in an attack blamed by Moscow on Kyiv. 

tj,dh/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)