Kremlin says British tanks ‘will burn’ in Ukraine
The Kremlin said heavy armored vehicles supplied to Ukraine “will burn”, days after Britain said it would supply the country with Challenger 2 tanks.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked by reporters to comment on recent moves by Ukraine’s Western allies to supply Kyiv with heavier armored vehicles.
He replied that “nothing can change” the intention of Western countries to supply such equipment, but that it would not matter for the war or the “special military operation”, according to comments reported by the state news agency TASS and translated by Google.
“The special military operation will continue. These tanks are burning and they will burn like the others. The goals of the special military operation will be achieved,” he added.
A Challenger 2 main battle tank on display for the Royal Tank Regiment’s regimental parade on September 24, 2022 in Bulford, England.
Finbar Webster | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
On Saturday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the United Kingdom would provide 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, making it the first Western country to deliver the heavy tanks that Kyiv has repeatedly wanted.
Russia criticized the move, saying it would only escalate the war. The Russian Embassy in London tweeted that “Challenger 2 tanks are unlikely to help the Ukrainian military turn the tide. Yet they will become legitimate large-scale targets for Russian forces.”
— Holly Elite
An official assigned by Russia to Crimea says air defenses have shot down seven drones
Russian warships are seen before the Navy Day parade in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Crimea, July 23, 2021.
Alexey Pavlishak | Reuters
The Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol in Crimea said on Monday that air defenses had shot down seven drones over the city in what he called a “failed Ukrainian attack”.
Sevastopol, which is on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, has come under repeated air attacks since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the attacks.
Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said all the drones were shot down over the sea, with no damage to infrastructure. He denied Ukrainian media reports that there had been explosions in the city and said air defenses continued to monitor the skies in a post on his Telegram channel.
— Reuters
German Defense Minister Lambrecht announced his resignation
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (R) attends a meeting with members of the Ukraine Security Advisory Group at the US Air Force Base in Ramstein, West Germany, on April 26, 2022.
Andre Payne | AFP | Getty Images
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz for her dismissal, she said in a statement on Monday, the culmination of growing skepticism about her ability to whip Germany’s military into shape amid the war in Ukraine.
“Today I asked the chancellor to relieve me of the post of federal defense minister,” Lambrecht, a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), said in the statement.
Its decision to withdraw comes as Germany comes under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv, and Germany’s defense capabilities have been called into question after several Puma infantry tanks were knocked out of service during a recent military exercise .
— Reuters
A children’s hospital in the city of Kherson was damaged in the attack, an official said
Multiple windows at a children’s hospital in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson were blown out during a Russian attack, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office.
Posting on Telegram, Tymoshenko said the damage occurred when he came under “enemy fire,” but gave no further details.
“This time they attacked a children’s hospital. As a result, about 30 windows were broken in the neonatology (6-story) building,” he said, according to a Google translation of his comments.
There are no reports of casualties, he added. CNBC was not immediately able to verify his report.
— Holly Elite
Ukraine likely to continue to maintain positions in Soledar, Britain says
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday that Ukraine may be holding positions in Soledar, a town that Russia claims is fully captured.
The ministry said intense fighting continued in both the Kremina and Bakhmut regions of the Donbas front over the weekend.
“As of 15 January 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) are almost certainly holding positions in Soledar, north of Bakhmut, in the face of the continuing Wagner Group [private military company] attacks,” the ministry said in an intelligence update on Twitter.
Members of Ukraine’s 95th Air Assault Brigade defend an area near the front line of hostilities on Jan. 12, 2023, outside Kremina, Ukraine.
Spencer Platt | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
Around Kremina, a town in Luhansk about 40 miles north of Bakhmut, the fighting was characterized by a complex series of localized attacks and counterattacks in wooded terrain, the UK said, noting that overall “the UAF continue to gradually advance along their front line east of end of the city of Cremina.”
“Over the past six weeks, both Russia and Ukraine have made heavy but limited gains in various sectors,” the ministry noted.
“Under these circumstances, a key operational challenge for both sides is to generate formations of uncommitted, capable troops that can use tactical successes to create operational breakthroughs.”
— Holly Elite
Ukraine has been rocked by the attack in the Dnieper, in which 35 people are known to have died
A residential building destroyed after a Russian missile attack on January 15, 2023 in Dnipro, Ukraine.
Global Images Ukraine | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
Ukraine is reeling from a major Russian missile attack on the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine on Saturday after a residential block was hit.
Dnipro regional governor Valentin Reznichenko said in a Telegram update on Monday morning that 35 people were killed in the attack, including two children. He added that 39 people were rescued and 75 are known to have been injured in the attack, including 14 children.
Ukraine’s emergency services said on Sunday that there were 45 reports of missing people and that “while 11 people have been identified, the fate of 34 people is being clarified.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Sunday night that the rescue operation was continuing as debris was cleared at the site of the strike, an attack the president characterized as an act of terrorism by Russia.
“The fate of more than 30 people who may have been in the house at the time of the terrorists’ missile strike remains unknown at this time,” he said in his daily address.
“Dozens of people were rescued from the rubble, including six children. We are fighting for every person! The rescue operation will continue as long as there is even the slightest possibility of saving human life.”
Firefighters and rescuers carry a girl rescued from the rubble on January 15, 2023 in Dnipro, Ukraine.
Global Images Ukraine | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
Zelensky called on Russians to condemn the attack, saying: “I want to say to all those in Russia – and from Russia – who even now could not utter even a few words to condemn this terror… Your cowardly silence, your attempt to ‘wait “what is happening will only end up with these same terrorists coming after you one day”.
Ukraine’s air force said the apartment block was hit by a Russian X-22 missile, an anti-ship missile known to be inaccurate. Russia has previously said it does not deliberately attack civilians, but there have been numerous cases of civilian infrastructure, including schools, residential buildings and hospitals, being hit in missile strikes.
— Holly Elite
Everything is going according to plan in Ukraine, Putin said
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via video link from a residence outside Moscow, Russia, on January 11, 2023.
Mikhail Klimentiev | Sputnik | Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the dynamics of the war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, is positive.
“The dynamics are positive. Everything is developing within the framework of the plan of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff. And I hope that our fighters will please us once again with the results of their combat work,” Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel, the state news agency TASS reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that Russian forces had captured Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region the previous day, after several days of conflicting reports on whether the city had fallen under Russian control.
This picture, taken from an AFP video, shows rising smoke as seen from the outskirts of Soledar, eastern Ukraine on January 11, 2023.
Armand Soldin | Afp | Getty Images
A ministry spokesman said taking control of Soledar allowed Ukrainian forces to cut off supply routes to Bakhmut and then surround the city, a key target for Russia for months as it seeks to expand its control over the Donetsk region , adjacent to Luhansk and the entire Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine has not conceded its defeat in Soledar, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying Sunday evening that “the battle for Soledar, for Bakhmut, for the entire Donetsk region, for Luhansk region continues without any break, without any stoppage.”
— Holly Elite
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