January 19, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

New German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was sworn in on Thursday morning, taking office right before high-level talks on military support for Ukraine are scheduled to start in Germany this week.

On Thursday — his first day on the job — Pistorius will meet with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Berlin. On Friday, he will be part of a key meeting with NATO's Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the US' Ramstein Air Base, hosted by Austin, that will focus on more military aid for Kyiv.

Pistorius succeeds former Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, who resigned on Monday.

Tank talks: All eyes are on Germany as defense leaders meet to discuss military support for Ukraine. With the United Kingdom and Poland announcing plans to send battle tanks, international pressure is growing on Berlin to approve the delivery of German-made Leopard battle tanks to Kyiv — or at least approve their transfer from third countries.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday reiterated his support for Ukraine at the World Economic Forum in Davos but stayed clear of committing to battle tanks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an impassioned speech before political leaders and delegates in Davos that same day, calling on Western partners to speed up the delivery of tanks and other supplies to counter Russia's invasion.

On Wednesday, a senior US defense official told CNN the US was "optimistic" that Germany will agree to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will be “pressing the Germans” to allow their Leopard tanks to be transferred to Ukraine to provide the “capability in a crucial moment” to counter any potential Russian spring offensive, a senior US defense official told CNN Wednesday.

Germany has signaled a reluctance to approve the transfer of German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine from other countries. Germany needs to sign off on the transfer before countries such as Poland and Finland, which have openly stated their willingness to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, are allowed to follow through on any shipments.

“We are never going alone, because this is necessary in a very difficult situation like this,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday.  

Austin is in Germany, where he is set to meet with the German defense minister before convening a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group Friday to discuss aid for Ukraine with approximately 50 countries and organizations.

Some context: The US is set to finalize $2.5 billion in military aid for Ukraine that includes a first shipment of Stryker combat vehicles, sources told CNN. The package is not expected to include tanks or the long-range missiles sought by Kyiv.

The United States is set to finalize a huge military aid package for Ukraine totaling approximately $2.5 billion worth of weaponry, including — for the first time — Stryker combat vehicles, two sources briefed on the next tranche of aid told CNN. The package is not yet finalized, one of the sources said, but could come before the end of the week. 

The new package is one of the largest to be announced since the war started last February, according to one source. It would include more armored Bradley Fighting Vehicles that, combined with the Strykers, is a significant escalation in the armored vehicles the US has committed to Ukraine for its fight against Russia. Mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, known as MRAPs, are also on the list, the source said.

The announcement is not expected to include tanks or the long-range missiles that Kyiv has repeatedly asked for. The US is expected to send Ukraine more ammunition for its artillery systems and HIMARS rocket systems that have been consistent in recent aid packages. 

Ukrainian officials have been fiercely lobbying Washington for longer-range missiles known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of around 200 miles (300 kilometers). The Biden administration has resisted sending them out of fear of escalating the conflict. The administration has also pushed back on sending M1 Abrams tanks because of logistical and maintenance complications.

Funds for energy support: The Biden administration also intends to provide $125 million in additional energy support for Ukraine, according to the US Agency for International Development. The funding, which will be drawn from the 2023 Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act passed in December, builds on existing contributions to assist Ukraine in the face of attacks from Russia. 

The UN nuclear watchdog finalized the deployment of permanent missions to Ukrainian power plants — including the plants in Rivne, Chornobyl, and south Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian prime minister following his meeting with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday. 

The IAEA mission at Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant will also be functioning soon, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a news conference, with all the mission's work continuing during wartime and afterward to restore any damage. 

The IAEA is expanding its presence in Ukraine, Director General Rafael Grossi said.

Remember: Zaporizhzhia, with six reactors, is the largest nuclear power station in Europe. The area, and the nuclear complex, has been under Russian control since the beginning of the war. Grossi and other nuclear experts have been concerned about the threat of a nuclear accident amid shelling around the plant.

Shmyhal said Ukraine has asked that the control of the Zaporizhzhia facility be returned to Ukrainian authorities and for a "complete withdrawal" of Russian troops and Rosatom personnel from the plant. Grossi assured Ukraine the IAEA would never recognize Russia as the owner of the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to Shmyhal.

The prime minister added that Ukraine will "continue to insist on limiting Russia's rights and privileges in the IAEA and terminating cooperation with Russia in the nuclear sphere."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said he believed that Turkey would finalize the process for Nordic countries Finland and Sweden to join the US-led military alliance.

This would be the “fastest accession process in NATO’s modern history,” he noted. “Normally, accession to NATO takes years. It’s less than a year since Finland and Sweden applied.”

Remember: NATO decisions are made by consensus, which means all 30 alliance member states must approve the two nations joining. Turkey is the only member that has voiced opposition to their membership, on the grounds of terror concerns. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in video remarks to the forum Wednesday again reiterated his desire for Ukraine to join NATO, saying the alliance "is the best security guarantee for us, for our country, for our kids."

NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană on Wednesday warned the alliance must be prepared “for the long haul” with regards to Russia's war on Ukraine.

Addressing defense chiefs at a NATO military committee meeting in Brussels, Geoană said allies should invest more in defense, ramp up their capacity to manufacture weapons and ammunition and “prepare for potential future wars.”

Echoing a warning issued previously by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Geoană said "underestimating Russia is dangerous.” He said Russian President Vladimir Putin had already mobilized more than 200,000 additional troops. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the goal of what he calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine is to “end the war” in the eastern Donbas region, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

Speaking at a meeting with World War II veterans and survivors of the siege of Leningrad, Putin reportedly said that effectively “full-scale hostilities in Donbas have not stopped since 2014 — with the use of heavy equipment, artillery, tanks and aircraft.”

In late December, Putin used the word “war” to refer to the conflict in Ukraine, the first known time he has publicly deviated from his carefully crafted description of Moscow’s invasion as a “special military operation.”

More on Donbas: The industrial region blankets much of eastern Ukraine and has been the front line of the country’s conflict with Moscow since 2014. The Donbas' longstanding industrial pull has attracted people from across Eastern Europe over the past century, and it has had strong social and economic ties to neighboring Russia as well as the rest of Ukraine.

Its distance from the capital Kyiv and other metropolitan centers has given rise to a vast collection of local movements, and that was the backdrop upon which pro-Russian separatists attempted to seize control following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.

Putin’s annexation of Crimea and the occupation of parts of Donbas by Russian-backed rebels in 2014 brought to a crashing halt a period of increasing prosperity in the region.

War broke out in 2014 after Russian-backed rebels seized government buildings in towns and cities across eastern Ukraine. Intense fighting left portions of Luhansk and Donetsk in the hands of Russian-backed separatists.

CNN's Rob Picheta contributed reporting to this post.

A helicopter carrying the leadership team of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry crashed near a kindergarten and residential block in the Kyiv region on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people, including all nine people on board, according to officials.

A further 25 people were injured following the incident in the city of Brovary Wednesday, including 11 children, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Fourteen bodies were found at the crash site, including one child and all nine people who were on board the helicopter — six ministry officials and three crew members, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES).

Ukrainian National Police confirmed that Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky, First Deputy Minister Yevheniy Yenin and State Secretary Yuriy Lubkovychis were among the dead.

The official cause for the crash has yet to be announced, and there has been no suggestion from any Ukrainian officials about Russian involvement.

When asked why the entire leadership of the Interior Ministry was traveling together, Gerashchenko replied: “I think this bloody lesson will be a clear example for us that such high politicians and ministers cannot travel altogether. But this tragedy brought the death of children which is amazingly horrible — and obviously everyone who died — every life of every Ukrainian is priceless.”

The crash has stunned the country at a critical moment in the war: Ukraine has been imploring Western allies for more weaponry as Russian strikes hit its critical infrastructure and civilian populations with abandon.

Read more here.