TOP HEADLINES

· Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine and the West of seeking to destroy his country and said Kyiv must accept Moscow's demands for ending the war or else watch as the Russian armed forces achieve them on the battlefield. READ MORE BELOW

· Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attacks in the areas of two settlements in the Luhansk region and six in the Donetsk region, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said. 

· Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, that could be mediated by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Kuleba said, however, that Russia could only be asked to join if it faced a war crimes tribunal first.

· Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with his closest international ally Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko twice in 24 hours. Lukashenko said "many issues were finalised" in the meetings. The two leaders acknowledged discussing the economy, space missions, the Russian language, and "serious matters, including our bilateral relations."

· In his nightly video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the situation along the eastern frontline in Donbas "difficult and painful."

· Moscow said it had foiled a new Ukrainian drone attack on a strategic bomber military base hundreds of kilometers from their joint border. Russia's domestic security agency said it killed four Ukrainian "saboteurs," who allegedly attempted to enter Russia via a border region. 

· Russia placed a senior journalist with the Bellingcat investigative website on a wanted list, following his extensive reporting on Moscow's offensive in Ukraine. Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev's name was added to a list of wanted people on Russia's interior ministry website. The ministry did not specify what crime he was wanted for. 

· Russia's budget deficit could be wider than a planned two percent of GDP in 2023 as an oil price cap squeezes export income, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said, an extra fiscal hurdle for Moscow as it spends heavily on its military activities in Ukraine. His comments represented Moscow's clearest acknowledgement yet that the $60 per barrel cap, imposed on December 5 by the Group of Seven, European Union and Australia with the aim of limiting Russia's ability to fund the military campaign, could indeed hit state finances.

IN DETAIL

Lavrov: 'The issue will be decided by the Russian army'

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine and the West of seeking to destroy his country and said Kyiv must accept Moscow's demands for ending the conflict or else watch as the Russian armed forces achieve them on the battlefield.

Lavrov's comments came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations, but only on Moscow's terms.

These include Ukraine recognizing Russia's conquest of a fifth of its territory. 

Kyiv, armed and supported by the United States and its NATO allies, says it will recover all its occupied territory and drive out all Russian soldiers.

"Our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime, the elimination of threats to Russia's security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well known to the enemy," state news agency TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.

"The point is simple: Fulfill them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army."