Pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine

The tension has resulted in an increasing number of warships and aircraft from non-belligerents wanting to get as close as possible to each other and see what the other is doing.

"We will continue to deny it," Lavrov said and added that no one is trying to convince Kyiv to return to the negotiating table with Moscow. "Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is not independent, he is being manipulated," he believes.

Russia is mustering its military might in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, officials said Wednesday, in what Kiev suspects is preparation for an offensive as the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion approaches.

The President of the Republic of Croatia is blacklisted/Photo:EPA/MARTIAL TREZZINI

The reason was Milanovic's recent statements that Ukraine had no place in NATO and that the EU had instigated a "coup d'état" in Ukraine in 2014, which overthrew pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

President Joe Biden said Monday the United States would not provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, as Kiev expands the list of weaponry it needs to be better able to drive Russian forces from occupied territories.

Fighting continued at key points along the long front as Russian forces sought to expand their hold on territory in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Kyiv is negotiating the supply of long-range missiles

Ukraine is in intensive talks with its allies to provide long-range missiles. Kyiv introduced sanctions against hundreds of companies from Russia and Belarus.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Three people were killed in Russian strikes on a residential area in Ukraine

When both Moscow and Kyiv begin to believe that they will no longer be able to achieve a better result on the battlefield, the leaders of Ukraine and Russia, wherever they are, will have to meet and agree on a mutually acceptable solution, which will make both sides feel better than continuing the war.

Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the eastern city of Soledar in the Donetsk region, military spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty was quoted as saying by Ukrainian state television on Wednesday.

"(Our forces) fulfilled their main task: to prevent the enemy from making systematic breakthroughs in the Donetsk direction," Cherevatiy said, quoted by TASS.

Russia said on Jan. 13 its forces had wrested control of the war-scarred town of Soledar in east Ukraine, its first claim of victory in months of battlefield setbacks, but Ukraine said fierce fighting was still under way.