Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Soledar in eastern Ukraine is now under Russian control

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revoked the citizenship of four people whom he accused of treason in favor of Russia. Meanwhile, it became clear that the city of Soledar, for which fierce battles were fought, was now under Russian control.

The entire territory of Soledar has been taken under the control of "Wagner" fighters, the head of the Russian military group Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on Telegram. He specified that battles are taking place in the center of the city with surrounded fighters and the number of captured Ukrainian soldiers will be announced later.

Last night, Russian forces bombed Kharkiv, a few hours after the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's visit there, the regional governor announced.

In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to allies for more weapons. He announced that he had revoked the Ukrainian citizenship of Viktor Medvedchuk, a businessman close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he accused along with three others of treason in favor of Russia.

Medvedchuk, 68, who spent more than 20 years protecting Putin's interests in Ukraine, was handed over to Russia in a prisoner swap last year after spending more than five months in Ukrainian custody. Medvedchuk is also subject to American and British sanctions.

The Pentagon said that starting next week, Ukrainian military personnel will be trained at a military base in the state of Oklahoma on how to handle Patriot air defense systems.

At the end of last year, Washington informed that they will deliver the systems that Kyiv has been demanding for a long time.

Russian ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova announced on Telegram that she met with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets and both discussed the issue of providing humanitarian aid to the citizens of both countries. Before the conversation in Turkey, Lubinets hinted at a new exchange of prisoners.

Prigozhin announced that his private army had captured Soledar

The Ukrainian city of Soledar in Donetsk, for which fierce battles have been fought in recent days, has been placed under the control of the fighters of the Russian military group "Wagner", Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is the head of the private army, announced late last night.

He is better known by his nickname "Putin's Chef".

"Units of the private paramilitary company ‘Wagner’ took control of the entire territory of Soledar," Prigozhin said in a message uploaded to Telegram by his press office.

It states that enemy fighters are surrounded and fighting is taking place in the center of the city. The number of captured Ukrainian soldiers will be announced tomorrow (today), the text adds.

Prigozhin specified that the capture of Soledar was entirely thanks to his private army and that no forces of the regular Russian forces took part in the storming of the city.

However, the Ministry of Defense in Kyiv claims that heavy fighting continues. The fall of Soledar, a small town in the Donetsk region, could help Russian troops encircle the nearby strategic city of Bakhmut.

Russia bombed Kharkiv, Zelensky took away the citizenship of politicians

Russia bombed the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday night, hours after a surprise visit there by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who backed Ukrainian resistance and promised new weapons. Recently, the city has been relatively spared from Russian strikes.

Baerbock announced that Berlin is lending money to Kyiv for the maintenance of its Starlink satellite links, for demining, as well as the supply of generators.

"Stay in the shelters. The occupiers are bombing again!" regional governor Oleh Synyehubov warned in Telegram messages after months in which Ukraine's second-largest city was spared Russian airstrikes.

Kharkiv was the target of numerous bombings at the beginning of the conflict, but Ukrainian forces managed to defend it and now the front is about 130 km from the city.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had revoked the citizenship of Viktor Medvedchuk, considered before the war as "Putin's guy" in Ukraine, as well as three more pro-Russian politicians - Aras Kozak, Renat Kuzmin and Andriy Derktash.

Medvechuk was exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war after being detained by Ukrainian forces at the start of the war.

"If the people's deputies choose not to serve the Ukrainian people, but the murderers who came to Ukraine, then we will take appropriate action," Zelensky said in his midnight address to the Ukrainian people, as quoted by BTA.

In his statement, Zelensky also said that Ukraine needed more weapons essential because Russia was gathering forces for another escalation, Reuters reported.

"The free world has everything it needs to stop Russian aggression and deliver a historic defeat to the terrorist state," Zelensky said.

Ukrainian military personnel will train in the US

The eastern city of Soledar has partially passed into Russian hands - this is reported by the US State Department. Within 24 hours, the city was hit nearly 90 times. Russian fighters from the private company "Wagner" are fighting there against the Ukrainian troops.

Meanwhile, information has emerged that in the coming weeks, Ukrainian military personnel will begin training to operate Patriot air defense systems at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Ukrainian military personnel have previously undergone military training in the US, including to operate US “Switchblade” kamikaze drones.

At least 16,502 are the victims of the Russian war in Ukraine

During the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the police in Ukraine documented the deaths of at least 16,502 people.

This was stated in the response of the National Police's Main Investigative Directorate to an inquiry by the Zmina Center for Human Rights, published on January 10, "Gordon" reported.

According to the investigation department, for the period from February 24 last year to January 3, 2023, 16,502 dead were registered on the territory of Ukraine:

• in Donetsk region - 4746;
• in Kharkiv region - 3784;
• in Mykolaiv region - 2207;
• in the Kyiv region - 2,072;
• in Chernihiv region - 899;
• in Luhansk region - 815;
• in Kherson region - 686;
• in Sumy region - 341;
• in Zhytomyr region - 283;
• in the Zaporizhzhia region - 66.

In addition, during the same period, 21 mass graves were discovered in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine: three in Donetsk region (278 civilians and 37 military personnel were exhumed), in Kyiv region - 14 (177 people were exhumed), in Kharkiv region - two (451 civilians and 44 military personnel) in Kherson region - two (46 people were exhumed). A total of 1,033 civilian and military bodies were exhumed from such burials.

"The majority of the bodies have gunshot and mine-explosive injuries (it is impossible to specify the exact number of these persons due to the incompleteness of the examinations assigned to establish the causes of death)," the response reads.

The information is only about the victims whose deaths were registered in the territories controlled by Ukraine and liberated from the invaders, the Ukrainian police emphasize.

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