Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin responds to Navalny poisoning claims while Kyiv launches ‘powerful’ attack

Almost four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the situation on the ground and in the diplomatic arena has become critical. Our report from Kyiv graphically depicts the plight of so many residents in Ukraine’s capital city, who face nightly Russian air raids, targeting primarily civilian power supplies, in mid-winter. The intensity of the attacks, the damage sustained for want of sufficient air defence, and the winter temperatures have all been markedly worse than in previous years.

Read The Independent’s editorial here:

The Kremlin has rejected accusations from five European countries that the Russian state had killed late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny two years ago using toxin from poison dart frogs.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the claims were “not based on anything”.

Navalny, who was Vladimir Putin’s most prominent domestic critic, died in February 2024 aged 47 in a far-flung Arctic prison, a month before Putin was re-elected in a landslide vote which Western nations said was neither free nor fair.

In a joint statement on Saturday, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said that analyses of samples from Navalny’s body had “conclusively” confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.

Peskov said Moscow took a very negative view of the European allegations.

The Kremlin has agreed with Slovak prime minister Robert Fico after he accused Ukraine of holding up the restart of the Druzhba oil pipeline to try to pressure Hungary to drop its opposition to Kyiv’s future membership of the European Union.

Kyiv’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Russian oil destined for Eastern Europe which goes through the Ukrainian part of the Druzhba pipeline had been suspended since January 27 due to a Russian attack.

The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region says it came under the heaviest Ukrainian attack suffered by any region during the war.

Around 229 drones were downed over the Bryansk region, out of a total 345 downed across Russia.

“Yesterday, the Bryansk region experienced its most powerful and massive attack,” governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.

“No other region in Russia has seen such a large number of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] launched simultaneously in a single day,” he added.

Bogomaz said the attack damaged energy infrastructure facilities in the region.

Russian forces downed 345 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours following a particularly large overnight attack by Ukraine’s forces, the defence ministry reported according to the RIA news agency.

The Independent is working to verify the reports and understand what was targeted in the Ukrainian attack – and whether there were any recorded strikes.

The ministry added that Russian forces had taken control of the settlements of Pokrovka and Minkivka in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin has said “the main issues” regarding peace in Ukraine, including territory, would be discussed in peace talks due to be held in Geneva this week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, and special envoy Kirill Dmitriev would take part in the talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

Ukraine has received 4.4 million rounds of large-calibre ammunition under a Czech plan, president Petr Pavel has told Czech news website odkryto.cz.

The pla, strongly backed by Mr Pavel himself, pulled together Czech arms traders and producers and funding from foreign donors.

It includes Czech defence officials and defence firms sourcing 155mm and other large-calibre ammunition around the world, purchasing it and shipping to Ukraine with funds from Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and other donors.

The new Czech government of Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ populist ANO party, including the pro-Russian far-right SPD, had considered scrapping the initiative but agreed under pressure from Pavel and allies to continue the plan, although it said it would not give any national funding for the purchases.

“Since its launch the initiative has brought about 4.4 million pieces of large-calibre ammunition to Ukraine,” Pavel, a former senior NATO official, told the odkryto.cz website.

“Without this ammunition reserve, Ukraine’s armed forces could not effectively lead defence.”

Russian forces attacked Ukraine with four Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force has said.

An Iskander-M ballistic missile, Kh-31P anti-radar missile, and 62 drones were also launched in the overnight air attack, it said in a post on Telegram.

Hits were recorded by one missile and nine drones at eight locations, it added, while information about the other three missiles is still being confirmed.

Air defences shot down and jammed two Zircon missiles and 52 drones.

As of Monday morning, the Air Force said the attack is ongoing.