Ukraine war latest: Putin ally issues warning over nuclear treaty - as Kremlin gives update on peace talks

Five people have been arrested in Germany over accusations that they evaded EU sanctions to make roughly 16,000 deliveries, worth almost £26m, to Russian defence companies, according to the federal prosecutor's office.

The office adds that the suspects are German, Ukrainian and Russian nationals.

The five people are accused of using a Lubeck-based company and shell firms to make the deliveries since the start of the war.

Russian state agencies are suspected of being behind the procurement network, the office said ​in a statement. 

Germany's finance minister Lars Klingbeil said the arrests "show that we rigorously enforce the sanctions we have agreed on the EU level".

The UK government has summoned Russian ambassador Andrey Kelin to revoke the accreditation of a Russian diplomat.

The Foreign Office said: "We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia's unprovoked and unjustified decision to expel a British diplomat last month and its baseless accusations against our staff." 

"Summoning the Russian ambassador, a senior FCDO official made it clear that the UK will not stand for intimidation of British embassy staff and so we are taking reciprocal action today, revoking the accreditation of a Russian diplomat."

The spokesperson added that it was "deeply disappointing" that Russia is seeking to "disrupt the work" of the UK's diplomatic missions and "deter our support for Ukraine".

"Any further action taken by Russia will be considered an escalation and responded to accordingly," the spokesperson said.

We're hearing more from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who says Ukraine is aligning sanctions with the EU regarding Russia and its allies.

"I signed a decree imposing sanctions against companies that service the Russian tanker fleet and transport sanctioned oil," he says on social media.

"There are also new sanctions targeting Kremlin propagandists and criminals involved in cyberattacks against Ukraine and our partners."

Zelenskyy adds that Ukraine is countering "every attempt" by Russia to destabilise his country.

By Katie Williams, live reporter

It's just gone midday at the start of another week in the Ukraine war.

While diplomacy once again takes centre stage, thousands are still suffering in the meantime - with Russia's war showing no sign of ending any time soon.

Let's step back from the news of the day to ensure you're up to date on the biggest developments.

Peace talks

A year-long effort by Donald Trump's administration to push both sides towards a peace settlement doesn't look like coming to a conclusion soon, despite hints of progress.

Several rounds of talks have been taking place in the most recent diplomatic push to end the war, which will enter its fifth year later this month if no peace deal is struck.

Envoys from Russia, Ukraine and the US met in Abu Dhabi for landmark trilateral discussions last weekend. Though the talks were said to be constructive, they led to no new movement on the question of territory, which continues to be a major obstacle in negotiations. 

Moscow is demanding that Kyiv cede the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia - a demand Ukraine says it will not accept.

The next trilateral talks were scheduled to take place on Sunday, 1 February, but Zelenskyy announced they would be delayed to later this week.

Attacks continue

That delay comes as Russia continues to pummel Ukraine with drone and missile strikes.

According to Zelenskyy, Moscow's forces launched 6,000 drones and around 5,500 guided aerial bombs at his country in January alone - virtually all of which were targeting Ukraine's energy sector, railways and infrastructure.

The Ukrainian leader says Russia is attempting to disrupt logistics and connectivity between cities and communities with its attacks.

On Friday, both sides said they would pause strikes on each other's energy infrastructure at Donald Trump's request - but there was uncertainty over the terms, and yesterday Russian strike killed 12 people on a bus carrying coal miners in Ukraine's Dnipro region.

Energy crisis

Attacks on Ukraine's energy grid are putting the country under pressure as it grapples with its harshest winter in four years of war.

Temperatures in some areas are set to drop below -20C this week, and with energy infrastructure compromised by constant strikes, life is set to be tough for Ukrainian people for days and weeks to come.

Two Russian missile and drone attacks on the capital city of Kyiv last month left around one million people without electricity and more than 5,000 homes without heat in freezing temperatures.

Zelenskyy confirmed yesterday that more than 500 apartment buildings were still without heat - and said "not enough" was being done by city authorities to combat the crisis.

Battlefield situation

While Russia maintains its aerial attacks, Ukrainian forces are also struggling to thwart grinding Russian advances on the battlefield.

In the last week or so, Russia claims to have captured several Ukrainian villages in various frontline regions - claims that have not been independently verified.

But despite its advances, Russia is expelling a large amount of resources "for minimal gains" on the battlefield, according to new analysis from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In a new report, CSIS says Russia has suffered an estimated 1.2 million casualties, including as many as 325,000 deaths, while Ukrainian forces have likely suffered somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 casualties, including killed, wounded and missing.

The analysis also suggests Moscow's forces are advancing in Ukraine at the slowest pace seen in more than 100 years of warfare.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says there were no new targeted strikes by Russian missiles or Shahed drones on Ukraine's energy infrastructure over the past 24 hours.

However, in an online post today, he adds that there have been Russian attacks on energy facilities in frontline regions.

"The Russian army remains focused on terror against our logistics - primarily railway infrastructure," Zelenskyy says.

"In particular, there were strikes in the Dnipro region and in Zaporizhzhia, specifically targeting railway facilities." 

Zelenskyy says he held a coordination call to discuss the situation in Ukraine, adding that "more than 200 buildings" in Kyiv are still without heating.

When asked whether Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure amounted to war crimes, our military analyst Michael Clarke last week said it depended on the intention. 

"In other words, it's automatically a war crime to try to make civilians suffer in a war," he said in his weekly live Q&A last week.

"It's a war crime if the intention is anti-civilian, which in this case it certainly is, I don't think the Russians could possibly defend themselves on the basis that this was in any way military related."

Troops from the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been pictured returning from positions on the frontline.

The soldiers from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade spent 50 days on the battlefield amid Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Russia remains "open to negotiations" on Ukraine, but they should take place in Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says.

When asked about progress on a deal with Ukraine, Peskov says it's a "complex multi-faceted process".

"On some issues, we have made progress because there have been discussions and talks. On some issues, it's easier to find common ground," he adds.

"There are issues where it's harder to find common ground. There can't be any progress there yet."

On whether negotiations between the Russian president and Zelenskyy could take place on neutral territory, Peskov says, "Putin said they are possible in Moscow".

The spokesperson also says French President Emmanuel Macron's call for dialogue with Moscow "is sensible, and we share it".

These are the latest maps of the frontlines in Ukraine, showing territorial gains and losses made by Kyiv and Moscow.

Scroll through the maps to focus on different areas of the frontline.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed trilateral talks between Ukraine, the US and Russia would go ahead on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.

In remarks over the weekend, Zelenskyy said: "There is already an agreement on a meeting - a trilateral meeting - at the appropriate level."

"This meeting will take place next week, as planned, on Wednesday and Thursday in the Emirates, like last time," he added.

We've got an update on Russian shelling in Ukraine overnight, with the country's national police reporting that three people were injured in the southern Kherson region.

A woman aged 59 "came under enemy shelling" and was taken to hospital with head injuries and shrapnel wounds in the leg, police said.

Two pensioners were injured by shelling that hit their apartments in residential areas of the Dniprovskyi district, they added.

A 79-year-old woman and a 75-year-old man suffered mine-explosive injuries.