Russian defence ministry says Ukraine poisoned two Moscow-installed governors Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that Ukraine previously poisoned the Moscow-installed governors of Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk regions, though both were still alive. In an online briefing, Moscow said Ukraine poisoned Moscow-appointed Kherson head Vladimir Saldo in August 2022 and Luhansk governor Leonid Pasechnik in December 2023. Kherson and Luhansk regions were among four Ukrainian provinces that Russia declared it had annexed in September 2022, even though it did not fully control any of them. Both Russian and Ukranian media previously reported Saldo’s poisoning. Russian-installed authorities in Kherson said in August 2022 that Saldo had fallen sick, but did not say that he had been poisoned. Saldo has since returned to public prominence in the Russian-controlled part of Kherson region. According to unconfirmed reports, Saldo could have been poisoned by his chef. Pasechnik’s alleged poisoning has not been previously reported. The defence ministry said he was “severely poisoned with phenolic compounds’. On 11 December, less than a week after his alleged poisoning, Pasechnik was shown at a press conference in Moscow and appeared healthy. There have been numerous Ukrainian attacks targeting Moscow-installed puppet officials since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Closing summary The White House could be prepared to send Ukraine long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (Atacms) if Congress approves a new funding package, NBC News reported. The Red Cross said it was trying to find out what happened to 23,000 people who have disappeared over the course of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was seeking to determine whether they had been captured, killed or had lost contact after fleeing their homes, Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that Ukraine previously poisoned the Moscow-installed governors of Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk regions, though both were still alive. In an online briefing, Moscow said Ukraine poisoned Moscow-appointed Kherson head Vladimir Saldo in August 2022 and Luhansk governor Leonid Pasechnik in December 2023. European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has won the backing of her German centre-right party for a second term, putting her in a strong position to clinch another five years running the European Union’s executive body. Ukrainian troops are facing “heavy fire” from Russian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a Ukrainian army spokesperson was quoted by AFP as saying. It comes after Russia said it had taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, its biggest gain since capturing Bakhmut last May, after a retreat by Ukrainian troops. Ukraine’s military said it shot down two more Russian warplanes used to drop highly destructive guided aerial bombs on Kyiv’s troops, army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said. The destroyed planes were an Su-34 fighter-bomber and an Su-35 fighter, Syrskyi wrote on Telegram. Over the weekend, Ukraine said it shot down three Russian Su-34s and one Su-35. Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, said she would continue the work of the Russian opposition leader as she accused Vladimir Putin of killing him. “I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,” Navalnaya said. “Vladimir Putin killed my husband,” she continued, adding that she would work with the Russian people to battle with the Kremlin to create a new Russia. “By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me - half of my heart and half of my soul,” Navalnaya said. Navalny’s mother and his lawyers were not allowed into the morgue in the Russian town of Salekhard, near the prison colony where authorities said he died, Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said earlier. Speaking on his way into the summit of foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, called Vladimir Putin a “murderer” and said Ukraine urgently needs more ammunition. The Kremlin said that the west’s reaction to Alexei Navalny’s death was “absolutely unacceptable”. “We consider it absolutely unacceptable to make such, well, frankly obnoxious statements,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters. Austria’s defence minister, Klaudia Tanner, announced the procurement of 225 Pandur armoured personnel carriers for around €1.8bn (£1.5bn). The procurement is “an investment in the future, the security and the Austrian economy,” Tanner said during a press conference. Belgium’s foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib, has called on the EU to develop an army amid increasing nervousness about Russia’s capacity to defeat Ukraine. Journalists at Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, confirmed the names of over 44,000 Russian soldiers who have been killed since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Tests on Alexei Navalny’s body will take 14 days to complete, Ivan Zhdanov, an ally of the late Russian opposition leader, said on Monday, citing an investigator. Earlier on Monday, Navalny’s aides said his mother and his lawyers had not been allowed into the morgue in the Russian town of Salekhard near the prison colony where authorities said he had died. In London, a Foreign Office minister is shortly expected to make a statement in the House of Commons following the death of Alexei Navalny, No 10 has said. You can follow all of the latest UK political coverage in this blog. European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has vowed to defend democracy from those who sought to destroy it as she won the backing from German conservatives for another five-year term running the EU’s executive body (see earlier post at 12.50 for more details). “The most important thing is democracy, the rule of law that we defend and the peace that we have together,” von der Leyen said at a news conference in Berlin. She said her election campaign wanted to make it clear to Vladimir Putin and far-right parties in Europe that “democracy in Europe is in their way”. “They want to destroy it, they want to destroy Europe and that is why it is so important that people help to ensure that their Europe is preserved,” she said. Biden administration considering supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles - report The White House could be prepared to send Ukraine long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (Atacms) if Congress approves a new funding package, NBC News reported. The US outlet reported: After months of requests from Ukrainian officials, the Biden administration is working toward providing Ukraine with powerful new long-range ballistic missiles, according to two US officials. Late last year, the US began to supply Ukraine with Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as Atacms, but so far it has provided only the older medium-range Atacms. Now, the U.S. is leaning toward sending the longer-range version of the missile, the officials said, which would allow Ukraine to strike farther inside the Russian-held Crimean Peninsula. But US funding for arms shipments to Ukraine remains uncertain because of opposition from former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress. Last week the Senate passed a $95bn foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. But it’s not clear whether or when the GOP-controlled House will vote on the measure or whether it would survive the vote… Defence officials told NBC News that the US has a limited inventory of Atacms and that it is not likely to send them to Ukraine without money to replenish US stockpiles. If Congress approves more funding for Ukraine, the US could include the long-range Atacms in one of the first packages of military aid paid for with that money, according to the two US officials. The US also has ammunition and artillery ready to send to Ukraine immediately if the funding is approved, the officials added. Germany is to propose a new batch of sanctions against Russia over the death of Alexei Navalny. “We have seen the brutal force with which the Russian president represses his own citizens who take to the streets to demonstrate for freedom or write about it in newspapers,” the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said on Monday. “We will propose new sanctions in light of the death of Alexei Navalny.” Sanctions could include the use of frozen Russian assets, a move that would be in addition to a levy Belgium exacts from interest on immobilised cash reserves. The death of the Russian opposition leader in a penal colony cast a long shadow over the Brussels meeting, with the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, proposing that the EU’s global human rights sanctions regime be renamed. Eleven Ukrainian children were setting off from Russia to Ukraine on Monday to be reunited with their families in the latest transfer under a Qatari-mediated scheme. The children, aged between two and 16, were hosted at the Qatari embassy in Moscow on Monday ahead of a long journey via Belarus which should see them cross into northwestern Ukraine on Tuesday, AFP reports. This latest operation reportedly includes several children with special medical needs, including two aged five and six who have chronic conditions. Red Cross investigating status of 23,000 people who have disappeared during war The Red Cross said it was trying to find out what happened to 23,000 people who have disappeared over the course of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is shortly approaching its two-year mark. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was seeking to determine whether they had been captured, killed or had lost contact after fleeing their homes, AFP reports. Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the ICRC created a special bureau of its Central Tracing Agency (CTA), dedicated to searching for those missing on both sides in the conflict. “Not knowing what happened to a loved one is excruciating, and this is the tragic reality for tens of thousands of families, who live in a state of constant anguish,” CTA bureau chief, Dusan Vujasanin, said in a statement. “Families have the right to know what happened to their relatives and, when possible, to exchange news with them.” The ICRC said that over the past two years it had received more than 115,000 phone calls, online requests, letters and in-person visits from desperate family members from both Russia and Ukraine looking for missing relatives. By the end of January, the organisation and its partners had helped provide 8,000 families with information, it said. The head of Ukraine’s steel giant Metinvest has called Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine, where its has some of its biggest operations, “alarming” and urged the US to urgently approve a stalled military aid package, Reuters reports. Russia’s capture of Avdiivka saw it claim full control of Metinvest’s vast Soviet-era coking coal plant on Monday, marking the loss of another of the company’s facilities after the Azovstal steel plant that became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the early days of the war. “The (Russian) advances we have seen in the last week are quite alarming,” Yuriy Ryzhenkov, Metinvest’s chief executive, told Reuters on Monday in the firm’s first reaction to Avdiivka’s fall. Asked whether Metinvest was now preparing for Pokrovsk and Zaporizhzhia to come under attack, he said the huge scale of the infrastructure meant little could be done other than basic evacuation plans. “You don’t really prepare for something like that,” he said. “You do as much as possible to avoid that.” Donald Trump has reacted to the death of Alexei Navalny. In a social media post, he wrote: The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country. It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction. Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION! MAGA2024 Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has addressed EU foreign ministers in Brussels. “Never forget Russia is not Putin and Putin is not Russia,” she told them. The upcoming elections in her home country, she said, were “fake” and “should not be recognised by the international community”. She also implored the EU and the west to “do more to target Putin’s circle/wealthy corrupt oligarch” allies. Navalnaya, who since Friday is mourning the sudden death of her husband in a penal colony in the Russian arctic, vowed to “continue the work of her husband for a vision of a better and free Russia”. She told the ministers her husband “was a hero and died a hero” Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, has said that the bloc’s foreign ministers “expressed the EU’s deepest condolences to Yulia Navalnaya.” “Vladimir Putin & his regime will be held accountable for the death of Alexei Navalny,” he said. Finland has summoned the Russian ambassador. “The Finnish MFA today summoned the Russian Ambassador regarding the death of Alexei Navalny, to emphasise that Russia is responsible and to demand a full and transparent investigation. We continue to call for the release of all political prisoners in Russia,” the ministry said. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy is visiting the Kharkiv region today. “Putin may have got rid of Alexei Navalny but he can’t get rid of his legacy,” said the Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, as EU ministers gather in Brussels. Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right politician, has railed against Ukrainian refugees. Writing on social media this morning, he said: Ukrainians flock to the Netherlands from all over the EU, not because of the war, but for free housing, free healthcare and our jobs. The Netherlands is once again the village idiot of Europe. Pictures have now been published of Alexei Navalny’s widow, Yulia, meeting EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels today. Here she sits with Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief. And again here with Borrell, Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel and Belgium’s Hadja Lahbib. Summary of the day so far... Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that Ukraine previously poisoned the Moscow-installed governors of Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk regions, though both were still alive. In an online briefing, Moscow said Ukraine poisoned Moscow-appointed Kherson head Vladimir Saldo in August 2022 and Luhansk governor Leonid Pasechnik in December 2023. European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has won the backing of her German centre-right party for a second term, putting her in a strong position to clinch another five years running the European Union’s executive body. Ukrainian troops are facing “heavy fire” from Russian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a Ukrainian army spokesperson was quoted by AFP as saying. It comes after Russia said it had taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, its biggest gain since capturing Bakhmut last May, after a retreat by Ukrainian troops. Ukraine’s military said it shot down two more Russian warplanes used to drop highly destructive guided aerial bombs on Kyiv’s troops, army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said. The destroyed planes were an Su-34 fighter-bomber and an Su-35 fighter, Syrskyi wrote on Telegram. Over the weekend, Ukraine said it shot down three Russian Su-34s and one Su-35. Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, said she would continue the work of the Russian opposition leader as she accused Vladimir Putin of killing him. “I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,” Navalnaya said. “Vladimir Putin killed my husband,” she continued, adding that she would work with the Russian people to battle with the Kremlin to create a new Russia. “By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me - half of my heart and half of my soul,” Navalnaya said. Navalny’s mother and his lawyers were not allowed into the morgue in the Russian town of Salekhard, near the prison colony where authorities said he died, Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said earlier. Speaking on his way into the summit of foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, called Vladimir Putin a “murderer” and said Ukraine urgently needs more ammunition. The Kremlin said that the west’s reaction to Alexei Navalny’s death was “absolutely unacceptable”. “We consider it absolutely unacceptable to make such, well, frankly obnoxious statements,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters. Austria’s defence minister, Klaudia Tanner, announced the procurement of 225 Pandur armoured personnel carriers for around €1.8bn (£1.5bn). The procurement is “an investment in the future, the security and the Austrian economy,” Tanner said during a press conference. Belgium’s foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib, has called on the EU to develop an army amid increasing nervousness about Russia’s capacity to defeat Ukraine. Journalists at Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, confirmed the names of over 44,000 Russian soldiers who have been killed since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.