Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine police conduct nationwide raids over draft evasion – as it happened | Ukraine

• Ukrainian police said Friday its officers were conducting 200 searches nationwide as part of an ongoing probe into the illegal exit of military-aged men from the country. Kyiv has been pushing a sweeping and divisive mobilisation campaign to boost its military, which is struggling to hold back Russia’s significantly larger army that is advancing across at several sectors across the front, AFP reported.

• The Group of Seven on Friday said the Kremlin had funded and directed covert efforts by state entities to undermine elected goverments around the world by using global disinformation and influence campaigns. The statement was issued by the G7’s Rapid Response Mechanism unit, which was set up to fight threats to democracy such as disinformation.

• Ukraine launched an attack on Russia’s Belgorod region with six US-made Atacms missiles on Thursday, the Russian defence ministry said on Friday. The ministry said that Russia would retaliate, but that all the missiles had been intercepted, resulting in no casualties or damage.

• At least four people have been killed in a Russian missile attack in the city of Kryvyi Rih, in southern central Ukraine, further to our earlier report. At least seven others were hurt, some of them seriously, Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram.

• Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, held talks in the Kremlin on Friday before signing a broad cooperation pact to deepen their partnership amid stinging western sanctions. Their “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” covers all areas – from trade and military cooperation to science, education and culture, the Kremlin said.

• Russian state-linked hackers have targeted the WhatsApp accounts of government ministers and officials around the world with emails inviting them to join user groups on the messaging app. The WhatsApp tactic marks a new approach by a hacking unit called Star Blizzard. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has linked Star Blizzard to Russia’s domestic spy agency, the FSB, and has accused it of seeking to “undermine trust in politics in the UK and likeminded states”.

• German chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday that he does not expect the United States to halt military aid to Ukraine after president-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated. Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Scholz said he had spoken to Trump twice since the election and that there is an “intensive” diplomatic dialogue between the two sides.

• At least 12 Indians have died serving in the Russian armed forces, India’s foreign ministry said on Friday, adding that 18 more are still serving in the army, of whom Russia has categorised 16 as “missing”. India said last year that it had uncovered a major human trafficking network that was luring young men to Russia with the promise of jobs only to force them into fighting in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

• A French maritime patrol aircraft was the target of Russian intimidation on Wednesday in the Baltic Sea, France’s defence minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Friday, adding that the plane was locked on to by the radar of an S400 ground-to-air defence system. “This aggressive Russian action is unacceptable,” Lecornu wrote on X.

• Russian forces have retaken 63.2% of the territory captured by Ukraine in the Kursk region of western Russia, the Russian defence ministry said on Friday. Reuters could not independently verify the ministry’s statement, which said Russia had recaptured four settlements in the first two weeks of January.

• The Kremlin said on Friday it does not expect the United States to soften its position on sanctions against Russian oil once president-elect Donald Trump takes office, despite his administration’s readiness for dialogue on the Ukraine war. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was commenting on remarks by Trump’s choice for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, that he “100%” supports raising sanctions on Russian oil producers if Trump asks him to.

• The Kremlin said on Friday that it will study the details of Ukraine’s new 100-year agreement with the United Kingdom. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the idea of British military bases in Ukraine “worrying” and said that Moscow views negatively the prospect of British cooperation with Ukraine in the Sea of Azov, calling it Russia’s “internal sea”.

• It is time to scrap European Union sanctions against Russia, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday in an interview on state radio. Orban said the EU will have to adapt to a new era as Donald Trump returns to the White House, and should create a relationship with Russia that is “free of sanctions.”

• Romania’s national airspace was breached during an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine and the likely impact zone of a drone was found near the border in the south-eastern county of Tulcea, the defence ministry said on Friday. Nato member Romania scrambled two fighter jets to monitor the attack from the air.

• German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock indirectly criticised chancellor Olaf Scholz for his reluctance to approve a further 3 billion euros ($3.09bn) in additional military aid for Ukraine. “To be honest, it hurts me a lot,” she said without mentioning the chancellor’s name in an interview with Politico released on Friday, adding that for some politicians gaining a few votes was more important than securing Europe’s peace and freedom.

• Ukrainian air defences downed 33 of 50 drones launched by Russia overnight, the air force said on Friday. It said that 9 drones were “lost”, in reference to Ukraine’s use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones, while one left Ukraine in the direction of Romania.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, held talks in the Kremlin on Friday before signing a broad cooperation pact to deepen their partnership amid stinging western sanctions.

Their “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” covers all areas – from trade and military cooperation to science, education and culture, the Kremlin said.

Pezeshkian’s visit comes ahead of Monday’s inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to broker peace in Ukraine and take a tougher stance on Iran, which is grappling with growing economic problems and other challenges, including military setbacks in its sphere of influence across the Middle East.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed any link with Trump’s inauguration, saying the signing had been planned long ago.

Welcoming Pezeshkian as they sat down for talks, Putin said the new treaty will “give an additional impulse to practically all areas of our cooperation”.

Pezeshkian, who met Putin for the third time since coming to power in July, said the documents form a “solid foundation for our forward movement” and emphasised the “strategic importance” of ties with Moscow.

The Iranian president emphasised that countries in the region should resolve their own problems themselves.

“The presence of extra-regional forces will only exacerbate tensions and destabilize the situation,” Pezeshkian said, an apparent reference to the US.

Russian hackers target WhatsApp accounts of ministers worldwide

Dan Milmo

Russian state-linked hackers have targeted the WhatsApp accounts of government ministers and officials around the world with emails inviting them to join user groups on the messaging app.

The WhatsApp tactic marks a new approach by a hacking unit called Star Blizzard. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has linked Star Blizzard to Russia’s domestic spy agency, the FSB, and has accused it of seeking to “undermine trust in politics in the UK and likeminded states”.

According to a blogpost by Microsoft, victims receive an email from an attacker impersonating a US government official, enticing the recipient to click on a QR code that gives the attacker access to their WhatsApp account. The code, instead of giving access to a WhatsApp group, connects an account to a linked device or the WhatsApp web portal.

“The threat actor can gain access to the messages in their WhatsApp account and have the capability to exfiltrate this data,” said Microsoft.

Microsoft did not state whether data had been stolen successfully from targeted WhatsApp accounts.

It said the fake email was an invitation to join a WhatsApp group on “the latest non-governmental initiatives aimed at supporting Ukraine NGOs”. As well as targeting ministers and officials in unnamed countries, the campaign has attempted to snare people involved in diplomacy, as well as workers in defence policy and international relations research related to Russia, and work related to helping Ukraine in its war with Russia.