Russia's invasion of Ukraine has entered its 36th day.
According to ISNA, according to AFP, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced a local ceasefire to allow civilians to leave the port city of Mariupol, which is under siege by Russian forces. From 10 a.m. local time, a humanitarian corridor will be built from Mariupol via the Russian-controlled port of Berdyansk to Zaporizhia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky has warned that Russia is mobilizing forces for a major offensive in the eastern Donbas region. He said Ukraine was ready for the attack, adding that any Russian retreat from around Kiev had been met with stubborn resistance from Ukrainian forces.
The two countries will continue online peace talks on February 1 (tomorrow). A senior Ukrainian official said Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, presidents of Ukraine and Russia, could meet "soon," but the Kremlin downplayed the prospect of a significant achievement. "At the moment, everything is just words and nothing is certain," the Ukrainian president said in a televised message yesterday.
Zelensky also announced that he had an hour-long call with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, and thanked him for a new $ 1 billion humanitarian package, as well as $ 500 million in budgets. "US support is essential to us," he said.
Russian shelling continued on Wednesday; Moscow announced on Tuesday that it would reduce its attacks in Kiev and the northern city of Chernihiv. However, Pentagon reports claimed that Russian forces were withdrawing from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Officials in Britain, the United States and the European Union have claimed that Putin was misled by the Russian military. Jeremy Fleming, the British intelligence chief, said the Russian president had received misinformation about the performance of his country's military and the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy, as some of his closest associates were afraid to tell him the truth. He also claimed that some Russian forces had disobeyed orders in Ukraine, destroyed their equipment and - accidentally - shot down one of their contemporaries' planes.
According to the United States, global sanctions against the export of industrial components to Russia have damaged the production of cars and tanks. A carmaker has shut down and tank production has stopped.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Terrace is scheduled to travel to India today to encourage Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reduce his strategic reliance on Russia. His arrival in Delhi coincides with the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to India. This is Lavrov's first visit to India since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to the British Foreign Office, London has enacted new laws targeting Russian oligarchs' access to British naval and aviation technical services.
It was recently revealed that eight Russian oligarchs who have been placed on the British sanctions list because of their links to Putin have already received British gold visas through investment in Britain.
According to a report by Google's Threat Analysis Group, Russian hackers have recently tried to infiltrate NATO networks and the armies of some Eastern European countries. Google called the hacking operation a "credit phishing campaign" by a Russian hacking group dubbed "Coldriver" or "Callisto", but did not name the armies of the countries targeted.
Slovakia will expel 35 Russian diplomats, according to intelligence sources. Other EU countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and the Czech Republic, have expelled Russian diplomats suspected of spying.
