Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow revises Makiivka death toll to 89; Zelenskiy reiterates warning of new Russian offensive

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Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, has posted to Telegram to report that there is an air alert in the region. At the same time Suspilne, Ukraine’s state-owned broadcaster, has reported there is an air alert in effect in Kyiv.

There are unconfirmed reports that air defence was activated twice in the Sevastopol region overnight. Sevastopol is in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The Kyiv Independent, citing the Telegram channel of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said that Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, reported that air defence had been activated.

Suspilne, the state-owned national broadcaster of Ukraine, has reported on Telegram that its correspondents in Kherson have heard explosions.

More details soon …

The city administration in Kyiv has said that 160 million passengers used the city’s subway in 2022, compared with 319 million passengers the previous year. It also said that about 5.200 people used the network for shelter on New Year’s Eve. In a statement posted to Telegram, the city authority said:

On new year’s eve, during the air raid, about 5,200 people, including almost 400 children, used underground stations as shelter. The subway infrastructure operates 24/7 as a shelter and provides the most necessary conditions: drinking water, sanitary facilities and the possibility of recharging gadgets.

The message continued by urging residents to “take care of yourself and use shelters during the air alert”.

Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, has also posted to Telegram with the simple message: “Good morning! No power outages.”

Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has published his regular daily status update to Telegram. He reports that overnight there were no air alarms, and that at present electricity blackouts are not anticipated in his western region of Ukraine.

Even as the officially conceded death toll from the attack on a temporary Russian barracks in a vocational college in occupied Makiivka has been revised upwards, the Russian state-owned news outlet RIA is reporting that Denis Pushilin, who acts as the leader of pro-Russian occupiers in Donetsk, has praised the bravery of the soldiers there. RIA quotes him saying:

We know, and we know first-hand, what it is to bear losses. And what real heroism is. Based on the information that I have, I can say with confidence that the guys from this regiment had many manifestations of courage and real heroism.

Pushilin is the self-styled leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), one of the areas of Ukraine the Russian Federation has claimed to annex. Prior to the annexation claim, only three UN member states – Russia, Syria and North Korea – recognised the DPR as any kind of legitimate authority.

Ukraine and the EU will hold a summit in Kyiv on 3 February to discuss financial and military support, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said, but the bloc on Tuesday would not confirm the location, AFP reports.

Zelenskiy discussed details of the high-level meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, in his first phone call of the year, the office said in a statement on Monday.

“The parties discussed expected results of the next Ukraine-EU summit to be held on 3 February in Kyiv and agreed to intensify preparatory work,” it said.

A spokesperson for European Council president, Charles Michel, however, could not confirm on Tuesday that the joint summit would take place in the Ukrainian capital.

He said the bloc would be represented at the summit by Michel and Von der Leyen, and not with the various leaders of EU countries. EU officials said there was a standing invitation for Zelenskiy to visit Brussels.

Zelenskiy and Von der Leyen, in their call, also talked about the supply of “appropriate” weapons.

The US president, Joe Biden, will hold talks with Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, at the White House on 13 January to discuss North Korea, Ukraine, China’s tensions with Taiwan, and a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, the White House said on Tuesday.

The two leaders will discuss “a range of regional and global issues, including the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, and maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the White House said.

The meeting between Washington and its key Asian partner in standing up to China’s increasing might comes as North Korea’s missile tests and calls for a larger nuclear arsenal worry US allies in the region.

Kishida plans to discuss Tokyo’s new security policy, which saw the unveiling in December of Japan’s biggest military buildup since the second world war, Japan’s Yomiuri daily newspaper reported last week, citing multiple unidentified Japanese government sources.

The White House said Biden will reiterate his full support for Japan’s recently released national security strategy.

A Tokyo Gas unit is in advanced talks to buy US natural gas producer Rockcliff Energy from private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners for about $4.6bn, including debt, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Reuters reports:

If consummated, the deal would be the latest move by a Japanese entity to secure gas in jurisdictions perceived as friendly, the importance of which has risen for the import-dependent Asian nation after supply markets for the commodity were roiled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The all-cash deal with Houston-based TG Natural Resources, which is 70% owned by the Japanese energy firm, is set to be announced this month, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential. Castleton Commodities International owns the rest of TG Natural Resources.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, used his video address on Tuesday to reiterate warnings that Russia is set to launch a major offensive to improve its fortunes.

“We have no doubt that current masters of Russia will throw everything they have left and everyone they can round up to try to turn the tide of the war and at least delay their defeat,” Zelenskiy said in a video address.

“We have to disrupt this Russian scenario. We are preparing for this. The terrorists must lose. Any attempt at their new offensive must fail,” he continued.

Ukraine’s military has said it launched a strike that resulted in Russian loss of equipment and possibly personnel near Makiivka. But it has given no further details.

Russia’s defence ministry on Wednesday blamed the illegal use of mobile phones by its soldiers for a deadly Ukrainian missile strike that it said killed 89 servicemen, raising the reported death toll significantly.

Moscow previously said 63 Russian soldiers were killed in the weekend strike. The ministry’s reaction came amid mounting anger among some Russian commentators, who are increasingly vocal about what they see as a half-hearted campaign in Ukraine.

Most of the anger on social media was directed at military commanders rather than Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has not commented publicly on the attack, which was another blow after major battlefield retreats in recent months.

The Russian defence ministry said four Ukrainian missiles hit a temporary Russian barracks in a vocational college in Makiivka, twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Although an official investigation has been launched, the main reason for the attack was clearly the illegal mass use of mobile phones by servicemen, the ministry said.

“This factor allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers’ location for a missile strike,” it said in a statement issued just after 1:00 am in Moscow on Wednesday.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest news for the next while.

Russia’s defence ministry has acknowledged that 89 servicemen died in a Ukrainian strike on Makiivka in eastern Ukraine on New Year’s Eve, an increase in the previous reported death toll. Military officials have blamed the use of mobile phones by Russian soldiers within “reach of enemy soldiers” for the deadly attack.

Moscow said previously 63 Russian soldiers were killed in the weekend strike.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Tuesday that Russia was set to launch a major offensive, repeating earlier warnings.

“We have no doubt that current masters of Russia will throw everything they have left and everyone they can round up to try to turn the tide of the war and at least delay their defeat,” Zelenskiy said.

Here are the other key recent developments:

The Ukrainian strike on Makiivka has generated “significant criticism of Russian military leadership”, according to a report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Several prominent Russian pro-war bloggers and commentators acknowledged the attack, with many suggesting the number of casualties was higher than the figures officially reported.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has said up to 10 units of Russian military equipment of various types in occupied Makiivka were damaged or destroyed. Ukraine rarely announces responsibility for attacks on Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine, but its military reported the Makiivka attack as “a strike on Russian manpower and military equipment”.

Satellite images taken by the US-based company Planet Labs that purportedly show the aftermath of the strike on Makiivka have circulated online, showing the building that allegedly housed the Russian troops before and after it was hit. The images, dated 2 January, show a building almost completely razed. Unverified footage posted online of the aftermath of the blast also showed a huge building reduced to smoking rubble.

The UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, reaffirmed support for Ukraine during a call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The two men discussed further defence cooperation, their statements said.

On national television in Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, spokesperson for the Ukraine air force, said nearly 500 Russian drones have been downed since September.

It is unlikely Russia will achieve a significant breakthrough near Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region in the coming weeks, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. This is due in part to Russia likely conducting offensive operations in the area at only platoon or section level, it said.

The French prime minister, ?lisabeth Borne, has said she is more confident over the situation of French energy supplies for the next few weeks. She cited lower consumption and an increase in nuclear power output.

Nato countries will discuss their defence spending targets in the coming months as some of them call for turning a 2% target into a minimum figure, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told the German news agency DPA.

Ukraine and the EU will hold a summit in Kyiv on 3 February to discuss financial and military support, Zelenskiy’s office has said.