Ukraine updates: Russia says West to decide when war ends

The United States believes Russia could attempted to influence upcoming elections in Europe in order to shift sentiments against Ukraine.

"Russia is hoping that the number of elections in Europe this year could change what has been a remarkable coalition and disciplined opposition to its war," Jamie Rubin, special envoy and coordinator for the Global Engagement Center, told reporters on Thursday.

"We do believe that the Russians will conduct information operations throughout Europe to try to change opinion on Ukraine during this election season," he added.

European Parliament elections are scheduled for June, while Austria, Georgia and the United Kingdom will also have their own elections.

Ukraine is working "intensively" to resume passenger flights to Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport, a presidential official said on Thursday.

"I don't want to create over-expectations ... but I can tell you we are working very intensively to recover the air connection in Ukraine," Rostyslav Shurma, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Shurma said Kyiv had an "internal roadmap and schedule" but declined to provide specific details.

"We need to get approvals from the IATA (International Air Transport Association) and FAA (the US Federal Aviation Administration) which is not an easy case. And it depends more on the bold decisions of international partners that we believe we'll get," Shurma added. 

Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has welcomed the "artillery coalition" launched by 23 of the country's Western allies on Thursday as the country faces dwindling supplies of ammunition.

"A shortage of ammunition is a very real and pressing problem that our armed forces are facing at present," Umerov said on social media.

"The artillery coalition is aimed at solving this issue."

Ukraine was responsible for an attack on an oil depot in northern Russia, a source told the AFP news agency on Thursday.

Ukrainian media also reported that the overnight attack was part of a special operation by Kyiv.

Russia earlier reported an attack in the Leningrad region, bordering Finland, that it blamed on Ukrainian forces.

Attacks on Russian territory are not uncommon in regions bordering Ukraine like Belgorod, but attacks further norther are rare.

Ukraine typically does not officially claim responsibility for attacks carried out within Russia's borders.

Cyber units from Ukraine's SBU domestic security service on Thursday said they had detained a Russian agent who was "spying for the enemy" in the Odesa region.

The suspect was tasked with identifying and providing the aggressor with the coordinates of sites where toxic substances are stored, including pesticide depots.

To collect the information, the SBU said the perpetrator had started working as a taxi driver and, under the pretext of transporting passengers, recorded the locations of the targets.

The suspect is accused of high treason committed under martial law and faces life imprisonment.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says his country will work with whoever wins the US presidential election later this year.

Fears have arisen that, with former US President Donald Trump the frontrunner to win the Republican nomination, Washington might end its support for Kyiv.

The US Congress is already divided on giving more arms to Ukraine and some fear that Trump will be less willing than President Joe Biden to support Kyiv.

Kuleba appeared relaxed about the possibility that Trump might win.

"I will accept the opinion of the people of the United States, and we will work with any reality that will follow the elections," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump know and "respect each other," Kuleba said on the sidelines of the Davos summit.

Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have led to a slowdown in Ukrainian agricultural exports, agriculture minister Mykola Solsky says.

"A big volume was [exported] in December... but the rate [in January] will drop," Solsky told national television.

"There are problems in the Red Sea and part of our exports went and are going through the Red Sea to China, Asia, and African countries and therefore the movement of ships has slowed down a lot," he said.

The Iran-allied Houthi militia in Yemen has been attacking ships in the Red Sea corridor since November, slowing trade between Asia and Europe and prompting the US-led alliance to respond with air strikes. 

Western allies of Ukraine are launching an "artillery coalition" at a ceremony in Paris to bolster the strength of Ukraine's armed forces against Russia.

The coalition "aims to combine efforts to help Ukraine have an artillery force that meets the needs of its counter-offensive and its army of the future, in the short and long term," the French defense ministry said.

The 23-country effort, led by France and the United States, is part of a wider group of allies of some 50 nations known as the Ramstein contact group.

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu is leading the ceremony, which Ukrainian defense chief Rustem Umerov had been due to attend but had to cancel at the last minute "for security reasons." 

Lecornu said Ukraine had bought six Caesar howitzers, adding that Paris would send 50 precision-guided missiles a month to Ukraine.

The minister said Caesar manufacturer Nexter had halved the production time of the howitzer to 15 months, which meant that some 78 units would be available this year.

Russian officials say Ukraine carried out overnight drone and missile attacks in the border city of Belgorod. 

City governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Russian air defenses had shot down 10 Ukrainian missiles.

He said a woman had been injured in an "attempted strike" and that the windows of a house had been broken. 

There have been reports of shelling coming from Ukraine in the city for some time.

Gladkov also said that several people were still being treated in hospital after the attacks at the end of December.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin earlier reported a foiled drone attack on the Russian capital. He said the unmanned craft had been shot down in the Moscow region. 

A drone was also shot down in the Leningrad region that surrounds St Petersburg, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. 

Such strikes have intensified, including one attack on the southern city of Belgorod that killed 25 people on December 30.

The city's residents have been urged to tape up their windows to stop glass from shattering, while some bus stops have been protected with sandbags and concrete blocks.

While Ukraine has repeatedly shelled Russian territory, the damage or casualty figures in Russia are generally far lower compared to the scale of deaths and destruction caused by  Russia's campaign in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Air Force says air defense systems shot down 22 of 33 drones that were launched against the country by Russia during the night. 

Some drones of the other drones also failed to reach their targets. 

Russia's attacks mainly focused on the eastern and southern regions of the country, including the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the air force said. 

Meanwhile, the head of the Kharkiv region said one civilian had been killed and another injured in attacks a day earlier.

"The shelling killed a 62-year-old woman who worked as a boiler room operator. A 63-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman were injured. Both were hospitalized in moderate condition," he said.

Large areas of the Kharkiv region were captured by Russian forces early in the invasion, but they were repelled months later. However, the region is still repeatedly shelled.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he believes that the West, and not Ukraine, will decide the conditions for ending the war. 

However, the minister said he did not think the West was presently interested in starting peace talks.

"We do not see the slightest interest on the part of either the United States or NATO to settle the Ukrainian conflict and listen to Russia's concerns," Lavrov said.

He also claimed the West had pushed Ukraine to use increasingly long-range weapons for strikes against targets deep inside Russia, although he proved no evidence of this.

Lavrov said Washington had proposed resuming "strategic stability" talks between the two countries about their respective nuclear arsenals.

However, he said the proposal was unacceptable to Russia because of the West's backing for Ukraine in the war, which is now approaching the end of its second year.

There were no grounds to discuss arms control while the West was conducting what he described as a "hybrid war" against Moscow, Lavrov said.

"We do not reject this idea for the future, but we precondition this possibility on the abandonment by the West of its policy of undermining and not respecting Russia's interests," said Lavrov.

rc/lo (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)