February 2, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine's minister of defense said the country will provide guarantees that it would not strike Russia should it receive the long-range missiles it has been asking its allies for.

“As Ukraine needs long-range missiles that will not allow the enemy to maintain defenses and force them to lose, it is ready to coordinate targets with partners," Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov said at a meeting with the European Commission Thursday, state media Ukriniform reports. 

Reznikov called on other countries to help Ukraine establish anti-missile defense capabilities. He emphasized the need to get Patriot and SAMP/T systems at the first opportunity, along with more IRIS-T and NASAMS, which are both air defense systems.

Ukraine also needs to increase the amount of artillery, shells and weapons capable of surpassing and destroying Russian e-warfare and air defense systems, he added. Ukraine will receive Western battle tanks after a long negotiation and is seeking fighter jets to push back against Russian and pro-Moscow forces.

An international center for the prosecution of the "crime of aggression” in Ukraine will be set up in The Hague, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Thursday. 

“Russia must be held accountable in court for its odious crimes. Prosecutors from Ukraine and the European Union are already working together. We are collecting evidence, and as a first step I’m pleased to announce that an international center for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine will be set up in The Hague,” von der Leyen said in Kyiv, speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

The UN has defined aggression as "the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.”

“This center will coordinate the collection of evidence, it will be embedded in the joint investigation team which is supported by our agency Eurojust [the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation],” von der Leyen said. 

Here are the latest developments:

CNN is on the ground at Kramatorsk, where Russian missiles struck on Thursday, right after Wednesday's attack killed at least three people in the eastern Ukrainian city.

As the CNN crew arrived in Kramatorsk on Thursday — it had just parked their car and gotten out — there was a Russian attack targeted at the building that the team had parked in front of.

Like a lot of people, the team tried to make its way to safety.

The missile used in this attack is typically used to shoot down airplanes, Pleitgen explained.

"If they are used against the ground targets, they are very inaccurate. And of course, if they are used against ground targets in densely populated urban centers, it makes things all the more dangerous," he reported.

Watch CNN's reporting from the ground:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the West was threatening Russia “again” with German-made Leopard fighter tanks. 

In January, Vadym Omelchenko, Kyiv’s ambassador to France, said that Western countries were planning to send 300 tanks to Ukraine.

“As of today, numerous countries have officially confirmed their agreement to deliver 321 heavy tanks to Ukraine,” Omelchenko told French TV station and CNN affiliate BFM television.

He did not specify which countries would provide the tanks or provide a breakdown of which models.

The US has pledged to provide 31 M1 Abrams tanks and Germany agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 A6s. Previously the United Kingdom has pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks, while Poland has asked for approval from Germany to transfer some of its own German-made Leopard 2s to Ukraine.

Here's more on the Leopard 2 tanks pledged to Kyiv:

CNN's Pierre Meilhan and Heather Chen contributed to this post.

An international center for the prosecution of the "crime of aggression” in Ukraine will be set up in The Hague, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Thursday. 

The UN has defined aggression as "the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.”   

“This center will coordinate the collection of evidence, it will be embedded in the joint investigation team which is supported by our agency Eurojust [the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation],” von der Leyen said. 

“So we will be ready to launch work very rapidly with Eurojust, with Ukraine, with the partners of our joint investigation team as well as with the Netherlands,” she added. 

Other calls for special tribunal: This announcement comes after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) last week voted unanimously to “demand” the creation of a special international tribunal to prosecute Russian and Belarusian political and military leaders “for the crime of aggression in Ukraine.” 

A similar call came earlier this month from British politicians to create a special tribunal to investigate Russia's "crime of aggression" in Ukraine.    

A statement published on the website of former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown Friday proposed "the creation of a special tribunal with a limited focus on the crime of aggression" to complement the investigation being carried out by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into Russia's war crimes in Ukraine.   

The ICC is unable to probe into the crime of aggression if the act of aggression is committed by a state that is not party to the Rome statute which established the court, unless the UN Security Council refers the matter to it. As Russia has not ratified the Rome statute and would likely “exercise its veto in the Security Council against a referral” the ICC has been left unable to “investigate crimes of aggression against Ukraine,” the statement said.   

A two-week joint air force exercise between Belarus and Russia has concluded, the Belarusian defense ministry said Thursday.

“The joint tactical flight exercise" was aimed at “ensuring the security of the Union State” and was “exclusively defensive in nature,” the ministry said on its official Telegram channel.

The aviation drills were held in Belarus from Jan. 16 to Feb. 1. 

Separately on Tuesday, the ministry announced the start of a week of joint military drills with Russia for the combined command of their regional grouping of forces. The ministry said it is in preparation for the joint Union Shield 2023 exercises the two countries will hold in Russia in September. 

Why this matters: Russia used the territory of Belarus as one of its entry points for the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Joint military drills over the last year between Belarus and Russia have contributed to concerns that Belarusian troops could join Russia's forces in Ukraine, but Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly dismissed speculation that his troops would join the fighting in Ukraine. In December, Ukraine warned it does "not rule out" a "deliberate provocation" from Russia after Belarus said that the wreckage of a Ukrainian missile landed on its territory.

Poland would be ready to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets if NATO partners collectively decide to do so, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in an interview with German daily newspaper Die Bild published Thursday.  

"If this was a decision of the whole of NATO, I would be in favor of sending these fighter jets," he said.  

"My assessment is based on what NATO countries decide together," the Polish leader said, stressing that Russia's invasion of Ukraine ''is a very serious war,” in which Poland and other NATO countries “are not participating.”  

The decision to supply Ukraine with fighter jets needed the "strategic consideration of the whole NATO alliance.” 

Top Ukrainian officials have in recent days escalated their public lobbying campaign for US-made F-16 fighter jets, arguing they need them urgently to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks.  

The United States and Germany have ruled out any deliveries of fighter jets to Ukraine for now. Other NATO members such as France and the Netherlands have said they would be more open to the idea, however, neither the Netherlands nor France had received any official requests from Ukraine to send the fighter jets. 

In January, the German government — under pressure from allies including Poland — approved sending German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Kyiv.  

Berlin’s Ukraine policy has increased mistrust toward Germany, the Polish leader told Die Bild. 

"I would say that a year ago there was a lot of trust in Germany from many other countries. And now this pendulum has moved toward mistrust,” Morawiecki said, adding, "especially within the family of Central and Eastern European countries and also members of the European Union."  

''Germany has the potential to provide much more support than it has done so far, it has decision-making power within the European Union, it has money for Ukraine, it has diplomatic power," the prime minister went on to say.  

Morawiecki explicitly criticized German chancellor Olaf Scholz. Albeit Scholz' support for Ukraine, the chancellor "still seems to believe it should be business as usual with Russia," he said in the interview. 

The prime minister said that he believes talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin sends the wrong signal to the world. 

''I think it's wrong because it only gives Putin oxygen and doesn't achieve anything. Putin actually achieves his goals with such talks, because he shows the rest of the world and his own people, 'Look, I'm in great demand, everyone wants to talk to me, everything depends on me,'' the Polish leader said.  

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand and Alex Marquardt contributed to this post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Thursday for more punitive measures against Russia by the European Union and said he had discussed a 10th EU sanctions package with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“This is a common European task, to reduce Russia’s capability of evading sanctions. And the sooner this task is achieved, the closer we will be to the defeat of the Russian federation,” he added.

“It is not enough to have success on the battlefield. We need faith in a free Europe, in a peaceful Europe, in a united Europe,” he also said.

“We are making [Russian President Vladimir] Putin pay for his atrocious war,” von der Leyen said, speaking after Zelensky.

“Before Russia started this war, we were very vocal about the severe economic costs we [would] impose on Russia if it invades Ukraine. And today Russia is paying a heavy price, as our sanctions are eroding its economy, throwing it back by a generation. The price cap on crude oil already costs Russia around 160 million euros ($176 million) a day and we will keep on turning up the pressure further,” she said.

“Europe has been by Ukraine’s side since day one, because we know that the future of our continent is being written here. We know that you are fighting for more than yourselves. What is at stake is freedom. This is a fight of democracies against authoritarian regimes,” the EU commission president added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin "tries to deny the existence of Ukraine but what he risks instead is the future of Russia,” von der Leyen warned.

Past EU sanctions: In December, the European Union implemented its ninth sanctions package against Russia that added nearly 200 individuals and entities to its sanctions list. It included armed forces, members of the Russian parliament and defense industrial companies.

A fresh barrage of missiles ripped through the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine Thursday, wounding at least five people and damaging 13 two-story buildings, three four-story buildings, a children's clinic and school, garages and cars, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region military administration.

A CNN team had just arrived at the scene and heard the first incoming strike on Kramatorsk. CNN saw the second attack, with two impacts about one minute apart.

Two women jumped from their car and ran yelling while other civilians took shelter wherever they could. Shrapnel bounced off the blastproof glass of one CNN vehicle. 

Paramedics rushed to the scene to treat at least one wounded civilian. Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko also confirmed that there had been a strike on the city, and urged residents to stay in bomb shelters. 

Here are some visuals from the ground following the first attack: