Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Ukraine interior minister among dead in helicopter crash

* Russian President Vladimir Putin, visiting an air defence factory in St Petersburg, said Russia's military industrial might meant "victory is assured, I have no doubt about it." * Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of preparing the ground for the conflict in Ukraine as part of what he called a hybrid war against Moscow.

Ukraine's interior minister and a child were among at least 14 people killed on Wednesday when a helicopter crashed into a nursery and set it ablaze in a suburb of the capital Kyiv. CONFLICT

* The national police chief said Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi was killed in the helicopter crash. His first deputy, Yevheniy Yenin, and the ministry's state secretary also died. It was not immediately clear what caused the helicopter to crash. * More than 9,000 civilians, including 453 children, have been killed since the war began last February, a Ukrainian presidential aide said. The United Nations human rights agency has put the civilian toll at more than 7,000.

* Ukrainian forces repelled attacks in the eastern city of Bakhmut and the village of Klishchiivka just south of it, the Ukrainian military said. Russia has focused on Bakhmut in recent weeks, claiming last week to have taken the mining town of Soledar on its northern outskirts. * Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand visited Kyiv and pledged 200 Senator armoured personnel carriers.

DIPLOMACY * Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to the World Economic Forum in Davos that Western supplies of tanks and air defence units should come more quickly and be delivered faster than Russia was able to carry out attacks.

* Ukraine needs a "significant increase" in weapons at a pivotal moment in Russia's invasion and such support is the only way to a negotiated peaceful solution, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Davos. * Russian President Vladimir Putin, visiting an air defence factory in St Petersburg, said Russia's military industrial might meant "victory is assured, I have no doubt about it."

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of preparing the ground for the conflict in Ukraine as part of what he called a hybrid war against Moscow. He also said Moscow saw no prospects of peace talks. * The European Union's chairman Charles Michel spoke in favour of the West providing tanks to Ukraine to help it fight against Russia's invasion.

ECONOMY * Russia's Gazprom said it will ship 32.6 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday, a volume in line with recent days but around 20% lower than daily shipments recorded in the final months of last year.

* Russian crude oil exports to the European Union fell by 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 0.9 million bpd in December from the previous month, International Energy Agency (IEA) data showed. (Compiled by Angus MacSwan and Alexandra Hudson; Editing Frank Jack Daniel)

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