Russia appears to be intensifying its bombing in the eastern regions of Ukraine outside the main front line in Donbass. This is confirmed by government officials from the Zaporizhia and Sumy regions. Russia’s Ministry of Defense, on the other hand, says that a recent offensive has placed its army units in more advantageous positions along the front line in Zaporizhia. Ukraine contradicted Moscow’s claim.
Yevhen Yerin, a military spokesman in Zaporizhia, told Ukrainian TV station Suspilne: “At the moment they have achieved nothing. All their attempts have been repulsed and the enemy has taken casualties.” Portal was unable to independently verify reports of the fighting.
According to British information, the announced significant increase in the Russian armed forces will be difficult to implement. “Russia is likely to have difficulties in providing personnel and equipment for the planned expansion,” the Defense Ministry said at its daily intelligence briefing in London on Sunday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently announced, among other things, that he wants to increase the number of troops from 1.15 to 1.5 million troops. “Shoygu’s plans signal that the Russian leadership is likely to assume that a growing conventional military threat will persist for many years beyond the current war in Ukraine,” he said in London.
New German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius wants to go to Ukraine as soon as possible. “What is certain is that I will travel to Ukraine quickly. Probably within the next four weeks,” he told Bild am Sonntag. Pistorius took over on Thursday after Christine Lambrecht resigned as department head.
When asked when the decision on Leopard tanks for Ukraine would be taken, he said: “We are in a very close dialogue on this issue with our international partners, above all with the US.” To be well prepared for possible decisions, he instructed his house on Friday “to check everything so far so we don’t waste time unnecessarily if the worst happens”.
At the Ukraine conference in Ramstein on Friday, Germany had still not decided to deliver tanks to the war zone, despite considerable pressure from its allies. The German government has also yet to issue any licenses for delivery to other countries for tanks produced in Germany.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida apparently wants to travel to Kyiv in February and hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy there. As the Japanese newspaper “Yomiuri” reports, citing government circles, as chairman of the Group of Seven Economic Leading Nations (G7) this year, he wants to show that Japan intends to continue supporting Ukraine.
Kishida is also expected to make a statement in Kyiv condemning Russian aggression, the paper said. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not immediately available for comment on the report. Deputy Chief of Staff Seiji Kihara told a Japanese television program on Sunday that nothing had been decided at this point when asked about a possible Kishida visit to Kyiv.