The Kremlin is apparently planning a “decisive action” to turn the war around. President Zelenskyy calls on Russians to break their “cowardly silence”. The death toll after a rocket attack on the city of Dnipro continues to rise. what happened in the night
Almost a year after the start of the war, Russia has barely achieved the goals it had set itself. Kyiv was not taken, and the troops had to withdraw from Kharkiv or Kherson. According to the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Kremlin is preparing “to carry out a decisive strategic action in the next six months”. Russia wants to regain the initiative in the war, they say.
The experts see five signs that Russia could try to turn the war around:
President Vladimir Putin repeatedly affirmed that he had not given up on the war aims. With a new wave of mobilization, the reorganization of the armed forces and the ramp-up of the Russian arms industry, the Kremlin wants to wage a “big conventional war”, according to the analysts.
Dozens of residents of a high-rise building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro are still missing after a Russian missile hit them on Saturday. Rescue workers continued to search for more than 30 people in the rubble of the apartment building, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his video address on Sunday evening. “We fight for every human being.” According to official figures, the number of dead rose to 30, including a child. Another 73 people were injured.
At the same time he made serious accusations against the silent part of the Russian population: “I would like to address everyone in Russia who even now do not have a few words of condemnation for this terror, although they see and understand everything clearly. Your cowardly silence will only end with those terrorists coming after you too one day.”
EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell condemned the actions of the Russian side as “inhumane aggression, with civilians and children as direct targets”. The crimes would not go unpunished. And the EU will support Ukraine for as long as necessary.
The attack on Dnipro, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, was the most momentous of several attacks on Saturday. The most violent wave of Russian attacks since the turn of the year was again directed against the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. In addition to Dnipropetrovsk, the region around the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv in the east were also badly affected.
Against this background, Ukraine prepared its citizens for increased problems with the electricity supply. The state electricity network operator Ukrenerho announced on Facebook that the already significantly reduced amount of electricity per household in many places had to be further reduced nationwide in order to avoid major bottlenecks. Even emergency shutdowns are not excluded.
The financier and leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner has awarded medals to his fighters for the proclaimed capture of the Ukrainian city of Soledar. Several Russian Telegram channels posted photos of the golden badges on Sunday. As military analysts from the ISW report, Prigozhin wants to portray the capture of Soledar as an achievement of the Wagner army and not as a joint effort with the Russian armed forces. Ukraine denies that the city of Soledar is under Russian control.
Ahead of new talks in Ramstein on Western military aid to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg spoke out in favor of delivering more heavy weapons to Ukraine. “The recent commitments for heavy war equipment are important – and I expect more in the near future,” Stoltenberg told the “Handelsblatt”.
Great Britain announced on Saturday that it would make 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks available to Ukraine. When asked whether Germany also had to move now, Stoltenberg said: “We are in a decisive phase of the war. We experience fierce fighting. So it’s important that we arm Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win – and survive as an independent nation.”
The Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk made the proposal to also deliver German fighter jets to his country. The Bundeswehr has 93 Tornados in its fleet, which will soon be retired and replaced by modern F-35 stealth jets. These tornadoes are old but “still very powerful” fighter jets, the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany wrote on Twitter. Melnyk asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz: “Why not deliver these tornadoes to Ukraine?” The CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter welcomed the proposal on Twitter.
As a result of a heavy explosion at a barracks in western Russia’s Belgorod region, three soldiers were killed and 16 others injured. Eight other men have been missing since the incident, which took place on Saturday in the region bordering Ukraine, the Russian state news agency Interfax reported, citing rescue services. According to the information, a non-commissioned officer accidentally detonated a hand grenade, after which a fire broke out in the building. He suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital.
During a visit to The Hague, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wants to discuss ways in which Russian President Vladimir Putin can be held accountable for the war of aggression against Ukraine. At the International Criminal Court in the Dutch city, the Greens politician wants to meet President Piotr Hofmanski and then Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan this Monday (11:00 a.m.).
Also Read: The Ukraine Update of January 15, 2023
