Ukraine Daily

Monday, January 9

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A Ukrainian couple Oleksandr Murenets, 68, and Luidmila Murenets, 66, sit in a basement where they take shelter and live with their son, in Seversk, Donetsk Oblast on Jan. 8, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Zelensky: Bakhmut and Soledar ‘hold on in spite of everything,’ more units to be sent to defense of key cities. Zelensky also reported that Ivan Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, visited both Bakhmut and Soledar on Jan.8, giving out medals to soldiers and taking steps to improve the defense of both cities.

Official: Kinburn Spit at Dnipro delta “remains front line”, islands contested. According to Ukrainian military spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk, a 40-kilometer long and up to 12-kilometer wide part of the Kinburn peninsula between the Dnipro-Buzka estuary and the Black Sea, is currently “this is the demarcation line, the front line, where the battles are going on.”

Shmyhal: “World’s largest minefield” created in Ukraine as result of Russian invasion. Some 250,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian land – nearly 40% of all country’s territory – have been mined since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in an interview with the South Korean news agency Yonhap. on Dec. 8.

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Official: 50 Ukrainian troops returned from Russian captivity. Head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office Andriy Yermak reported on Jan. 8 that 50 Ukrainian military personnel were freed from Russian captivity and returned to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange.

Reuters: No signs of 600 Ukrainian soldiers allegedly killed by Russia in Kramatorsk after ‘revenge attack.’ Shortly after Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed on Jan. 8 that 600 Ukrainian troops had been killed “as part of a retaliatory operation” in the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk Oblast, Reuters reported that the attack “missed its targets and there were no obvious signs of casualties.”

General Staff: Russian national guard shoots own soldiers for planning to surrender to Ukraine. On Jan. 5, Russia employed a unit of the country’s national guard Rosgvardiia to shoot six Russian troops who had signaled their intention to surrender to Ukrinian forces near Chistopillia in the southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine’s General Staff reported in its daily evening briefing.

Officials: Russians convert maternity ward in occupied city into military hospital for its troops. “The occupiers have almost erased civilian medical institutions from the map,” said the administration.

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Air Force: Ukraine downs Russian helicopter, drone. Ukrainian forces downed a Russian Ka-50 helicopter and an Orlan-10 drone in eastern Ukraine on Jan. 8, reported Ukraine’s Air Force Command.

DTEK: Russia attacked thermal power plant on Jan. 6. Russian forces attacked a thermal power plant on Jan. 6, reported Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK on Jan. 8. This is reportedly Russia’s 25th attack on DTEK facilities.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia boosts defenses in Zaporizhzhia as fears over Ukraine’s counteroffensive mount. “A major Ukrainian breakthrough in Zaporizhzhia would seriously challenge the viability of Russia’s ‘land bridge’ linking Russia’s Rostov region and Crimea,” the ministry said.

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Even after sanctions, Russian economy can pay for war.

The Russian economy has faced unprecedented sanctions since the Kremlin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. The latest events – the West’s embargo on seaborn oil and price cap on Russian oil sales worldwide – are seen as a blow to the Russian economy, whose backbone is the energy industry.

Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images

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Ukraine war latest: ‘Very difficult’ situation in Soledar amid Russian advance in Donetsk Oblast.

Russian forces are slowly advancing in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, and the situation is “very difficult” in the town of Soledar, near the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut, a Ukrainian defense official said on Jan. 8.

Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images

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The human cost of Russia’s war

President’s Office: Russian attack kill 3 civilians, injure 8 in the past day. The attacks took place amid the Kremlin’s supposed “Christmas truce,” which Russia unilaterly introduced from midday on Jan. 6 to midnight on Jan. 7.

Governor: Russian landmine injures civilian in Kherson Oblast. A man was hospitalized due to the explosion of a Russian landmine in Velyka Oleksandrivka, Kherson Oblast, Kherson Oblast Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych reported on Jan. 8.

General Staff: Russia has lost 111,170 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Over the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s General Staff added 430 troops to its estimation of the Russian losses.

International response

Germany does not exclude possibility of delivering Leopard tanks to Ukraine: minister. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told ARD on Jan.8 that “it can’t be ruled out” that Germany would hand over its Leopard tanks to support the Ukrainian army.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Olga Rudenko, Thaisa Semenova, Teah Pelechaty, Daria Shulzhenko, Francis Farrell, Natalia Datskevych, Anastasiya Gordiychuk, and Olena Goncharova.

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