Russia-Ukraine war live: clear signs Russian defence industry slowing down, says Zelenskiy

Zelenskiy has posted an update via his X account. In the statement, he calls Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania “reliable friends and principled partners” to Ukraine.

He has confirmed that while in Vilnius he will hold talks with the president, prime minister, speaker of the Seimas, as well as meet with politicians, the media, and the Ukrainian community. Security, EU and Nato integration, co-operation on electronic warfare and drones, and further coordination of European support are all on the agenda, he says.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, reports Reuters. The surprise visit to the Baltic Nato member country will see Zelenskiy travel to Tallinn and Riga after Vilnius.

The CEO of Lithuanian Airports, Simonas Bartkus, has shared an image on X of Zelenskiy disembarking at Vilnius airport.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, making his nightly video address, said Russia’s defence industry appeared to be slowing down. “There are clear signs of a slowdown in Russia’s defence industry,” Zelenskiy said. “But for the results of sanctions to be 100%, sanctions loopholes must also be blocked 100%.”

In contrast, Russian officials have said that production of military equipment has been stepped up. Sergei Chemezov, the head of the state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec, told Vladimir Putin last month that production of many fundamental items of equipment had risen significantly over the last two years.

Chemezov said production of small arms and artillery ammunition had increased by a factor of 50, production of light armoured vehicles by five and a half times and tanks sevenfold.

In his remarks, Zelenskiy said a meeting of Ukrainian commanders and ministerial officials had considered supplies of weapons and boosting domestic production. Logistics, he said, “must be speeded up”, he said.

Participants discussed air defences – often cited as Ukraine’s priority – a day after units destroyed 18 of 51 Russian missiles, a much lower shoot-down rate than normal. Authorities attributed that figure to the large number of ballistic missiles fired by Russia.

“We analysed separately and in detail the work of our air force, of forces defending our skies,” Zelenskiy said. “The results of downing Russian missiles and drones. What we managed to do. And what we need to do.”

“Despite all the problems in the world, our careful, clear approach to every need, to every opportunity, is able to provide the defence forces with everything they need,” he said.

Zelenskiy has said Ukraine intends to produce a million drones in 2024.

Hello, here are the main developments as we restart our Guardian live coverage of the Russian war against Ukraine:

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said there are “clear signs of a slowdown” in Russia’s defence industry and called for further tightening of sanctions. Zelenskiy provided no evidence for his assertion. He added: “For the results of sanctions to be 100%, sanctions loopholes must also be blocked 100%.”

• Two drones hit and set on fire a fuel facility in the Russian city of Oryol, 230 miles south of Moscow and 137 miles from the Ukrainian border, said the local governor, Andrei Klychkov.

• Roman Starovoit, the governor of the Russia’s Kursk region, said the village of Gornal, Sudzhansky district, was shelled “from the Ukrainian side” with one person killed.

• The Kremlin said the Russian military would do everything in its power to tackle an increase in Ukrainian shelling of the border city of Belgorod, which is a staging point for Russia’s invasion forces and has come under shelling and drone attacks for months.

• The White House said Russia had launched multiple missiles sourced from North Korea into Ukraine on 6 January and the US would demand at the UN security council that Russia be held accountable. North Korea’s apparent export of short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) to Russia violates UN law.

• A joint statement signed by the US, UK, EU, Australia, Germany, Canada and other partner nations said: “We are deeply concerned about the security implications that this cooperation has in Europe, on the Korean peninsula, across the Indo-Pacific region, and around the world … We condemn in the strongest possible terms [North Korea’s] export and Russia’s procurement of [North Korea’s] ballistic missiles, as well as Russia’s use of these missiles against Ukraine.”

• Ukraine has been repelling Russian cyber-attacks on state payment systems for the second week in a row, senior lawmaker Danylo Hetmantsev said.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is scheduled to deliver a “special address” to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos next week. The conflict in the Middle East is set to dominate the annual forum, held this year under the theme Rebuilding Trust.

• Ukraine’s power grid operator said severe winter weather had left more than 1,000 towns and villages without electricity in nine regions, as the energy system has been weakened by Russian strikes. Ukraine had to import electricity from neighbouring Romania and Slovakia, Ukrenergo said.

• Russian investigators said they had arrested three people over heating outages south of Moscow that have sent regional officials scrambling to restore services. Authorities blamed the breakdown on failures at a boiler plant owned by a private ammunition factory. The deputy head of the local administration was also detained.

• Sweden is providing about 50m krona (£3.8m) to the Nato assistance fund for Ukraine, the Swedish embassy in Kyiv wrote on X.

• Hungary indicated that it might lift its veto over EU aid to Ukraine if the funding is reviewed each year, Politico reported. Three EU diplomatic sources said Budapest indicated it might withdraw its opposition if the European Council unanimously approves the funding on a yearly basis, meaning Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, could extract concessions from the bloc.

• Ukraine has a deficit of anti-aircraft guided missiles after recent Russian attacks, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat was quoted as saying. “Ukraine has spent a considerable reserve on those three attacks that took place,” Ihnat told Ukrainian TV.