France and Ukraine to "scale up" their defence cooperation, Ukrainian foreign minister says France and Ukraine have agreed to “scale up” their defence cooperation, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said after a meeting with his counterpart. Dmytro Kuleba and Stéphane Séjourné discussed topics including Ukraine’s EU and Nato integration and tightening sanctions against Russia, the Ukrainian foreign minister said. “Russia hopes Ukraine and its supporters will get tired before them. We will not grow weaker,” Séjourné said during a press conference in Kyiv, Reuters reports. Séjourné added that he would work to fix EU and bilateral legal issues to help French companies set up more military production facilities in Ukraine. He did not say what these legal issues were. He also encouraged French companies, such as transport, energy, telecoms and water, to invest in Ukraine. The French foreign minister said he was personally convinced that more military assistance was needed and that talks between the two governments would continue in the coming weeks. Summary Here is a round-up of the key events today. Moscow continues to consider Taiwan an integral part of China, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry has said after voters elected Lai Ching-te from the ruling pro-sovereignty party. The president-elect said it was a “victory for the community of democracies”. Russia has lost 369,160 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion almost two years ago, according to Ukraine’s armed forces. The Russian military is on course to lose 500,000 personnel within the next year, according to a statement by the UK’s Ministry of Defence last week – the average daily casualty numbers, which today stood at about 700, have risen by nearly 300 during the course of 2023. France and Ukraine have agreed to “scale up” their defence cooperation, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said after a meeting with his counterpart. France’s show of continuing support will be welcome news to Ukraine, which fears backing for the country is waning as the war nears its second year and critical aid packages remain stuck in Brussels and Washington. Russia launched 40 attacks against regions across Ukraine on Saturday morning using weapons including hypersonic missiles, according to local authorities and the Ukrainian air force. According to Ukraine, 37 were missiles and three were drones. Eight were downed, and 20 failed to hit targets. Russia has said it has destroyed its targets in a series of strikes on facilities producing ammunition and drones in Ukraine. Its ministry of defence said Russia said it had targeted facilities producing shells, gunpowder and unmanned aerial vehicles, saying “all designated facilities were hit”. A warehouse in St Petersburg owned by one of Russia’s biggest online retailers has gone up in flames, Reuters reports Russia’s ministry of emergency situations as saying, as firefighters battled a huge blaze on Saturday. We’ll be closing this blog now – thanks for following along. A man has been wounded following Russian shelling of a district in the Kherson region on Saturday, according to the local authority. Russian troops shelled the Beryslav area at around 4.30 pm, according to the state news agency Ukrinform. “A 42-year-old man was sent to the hospital. He has a shrapnel wound to his back. Now medics are operating on the victim,” the local authority said on Telegram. It comes follows other injuries reported in Kherson on Saturday, when a 54-year-old resident was injured as a result of a drone attack on Saturday, and police rescued a 74-year-old woman from the rubble of a building. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from a Kyiv shopping centre after a fire broke out, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital has said. Two hundred people were evacuated from the Cosmopolit shopping centre, in the Solomyan district of the city, after a fire broke out on the building’s fourth floor. In a post on Telegram, the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said that emergency services were on site and the fire was being extinguished. He said there were no casualties “at this time”. Moscow views Taiwan as part of China, Russian foreign ministry says Moscow continues to consider Taiwan an integral part of China, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry has said after voters elected Lai Ching-te from the ruling pro-sovereignty party. The victory of Lai, who since 2020 had served as vice-president, marks the continuation of a government that promoted a sovereign Taiwan and a national identity distinct from China. The president-elect said it was a “victory for the community of democracies” around the world and that Taiwanese voters had successfully resisted efforts from “external forces” to influence the election – a reference to Beijing’s efforts to have the DPP ousted. For more on Taiwan’s election, you can read our correspondents’ report from Taipei here. Two businessmen are driving from the UK to Ukraine to deliver supplies donated by the public. Mike Racz and Karl Pemberton told BBC News they had planned to drive a small van of donations, but after receiving an “overwhelming” amount of support, will now drive two larger lorries. Racz, from County Durham, told the broadcaster he “did not expect the amount of donations and love and support and aid” that people had provided. His partner, Kateryna Seranova, is from Ukraine and stressed the dangers her family and other Ukrainians were still facing. The pair expressed concerns that donations were slowing as the war drags on, while temperatures were plummeting. It was -11C in Kyiv overnight on 12 January. Here are some of the latest images coming through from Russia and Ukraine: Russia has lost 369,160 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion almost two years ago, according to Ukraine’s armed forces. This figure includes 700 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day. The Russian military is on course to lose 500,000 personnel within the next year, according to a statement by the UK’s Ministry of Defence last week. The MoD said: “The average daily number of Russian casualties in Ukraine has risen by almost 300 during the course of 2023. If the numbers continue at the current rate over the next year, Russia will have lost over half a million personnel in Ukraine.” According to figures shared by Ukraine’s army, Russia has also lost: 6,065 tanks 11,269 armoured fighting vehicles 11,632 vehicles and fuel tanks 8,728 artillery systems 957 multiple launch rocket systems 646 air defence systems 329 airplanes 324 helicopters 6,848 drones 23 boats Summary It’s approaching 3pm in Kyiv. Here is a summary for anyone who needs a refresher or is just joining us on today’s blog. France and Ukraine have agreed to “scale up” their defence cooperation, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said after a meeting with his counterpart. France’s show of continuing support will be welcome news to Ukraine, which fears backing for the country is waning as the war nears its second year and critical aid packages remain stuck in both Brussels and Washington. Russia launched 40 attacks against regions across Ukraine on Saturday morning using weapons including hypersonic missiles, according to local authorities and the Ukrainian air force. According to Ukraine, 37 were missiles, and three were drones. Eight were downed, and 20 failed to hit targets. Russia has said it has destroyed its targets in a series of strikes on facilities producing ammunition and drones in Ukraine. Its ministry of defence said Russia said it had targeted facilities producing shells, gunpowder and unmanned aerial vehicles, saying “all designated facilities were hit”. About 3,000 trucks were queuing at Ukraine’s borders on Saturday morning. Polish drivers have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine since 6 November, demanding the EU restore the requirement for permits for Ukrainian hauliers, who they claim are undercutting them. The system was scrapped in the months following Russia’s invasion. Russia has designated one of the country’s most popular fiction writers a “foreign agent” due to his opposition to its war in Ukraine. Grigori Chkhartishvili, who writes under the pen name Boris Akunin and lives in the UK, made light of development on social media. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said he would visit Kyiv in the next few days. Warsaw is one of Ukraine’s key allies in its war against Russia but relations between the two countries became tense last year, under the rule of Tusk’s predecessor, Mateusz Morawiecki. France and Ukraine to "scale up" their defence cooperation, Ukrainian foreign minister says France and Ukraine have agreed to “scale up” their defence cooperation, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said after a meeting with his counterpart. Dmytro Kuleba and Stéphane Séjourné discussed topics including Ukraine’s EU and Nato integration and tightening sanctions against Russia, the Ukrainian foreign minister said. “Russia hopes Ukraine and its supporters will get tired before them. We will not grow weaker,” Séjourné said during a press conference in Kyiv, Reuters reports. Séjourné added that he would work to fix EU and bilateral legal issues to help French companies set up more military production facilities in Ukraine. He did not say what these legal issues were. He also encouraged French companies, such as transport, energy, telecoms and water, to invest in Ukraine. The French foreign minister said he was personally convinced that more military assistance was needed and that talks between the two governments would continue in the coming weeks. France’s new foreign minister, Stéphane Séjourné, is visiting Kyiv in his first official trip abroad in a show of support for Ukraine as it approaches its second year since Russia’s invasion. “Stephane Sejourne arrived in Kiev for his first trip on the ground, to continue France’s diplomatic efforts there and to reiterate France’s commitment to its allies and to the civilian population,” France’s foreign ministry wrote on X. “Despite the multiplying crisis, Ukraine is and will remain France’s priority,” AFP quotes Séjourné as saying. “We will not falter ... our determination remains intact, and so does our admiration for the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people.” The visit comes at a tense time for Ukraine, which fears support may be waning, with its allies in Brussels and Washington struggling to secure funding for its defence. An EU aid package worth €50bn has flagged in Brussels, while the US Congress is divided on sending further aid to Ukraine. France’s military support to Ukraine stands at €3.2bn, according to a parliamentary report from November. Newly committed aid to Ukraine between August and October 2023 fell by close to 90% compared with the same period in 2022, to hit its lowest point since Russia’s invasion, according to a Kiel Institute survey from December. About 3,000 trucks are queuing at Ukraine’s borders, according to Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform, with more than 2,000 at the border of Ukraine and Poland, and about 1,000 at other parts. Polish drivers have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine since 6 November, demanding the EU restore a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits and the same for European truckers to enter Ukraine. From 6 January, the movement of trucks at Medyka-Shegyny (a border crossing at Poland’s south-east and Ukraine’s west) resumed, but queues remain, with Ukrinform citing the State Border Service as stating that there were 1,200 trucks in the line this morning. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said in December that the government would try to put a quick stop to the truck drivers’ protest. The protesters had promised not to block vehicles carrying essential aid and fuel to Ukraine, but drivers say that in practice, some of these lorries are stuck. Reuters has also previously reported that the blockade has affected critical supplies of weapons to Ukraine’s army. (It’s worth reading Luke Harding’s report here from early December speaking to drivers at the Medyka-Shegyny crossing.) Why is this happening? The Polish drivers want the EU to reinstate a transport permit scheme that limited the number of Ukrainian drivers able to operate in Poland to 200,000 entries a year. They say that the lifting of restrictions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has hit their earnings due to cheaper competition. The protests come against a background of Ukraine one day becoming a member of the EU. EU leaders agreed to start accession talks with Ukraine in December.