Ukraine Russia war updates: Zelensky slams Olympics chief as ‘nearly 67,000 Russian war crimes’ recorded

Volodymyr Zelensky has come down heavily on International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach for allowing Russia to participate in the Games.

“Olympic principles and war are fundamentally opposed to each other,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address, criticising the Olympic committee’s apparent neutral stance.

“One cannot but be disappointed by the statements of the current president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach. I spoke with him several times. And I never heard how he is going to protect sports from war propaganda if he returns Russian athletes to international competitions,” he added.

Mr Zelensky also said that his administration will do “everything so that the world will protect sports from political or any other influence of the terrorist state, which is simply inevitable if Russian athletes participate in competitions. And especially – at the Paris Olympics.”

“I do not want to get into what exactly motivated Mr Bach to promote such an initiative,” Mr Zelensky said.

Ukrainian athletes have been forced to defend their loved ones from Russian aggression, he continued. “Russian strikes took the lives of hundreds of Ukrainian men and women who could have brought their talents to world sports,” he said.

Ukraine is holding expedited talks with its allies for securing long-range missiles to stop Russia from bombarding its cities, according to the presidential adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky.

“To drastically reduce the Russian army’s key weapon — the artillery they use today on the front lines — we need missiles that will destroy their depots,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.

He added that there are more than 100 artillery warehouses on the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula.

“Therefore, firstly, negotiations are already under way. Secondly, negotiations are proceeding at an accelerated pace,” the top aide said without giving details.

Ukraine has slapped sanctions against 182 Russian and Belarusian companies, and three individuals, president Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday.

“Their assets in Ukraine are blocked, their properties will be used for our defence,” Mr Zelensky said in a video address as he blocked Moscow and Minsk’s connections to Ukraine.

The sanctioned firms are chiefly related to the transportation of goods, vehicle leasing and chemical production, according to the list published by the national security and defence council of Ukraine.

This also includes Russian potash fertiliser producer and exporter Uralkali, Belarus state-owned potash producer Belaruskali, Belarusian Railways, as well as Russia’s VTB-Leasing and Gazprombank Leasing both dealing with transport leasing.

The latest sanctions take the total list of sanctioned leaders and firms to hundreds since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

Russia is planning to transfer its occupied regions in Ukraine to Moscow Time (MSK), according to a statement by its industry ministry.

In a statement on Telegram, the ministry for industry and trade stated it had submitted an amendment to federal law on Russian time zones.

Its four occupied terriories are listed: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye, which will enter Moscow Time (one hour ahead) if the law is ratified.

Russia organised referenda in the four regions on 23-27 September last year to join Russia, in a voting process declared invalid and illegal by international bodies.

The UN general assembly adopted a new resolution in October condemning the votes held and demanding Russia reverse course on its “attempted illegal annexation” of the regions.

Russia currently has three Kalibr cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea with 20 missiles on them, a Ukrainian official has said.

Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa regional military administration, said in a post on Telegram that the threat of missile attacks is high.

Bratchuk added there were 16 Russian warships currently operating in the Black Sea.

Odesa is the third largest city in Ukraine, situated in the south of the country on the Black Sea. Russian cruise missiles previously hit the city in attacks last year.

Kalibrs cruise missiles have been among the main ordinance used by Russian forces to attack Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and settlements.

The major missile attack against Ukrainian critical infrastructure on January 14 this year was carried out using Kalibr missiles fired from vessels in the Black Sea.

Auditors from the US will visit Ukraine next week to ensure that aid and weapons are not diverted, according to undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland.

Representatives will be joined by officials from the World Bank and Deloitte consultants, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky continues his crackdown on corruption in politics.

Nuland told a congressional committee that the US will continue “to support essential reform and anti-corruption measures by the Ukrainian government across the country.”

However, recent corruption scandals in Ukraine do not appear to have involved the humanitarian aid supplied to Ukraine, a State Department spokesperson has said.

A food procurement scandal within the Ukrainian defence ministry resulted in the resignation of its deputy minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov earlier this week.

President Zelensky has reshuffled his top team in the biggest change of leadership since Russia’s invasion in February last year.

Justice ministers from EU member states have agreed on swift accountability for “horrific” crimes in Ukraine at a meeting in Stockholm on Friday.

Ministers differed over the methods in a debate about how to secure prosecutions, seek evidence or fund repairs for war damages.

The EU’s 27 justice ministers met in Stockholm ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ireland’s minister for justice, Simon Harris, said “There absolutely will have to be accountability for horrific international crimes and the brutality of what we’re seeing in Ukraine… the clear and apparent war crimes.”

Gunnar Strommer, justice minister of Sweden, told Reuters: “Nobody doing this kind of war crimes shall go free. It’s very, very important that we will find a way to hold responsible people accountable.

“The question is, how can we deal with this in a practical and efficient way.”

Belgian minister Vincent van Quickenborne suggested condemnation was needed from the wider global community.

He said: “These acts of aggression should be condemned not only by European countries or by the United States, but by a large majority of countries… in Africa, Latin America and other places.”

The Ukrainian military reported on Friday it would be establishing ‘drone assault companies’ equipped with with Starlink satellite communications.

Aimed at providing surveillance and attacks on Russian positions using small explosives, commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi signed off on the creation of the units in a multiagency project involving several ministries.

The General Staff said, in a post on Facebook, that “the most professional servicemen” had already been chosen to lead the new companies.

Each of the companies which will receive drones and ammunition, Starlink terminals and other equipment.

“We are doing everything to provide soldiers with modern technologies,” the General Staff continued.

Starlink is a system for satellite communications operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, and widely in use by civilians and the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine’s defence minister said last month that he saw drones as the future of modern warfare.

Moscow has used hundreds of Iranian-made “suicide drones” during the conflict to attack Ukrainian cities.

Read more on Russian use of drones here:

Military sources have reported that Ukrainian forces are now struggling to hold the city of Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk region.

According to Guardian reporters, continual fighting has intensified after the Ukrainian army’s withdrawal from the nearby city of Soledar last week.

On Saturday, Russia focused its artillery fire on 40 settlements close to Bakhmut.

One source told the Guardian: “The Russians are destroying anything that can be used for cover.

“The Ukrainian forces don’t have enough artillery.”

There are rising concerns over Bakhmut being encircled with shortages of artillery threatening Ukraine’s army in its ability to hold back Russian forces.

Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence council, Oleksiy Danilov, said Russia was intiating new military offensives to mark the anniversary of the invasion, which took place on 24 February 2022.

He also suggested Russian troops were aiming to go “beyond the borders of” the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry tightened its economic sanctions against Russia on Friday in response to its latest wave of missile attacks in Ukraine.

The ministry also added goods to an export ban list and freezing the assets of Russian officials and entities.

New missile attacks came in response to the news of greater coordination between Ukraine’s allies of supplying armoured vehicles to Ukrainian forces.

In a statement, the economy ministry said: “In light of the situation surrounding Ukraine and to contribute to international efforts to secure peace, Japan will implement export bans in line with other major nations.”

Included in the new sanctions, Japan will prohibit exports to 49 Russian organizations from early February which could be used to enhance its military capability.

Prohibited exports include water cannons, gas exploration equipment, X-ray inspection equipment, explosives and robots, the ministry added.