January 30, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

France and Australia said on Monday that they would collaborate on a multi-million dollar project to produce “several thousand” artillery shells for Ukraine.

The announcement came as foreign and defense ministers of both countries were meeting in Paris.

“Several thousand 155-millimeter shells are going to be manufactured in common, with an unprecedented partnership between Australia and France,” said French defense minister Sébastien Lecornu during a press conference.

The French defense minister specified that Nexter — the French arms company — would be partnering with Australian companies which would be providing the powder for the shells.

Neither minister would specify quantities beyond “several thousand” artillery shells but they indicated this would be a long-term collaboration.

More on artillery to Ukraine: CNN reported in early January that the US had moved some of the 300,000 155-millimeter shells that the US and Israel agreed would be transferred to Ukraine. In November, a US official told CNN that the US intended to buy 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition from South Korean arms manufacturers to provide to Ukraine.

The 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks pledged to Ukraine by the United Kingdom should reach that country “this side of the summer,” the British Defense Secretary said on Monday.

“It starts with training on the individual operation of the platforms, then on training on being able to join together with formation units to be able to fight as a formed unit, because that’s important,” Ben Wallace said in parliament. “And then from there, those tanks will be put in.” 

Warning of Russia’s continued attempts to encircle Bakhmut, a local Ukrainian commander has said that any possible Ukrainian withdrawal from the embattled eastern city would be done with the sole aim of saving Ukrainian military lives.

“If our command decides to withdraw from Bakhmut, that would be with the only purpose of saving lives of our servicemen,” said Denys Yaroslavskyi, who commands a unit currently in Bakhmut.

Yaroslavskyi also warned that “super qualified” regular Russian military troops are now assisting Wagner private military contractors in assaulting the towns surrounding Bakhmut. That was echoed by another local Ukrainian commander, Volodymyr Nazarenko, who said that Russian paratroopers were taking part in the Bakhmut fight.

“They are just coming forward, they do not take cover, they are coming all-out,” Yaroslavskyi said on national television on Monday.

More on Moscow's eastern offensive: Russian forces have been making slow but steady gains both north and south of Bakhmut. The last remaining routes under Ukrainian control into the city have come under heavier Russian fire in the past week, according to Ukrainian officials and commanders.

He said that the road north of Bakhmut, towards, the town of Krasna Hora, is almost entirely under Russian control. The Wagner group on Sunday claimed to have taken control of the town of Blahodatne, further north along that road.

CNN's Tim Lister contributed reporting to this post from Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in a phone call on Monday, the Kremlin said in a statement. 

The phone call comes ahead of an OPEC+ meeting on February 1. 

In October 2022, OPEC+ agreed to slash production by two million barrels per day, twice as much as analysts had predicted, despite an intense pressure campaign from the United States, which had warned Arab allies that such a move would increase prices and help Russian President Vladimir Putin continue to fund his war in Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia defended the decision after oil prices steadily pulled back.

More on the organization: OPEC members collectively supply about 37.1% of the world’s crude oil production. Together, OPEC members control about 79.9% of the world’s total proven crude reserves.

Finland remains committed to its application for NATO membership alongside Sweden and hopes the bid will be approved by July, according to the country's foreign minister.

Finland had the “patience” to see out the membership process as Turkey continues to delay its approval of Sweden and Finland’s applications, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said during a press conference in Helsinki on Monday.

Tensions between Sweden and Turkey have heightened in recent days, triggered by a recent protest outside Stockholm's Turkish Embassy which saw a Swedish far-right politician set a copy of the Quran alight.

Finland had patience owing to the fact that it had received “security assurances when we started this NATO path” from the US, UK and other European allies, Haavisto added.

“All of these countries guaranteed that if something bad happens when we are on the waiting list, so to say, or when we are during this grey period, these countries will be of our help,” Haavisto told reporters Monday.

Haavisto said Finland and Sweden both considered NATO's Vilnius Summit in July to be an “important milestone” for the military alliance. “We hope that both Sweden and Finland could and would be members of NATO before the Vilnius summit.”

The new American ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, met with a senior Russian diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow on Monday for the first time.

She was greeted by a small group of people standing next to the ministry entrance, chanting, “war is a business for the US,” according to a video posted by Russian state media TASS and RIA Novosti.

Tracy was confirmed by the US Senate on Dec. 21 and sworn in on Jan. 9. She met with Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs.

The meeting comes amid tensions between both countries over Moscow's war in Ukraine and the United States' recent announcement to send tanks to Kyiv alongside other allies.

In an interview released Monday, Ryabkov told state news agency RIA Novosti that the decision by the US and NATO allies to send tanks to Ukraine has made it "pointless" for Moscow to engage in any talks with Kyiv.

Ukraine plans to spend 20 billion Ukrainian hryvnia ($545 million) buying drones — or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) — this year, the country’s defense minister announced Monday on Facebook.

“Development of Ukrainian UAV market is one of key focus areas for the Ministry of Defense,” Oleksiy Reznikov said in the statement. “Following consultations with the General Staff and testing/trials, sixteen contracts have been made by the Ministry of Defense with domestic UAV producers.”

The announcement comes as Ukraine continues to face rounds of Russian missile attacks and has renewed calls for Western jets and long-range missile systems.

Two years ago, Moscow eyed a US-German standoff over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as a litmus test of transatlantic power.

Russia had invested heavily in the 750-mile undersea pipeline linking it to Germany and wanted to increase global sales and ramp up economic leverage over Europe and its power-hungry heavy industries. Germany, a leading consumer, was on board from the get-go. Washington was not.

The United States didn’t want the new, high-capacity subsea supply to supplant old overland lines that transited Ukraine, providing vital revenue to the increasingly Westward-leaning leadership in Kyiv.

Russia reasoned that if Washington blocked Nord Stream 2, which it ultimately did, then it would show that European power no longer flowed through Berlin, but actually via the White House.

Fast-forward two years, and reading that transatlantic dynamic post-Angela Merkel, and particularly post-Russian President Vladimir Putin’s failing invasion of Ukraine, has become one of the most pressing political questions vexing the Kremlin.

Rare moment of steely leadership: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s refusal, in his words, “to be pushed” to go it alone in sending tanks to Ukraine — instead standing his ground and demanding US President Joe Biden join him in the venture, risking Putin’s wrath — has shown the transatlantic power dynamic has shifted.

Europe has been slow to respond to the deep fissures in US politics and the uncertainty another Trumpian-style presidency could wreak on its allies. Decades of a reasonably unshakable reliance, if not complete trust, in the US, has been replaced by stubborn European pragmatism — and Germany leads the way.

Read the full analysis here.

The "constant" fighting in and around the eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut has been "a living hell" as Russian forces try to take control of the Kostiantynivka-Bakhmut highway, a Ukrainian commander said in an interview on Ukrainian television Monday.  

"Because for five or six months, near Bakhmut has been a living hell. The enemy is constantly attacking. And we can observe more about how the weather is changing, which, by the way, has a great impact on the combat capability, morale, and living conditions of each soldier," said Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of the "Svoboda" battalion of the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade of Ukraine's National Guard.

He said he couldn't say for certain whether Russian forces are making a full-scale offensive and whether their tactics have changed, but that it seems Wagner fighters have now been replaced by Russian paratroopers. 

Nazarenko went on to say the Ukrainian fighters "are doing an incredible job" and are "real heroes."

"The enemy is trying to take control of the Kostiantynivka-Bakhmut highway. They are not successful in it. Our fighters are doing their best: The Armed Forces and the National Guard are doing an incredible job; they are real heroes. And the enemy is suffering huge, huge losses," he said.

CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims about the losses. 

"What we see is that Wagner is almost completely destroyed. They have now been replaced by paratroopers, who also suffer losses almost every day, not only in manpower but also in armored vehicles," he added.