France wants to deliver “light battle tanks” to Ukraine. The ex-NATO general expects a ceasefire in the Ukraine war between February and May 2023. Putin inaugurates a new hypersonic missile. You can find all the news about the Ukraine war in the Newsticker.
1:08 p.m .: During a telephone call on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for a “unilateral ceasefire”. According to the Turkish Presidential Office, Erdogan said during the talks that “calls for peace and negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv should be accompanied by a unilateral ceasefire and a vision for a fair solution”.
After the talks with Putin, Erdogan also wants to talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later in the day.
12:41 p.m .: Former Bundeswehr and NATO general Hans-Lothar Domröse expects a ceasefire in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine later this year. “I expect a standstill in early summer, when both sides say: Now it’s no longer of any use,” Domröse told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “We will have a truce sometime in 2023.”
The most likely time between February and May is a situation “where both sides realize they are stuck,” says the former general. “That would be the moment for ceasefire negotiations.” But this does not mean peace for a long time. “Ceasefire means we stop shooting. The negotiations are likely to take a long time, you need a mediator: maybe UN Secretary General Guterres, Turkish President Erdogan or Indian President Modi – although nobody really pushes himself.”
There remains only a negotiated solution that is acceptable for both sides, said Domröse – “even if Putin actually would like to have the entire Ukraine and Zelenskyj would like to liberate the entire Ukraine again”. As a possible solution, the ex-general mentioned “that Zelenskyy waives the demand to immediately reintegrate areas like Crimea into Ukraine – a transition could be agreed”.
Russia and security expert András Rácz from the German Council on Foreign Relations also expects negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in the summer. He told the Funke newspapers that he was certain that there would be “some kind of ceasefire” by the end of the year. It is unlikely that Russia would want to wage an intensive war before or during the upcoming presidential election in 2024.
4:32 a.m .: The Union accuses the federal government of lacking support in preparing a special international war crimes tribunal against those responsible for the war of aggression against Ukraine. “The federal government ducks the question of the special tribunal,” said the legal policy spokesman for the CSU state group, Volker Ullrich, the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “In addition to Vladimir Putin, there are numerous people in the Russian leadership responsible for this war of aggression who should not feel safe from criminal prosecution,” emphasized the CSU politician.
“The reticence of German foreign policy on the issue of the special tribunal is becoming more incomprehensible by the day,” said Ullrich. “The EU Commission is in favour, there are clear resolutions by the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The French government also shows sympathy for this.” The Union therefore wants to advocate a resolution in the Bundestag with the aim that the German Parliament also supports a special tribunal. Without a special tribunal, the International Criminal Court in The Hague cannot currently prosecute the war of aggression against Ukraine, since Russia has not ratified the international treaties on this point.
“We need an investigation and judgment of war crimes,” emphasized Ullrich. “This applies not only to those who commit crimes on Ukrainian soil, but also to the perpetrators behind the perpetrators,” explains the CSU politician. “Both the foreign minister and the justice minister must finally develop a clear stance on the part of the federal government regarding a special tribunal,” he demanded. “So far there have been no clear and unambiguous statements from either Annalena Baerbock or Marco Buschmann,” he added. “The federal government must also complete the turning point in international law and clearly commit to a special tribunal.”
He also thinks it is realistic that Russian officials would actually have to answer before an international court one day. “Even during the war in the former Yugoslavia, it took longer before the main criminals could be caught and brought to justice in The Hague,” he said. “Law and justice need staying power,” emphasized Ullrich. “Germany must assume a leadership role based on its historical responsibility so that justice is achieved through the prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators and backers.” Regardless of Russia’s veto right in the UN Security Council, the General Assembly of the United Nations could decide to set up a corresponding special court procedure, said the CSU -Legal Expert.
Thursday, January 05, 2023 00:20: The US government is considering the delivery of Bradley armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. According to the US military, the armored tracked vehicles usually have a cannon, a machine gun and armor-piercing missiles. US President Joe Biden said yes to a reporter’s question on Wednesday whether the government was considering supplying the armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. He gave no details. It was initially unclear which model variant of the “Bradley” would be suitable for Kyiv.
France promised to supply Ukraine with “light battle tanks” on Wednesday. It’s about the reconnaissance tank AMX-10 RC. Ukraine has long been asking its allies for Western-style battle tanks and armored personnel carriers. Germany has so far refused to provide main battle tanks – including the German Leopard – for Ukraine.
The US is already supplying Ukraine with various heavy weapons systems, including the Himar-type multiple rocket launchers, which sometimes inflict heavy casualties on Russian forces. During the visit of the Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyj to Washington shortly before Christmas, Biden also promised to supply Ukraine with a Patriot air defense system.
9:32 p.m .: The Ukrainian military has reported another successful attack against Russia’s army. In the occupied city of Tokmak in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia, 80 Russian soldiers were killed or injured in an offensive on Tuesday, the General Staff in Kyiv said on Wednesday. The information could not be independently verified.
A spokesman for the Russian occupation administration of Zaporizhia Vladimir Rogov claimed that the Ukrainian attack was aimed at the Tokmak district hospital. A military doctor and several patients were killed. In addition, pictures of a badly damaged building were shown. However, there was no independent confirmation of the information.
For days, Ukraine has repeatedly reported massive blows to Russian troop concentrations. According to Kiev sources, 400 enemy soldiers were killed in an attack on a Russian military barracks in Makiivka in the Donetsk region alone, and 500 in another offensive in the village of Chulakivka in Kherson. Moscow, on the other hand, has so far only admitted at least 89 deaths in its own ranks with a view to the Ukrainian artillery strikes on New Year’s Eve.
7:16 p.m .: The Russian hardliner Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, is said to have been hit and injured by shrapnel in a hotel restaurant in Donetsk. According to Rogozin, he has now sent a fragment in a letter to the French embassy in Moscow. He was convinced that his injuries would come from a French howitzer. Rogozin asked for the letter to be forwarded to French President Emmanuel Macron.
“In this envelope, which is attached to my letter, you can see a fragment of a shell from a French 155mm artillery unit Caesar,” said Rogozin, who published the letter on the online service Telegram. “It punched through my right shoulder and lodged in the fifth cervical vertebra, just a millimeter from killing or invalidating me.”
According to media reports, the politician known for his imperialist stance was celebrating his birthday when the shells fell in a bar in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk. In addition to the shoulder injury, Rogozin also got splinters in his face and buttocks. Rogozin made a career under Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. First as NATO ambassador in Brussels, then as deputy head of government and finally as head of the Roskosmos space agency.
6:26 p.m .: France wants to deliver “light battle tanks” to Ukraine. The French head of state Emmanuel Macron promised his Ukrainian colleague Volodymyr Zelenskyj that, the Élysée Palace announced on Wednesday after a phone call between the two presidents. The tank is said to be the AMX-10 RC scout tank.
The wheeled tank with cannon is mainly used for reconnaissance. How many tanks France wants to hand over to Ukraine by when was initially unclear. “It is the first time that western-style tanks have been delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces,” French media reports quoted the Élysée Palace as saying.
Zelenskyj thanked Macron on Twitter for the decision. It was also decided to continue working together, for example to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses. France wanted to announce more details about the tank deliveries to Ukraine later.
1:47 p.m .: Against the background of ongoing problems in his war of aggression against Ukraine, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has put the new “Zirkon” hypersonic missile into service. “I am sure that such a powerful weapon will allow us to reliably protect Russia from external threats and safeguard the national interests of our country,” said the 70-year-old on Wednesday in a televised video link from the Kremlin for the commissioning of the “Zirkon”. ” missiles on the frigate “Admiral Gorshkov”.
The “Admiral Gorshkov” is part of Russia’s Northern Fleet and is to be sent on a long voyage to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to demonstrate Russia’s naval power. The warship, which entered service in 2018, is the first frigate to be equipped with the new missiles. The Zirkon has a range of more than 500 kilometers and is primarily used to combat ships. Because of its extremely high speed – according to Russian information, it can accelerate to up to 8,000 to 9,000 kilometers per hour – it is practically unstoppable by the air defense.
The public ceremony apparently also serves to distract attention from the weaknesses of the Russian army in the Ukraine war. More than ten months since hostilities erupted in what was initially slated to be a limited operation, a growing number of Russians no longer perceive Putin as the strong warlord he wants to portray himself as. The image of Russia’s military and armaments industry has also suffered. In the course of the transfer, Putin promised to continue to arm the Russian armed forces with the most modern weapons.
12:46 p.m .: Russia is apparently moving new troops to occupied Crimea. This is reported by the Ukrainian military intelligence service, according to the Kyiv Independent. It is not known how many soldiers are involved.
9:46 a.m .: According to official information, the Russian air defense repelled a drone attack on the Crimean Peninsula, which has been annexed by Moscow since 2014. “Air defense systems shot down two unmanned aerial vehicles over the sea near Belbek in the morning,” Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Rasvozhayev said on his Telegram channel on Wednesday. Belbek is a Russian military airfield that was repeatedly attacked by the Ukrainian army after the start of the war.
According to Razvozhayev, all systems are working normally. There is no official information about damage, deaths or injuries. The media and residents had previously reported explosion noises from the direction of Belbek Airport on social networks.
Russia supplies its occupying forces in southern Ukraine primarily via Crimea, which has been occupied since 2014. Ukraine is therefore repeatedly targeting logistical and military targets on the peninsula. The recovery of Crimea is also one of Kiev’s declared goals after the Russian war of aggression has increasingly stalled in recent months. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that this could be done through diplomatic or military channels.
You can read more news on the following pages.
