What happened in the last few hours

On the 321st day of the war launched by Russia against Ukraine, here are the key data at 8:00 p.m. this Tuesday, January 10:

‘Desperate’ battle for Soledar continues, says Ukraine. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar gave an update on Tuesday afternoon on the situation in the town of Soledar, in the province of Donetsk, where in recent days Russian forces, in particular mercenaries from the Wagner group , launched a fierce offensive on the city. “The hard battle continues,” said the deputy minister via her Telegram account. “Our warriors defend themselves valiantly. Only a very strong nation can fight so desperately against such a great and powerful enemy.”

German Foreign Minister pays surprise visit to Kharkov and promises to send more weapons to Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made a surprise visit to the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov on Tuesday and promised more weapons and “concrete offers” to help the country. to join the European Union. In a statement released ahead of meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, Baerbock expressed Germany’s support and solidarity with the Ukrainians, who faced the Russian invasion these months in harsh winter conditions.

The British government has said it has not yet decided whether or not to send tanks to Ukraine. Britain has yet to decide whether to send tanks to Ukraine for the first time since the invasion began last February to help defend Kyiv against Russian troops, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Downing Street. The spokesperson added that the country will continue to coordinate its support with its Western allies after Germany, France and the United States announced last week that they would send armed vehicles to the European country.

Von der Leyen says the EU-NATO relationship is at its best. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Presidents of the European Council, Charles Michel, and of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, signed the third joint declaration between the military alliance and the EU on Tuesday. In the text, the two organizations defend the need to raise their collaboration to a “higher level”. “We were already close partners before,” Von der Leyen stressed, before pointing out that now, since Russia invaded Ukraine, cooperation has increased and is at its best.

The Pentagon considers Belarus unlikely to go to war despite its maneuvers with Russia. The US Department of Defense has ruled out any indication that Belarus is planning to go to war against Ukraine, despite recent joint military exercises with Russia. Patrick Ryder, Brigadier General of the US Air Force and spokesman for the Pentagon, indicated during a press conference that “as far as we know, Russia and Belarus will carry out joint maneuvers”. “We really don’t see any indication that there is any intention to enter into the conflict,” he said.

The appeal of the Spanish journalist detained in Poland against his pre-trial detention was rejected. The Court of Appeal of the Polish city of Rzeszów (southeast) rejected on Tuesday the appeal against the extension of the prison sentence imposed on the Spanish journalist Pablo González, detained in Poland since the end of February 2022. ” The court today considered the complaints presented by two of the three lawyers representing Pablo González before the Polish court and upheld the decision [del Tribunal Regional] on the extension of the three-month pre-trial detention,” said Judge Zygmunt Dudziski, spokesman for the Rzeszów Court of Appeal.

In this photo from Clodagh Kilcoyne, for Reuters, a man repairs his generator on Tuesday in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine.