• Zelensky: “Without US help, all of Europe will be left alone against Putin.”
• Hungarian Foreign Minister meets Kuleba in Ukraine. Budapest gives the green light for EU aid.
• Kremlin: “Putin in Turkey in February to discuss Ukraine.”
• Is the Russian economy stronger than the sanctions? What's behind Putin's numbers.
2:07 p.m. – Kiev: “Moscow does not want to return the bodies of the prisoners who were allegedly on the crashed plane”
Russia shows no willingness to return the bodies of Ukrainian prisoners of war allegedly killed in the Il-76 plane crash on January 24. This was said by Ukrainian Military Intelligence (HUR) spokesman Andrii Yusov to Suspilne. Russia said the Russian military plane that crashed in Russia's Belgorod Oblast last week was destroyed by Ukrainian forces and was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners. Ukraine denied Moscow's version of events and called for an international investigation, which Russia rejected. Yussov recalled that, apart from Russia's claims, there is currently no evidence of the presence of prisoners of war on the crashed plane. “There is currently no willingness to repatriate the bodies from Russia. However, such requests on our part still exist,” Yusov added.
12:56 p.m. – Kiev: Rocket attack on the eastern Kharkiv region
The Russian army has launched a rocket attack on the eastern Kharkiv district, and there is currently no information about possible casualties and destruction, said the head of the Ukrainian military garrison in the region Sergi Melnyk, Ukrinform reported. Melnyk called on citizens not to leave the shelters: “There is a high probability of repeated rocket launches, the target of which may be both Kharkiv and settlements in the region.”
10:31 a.m. – Lavrov: It is absurd to say that after Ukraine we will attack the NATO countries
Recent warnings from Western leaders and generals that Russia wants to attack NATO countries after Ukraine are “absurd.” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this today at a round table with diplomats on the situation in Ukraine. “They say that if Russia wins and defends its interests in this war, then the Baltic states, Sweden and Finland will be next,” Lavrov emphasized, quoted by the Tass agency, recalling that American President Joe Biden also supports them hypothesis supported. “The absurdity of such statements is clear to everyone, everyone who has even the slightest understanding of history and understands the goals that we have openly set for ourselves,” the Russian foreign minister said.
10:30 a.m. – Vienna: The army is ready for war
The Austrian army must organize itself because “war has returned as a dimension of politics”. This is what a high-ranking officer, Major General Peter Vorhofer, told the Tiroler Tageszeitung. Another general, Günther Hofbauer, was of the same opinion: “The armed forces must be prepared to face war.” Vorhofer, who heads the security department of the Vienna Ministry of Defense, predicts “at least two decades” of military instability in the world. In his opinion, the risk of a military confrontation between Russia and the European Union is “very high”. According to Hofbauer, we are in a phase “in which there is no longer any war, but also no real peace.”
9:29 a.m. – Kiev: 15 Russian kamikaze drones shot down out of 35 launched
Ukrainian forces shot down 15 of 35 Shahed drones launched by Russia overnight. This was announced by the Kiev Air Force, stating that Moscow launched the unmanned aerial vehicles from three directions: Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia's Krasnodar region, the Russian city of Kursk and Cape Chuda in occupied Crimea. Russian troops also reportedly attacked the Donetsk region with two S-300 missiles. According to the Air Force, the Ukrainian Defense Forces shot down 15 drones over Mykolaiv, Sumy, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Kiev Oblasts. A group of drones attacked frontline areas, targeting energy infrastructure and civilian and military facilities near the frontline and the Russian border.
8:58 a.m. – Kiev: 960 Russian soldiers killed in the last day
Russia has lost 384,140 soldiers in Ukraine since the war began on February 24, 2022. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced this and on the last day updated Moscow's loss account with 960 casualties. According to the unverifiable data, Russia also lost 6,300 tanks, 11,725 armored fighting vehicles, 12,191 fuel vehicles and tanks, 9,144 artillery systems, 972 multiple rocket systems, 663 air defense systems, 332 aircraft, 324 helicopters, 7,084 drones, 23 boats and one submarine.
7:22 a.m. – Zaluzhny, the rumors about his departure and the crisis in the Ukrainian defense. Zelensky's spokesman: “Wrong”
(by Lorenzo Cremonesi, correspondent in Dnipro) Almost two years after the military invasion desired by Vladimir Putin, the Ukrainian government is revealing insecurities and internal weaknesses that, given the third year of the war, require quick solutions. The rumors circulating yesterday in the corridors of power in Kiev about the possible resignation of Chief of Staff Valery Zaluzhny were immediately denied by the spokesmen of President Volodymyr Zelensky. But it is certainly not the first time that they have been proposed, revealing that there remain disagreements and tensions between the circles surrounding the president and military leaders, particularly in the context of the controversial drafting of a law to expand conscription, which is necessarily crucial , to bolster the ranks of the army decimated and exhausted by two years of fighting.
05:50 – Russian defense: 21 Ukrainian drones shot down during the night
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that the country's air defense shot down 21 Ukrainian drones in occupied Crimea and four Russian regions during the night: Tass reports. “An attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack on structures on the territory of the Russian Federation using aerial drones was stopped last night – said a statement. Air defense systems in use destroyed 21 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territories of the Republic of Crimea (11), Belgorod (5), Bryansk (3), Kaluga (one) and Tula (one).”
5:14 a.m. – Russian attack in Avdiivka, a 59-year-old woman dies
A 59-year-old woman died yesterday in Avdiivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine after a Russian bomb attack. This was announced by the spokeswoman for the regional prosecutor's office, Anastasia Medvedieva, as Ukrinform reported. “At around 2 p.m., Russian troops attacked Avdiivka again, probably with artillery. “A 59-year-old woman suffered a shrapnel wound from bullets that hit the premises of a private house,” Medvedieva said. The woman, he added, was rushed to hospital but succumbed to her injuries.
2:49 a.m. – Zelensky relies on drones: We will stand up to Russia
One of Ukraine's main goals for the current year is to keep up with Russia in drone operations, the production of which is to be significantly increased: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this, as local media report. “The more successful Ukrainian drones are, from FPV (“First Person View,” or video-guided, editor's note) to strategic drones, the more lives of our warriors we will save,” the president said, adding , that he has a video in his hand conference with the Ukrainian military leadership and intelligence on the production and delivery of drones to the army. On December 19, Zelensky announced that Ukraine would produce one million drones in 2024. According to Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine produced 50,000 FPV drones last month and Kiev aims to increase its drone production to tens of thousands per month.
02:46 a.m. – Blinken (USA): Ukraine becomes a member of NATO
The doors of NATO are open, they remain open, including for Ukraine, which becomes a member of NATO.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this, without specifying how and when this might happen.
– Anthony Blinken (Photo AFP)
2:44 a.m. – U.S. arms exports increased 50% in 2023
American arms exports rose 50% to $81 billion in 2023 after demand surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The media reports about it. The Biden administration is working to curb Russian arms sales abroad to isolate Moscow and weaken its forces against Ukraine. Russia was for decades the world's second-largest arms exporter after the United States, but its role is now being challenged by the war in Ukraine, which is depleting its industrial production capacity.
01:58 a.m. – Explosions at night in the Kiev region
Explosions were heard in the Kiev region at night: the regional military administration announced this via Telegram, as Rbc-Ukraine reported. “The movement of enemy drones has been detected. Air defense forces are deployed in the region,” the message said. The explosions were heard in Bila Tserkva, a town about 87 km south of the Ukrainian capital.