Sunday, January 29

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Lidiya Malyovana, 76, reacts at her house destroyed by a rocket overnight as the sounds of gunshots and artillery continue in the distance in Chasiv Yar on Jan. 28, 2023. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)

Zelensky: Ukraine needs ATACMS missiles to stop ‘Russian terror.’ The U.S. has been reluctant to supply ATACMS due to the fear of escalation and the concerns that they may be used to attack Russian territory. Supporters of supplying ATACMS to Ukraine argue that Kyiv’s inability to strike targets far from the frontline results in the deaths of numerous Ukrainians and makes it harder for Ukraine to expel Russian troops from its territory.

Air Force: Ukraine seeks to get 24 modern fighter jets from Western allies as first package of such aid The priority for Ukraine is to acquire American F-16s, however, they are also considering French Rafale and Swedish Gripen fighter jets, Ihnat said in an interview with El Pais, published on Jan. 28.

General Staff: Russia continues conducting offensives in 3 areas. Russia continues conducting offensive operations toward Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Novopavlivka, Donetsk Oblast, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Jan. 28.

Ukrainian military: Russia concentrating forces along southern front. According to Southern Opeational Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk, Moscow is increasing drawing upon its “mobilization resource”, troops that had been previously engaged in occupying Ukraine’s southern territories, rather than fighting on the front lines, earlier in the war.

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Official: Russia keeps 3 Kalibr cruise missile carriers in Black Sea. Russia currently has three Kalibr cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea with 20 missiles on them, Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration, wrote on Telegram on Jan. 28.

Media: Large explosion reported at military plant in Iran. A loud explosion was heard at the ammunition manufacturing center of the Iranian Defense Ministry in Isfahan as a result of the “unsuccessful” drone attack, Iranian state media reported. Local security official said no one was injured.

Local official: Russia demolishes entire district in occupied Mariupol to build ‘elite’ housing. Russian construction workers have started the complete dismantling of the Azovie neighborhood of Russia-occupied Mariupol, including unbroken houses, to build “elite” homes, according to Petro Andryshchenko, an advisor to the city’s mayor.

Prosecutor General’s Office records over 66,500 Russian war crimes, crimes of aggression in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Jan. 28 that the Russian military has committed 66,743 war crimes and crimes of aggression in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s all-out war.

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Zelensky to IOC: Russia’s war goes against core Olympic values. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 28 that Russia must stop its aggression against Ukraine, and only then should athletes from Russia and Belarus, which supports the fomer’s invasion, be considered for participation in the Olympic Games.

Russian media: Money transfers from Russia to neighboring countries up by 300-500% in 2022. Due to Western-imposed sanctions, popular foreign companies have left the Russian market, pushing Russian residents to order goods online from abroad. Meanwhile, Russians themselves started leaving their country amid military subscription: 9,7 million people left Russia in July-September, 12% more than during the same period a year before.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Russian attacks kill 4, injure 17 in Donetsk Oblast over past day. Russian attacks in Donetsk Oblast killed four civilians and wounded 17 others over the past 24 hours, Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Jan. 29. It is currently impossible to determine the actual number of casualties in Russian-occupied Mariupol and Volnovaha, he added.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia likely lost around 300 troops in New Year strike on Makiivka. In the early hours of Jan. 1, the Ukrainian army hit a temporary base for newly conscripted Russian soldiers in Makiivka, who had been celebrating New Year in the building. “We assess that the majority were likely killed or missing, rather than wounded,” the update by the ministry reads.

General Staff: Russia has lost 125,510 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. According to the report, Russia has also lost 3,189 tanks, 6,344 armored fighting vehicles, 5,027 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,188 artillery systems, 453 multiple launch rocket systems, 221 air defense systems, 293 airplanes, 284 helicopters, 1,947 drones, and 18 boats.

International response

Von der Leyen ahead of Ukraine-EU summit: ‘Kyiv has unconditional support of EU.’ In a Jan. 28 speech at an event of her party, the CDU, in Duesseldorf, Germany, von der Leyen said that Ukraine needs to prevail against Russian attacks in order to defend European values.

Media: Czech, Slovak leaders to visit Kyiv. Czech President-elect Petr Pavel plans to visit Ukraine together with Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, reported Czech TV channel CT24 on Jan. 28.

US creates working group to detect corruption in aid to Ukraine. The Ukraine Oversight Interagency Working Group comprises inspectors from the Pentagon, State Department, USAID, and other departments of the U.S. government. It meets monthly to “coordinate, collaborate, and ensure transparency in the collective whole-of-government Ukraine response oversight efforts,” the document said.

In other news

Embassy: Ukrainian citizen killed in Jerusalem synagogue attack. The Ukrainian Embassy in Israel reported that a Ukrainian citizen was among the seven people killed in the shooting outside a synagogue in East Jerusalem late on Jan. 27.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Francis Farrell, Anna Myroniuk, Olga Rudenko, Thaisa Semenova, Oleg Sukhov, Daria Shulzhenko, and Anastasiya Gordiychuk.

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