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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 342


As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 342nd day, we take a look at the main developments.

Here is the situation as it stands on Tuesday, January 31, 2023:

Fighting

  • Russian missiles have killed three people in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, while fighting rages in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia again shelled the key town of Vuhledar, Ukrainian officials said.
  • Russia has moved additional forces and equipment to its western Kursk region on the border with Ukraine, according to the region’s governor.

Weapons:

  • President Emmanuel Macron has said France does not exclude sending fighter jets to Ukraine, provided such equipment will not be used “to touch Russian soil” or “weaken the capacities of the French army”.
  • Norway will send part of its fleet of German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine “as soon as possible”, perhaps by late March, its defence minister said.
  • Croatia’s president has criticised Western nations for supplying Ukraine with heavy tanks and other weapons, saying such arms deliveries will only prolong the war.
  • France and Australia have agreed to cooperate to manufacture “several thousand” 155mm shells to help Ukraine.
  • Tanks provided by the United Kingdom to Ukraine will be on the front line before summer, defence minister Ben Wallace said.
  • Ukraine’s military will spend nearly $550m on drones this year, and 16 supply deals have already been signed with Ukrainian manufacturers, the defence minister said.
  • Russia’s deputy foreign minister says it is “quite possible” the New START nuclear arms control treaty with the United States would end after 2026.
Leopard 2 interactive
Leopard 2 interactive (Al Jazeera)

Diplomacy:

  • Ukraine’s president says he met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv and discussed the effect of Russian missile and drone strikes with regional officials.
  • Finland’s foreign minister says it is maintaining its plan to join NATO at the same time as Nordic neighbour Sweden despite a potential Turkish block on the latter’s bid.
  • NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has urged South Korea to increase military support to Ukraine, citing other countries that have changed their policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict following Russia’s invasion.
  • The Kremlin has accused Boris Johnson of lying after the former British prime minister said President Vladimir Putin had threatened the United Kingdom with a missile attack during a phone call in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine.
  • Iran has summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires in Tehran over comments by a Ukrainian official on a drone attack on a military factory in the central Iranian province of Isfahan, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.
  • Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi is set to visit Moscow in February, Russia’s Vedomosti newspaper says, citing two sources.



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