Summary: Another day has ended with no confirmed changes to the frontlines.
Human Cost Of The War
1 Ukrainian civilian was killed and 6 were injured in Russian attacks during the day.
- A Russian mortar attack on Robotyne injured a journalist with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty who was rushed to a hospital in Zaporizhia.
- A Russian strike at a residence in Kherson killed a man and injured his octogenarian mother.
- A Russian strike on residents of Beryslav, Kherson Oblast resulted in the injury of three elderly civilians.
- A Russian strike against the village of Romashkove, Kherson Oblast, injured an octogenarian woman.
Russian troops suffered an estimated 730 casualties in fighting today according to the Ukraine General Staff.
Situation On The Ground And Air
Russia launched two missiles at Kharkiv and 20 drones at other locations throughout Ukraine. Ukraine shot down 19 of the drones.
Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate Deputy Chief Major General Vadym Skibitskyi reported that Russia does not have the adequate reserves to conduct large-scale offensive operations in different locations at the same time. But he also noted that if Russia were to call up a general mobilization, they could recruit enough forces to overrun Ukraine’s defenses. This is why it is so important to defeat Russia now rather than later.
Sloboda Front – Initiative Russia – Current Target: Recapture Kupyansk
Positional fighting continues but there were no confirmed nor claimed advances in the sector.
Siversky Donets Front – Initiative Russia – Current Targets: Zherebets River, Siversk, & Chasiv Yar
Zherebets River – Positional fighting continues but there were no confirmed advances in the sector. Russian sources claimed that Russian forces have advanced east of Bilohorivka (8 miles S of Kreminna) but this has not been confirmed.
Around Bakhmut – Positional fighting continues but there were no confirmed nor claimed advances around Bakhmut.
Donetsk Front – Initiative Russia – Current Targets: Avdiivka, Pervomaiske, Novomykhailivka, and to advance from occupied Marinka
Positional fighting continues but there were no confirmed advances in this sector. Russian sources claim that Russian forces have advanced west from Marinka towards Heorhiivka (3 miles NW of Marinka) even though they had claimed to have reached Heorhiivka days earlier. And they claimed that Russian forces have advanced south of Novomykhailivka. But none of these claims have been confirmed.
Zaporizhia Front – Initiative Russia – Target: Recapture Robotyne
Positional fighting continues but there were no confirmed nor claimed advances in the sector.
Left Bank Front – Initiative Russia – Current Target: Recapture Krynky
Positional fighting continues but there were no confirmed nor claimed advances in the sector.
Ukraine News
Ukraine employed a Ukrainian-refurbished hybrid air defense system for the first time against the drone strike earlier in the day. The so-called FrankenSAM air defense system is the merging of advanced Western air defense missiles with modified Soviet launchers. Ukraine may not be able yet to build their own air defense systems, but this is a step in that direction. Ukraine also has doubled its production of artillery systems.
Ukraine Ally Support
German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz announced that Germany will supply Ukraine with $7.5 billion in military goods in 2024 which is a 30% increase over their 2023 support. But the German parliament rejected a request to supply Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron promised that France will finalize a bilateral security agreement with Kyiv during a visit to Kyiv scheduled for February.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan reported at the Davos World Economic Forum the highlights of Ukraine’s battlefield successes. They noted that in 2023 Ukraine took back half of the territory it had lost in 2022 and have opened a corridor to export grain in the Black Sea. They both stated that a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is unlikely soon as Russia continues to insist on their maximalist goals of the complete takeover of Ukraine.
The threat of US secondary sanctions has had a big impact on Turkish-Russian financial ties. Turkish banks are now refusing to do business with Russian banks. Sanctions are also forcing Russian businesses to close down their offshore accounts in Cyprus.
Russia News
Former Russian President and current Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev claimed that “the presence of an independent state on historical Russian territories” is the reason for this was against Ukraine. He claimed that the war is meant to defend Ukrainians as Ukraine will never be a legitimate state regardless of who leads the government, and that Russia must take back its territory. This again supports the view that Russia has the objective of the complete conquering of Ukraine and does not intend to negotiate a peace settlement with a country that they feel is not legitimate in the first place.
Life in Occupied Ukraine
Russian Commissioner on Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova announced that 17 Ukrainian children will be deported to Russia for medical treatment as part of their continuing campaign of forcibly deporting children from occupied Ukraine to Russia.
Source Materials
Institute for the Study of War – understandingwar.org
The Kyiv Post – kyivpost.com
The Kyiv Independent – kyivindependent.com
Militaryland.net (maps)