Rescuers conduct search conduct operation amid rubble of collapsed wall of residential building after Russian missile attack on January 23, 2024 in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
This was CNBC's live blog tracking developments on the war in Ukraine on Jan.23, 2024. See here for the latest updates.
Russia launched another wave of missile strikes across Ukraine in the early hours Tuesday. The capital Kyiv was targeted, as was the second-largest city of Kharkiv, and several other regions.
Ukrainian officials detailed increasing numbers of casualties and ongoing rescue efforts, as well as damaged residential and non-residential buildings.
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said six people had died and 73 others were injured in the latest attacks.
Russia's Ministry of Defence and the Kremlin commented on the attacks Tuesday, the latter denying they were carried out in response to an alleged Ukrainian attack on a marketplace in Russian-occupied Donetsk on Sunday in which several dozen people died and many were injured.
The latest strikes come after a wave of strikes on Monday following a large-scale attack on the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk on Sunday. Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack on a market that left 27 people dead and 26 injured. A regional Ukrainian army group denied carrying out the attack.
U.S. Defense Secretary Austin urges allies to 'dig deep' on Ukraine support
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Tuesday urged members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group to "dig deep" as allies kicked off their latest meeting — even as the future of U.S. military funding remains in limbo.
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Russian President Vladimir "Putin hopes that missiles and drones will demoralize the Ukrainian people, and break the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian military. So I urge this group to dig deep to provide Ukraine with more lifesaving ground-based air-defense systems and interceptors," Austin said in opening remarks.
He pointed to the $250 million package announced by the U.S. in late December, which included air-defense munitions, air-defense system components and various ammunition.
He added there had been no "credible evidence" of the misuse or illicit diversion of U.S. equipment, and that Ukraine was using it to defend itself against Russia.
Austin also praised allies for their contributions, and singled out "significant announcements" by Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The U.S. government warned that the December package would be the final one as long as a budget that would approve the release of further funds remains in poitical limbo. Congress has still not passed the bill, which includes $110 billion for both Ukraine and Israel.
— Jenni Reid
NATO's Stoltenberg says Russian strikes show need to strengthen Ukraine's air defense
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that "massive" Russian strikes show the need to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses.
His comments came during the Ukraine Defense Contact Group as it held its 18th meeting virtually. The U.S.-led group comprises more than 50 countries which are supporting Ukraine through the provision of military equipment.
Allies have already delivered a range of air defense systems, including Patriots, IRIS-T and NASAMS, while NATO is providing winter equipment, demining equipment and fuel.
Stoltenberg said NATO would support an increase in ammunition production and announced it had concluded contracts to purchase roughly 220,000 155-millimetre artillery shells worth $1.2 billion to replenish allied stocks as they send their own to Ukraine.
— Jenni Reid
CIA tries to recruit double agents in Russia with new video
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has released a slickly produced Russian-language video to try to persuade Russian intelligence employees to switch sides and work as double agents for Washington.
CIA Director William Burns said in July that disaffection among some Russians over the war in Ukraine was creating a rare opportunity to recruit spies, and that the CIA was not letting it pass.
The video, released on the CIA's official channel on X, tries to appeal to what it suggests are patriotic Russians working in the intelligence community who may feel betrayed by what it called corruption in elite circles and the poor way the Russian armed forces are equipped and supplied.
"Those around you may not want to hear the truth. But we do. You are not powerless," says the video, the latest in a series of recruitment videos targeting Russia, before detailing ways to contact the CIA.
Accompanied by melancholy classical music, the video's main, fictional character is an unnamed 35-year-old male employee of Russia's military intelligence agency who casts himself as a patriot who loves Russia and once served as a paratrooper.
"Do I have enough courage to confront this betrayal?" the video shows him saying, before he says he has realised the real enemy is inside Russia in the form of a corrupt leadership and elite.
"The top leadership has sold the country out for palaces and yachts at a time when our soldiers are chewing rotten potatoes and firing from prehistoric weapons. Our people are forced to give bribes to simply find work," the man says as video clips of a bleak Russian winter are spliced with images of high-end official limousines and wealthy Russians giving toasts.
The Kremlin says everything is done to ensure the Russian military has the equipment it needs to be successful in what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. It has rejected as false various corruption allegations, and shrugged off the video.
"You know, this practice is quite common, intelligence agencies around the world very often use the media and social networks to recruit new employees. And they do it all the time, the CIA does it every year," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Peskov suggested the CIA had made a mistake by circulating the video on X, formerly known as Twitter, which is banned in Russia and can be accessed only by using a virtual private network, many of which are also banned.
"Somebody needs to tell the CIA that in our country (Russian social network) VKontakte is much more popular than the banned X. And that VKontakte's audience is much larger," Peskov said.
— Reuters
Putin's visit to North Korea unlikely to take place soon, Kremlin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea is unlikely to take place before the presidential election in March, the Kremlin's press secretary said Tuesday.
"In North Korea, no, these are more promising plans. We proceed from the fact that when the schedules are agreed upon, the president will take advantage of this proposal," the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, Russian news agency TASS said, when answering the question whether this trip could take place before Russia's presidential elections in March.
Asked about the likelihood of Putin's visit to Turkey before the presidential elections, Peskov said that it was possible.
"Yes, we proceed from the fact that it [the visit] can take place before the elections," he said.
— Holly Ellyatt
EU to allow wider measures to control Ukraine grain imports
The European Commission is looking into ways of allowing eastern EU member states to restrict farm imports from Ukraine as it extends trade liberalisation with Kyiv for a further year to June 2025.
The EU has suspended import duties, quotas and trade defence measures for imports from Ukraine since June 2022 to support its economy after Russia's invasion. However, cheap Ukrainian grain exports have sparked protests by governments, farmers and truckers in neighbouring countries such as Poland and Hungary.
EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the Commission was about to present a proposal for the new period to June 2025, taking into account the sensitivities of agricultural sectors in eastern member states of the bloc.
The existing arrangement does include safeguards but these only apply if the whole EU market is affected.
"We're looking at the best ways to do it, including the possibility of having the safeguards not only in the case of disturbances to the EU market as a whole, but also in case of disturbances in a single member state or a few member states," Dombrovskis told reporters before a meeting of EU ministers on trade.
The EU trade chief said the Commission was looking into how to safeguard the most sensitive products, adding he had discussed the issue with the agriculture ministers of Poland and Hungary in the past 24 hours.
— Reuters
Russia says latest strikes weren't revenge for Donetsk market attack
Russia's Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin commented on the latest missile strikes on Ukraine Tuesday, denying that civilians had been targeted in the attacks.
In a statement on Telegram, Russia's defense ministry commented that "in the morning, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a group strike by high-precision long-range air- and ground- based weapons at Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities producing missiles and its parts, ammunition, and explosives."
"The goal of the strike has been achieved. All the assigned targets have been engaged," the ministry said, without providing further details.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said six people had been killed in the latest strikes, which targeted Kyiv, Kharkiv and other areas of Ukraine, and 73 people had been injured, some seriously.
The Kremlin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov denied that the latest strikes were further retaliation for an alleged Ukrainian strike on a marketplace in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Saturday in which 26 people died.
Asked by a reporter whether the shelling of Kyiv and Kharkiv could be called a response to the Donetsk shelling, Peskov said "no we can't [call it that]. We continue the SMO [special military operation] and we don't strike civilian targets – this is what makes us different from the Kyiv regime," he said.
Russia and Ukraine both deny deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in the war.
— Holly Ellyatt
6 killed, 73 injured in latest Russian strikes, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said rescue operations are continuing in Ukraine after a barrage of Russian strikes on major cities, including Kyiv and Kharkiv.
"The rescue operation continues after another Russian attack against our cities and people - deliberate terror against ordinary residential buildings in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Pavlograd. Unfortunately, there are casualties and deaths," Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
In Kyiv, 22 people are now known to have been injured as a result of the shelling in the early hours, the president said. Meanwhile, preliminary data from Kharkiv showed five people were killed and 51 people, including four children, were injured. One person died in strikes on Pavlohrad in Dnipro, central Ukraine.
"Our heroic rescuers, those who are always the first to arrive at the sites of enemy shelling, despite all the difficulties, continue their very important work for the sake of saving people," Zelenskyy said.
Russia says it does not deliberately target civilians in the war.
— Holly Ellyatt
Extent of destruction seen in Kharkiv and Kyiv
— Holly Ellyatt
21 out of 41 Russian missiles launched overnight destroyed
Ukraine's air force said it destroyed 21 out of 41 Russian missiles launched at the country overnight in attacks that left five dead and dozens wounded.
Russia "launched a combined missile attack on Ukraine, using cruise, ballistic, aviation and anti-aircraft guided missiles," the air force said after Kyiv, Kharkiv and central Ukraine were targeted in Russian missile strikes in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
"Most of the missiles launched were of the types that attack along a ballistic trajectory," the air force said on Telegram, stating that several S-300/S-400 anti-aircraft guided missiles were launched from the Russian border region of Belgorod toward Kharkiv, in northeast Ukraine.
It said Moscow also launched 15 Kh-101, Kh-555 and Kh-55 cruise missiles from six Tu-95MS strategic bomber jets, while eight Kh-22 missiles were fired from Tu-22M3 bombers from the Bryansk and Oryol regions in Russia. It listed other missile types and targets too. CNBC was unable to verify the information in the report.
Ukrainian air defenses and the air force destroyed 15 X-101/X-555/X-55 cruise missiles, five Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59 guided air missile, the air force noted.
— Holly Ellyatt
Poland deploys aircraft after Russia's latest strikes
The Polish army said it deployed aircraft to protect Polish airspace after Russia's latest missile attack on Ukraine.
"We would like to inform you that intensive long-range aviation activity of the Russian Federation is being observed, which is related to the intention to carry out strikes on the territory of Ukraine," the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said on X, formerly know as Twitter.
"All necessary procedures to ensure the safety of Polish airspace have been launched and the situation is constantly monitored."
"We warn that Polish and allied aviation has been activated, which may result in increased noise levels, especially in the south-eastern part of the country," the statement added.
It's not the first time Poland, Ukraine's western neighbor, has launched military aircraft in response to a perceived threat from Russian attacks on Ukraine.
Poland mobilized F-16 fighter jets and a Nato air tanker in the new year in order to protect Polish airspace amid Russian attacks on Ukraine.
— Holly Ellyatt
Five dead, 40 injured in morning missile attacks on Ukraine
At least 40 people have been injured, and five people are known to have died, in early morning Russian missile attacks on cities across Ukraine, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Tuesday.
Posting an update on Telegram, Klymenko summed up the extent of the damage and impact of the latest strikes as follows:
— Holly Ellyatt
Russia launches another wave of missile strikes across Ukraine
Russia has launched another wave of missile strikes across Ukraine — the capital Kyiv was targeted, as was the second-largest city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday, detailing increasing numbers of casualties and ongoing rescue efforts.
Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv's mayor, said a building and cars were on fire in one district of the city while the windows of an apartment building were shattered by a blast wave in another area. A non-residential building was hit in another district.
Posting on Telegram, Klitschko said one person was killed in the strikes and nine others injured. Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's regional military administration (RMA) urged civilians to shelter this morning while air raid warnings continued.
Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv was also targeted overnight. Oleg Synehubov, the head of the Kharkiv RMA, said on Telegram that a residential high-rise building in the Kyivskyy district of the city had been attacked, leaving "people under the rubble." Rescue work is ongoing, he said.
Synehubov said in a later post this morning that 35 people were injured in the strikes and two people died.
In central Ukraine, two people were killed in the town of Pavlohrad, near the city of Dnipro, after a "massive missile attack by Russians on the city," Serhii Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk RMA, said on Telegram.
— Holly Ellyatt
Zelenskyy thanks Poland for 'new defense package'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a "new Polish defense package" after meeting in Kyiv with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was making his first visit to a non-EU country since returning to the top job in December.
"We appreciate such unflagging support. There is a new form of our cooperation – aimed at a larger scale of arms purchases for Ukrainian needs – the Polish loan for Ukraine," Zelenskyy said in a statement.
Further details of the defense package were not provided. CNBC has contacted the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
The leaders also discussed "the possibilities of joint future arms production," Zelenskyy said.
Tusk, the former president of the European Council, meanwhile said that Poland would try to help Ukraine with its process of EU accession.
It comes as the neighboring countries vow to end an ongoing and heated dispute over cross-border trade flows. Political relations deteriorated in fall 2023, leading to then-Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki saying Poland would no longer supply weapons to Ukraine.
— Jenni Reid
Death, injury toll rises after Donetsk market attack
The number of people killed or injured in a missile strike on a market in Donetsk city on Sunday has risen, a Russian-installed official said Monday.
Denis Pushilin, head of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, told the Rossiya-24 news channel that 27 people have now died in the strike, and 26 are injured, news agency RIA Novosti said, reporting his comments.
Pushilin blamed the attack on Ukraine, saying it had resorted to targeting civilians as a result of failures on the battlefield.
"The methods do not change: the worse the enemy's situation within the military confrontation, the more often they try to take it out on the civilian population. Non-humans. We see a dependence here in the sense that the enemy's capabilities become fewer, and as soon as such an opportunity arises, they try take it out on the civilian population," he claimed.
Pushilin also claimed Ukraine had used cluster munitions in the strike, which the Kremlin described as a terrorist attack.
Ukrainian armed forces operating in the region denied they had carried out the attack, stating Sunday that they "did not conduct any combat operations with means of destruction."
A day of mourning in Donetsk was declared by Russian authorities Monday.
— Holly Ellyatt
Kremlin calls Donetsk market strike a 'monstrous act of terrorism'
The Kremlin called the alleged Ukrainian shelling of a marketplace in Donetsk Sunday a "monstrous act of terrorism."
"The Kyiv regime continues to show its bestial face and strikes at civilians," Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday.
At least 25 people died in the attack on the market in Donetsk city, while 20 others were injured.
Ukrainian armed forces operating in the region denied they had carried out the strike, stating that they "did not conduct any combat operations with means of destruction."
Russia claims Donetsk in eastern Ukraine as its own territory, having unilaterally annexed the region in late 2022. Ukraine and its allies reject the claim.
Peskov added on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had received reports on the Donetsk attack and that Russia's "special military operation" — as it calls its invasion of Ukraine — would continue in order to "protect" people.
— Holly Ellyatt
Operations at damaged Russian fuel complex seen resuming within weeks, say analysts
Russian energy company Novatek is likely to resume large-scale operations at its Ust-Luga processing complex and Baltic Sea terminal within weeks, following a suspected drone attack seen disrupting naphtha flows to Asia, analysts said on Monday.
The tightening of supply from Russia, following fears of disruption in European naphtha exports to Asia from Yemeni Houthis' attacks on ships in the Red Sea, are driving up naphtha prices and refining margins in Asia.
The profit margin for making naphtha in Asia jumped by about $6 to $91.70 per metric ton over Brent crude on Monday after four straight sessions of losses.
Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at the huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal and "technological process" at the complex due to a fire, started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.
Kommersant newspaper also said on Monday, citing local authorities, that two storage tanks and a pumping stations were damaged due to the incident.
"We believe the plant is likely to return to significant capacity within weeks or, at worst, months," analysts at Moscow-based BCS brokerage said in a note.
Novatek declined to comment. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia's military and other government agencies were taking the necessary measures, including when it comes to air defences, after the suspected Ukrainian drone attack on the terminal.
— Reuters
Read CNBC's previous live coverage here:
Russia strikes back at Ukraine for 'monstrous act of terrorism' after market, oil terminals attacked
