Former Nato commander says UK should have given Ukraine tanks ‘months ago’
The former Nato commander Gen Sir Richard Shirreff says Britain should have gifted tanks to Ukraine “months ago”.
Commenting on the news that Britain is considering sending Challenger-2 tanks to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia, Shirreff told LBC’s Nick Ferrari that “I think we should call Putin’s bluff over escalation”.
He added: “The one thing the Russians respect is strength. And that has always been the case with Russia. Overmatch the Russians, and they will back off.
“So I think rather than be worried about escalation, I think we should escalate more, we should give more capability to Ukrainians, because the more we give them, the quicker we give them, the quicker this thing will be over.”
Responding to questions about whether the tanks were too late, he said: “This is tardy. These tanks should have been gifted months ago.
“We should have been working hard to give the Ukrainians all armed capability they need for offensive manoeuvre, right from the start of the war. So it has taken too long, but I guess it’s a case of better late than never.”
‘Overmatch the Russians and they will back off.’
Former NATO Commander, General Sir Richard Shirreff, says we should ‘escalate’ our support for Ukraine because the quicker we do that ‘the quicker the war will be over’.@NickFerrariLBC pic.twitter.com/E9BattEBMV
— LBC (@LBC) January 10, 2023
Key events
Ukraine’s steel production fell by 70.7% in 2022 because of Russia’s invasion and the destruction of major steel plants, Reuters reports.
The dramatic reduction means the country only made 6.26 million tonnes last year, the steel producers union said on Tuesday.
Ukraine used be a major steel producer and exporter. In 2021, steel output rose by 3.3% to 21.3 million tonnes.
The head of Nato says its cooperation with the European Union is “more important than ever” because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference at the signing of a third joint declaration with Europe at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels, its secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, said: “We are determined to take the partnership between NATO and the EU to the next level.”
European Council president, Charles Michel, and European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, along with Stoltenberg, signed the declaration for cooperation on Tuesday morning.
Recalling the moment last February that the same three leaders met to consider Valdimir Putin’s invasion, Stoltenberg said: “President Putin wanted to take Ukraine in a few days and to divide us. On both counts he has clearly failed.”
The press conference continues…
Russia will continue developing nuclear weapons to guarantee the country’s sovereignty, its defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Tuesday.
Moscow will keep building up its nuclear triad of ballistic missiles, submarines and strategic bombers, Reuters reports.
“We will continue to develop the nuclear triad and maintain its combat readiness, since the nuclear shield has been and remains the main guarantor of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state,” Shoigu said.
“We will also increase the combat capabilities of the aerospace forces – both in terms of the work of fighters and bombers in areas where modern air defence systems are in operation, and in terms of improving unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Images of missing British volunteer Christopher Parry taken shortly before he disappeared have been published by Reuters.
Parry is one of two British men missing in Ukraine. He and fellow volunteer Andrew Bagshaw were last known to have been travelling from Kramatorsk to Soledar on 6 January, according to Sky News.
Reuters’ pictures of Parry walking among the rubble in Bakhmut, Donestsk, were taken on 5 January by Anna Kudriavtseva.
Parry, from Truro in Cornwall, was volunteering to help evacuate people from areas under Russian shelling.
Russia has appointed Col Gen Alexander Lapin as its new chief of staff of the country’s ground forces, according to state-owned news agency Tass.
His appointment comes despite fierce criticism over his performance in Ukraine as commander of Russia’s central military district, Reuters reports.
He was criticised by Vladimir Putin’s allies after Russian forces were driven out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, a key logistics hub.
Italy’s attempts to supply Ukraine with a missile defence system have been delayed by technical issues, Reuters reports.
“There is no brake on … but it takes time because there are technical problems to make the instruments work, the military commands are working on this,” the Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, told Italian radio on Tuesday.
La Repubblica reported on Monday that a decision on the supply of new arms to Ukraine had been delayed until next month because of political tensions, cost considerations and equipment shortages.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said two weeks ago that Rome was considering supplying air defences after a phone call with the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. But La Repubblica reported on Monday that Meloni, who is a firm supporter of Kyiv, was facing resistance on the issue from rightwing allies Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi, who both have a history of ties to Moscow.
Former Nato commander says UK should have given Ukraine tanks ‘months ago’
The former Nato commander Gen Sir Richard Shirreff says Britain should have gifted tanks to Ukraine “months ago”.
Commenting on the news that Britain is considering sending Challenger-2 tanks to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia, Shirreff told LBC’s Nick Ferrari that “I think we should call Putin’s bluff over escalation”.
He added: “The one thing the Russians respect is strength. And that has always been the case with Russia. Overmatch the Russians, and they will back off.
“So I think rather than be worried about escalation, I think we should escalate more, we should give more capability to Ukrainians, because the more we give them, the quicker we give them, the quicker this thing will be over.”
Responding to questions about whether the tanks were too late, he said: “This is tardy. These tanks should have been gifted months ago.
“We should have been working hard to give the Ukrainians all armed capability they need for offensive manoeuvre, right from the start of the war. So it has taken too long, but I guess it’s a case of better late than never.”
‘Overmatch the Russians and they will back off.’
Former NATO Commander, General Sir Richard Shirreff, says we should ‘escalate’ our support for Ukraine because the quicker we do that ‘the quicker the war will be over’.@NickFerrariLBC pic.twitter.com/E9BattEBMV
— LBC (@LBC) January 10, 2023
A close ally of Vladimir Putin, the Russian security council secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, said on Tuesday that the conflict Ukraine is a military confrontation between Russia and Nato.
“The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv – this is a military confrontation between Russia and Nato, and above all the United States and Britain,” Patrushev told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper.
Patrushev said he west was trying to cleave Russia apart, according to Reuters. “The westerners’ plans are to continue to pull Russia apart, and eventually just erase it from the political map of the world,” he said.
“In the face of emerging military threats, it is important for us to have such armed forces and special services so that Russia’s adversaries would not even think they could fight us,” he added.
The Russian energy ministry says it is working on additional measures to limit discounts to international benchmarks on Russian oil prices, Reuters reports. The move comes after the west imposed price caps.
Last month Vladimir Putin signed a decree that banned the supply of crude oil and oil products from 1 February for five months to nations that abide by the cap.
The G7 price cap allows non-EU countries to continue importing seaborne Russian crude oil, but prohibits shipping, insurance and reinsurance companies from handling cargoes of Russian crude around the globe, unless it is being sold for less than the price cap.
Russia is focusing its offensive operations in three key areas in eastern Ukraine, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces reported in this morning’s briefing.
Russia is concentrating its efforts on capturing all of Donetsk oblast by targeting the eastern areas of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Lyman, according to the briefing.
The general staff said that Russia had launched eight missile attacks, 31 airstrikes and 63 rocket launch attacks in the last 24 hours. The cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Kramatorsk and Ochakiv were all hit, with civilian infrastructure affected.
Ukraine claims that 710 Russian soldiers were killed in the last 24 hours, according to the general staff of the armed forces’ latest update.
The tally, which has not been verified, brings the Russian death toll from the war to 112,470, according to Ukraine’s records.
Дещо більше інформації щодо ворожого корабля/катера буде надано після уточнення.
Загальні бойові втрати противника з 24.02.22 по 10.01.23 орієнтовно склали / The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02.22 to 10.01.23 were approximately: pic.twitter.com/UYXvtAs50u
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) January 10, 2023
A Russian warship armed with hypersonic cruise weapons has held exercises in the Norwegian Sea, according to the country’s defence ministry.
Reuters reports that the ministry said on Tuesday morning: “The crew of the frigate ‘Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov’ conducted an air defence exercise in the Norwegian Sea.”
Vladimir Putin sent the frigate to the Atlantic Ocean last week, which was read as a signal to the west that Russia will not back down over the war in Ukraine.
The Dutch Media Authority issued a five-year broadcasting permit for the Russian independent television station TV Rain after its licence had been cancelled in Latvia, according to a statement on the regulator’s website.
The permit, dated 22 December, will “provide a commercial television broadcasting service as a commercial media institution,” the regulator said. It was not immediately clear when the statement was published.
Latvia cancelled the licence of TV Rain in early December after the company was deemed a threat to national security.
The liberal-leaning TV Rain, or Dozhd, shifted to broadcasting from Latvia and other countries in July, after being forced to shut its Moscow studio following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
US considering sending Stryker armoured combat vehicles to Ukraine – report
The US is reportedly considering sending Stryker armoured combat vehicles to Ukraine. The move could be announced next week, but no final decision has been made, Politico reports, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Russia and Wagner ‘likely in control of most of’ Soledar, says UK defence ministry
In its daily updated posted a short while ago, the UK Ministry of Defence says that Russia and Wagner are “likely in control of most of” Soledar amid fierce fighting for the Donbas town.
Russia and Wagner have made tactical advances in the last four days, the ministry says, in what it described as “highly likely an effort to envelop Bakhmut from the north, and to disrupt lines of communication”.
It adds that Russia is, however, “unlikely to envelop the town imminently because Ukrainian forces maintain stable defensive lines in depth and control over supply routes”.
Zelenskiy also appears to be banking on securing more, sophisticated weapons from Ukraine’s western partners to beat off attacks and eventually expel Russian troops, Reuters reports.
On Monday, he pressed on with diplomatic efforts, speaking to Petr Fiala, prime minister of the Czech Republic, the chair of the 27-member European Union.
“I am certain that our soldiers at the front will get these weapons and equipment. Very soon,” he said.
France, Germany and the US pledged last week to send armoured fighting vehicles, fulfilling a long-standing Ukrainian request. Britain is considering supplying Ukraine with tanks for the first time, Sky News reported, citing a western source. Britain’s Defence Ministry did not comment.
Iran could be contributing to war crimes in Ukraine by providing drones to Russia, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday.
The US has imposed sanctions on companies and people it accused of producing or transferring Iranian drones used by Russia. The White House said last week it is considering ways to target Iran’s production of the unmanned weaponised aircraft through sanctions and export controls.
Almost no walls left’ in Soledar, says Zelenskiy, as fierce fighting continues
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in nightly video remarks on Monday that Bakhmut and Soledar were holding on despite widespread destruction.
He cited new and fiercer attacks in Soledar, where he said no walls have been left standing and the land is covered with Russian corpses.
“It is extremely difficult – there are almost no whole walls left … Due to the resilience of our warriors there, in Soledar, we have gained additional time and additional power for Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said.
But Ukrainian officials, led by the commander in chief General Valery Zaluzhniy, have warned that Russia is preparing fresh troops for a new, major offensive on Ukraine, possibly on the capital Kyiv.
Russian troops are making another attempt to advance on the town of Soledar in the eastern Donbas region, according to Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar. Russian attacks in recent days have focused on Soledar in an apparent effort to cut off the town.
The capture of Soledar, which lies to the north-east of Bakhmut, would put Ukrainian forces in the area in danger of being encircled and offer Russia a potential avenue of approach against that city.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next while.
Our top story this morning: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in nightly video remarks on Monday that Bakhmut and Soledar, in the country’s east, were holding on despite widespread destruction.
He spoke of fierce new attacks in Soledar, where he said no walls have been left standing.
“It is extremely difficult – there are almost no whole walls left … Due to the resilience of our warriors there, in Soledar, we have gained additional time and additional power for Ukraine.”
We’ll bring you more on this shortly. In the meantime, here are the key recent developments:
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Germany has no plans to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a government spokesperson has said. Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister, said on Sunday that Berlin could not rule out the delivery of Leopard tanks – which are heavier fighting vehicles than the Marders – to support Ukrainian military forces in the future.
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Two British men have gone missing in Ukraine, the UK Foreign Office has said. The men were named in reports as volunteers Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry. The pair were last known to have been travelling from Kramatorsk to Soledar on 6 January, according to Sky News.
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Two women have been killed and six people injured, including a 10-year-old girl, after a Russian missile attack on a market in a village in eastern Ukraine on Monday morning, officials said. A 60-year-old was among two women killed after the missile slammed into the village market in Shevchenkove, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of the city of Kharkiv, regional prosecutors said.
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Strong doubts have emerged over Russian claims to have killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in barracks in Kramatorsk. Journalists visiting the city were unable to find evidence of large-scale casualties. However, the Kremlin said it was confident its defence ministry was correct when it said 600 Ukrainian service personnel had been “destroyed” in the attack.
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The Kremlin has rejected a Ukrainian assertion that a senior Russian official has been floating the idea of a potential peace deal with European officials. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, told the country’s public broadcaster on Thursday that Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration, had been holding meetings with European officials in an attempt to force Kyiv to sign what he characterised as an unfavourable peace deal.
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Italy will not make a decision on supplying new arms to Ukraine until next month, according to a report. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni faces resistance to the approval of a decree to send arms to Ukraine from her allies Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi, la Repubblica reported, as well as issues over cost considerations and military shortages.
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China’s newly appointed foreign minister, Qin Gang, spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to discuss the “crisis” in Ukraine, the Chinese foreign ministry said. The ministry said Qin called for efforts to peacefully settle the crisis in Ukraine.
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Ukraine’s human rights commissioner will meet his Russian counterpart for talks in Turkey this week, news agencies from both countries reported. Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian commissioner, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that the meeting with Ukraine’s Dmytro Lubinets will take place during an international forum in Turkey between Thursday and Saturday. Talks are likely to include the possibility of further exchanges of prisoners of war.
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