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US tells citizens to leave Russia immediately
The US has told its citizens to leave Russia immediately due to the war in Ukraine and the risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment by Russian law enforcement agencies.
In a statement, the US embassy in Moscow said:
US citizens residing or travelling in Russia should depart immediately.
Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions.”
Do not travel to Russia,” the embassy said.
The US has repeatedly warned its citizens to leave Russia. The last such public warning was in September after President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilisation.
“Russian security services have arrested US citizens on spurious charges, singled out US citizens in Russia for detention and harassment, denied them fair and transparent treatment, and convicted them in secret trials or without presenting credible evidence,” the embassy said.
“Russian authorities arbitrarily enforce local laws against US citizen religious workers and have opened questionable criminal investigations against US citizens engaged in religious activity.”
Russia building 200km water pipeline to Donbas - reports
Russian defence personnel are building a water pipeline system to connect Russia’s Rostov region Ukraine with the eastern Donbas region inside Ukraine, Russian state-owned media reported late on Sunday.
Moscow last year claimed the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which make up the broader Donbas region in Ukraine, as “republics” of Russia, in a move condemned as illegal by most members of the UN.
The project, to be completed in the next few months, will reportedly have the capacity to carry 300,000 cubic meters of water per day and will include two 200km (124-mile) lines, according to the defence ministry and as reported by Tass.
Interfax reported the ministry as saying:
More than 2,600 specialists of the military construction complex of the Russian ministry of defence and over 1,000 pieces of equipment around the clock are involved in the construction of a new large water conduit that will connect the Rostov region and Donbas.”
The structure would pass through the territory of the Rostov region in Russia and into the Donetsk region to the Severskiy Donets-Donbas Canal, which extends from the Donets River near the village of Raihorodok to the city of Donetsk.
It was hoped to be completed by spring, according to ministry source.
The water situation in the Donbas region, which has few resources, has been critical. The region depends on large-scale pipelines that have been damaged by nearly a year of fighting and require electricity that is often interrupted.
Russian front moves 2km west in four days - reports
Russia claims its troops have advanced 2km (1.24 miles) to the west in four days along the frontline in Ukraine.
Russian state-owned news agency Interfax carried a report on Monday citing a statement from the commander of the central military district:
The Russian servicemen broke the enemy’s resistance and advanced several kilometres deeper into its echeloned defence.
In four days the front moved 2 kilometres to the west.
The enemy is very actively mining the territories that he leaves. It becomes problematic for both equipment and personnel to advance.”
There were no details which part of the large frontline, encompassing several Ukrainian regions in the south and east, had moved.
The Guardian was not able to independently verify the battlefield reports.
Some of the fiercest fighting in recent months has taken place in the Donetsk region in south-eastern Ukraine.
Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said on Saturday that Ukraine’s troops held the frontline in Donetsk and in some areas had managed to regain previously lost positions.
Ukraine’s armed forces claim to have repelled Russian attacks on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
The latest report published by Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces as of 6am Monday morning reads:
Over the past 24 hours, units of the defence forces of Ukraine have repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of Hryanikyvka settlements of the Kharkiv Oblast; Kreminna and Bilogorivka in Luhansk Oblast; Viymka, Fedorivka, Vasyukivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske and Klishchiivka in the Donetsk Oblast and Zaliznychne in Zaporizhzhia.”
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold.
Ukraine’s armed forces claim to have repelled Russian attacks on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia while Russia claims its troops have advanced 2km (1.24 miles) to the west in four days along the frontline in Ukraine.
State media cited Russia’s defence ministry as announcing the “active offensive of the troops of the central military district” but gave no details as to which part of the frontline, encompassing several Ukrainian regions in the country’s south and east, has moved.
Meanwhile, Russian personnel were building a water pipeline system that would connect the country’s Rostov region bordering Ukraine with the eastern Donbas region inside Ukraine, Russian state-owned media agencies have reported.
The project, to be completed in the next few months, will reportedly have the capacity to carry 300,000 cubic metres of water per day and will include two 200km lines, according to the Russian defence ministry.
If you have just joined us, here are all the most immediate developments:
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner group, said the mercenary force had taken the village of Krasna Hora, on the northern edge of the embattled city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. He published a short video, apparently showing Wagner fighters next to the entrance sign to the village. The Guardian could not independently verify that the village had been taken.
US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said geolocated footage showed Russian forces had captured at least part of the village of Krasna Hora and the Ukrainians had likely withdrawn from.
Ukraine’s defences were holding along the frontline in Donetsk, with the fiercest battles raging for the cities of Vuhledar and Maryinka, Kyiv’s top military commander said on Saturday. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said Russia was carrying out 50 attacks a day in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Russian forces are likely to have had their highest rate of casualties over the past two weeks since the first week of the invasion of Ukraine, according to a defence intelligence update from the UK ministry of defence. “Lack of trained personnel, coordination, and resources across the front” are among the factors that led to the sudden spike in Russia’s casualties, according to the report. “The mean average for the last seven days was 824 casualties a day, over four times the rate reported over June-July 2022.”
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has cast doubt on whether Poland will be able to supply Ukraine with fighters jets. Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Duda said sending F-16 planes would be a “very serious decision” that was “not easy to take”.
Iran smuggled drones into Russia using boats and the state airline, the Guardian has learned. At least 18 of the new types of advanced long-range armed drones were delivered to Russia’s navy after its officers and technicians visited Tehran in November, where they were shown a range of Iran’s technologies.
A former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has again blamed Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the war with Russia again. “I would never have gone talking to Zelenskiy because we are witnessing the devastation of his country and the slaughter of its soldiers and civilians,” Berlusconi said. Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, responded by underlining her government’s “firm support” for Ukraine.
The head of the International Olympic Committee has rejected Zelenskiy’s call to ban Russian athletes from the 2024 Paris games. Speaking at the World Ski Championships in France, Thomas Bach said that while he shared the “grief and human suffering” of Ukrainian athletes, national governments should not decide who takes part in international sporting events.
English (US)