Russian Defence Ministry says Russia has downed 754 drones over the past 24 hours
Russian air defences have downed 754 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours, the Interfax news agency reported.
Ukraine confirms strike on Russian warship
Ukraine's military said it struck a warship at Russia's Baltic Fleet base overnight.
The strike caused a massive fire aboard the Boikiy corvette, it added in a post on the Telegram app.
Ukraine calls for dialogue amid diplomatic spat with Poland over historical tensions
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on Wednesday for dialogue between Ukraine and Poland to help defuse tensions after Kyiv renamed an army unit after nationalist insurgents involved in massacres of Poles in World War Two.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has caused indignation in Poland by signing a decree recognising a Ukrainian special forces unit's contribution to the current war effort against Russia by naming it after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA.
As well as fighting the Nazis and the forces of the then Soviet Union to carve out an independent Ukraine, the UPA was involved in the Volhynia massacres, a series of killings from 1943 to 1945 in which Poland says around 100,000 Poles were killed. Thousands of Ukrainians died in reprisal killings.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has been one of Kyiv's staunchest allies, but the historical dispute has complicated relations between the neighbours. Polish President Karol Nawrocki said last week he wanted a state body to discuss stripping Zelenskiy of Poland's top honour over his decree.
Russia demands France release the captain of one of its sanctioned tankers
Russia is demanding that France release the captain of a tanker detained in France, the state-run RIA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the Russian embassy in Paris.
France's navy said on Monday it had intercepted a sanctioned tanker linked to the Russian oil trade in the Atlantic Ocean and had ordered it to head to the French mainland, in a move Moscow said was illegal and amounted to "international piracy."
French Open to feature duel between Russian, Ukrainian players
The Kremlin repeats its stance that Russian responses to such attacks will be 'systematic' in nature
Moscow insists Russia is continuing to fight in Ukraine in order to ensure that such drone attacks cannot take place.
"I would like to remind you of the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which states that our responses will be systematic in nature, and indeed they already are," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the Ukrainian attack on St Petersburg.
Ukraine has increased its long range attacks deep into Russian territory since the begining of the year.
The St. Petersburg International Economic forum was already a highly anticipated event before the strikes
Some 20,000 guests from 130 countries are set to attend the three-day annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum - an event that was once Russia's premier gathering to court Western investors and businesses -- which starts Wednesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel (then German Chancellor), and the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were among the speakers at the Forum in the 2010s.
The SPIEF has come to reflect Russia’s growing isolation on the international stage since the outbreak of full-scale conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who on Tuesday condemned the latest wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine, is expected in St. Petersburg and is scheduled to speak at an environmental panel on Friday.
Candace Owens, a prominent figure in the American conspiracy theory sphere; pro-Russian American actor Steven Seagal; and Rodney Mims Cook Jr., the chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts - which is responsible, among other things, for commissioning the controversial new White House ballroom - are on the list of speakers for the forum.
A Russian ship docked in St. Petersburg was struck during the attacks
Reports indicate that the Boikiy corvette was hit in the Krondstadt Russian naval base.
Two fires were seen erupting from the base on the Kotlin island off the shore of St. Petersburg.
The Russian ship is a Steregushchy-class corvette and has been in service since 2013 for Russia's Baltic fleet.
Read more about how technological advances on drone warfare have shaped the battlefield behind the front lines
Photos of St. Petersburg after overnight Ukrainian strikes
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Germany maintains hope of opening dialogue between Russia and Europe on Ukraine
A German official said on Wednesday that a window for dialogue is slowly opening between Russia and the European side on Ukraine, and it is essential to establish a format that is as effective as possible while also perceived by Europeans as legitimate.
The official added that there are strong indications that the E3 Group - Germany, France and Britain - will continue to play an important role in this regard.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff has said that agreeing a deal to end the war by winter was a "realistic" outcome.
The German official said recent fighting indicates the dialogue process is likely to take months, rather than weeks, and that it was key to ensure they were conducted in full agreement with Ukraine.
Coordination - instead of competition - with the United States, whose brokered talks have stalled as Washington focuses on Iran, must also remain a guiding principle, said the official.
NATO chief in Kyiv for a surprise visit
NATO chief Mark Rutte arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday for an unannounced trip, Ukraine's national railway operator said, after a series of large-scale fatal Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital.
"Today at the Kyiv railway station, we are gladly welcoming NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. This visit is extremely important, just like all the previous ones, because it is a gesture of solidarity and support from the Alliance for our country," Ukrzaliznytsia wrote on social media.
'Russia's Davos' gathers in St. Petersburg after the strikes
Footage is circulating online of participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum gathering against a backdrop of black smoke rising from the oil depot that was struck by Ukraine overnight.
Drone strike kills 7 on bus in Russia-held eastern Ukraine, authorities say
A drone strike has killed seven people and wounded 11 as it hit a bus in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine, Moscow-installed authorities in the Donetsk region.
The bus was hit in the Donetsk region as it travelled from Moscow to Simferopol in Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
“In Yenakiyevo, a UAV attacked a Moscow-Simferopol coach; according to preliminary reports, seven civilians were killed,” Denis Pushilin, the head of the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Telegram.
“A further 11 people sustained injuries of varying severity, and all are receiving the necessary medical care,” he added.
Russia downs dozens of drones over Leningrad region
Russia has downed 50 drones over the Leningrad region northwest of Moscow overnight, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said.
The Leningrad region is home to crucial energy export infrastructure and a major oil refinery.
- Drones hit infrastructure in St. Petersburg, governor says
- Ukraine hits Russia’s St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, Zelensky says
- Drone strike kills 7 on bus in Russia-held eastern Ukraine, authorities say
Strong rouble puts intense pressure on Russian exports, Sberbank executive says
A strong rouble is squeezing Russian commodity exporters, offsetting any boost to profits from higher oil prices and needs to weaken to around 90 per US dollar to give companies some breathing space, a top Sberbank executive said.
“We also need to talk about the strong rouble, which puts significant pressure on exporters,” First Deputy CEO of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank, Alexander Vedyakhin, said ahead of Russia’s biggest economic conference in St. Petersburg.
“This affects exporters and, consequently, the budget, so the gains in dollars that companies receive from rising oil prices are largely offset by the strengthening of the rouble.”
Ukraine hits Russia’s St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, Zelensky says
Ukraine’s military struck Russia’s Saint Petersburg Oil Terminal overnight, around 1,100 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.
Zelensky also said that “purely” military targets were hit at the Kronstadt base, and that another target was an enterprise in Russia’s Tambov region involved in the production of weapons, some 600 kilometres from the frontline.
“Ukraine’s plan for long-range sanctions is being implemented exactly as needed to bring peace closer,” he said on social media, posting a video of an oil depot ablaze.
Drones hit infrastructure in St. Petersburg, governor says
Drones have hit infrastructure in several districts of Saint Petersburg, causing damage and injuring several people, the city’s governor said.
The city is hosting a three-day economic conference, President Vladimir Putin’s “Russian Davos”, from Wednesday.
Ukrainian officials said the attack was aimed at disrupting the event.
Good morning and welcome to our liveblog on the developments in Ukraine and Russia.
