War in Ukraine: Viktor Orban threatens, 22 civilians in a Russian village, North Koreans “withdrawn” from the front… an update on the situation

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Friday, January 31, 2025, discover the latest news about this conflict

Blocking EU sanctions

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatened to block the next renewal of European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia on Friday if Brussels does not help resume the transport of Russian gas through Ukraine, which was halted on January 1. Orban told public radio that Ukraine’s decision to halt the transit of Russian gas to Central Europe and the resulting price hike were “unacceptable”. Exports of Russian gas through pipelines through Ukraine were halted when the transit agreement expired. Kyiv has refused to negotiate a new transit agreement as its war against Russian invasion nears the end of a third year.

“The fact that Ukraine is unwilling to allow Russian gas to pass through its territory so that it can reach Central Europe and is thus raising the price of gas is unacceptable”, the Hungarian prime minister said. This is why Hungary asked this week for EU guarantees on its energy security, he added. Viktor Orban also said that if gas flows do not restart, Hungary will veto the next renewal of sanctions. “Among other things, the Commission promised to resolve the issue of restarting the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainians,”, he said.

“If the Commission does not respect what we have agreed, the sanctions will be lifted”, he added. The European Union on Monday renewed its sanctions against Russia for another six months after Hungary stopped blocking their renewal in exchange for energy security guarantees. The Commission was not immediately available to comment on Orban’s remarks. Sanctions must be unanimously approved by EU member states every six months to be renewed. Hungary gets its gas from Russia through the Turkstream pipeline to the south, not Ukraine, but Orban maintains that the Ukrainian route is important for Hungary.

See also: "Star Wars" : in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin criticizes Donald Trump's new project

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

Murder of 22 civilians

Russia on Friday accused Ukraine of killing 22 civilians in a Russian village captured by Ukrainian forces, the latest such accusation against kyiv, which has denied committing the alleged abuses. Ukraine has seized control of dozens of border towns in Russia’s western Kursk region since launching a surprise offensive there in August, and says about 2,000 civilians still live in the areas it occupies. The Russian army has begun to repel this offensive and has retaken several localities.

The Russian Investigative Committee, which announced on January 19 the opening of an investigation into the murder of “at least seven civilians” in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye, about 20 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, said Friday that it is now investigating the murder of “22 residents” of this village committed, according to Moscow, between September and November last year. Among the victims, whose bodies were found in the basements of several houses, are eight women who were allegedly raped before being killed, claims the Investigative Committee.

Investigators have accused five Ukrainian soldiers of being responsible for the killings, saying that one of them, identified as Yevgeny Fabrisenko, was captured during the fighting in the Kursk region. The Committee released a video of the interrogation of a man identified as Yevgeny Fabrisenko, who confessed to the charges. AFP was unable to verify these claims.

A Ukrainian spokesman in the Kursk region, Oleksiy Dmytrachkivsky, denied the claim to AFP :“The Russian authorities are trying to hide the murder of their fellow citizens […] whom they bombard with artillery, whom they kill with aircraft, by destroying their homes and accusing the Ukrainian forces.” “We must talk about it, show it, despite all the deafness of the international community and its ill will in the face of these atrocities”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press. For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the actions of Ukrainian soldiers illustrated their “military and political impotence at a time of defeats on the front.”

“First, people were tortured, abused and then finished off by gunfire or explosions,”, she said during her weekly briefing. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of killing civilians since the conflict began nearly three years ago. Russian forces are accused of murdering hundreds of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Buchah, near kyiv. Journalists from AFPare among the international media outlets that have seen and photographed the bodies of Ukrainian civilians killed, some with their hands tied, in the city. Moscow has rejected accusations of atrocities in Bucha and accused kyiv of staging the footage. This claim has been debunked by several independent fact-checking organizations and media outlets, including AFP.

Read also: War in Ukraine: Russian drone attack, record Swedish aid, prisoners released to fight… an update on the situation

North Korean soldiers “withdrawn”

Ukraine believes that North Korean troops deployed in Russia's Kursk region “have been withdrawn” due to the heavy losses inflicted on them by the Ukrainian army, a spokesman for the Ukrainian special forces told AFP on Friday.

“In the last three weeks, we have not seen or detected any activity or armed clashes with the North Koreans,”, Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko said. “Therefore […] we believe that they were withdrawn due to the heavy losses they suffered thanks to us (the special forces, editor's note) and the Ukrainian defense forces,”, he added,