Key events
Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, governor of Sumy has said on Telegram that the night passed without incident in his region, which borders Russia.
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has posted his daily update on events in the region. He states that in the past 24 hours there has been one air alert – on Wednesday morning – but no attack materialised. He said that in the last 24 hours, 60 internally displaced people arrived in Lviv by train, and 58 by bus. There were travelling from what he described as “the epicentres of hostilities”. On the power situation, he writes:
As of this moment, there are no power outages in our region. Ukrenergo provide consumption limits. If they are exceeded, the schedule of hourly outages will be applied.
The New York Times has led its international morning briefing with the reaction to the devastating attack on Makiivka. Natasha Frost writes:
Russian soldiers’ use of open cellphone lines in Ukraine has been a known vulnerability for its military, often revealing forces’ positions. Intercepted calls have revealed the disarray and discontent in Russia’s ranks. Some Russian lawmakers and military bloggers pushed back against the blame, calling it an attempt by the military to avoid faulting commanders.
Kyiv says its forces have killed or wounded more than 1,000 Russian soldiers in a series of pinpoint attacks. Russia has confirmed only one of three waves of strikes.
The United States is not “hand-wringing” over the mass casualties of Russian soldiers in a Ukrainian attack reportedly using US-supplied artillery, a senior White House official said Wednesday.
After criticism in Russia over the use of US-delivered weaponry by Ukrainian defenders, including in the Makiivka strike, national security council spokesperson John Kirby said Russia is to blame.
There is no “hand-wringing by the administration at all. This is a war. They have been invaded and they (Ukrainians) are striking back and defending themselves,” Kirby said. “Russian soldiers in their territory are legitimate targets for Ukrainian military action, period.”
Kirby would not give a US estimate of the casualties in an attack that all sides agree was unusually fatal, even by the bloody standards of the now more than 10-month-old Russian invasion.
“I’m not going to get into the casualty count. It is war. And it is in a vicious area of fighting right now. And war is a bloody affair,” he said.
A senior US administration official has given a sobering assessment of fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Reuters reports, especially around the largely ruined, Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut. Fierce combat is likely to persist for the foreseeable future, although Russian forces have made incremental progress, the official said.
“The fighting is still quite hot … I think what we’re seeing in Bakhmut we should expect to see elsewhere along the front that there will be continued fighting in the coming months.”
In his video address, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian troops outside Bakhmut were inflicting numerous losses on the Russians and said Moscow was building up its forces in the region.
What is the difference between armoured vehicles and tanks?
After France said it would supply Ukraine with AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles, Zelenskiy said that while he was grateful for the help, Ukraine needed heavier vehicles –or tanks.
So what is the difference?
According to the British Forces Broadcasting Service, “The main difference between a tank and an armoured vehicle is their role on the battlefield. A tank is an armoured vehicle that is specifically used to break enemy lines.”
A tank is a particularly powerful or heavy armoured vehicle. Ukraine has asked for the US tanks, called Abrams tanks, and the German Leopard tanks.
Tanks “do not typically carry infantry, and are actually designed to fight in direct combat with enemy forces,” using armour to protect themselves, “and their main gun as their offence,” according to the BFBS.
US considering sending Bradley armoured vehicles, but not tanks
US President Joe Biden said later on Wednesday that Washington was considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine.
The Bradley armoured vehicle, which has a powerful gun, has been a US army staple to carry troops around battlefields since the mid-1980s. The US army has thousands of Bradleys, and they would give Ukraine more firepower on the battlefield and strengthen its ability in trench warfare.
Biden’s move, however, would fall short of sending the Abrams tanks that Ukraine has sought. Kyiv has repeatedly asked western allies for heavier fighting vehicles such as the Abrams and German-made Leopard tanks.
‘No rational reason’ west hasn’t sent tanks, says Zelenskiy
Western allies are poised to supply Ukraine with armoured battle vehicles but not the heavier tanks it has requested to fight Russia, Reuters reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy his government would send light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles to help its war effort, a French official said on Wednesday after a phone call between them.
While the official said these would be the first western armoured vehicles delivered to Ukraine, Australia said in October that it had given Kyiv 90 of its Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles, an armoured unit that is hardened against landmines, small arms fire and other threats.
In an evening video address, Zelenskiy thanked Macron for the announcement and said it showed the need for other allies to provide heavier weapons.
“This is something that sends a clear signal to all our partners. There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with western tanks,” he said.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments.
Our top story this morning is that western allies are considering supplying armoured battle vehicles to Ukraine but not the heavier tanks it has requested.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy his government would send light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles to help its war effort, a French official said on Wednesday after a phone call between the two leaders.
US President Joe Biden meanwhile, said that Washington was considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine.
In an evening video address, Zelenskiy thanked Macron for the announcement and said it showed the need for other allies to provide heavier weapons.
“This is something that sends a clear signal to all our partners. There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with western tanks,” he said.
Here are the other key recent developments:
-
The US is looking at ways to target Iranian drone production through sanctions and export controls, the White House said. Washington previously imposed sanctions on companies and people it accused of producing or transferring Iranian drones that Russia has used against Ukraine.
-
Heavy fighting around the largely ruined, Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut is likely to persist for the foreseeable future, with the outcome uncertain as Russians have made incremental progress, according to a senior US administration official.
-
The Ukrainian deputy defence minister said significant Russian losses meant Moscow would probably have to announce a second partial mobilisation in the first quarter of the year.
-
Further strikes deep in Russian territory should be expected, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, has told the US TV network ABC. He added that the attacks would come “deeper and deeper” inside Russia, without specifically saying whether Ukraine would be behind them.
-
Ukraine’s military general staff said Russia had launched seven missile strikes, 18 airstrikes and more than 85 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems in the past 24 hours on civilian infrastructure in three cities – Kramatorsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. “There are casualties among the civilian population,” it said. The reports have not been independently verified.
-
Ukraine’s efforts to increase exports under the Black Sea grain deal with Russia are focused on securing faster inspections of ships rather than including more ports in the initiative, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.
-
Ukraine’s navy has claimed Russia has three combat-ready ships in action in the Black Sea and that it continues to “violate the international convention for the protection of human life at sea 1974 (Solas), disabling auto identification systems on civilian vessels in the Azov Sea”, it said in a post on Facebook.
-
Vladimir Putin took part in a ceremony by video link while the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov went into combat service equipped with the Zircon hypersonic missile systems. The Russian president said: “I am sure that such powerful weapons will reliably protect Russia from potential external threats and will help ensure the national interests of our country”. The defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said the Gorshkov would sail to the Atlantic and Indian oceans and to the Mediterranean Sea.
