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Putin accuses the neighboring country of “Nazism”. Ukraine releases new figures on Russia's losses in the Ukraine war. The news ticker.
- Heavy fighting around Avdiivka: “The Russians are conducting a three-pronged attack”
- Height Russian losses: Kyiv releases current figures
- Not traded with the US: Vladimir Putin denies having been in contact with the USA.
- The information processed here comes from international media and news agencies, but also from the belligerent parties, Russia and Ukraine, and their allies. In particular, information about the losses suffered by the armies involved in the Ukrainian war cannot be independently verified.
Update January 27th, 6:41 pm: Russian President Vladimir Putin described his war against Ukraine as a fight against Nazism at a memorial event. “We are doing everything, everything, to stop Nazism and finally eradicate it,” he said, according to media reports, on Saturday at the opening of a memorial for civilian victims of fascist terror after Hitler's Germany attacked the Soviet Union . The Kremlin chief cited Ukraine and the Baltic countries as current examples of the rise of Nazism.
The Baltic States are “declaring tens of thousands of people as subhuman, depriving them of their most basic rights and subjecting them to hate speech,” he said, without substantiating the statements. Ukraine, for its part, “herocriizes Hitler’s aides and SS men and uses terror against those it doesn’t like,” Putin continued. For almost two years, the Kremlin has repeatedly justified the war in Ukraine with the alleged need to protect the Russian-speaking population living there from attacks by Ukrainian nationalists. Moscow now seems to want to build a similar narrative in relation to the Baltic countries.
Ukraine and Lithuania plan joint production of drones
Update January 27th, 5:15 pm: Ukraine and Lithuania have discussed joint production of drones. Much of his conversation with his Lithuanian counterpart, Gabrielius Landsbergis, was devoted to this topic, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday at a joint press conference between the two in Kiev. “Lithuania has the technologies, we have the opportunity to expand cooperation and that was the main issue,” said Kuleba. In addition, Ukraine's path to NATO, more military aid to the country and sanctions against the war enemy, Russia, were also discussed.
Update January 27th, 4:12 pm: A Russian drone attack appears to have occurred in the city of Beryslav in the Kherson region. One civilian was killed, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office. Homes and public buildings were also affected. However, this information could not be independently verified.
Russia wants to retake several places: Putin's army increases “assault operations”
Update January 27th, 2:51 pm: According to information from Kiev, the Russian military has greatly increased its efforts to conquer Ukrainian territories in recent days. “The occupiers have significantly increased the number of attacks and assault operations – for the second day in a row the enemy carries out 50 combat operations,” wrote General Alexander Tarnavskyj, responsible for the front sector in the south and southeast of Ukraine, on his Telegram channel on Saturday. The number of air strikes also increased.
The figures provided by Tarnawskyj apparently refer to the southern part of the Donetsk region. He explicitly mentions attacks against the cities of Myrnohrad and Novohrodivka, which are close to the front, and which were bombed with converted anti-aircraft missiles the day before.
A Russian soldier fires from a ruin in the Ukrainian city of Artyomovsk. (File photo) © Russian Ministry of Defense/Imago
Intense fighting for Avdiivka: “Russians are carrying out a three-pronged attack”
Update January 27th, 1pm: In its latest intelligence report, the British Ministry of Defense said Ukrainian counterattacks prevented the Russians from taking full control of Avdiivka.
“The main focus of Russian forces is the city of Avdiivka,” the report states. “The Russians are conducting a three-pronged attack to encircle the city from the south and north, and are also fighting on the outskirts of the eastern quarter of the city of Avdiivka itself.”
However, Russian forces suffered heavy losses of personnel and armored vehicles, often caused by munitions from Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles. Although they continue to attempt to bypass Ukrainian fortifications, “Ukrainian counterattacks prevent Russian forces from advancing further into the city.”
Ukraine News: Russia's Parliamentary Leader Warns of World War III
Update January 27th, 11:40 am: Russia's parliamentary leader Vyacheslav Volodin raised the danger of a third world war on the 80th anniversary of the end of the siege of Leningrad. “Fascist ideology has become the norm for the leadership of NATO countries,” Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday. He accused Western governments, including explicitly the federal government of Olaf Scholz, of supporting a policy of genocide in Ukraine. “This is a dangerous path that could lead to a new world war.”
Russia justifies its almost two-year war of aggression against Ukraine by claiming, among other things, that it has to “denazify” the neighboring country. Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly uses historical comparisons with the Second World War to justify his attack on his neighboring country. He equates the invasion of Ukraine he ordered with the defense of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany's criminal war of aggression. Especially on anniversaries, Moscow uses the argument of “defending the memory of those killed in the war” for its war propaganda.
Update January 27th, 9:40am: The plane crash in Russia continues to generate discussions. Ukraine considers the information provided so far by Russia regarding the alleged shooting down of the Il-76 military transport plane to be unfounded. There is still no proof that there were actually 65 prisoners of war aboard the Ilyushin, which crashed in Belgorod on Wednesday, said the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.
According to a statement from the prisoner of war exchange coordination published on Friday (26 January), Russia provided a list of names after a long delay. However, it is still unclear whether these people were on the Il-76. “There is currently no information to indicate that so many people could have been on that plane,” Budanov said.
High losses for Russia in the Ukraine war: Kiev releases current figures
Update January 27, 8:05 am: The Ukrainian General Staff released new figures on Russia's losses in the Ukrainian war. According to this, 770 Russian soldiers were killed or injured in the fighting in one day. The information could not initially be independently verified.
- soldiers: 381,370 soldiers (+770 the previous day)
- tank: 6271 (+6)
- Armored vehicles: 11,652 (+15)
- artillery systems: 9085 (+3)
- Multiple rocket launchers: 972
- air defense systems: 660
- Airplanes: 331
- Helicopter: 324
- Drones: 7,037 (+4)
- cruise missiles: 1842 (+22)
- Warships:23
- Submarines: 1
- Tank trucks and other vehicles: 12,072 (+8)
Source: Ukrainian General Staff dated January 27. Information about Russian losses comes from the Ukrainian army. They cannot be independently verified. Russia itself does not provide any information about its own losses in the Ukrainian war.
Russian plane crash: Moscow releases images
Update January 26, 8:45 pm: After the crash of the Il-76 military transport plane in the Belgorod region, the Russian Investigative Committee released videos with images of dead bodies and a plane. Footage published in Moscow on Friday shows investigators in a field of rubble, zipping up a body bag and also showing tattoos on parts of the body. Ukrainian documents from alleged prisoners of war can also be seen. Another video shows a plane towards which several transporters are heading. According to authorities, this proves that Ukrainian prisoners of war boarded the plane before it was shot down.
The videos could not initially be independently verified. It is likely that Russia wants to refute Ukraine's doubts that there were indeed prisoners of war on board the Ilyushin when it crashed last Wednesday.
According to Russian information, the plane carrying 65 prisoners of war and 9 Russian crew members was shot down. The collected body parts will be genetically examined to identify the people killed in the accident, he said. According to Russian investigators, the plane was fired at from an anti-aircraft system in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Lypzi in the Kharkiv region.
Tanks, drones, air defense: weapons for Ukraine
See series of photos
Update January 26th, 6:30 pm: Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the Ukrainian army for the downing of a Russian military plane in the Belgorod border region this week. “I don’t know if they did it intentionally or accidentally, but it’s obvious they did it,” the Kremlin chief said on Friday at a military college.
Putin further accused Ukrainian military intelligence of knowing that there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the plane. “It’s definitely a crime,” he emphasized.
According to information from Moscow, the Ilyushin transport plane crashed on Wednesday, not far from the border with Ukraine, after being hit by rockets. Thus, the plane with 65 Ukrainian soldiers on board was on its way to a prisoner exchange. According to Russian authorities, all 74 passengers died in the accident. Whether there were actually prisoners of war on board is still controversial.
War in Ukraine: Kiev invites Xi Jinping to peace talks in Switzerland
Update January 26th, 5:15 pm: Ukraine has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to Switzerland for peace talks. This is reported by Sky News, citing Volodymyr Zelensky's main advisor BiIgor Zhovkva. Neither the location nor the time have been determined yet. However, Switzerland agreed in principle to hold such a meeting. “We will definitely invite China to participate in the summit, at the highest level, at the level of the President of the People's Republic of China. China's participation will be very important for us. We involve our partners around the world to convey to the Chinese side the importance of participating in a summit of this type”, said Zhovkva.
Chinese participation in negotiations could be crucial to ending the war. Although Beijing has remained close to Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it has already offered to mediate the conflict, saying the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected. Xi remains one of Vladimir Putin's closest major-power allies, and his views on a possible peace plan could prove crucial to the future of the conflict in Ukraine.
Update January 26th, 4:10 pm: The Tuapse oil refinery, owned by Rosneft, a major Russian oil and gas company, stopped refining oil and producing petroleum products due to the Ukrainian drone attack on January 25. This is reported by Portal, citing industry sources. The refinery is the only one on the Russian Black Sea coast, one of the ten largest in the country and processes up to nine million tons of raw materials annually.
A vacuum system burned out in the drone attack, which also prompted Russian authorities to close Sochi airport and issue air raid warnings for its settlements. According to the agency, the factory will not be able to quickly resume production: repairs are expected to last until the end of February or beginning of March. Rosneft did not comment on this.
Russia is said to have used chemical weapons
Update January 26th, 3:15 pm: Russian forces increasingly attack Ukrainian soldiers with suffocation grenades in the war in Ukraine. The announcement was made by the information agency of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. RG-Vo grenades, a form of tear gas, were used for the first time in December. Since then, 81 cases have been reported. This is reported by Army Inform, citing a spokesman for the Ukrainian Weapons Research Center for research on trophies and future weapons and military equipment. According to the research center, this grenade can kill a person in five minutes if fired into a room or shelter.
Spokesman Captain Andriy Rudyk told Army Inform: “This grenade contains chloroacetophenone, an asphyxiating substance required by the Geneva Protocol. [über chemische Kriegsführung] According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russia has used chemical weapons 51 times this year, most often in the form of drone-launched grenades. The research center assumes that Russia will assess the reaction of the international community before further expanding the use of chemical weapons, he said. The information cannot be independently verified.
Kremlin denies that Putin wants to negotiate with the US in the Ukraine war
Update January 26, 2:15 p.m.: The Kremlin on Friday denied a Bloomberg report that Russian President Vladimir Putin was contacting the United States for talks on ending the war in Ukraine. It was also reported that Putin was considering dropping key demands on Ukraine's security status. This is what Portal writes.
The Bloomberg report said Putin was exploring whether Washington was willing to talk and had contacted the US through indirect channels. The report quotes two people close to the Kremlin who said that Putin “may be ready to abandon insistence on neutral status for Ukraine and even abandon opposition to possible NATO membership – the threat of which was a key Russian justification for the move.” . . Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was questioned by reporters about the report, particularly whether Moscow was really ready to give up its demands for neutrality and NATO. “No, this is a false report. “It doesn’t correspond to reality at all,” he denied.
Biggest wave of airstrikes in Ukraine war in weeks: numerous people injured
Update January 26, 12:46 p.m.: The death toll from Russian rocket attacks on Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv has risen to eleven, official figures showed on Friday. This is reported by the British newspaper The Guardian.
More than 100 people were injured and at least 18 killed in one of the biggest waves of airstrikes in weeks after Russian missiles struck across Ukraine, including the capital Kiev and northeast Kharkiv, on Monday morning. The Kharkiv prosecutor's office said on Friday that a 61-year-old woman died from her injuries, bringing the death toll in that city alone to 11, AFP reported.
Plane crash in Russia: investigation underway
Update January 26th, 10:45 am: The black boxes from the Russian Il-76 military transport plane that crashed near the border with Ukraine on Wednesday have been taken to a special laboratory in Moscow for analysis, Russian state media reported. Experts have already begun restoring flight data from the boxes, he said.
Russia accused Kiev of shooting down the large military transport plane from the war in Ukraine carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war for an exchange on Wednesday. The accident killed all 74 people on board. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it struck the plane. But Kiev said Moscow created a “deliberate threat to the lives and safety” of its prisoners of war due to Russia’s previous failure to provide warnings about the airspace.
Outpost destroyed in the war in Ukraine: at least five Russian soldiers killed
Update January 26th, 7:40am: Ukrainian army special forces claim to have destroyed a Russian observation post in Kherson. They killed five Russian soldiers. They used a thermal imaging drone for the attack.
They then posted a video on Facebook allegedly showing the attack. They wrote that this strike against the Russians would allow them to “control additional sections of this front in the future.” The information could not initially be independently verified. Kherson is on the southern front of the Ukrainian War.
Ukraine News: Russia rages after plane crash in Belgorod
First report: Kiev/Moscow – After the crash of a Russian military plane in the border region with Ukraine, numerous questions remain unanswered. The Ukrainian secret service SBU opened an investigation on Thursday (25 January).
Russia, however, released images of the crash site and announced a “terrorism” investigation. Moscow declared that there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the plane; the plane was shot down by Ukraine.
Exchange of blows between Russia and Ukraine after plane crash
Now Ukraine and Russia have accused each other before the UN Security Council. According to previous information, it was a “premeditated and well-thought-out crime”, said Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitri Polyansky, at a UN meeting in New York.
Ukrainian deputy ambassador to the UN, Chrystyna Hajovyshyn, rejected the accusations: Ukraine was not informed about the number and type of transport used to transport the prisoners who, according to the Russian report, died in the incident. This week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Lavrov also traveled to New York.
Ukraine News: Russia requests meeting in New York after plane crash
The UN Security Council meeting on the accident was requested by Russia. Representatives of Western states emphasized at the meeting that the accident would never have occurred without Russia's war against Ukraine.
“Russia has repeatedly sought to shift responsibility for the tragedies of this senseless, self-imposed war onto others, as if it were the victim and not the aggressor,” said U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood. (Editorial with news agency material)