January 15, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The southern Ukrainian city of Kherson continues to endure bombardment from Russian shelling, local authorities said.  

On Sunday, the premises of a local Red Cross facility, a rehabilitation center for children with disabilities, an area surrounding a student dormitory, as well as a critical infrastructure facility came under fire, Yaroslav Yanushevych, the head of Kherson's military administration wrote on Telegram.   

According to the official, Russian shelling caused a fire to break out on the premises of the Red Cross facility. “Rescuers are currently working to eliminate the fire,” he added.

Yanushevych reported that windows and doors were blown out as a result of a Russian strike on the rehabilitation center for children with disabilities.  

“Russian shells fell near the student dormitory,” he continued. “Russians also shelled private and apartment buildings.”  

He said that at least seven people were injured in the Russian shelling of Kherson city, with one of them in a serious condition. 

The city of Kherson was freed from Russian occupation in Nov. 2022. 

Grain is once again leaving Ukrainian ports. The price of fertilizer is falling sharply. Billions of dollars in aid has been mobilized.

Yet the world is still in the grips of the worst food crisis in modern history, as Russia’s war in Ukraine shakes global agricultural systems already grappling with the effects of extreme weather and the pandemic. Market conditions may have improved in recent months, but experts do not expect imminent relief.

That means more pain for vulnerable communities already struggling with hunger. It also boosts the risk of starvation and famine in countries such as Somalia, which is contending with what the United Nations describes as a “catastrophic” food emergency.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, the price of food was already at its highest level in a decade due to scrambled supply chains and extreme weather events, such as the worst drought in almost a century in central and southern Brazil. Record prices for natural gas — a key input to make nitrogen-based fertilizers — had also become a nightmare for farmers.

Then came the war. Ukraine normally supplies about 45 million metric tons of grain to the global market every year and is the world’s top exporter of sunflower oil. Together with Russia, it accounted for about one quarter of global wheat exports in 2019. As Russian troops blockaded the country’s ports, the strained food system was dealt another shock — this one even harder to bear.

That drove the Food Price Index developed by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization to its highest annual level on records dating back to 2005, rising more than 14% compared to 2021. In 2022, the number of people grappling with acute food insecurity — meaning their access to food was so restricted that it threatened their lives and livelihoods — shot up to 345 million from 135 million in 2019.

Read more about this here.

A CNN reporting team is now on the scene of the deadly Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro.

Cranes continue to work on removing the hundreds of tons of debris. Smoke is still rising from within the nine-story apartment building that was leveled. On either side of it, concrete sheets hang precariously from neighboring blocks.

The missile appears to have struck vertically, as there is little damage in the surrounding area.

The operation appears to be shifting toward recovery as of about 7 p.m. local time (noon ET), some 30 hours after the missile struck.

There are still dozens of emergency service workers at the scene, but the cold and the densely packed wreckage of the building suggest that hopes of finding anyone else alive are diminishing. 

Behind a cordon across the street, dozens of people watch the operation in silence.

The death toll currently stands at 29, with some people still unaccounted for, according to Ukrainian officials.

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 29, according to a leader in the region.

At least 73 people were injured in the attack, with 30 of them still in the hospital, said Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration. He shared the update in a post on his official Telegram page Sunday.   

At least 12 of the hospitalized victims are in critical condition, he said.  

According to Reznichenko, 39 residents of the apartment building were rescued from the rubble. “The fate of more than 40 people is unknown,” he added.   

Reznichenko said that firefighters have finally extinguished the fire that started in the building as a result of the strike and "about half of the structures destroyed by the Russian strike have already been dismantled."  

The rescue operation is ongoing with more than 550 rescuers, police officers, doctors and volunteers working nonstop, the official added.

Ukraine's allies are increasing their support ahead of an anticipated Russian spring offensive, with Moscow's invasion nearing the one-year mark.

Many of the battlefield developments this week have come out of the eastern town of Soledar in the Donetsk region. While the town is not considered strategically pivotal, its capture would offer Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces a symbolic victory and their first gain in the Donbas for months.

View Soledar and other key areas in the conflict on the map below:

Three people were killed and 13 injured by an ammunition explosion in Belgorod, a Russian region bordering Ukraine, Russian state media TASS reported, citing the country’s emergency services. 

A fire broke out early Sunday in a cultural center in a rural area of Belgorod, which led to the explosion of ammunition stored inside, according to TASS. 

The state media reported earlier that at least 10 Russian soldiers were injured in the blast. It’s not clear if any servicemen were among those killed. 

The death toll from Saturday's Russian missile strike on an apartment block in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 25, with 73 others injured, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

Here are the latest numbers from the blast, according to Zelensky's update on his official Telegram channel:

He added that 72 apartments were destroyed and more than 230 apartments were damaged.

"4 tents of the State Emergency Service and 2 tents from volunteers were set up. Psychologists are providing assistance to the victims," the Ukrainian president said. 

Zelensky also said that the search and rescue operations and dismantling of dangerous structural elements continue "round the clock." 

"We continue to fight for every life," he said, expressing his condolences to the relatives and friends of the victims.

Ukrainian authorities said the death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment block in the city of Dnipro rose to 22 on Sunday, the day after missiles and explosions were heard across the country. One child was among the dead.

As of 1 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) Sunday, "39 people (including 6 children) were rescued in Dnipro city. 22 people died (including 1 child), 72 people were injured (including 13 children), 43 reports of missing persons were received," the emergency service said in its latest update on Sunday. 

Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said in a post on his official Telegram page Sunday that 72 apartments were destroyed and 230 damaged as a result of the strike.

The rescue operation is ongoing with 43 people still unaccounted for.

“We are fighting for every person, every life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

In his nightly address on Saturday, Zelensky said “dozens” of people, including a three-year-old girl, were rescued from the building even though most of the floors were “smashed” in the strike.

Read the full story here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday said that his so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine was showing a "positive" dynamic and that he hoped Russian soldiers would achieve more results on the battlefield after Soledar. 

“The dynamics are positive, everything is developing within the framework of the plan by the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff, and I hope that our fighters will continue pleasing us with the results of their combat work," Putin told Rossiya 1 state television in a video interview.

Putin also said that the economic situation in Russia was "stable" and "much better" than forecasts. 

According to Ukrainian officials, "heavy battles" are still continuing in Soledar after Russia claimed Friday that it was in control of the eastern town.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said late Saturday local time that "the enemy does not abandon its intentions to completely take over Donetsk region."

"To do so, it focuses its main efforts on offensive operations on Bakhmut direction. Heavy battles for Soledar continue," the military said.

"Ukrainian forces repel enemy attacks round the clock. The occupiers suffer heavy losses," the General Staff said.

"The enemy is also advancing on Lyman, Avdiivka, and Novopavlivka directions," it added.