Ukraine needs a lot of international help to defend itself against the Russian invasion. That’s why she praises her partners. President Zelenskyj awards three medals to Germany. The news at a glance.
A few weeks before the start of the third year of the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his soldiers and promised them good equipment. “The top priority of our state is to always provide everything necessary for the defense of Ukraine and our active operations,” he said in Kiev. He named ammunition, drones, equipment and enough personnel.
“Surviving this year means surviving the entire war,” he said in his evening video address on Friday. Ukraine has been defending itself against a large-scale Russian invasion since February 2022. Saturday marks the 682nd day of the war.
On Saturday night, Russia again used combat drones against Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force tracked their flight across the country. Around midnight, the Zhytomyr area west of the capital Kiev was particularly threatened. In Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that five Ukrainian drones had been intercepted over the Black Sea. The military reports could not be independently verified. The target of a Ukrainian attack could have been the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Kiev General Staff reports fighting on the ground
The General Staff counted 57 attempted Russian infantry attacks on Friday on the approximately 1,000 kilometer long front in the east and south of Ukraine. That was a little more than in the past few days. In the front-line town of Avdiivka in Donbas, which has been particularly hotly contested for weeks, the Ukrainian defenders repelled three attacks and another 16 in the immediate area. Russian troops also tried to improve their position near the almost completely destroyed small town of Mariinka in the Donetsk region, it said.
Overall, the course of the front has hardly changed for a long time. The British Ministry of Defense also came to this conclusion in its report on Friday, based on intelligence information. The Russians have made minor progress in places. “Over the past week, ground fighting has been characterized by either a static front line or gradual, local advances by Russia on key sectors of the front,” it said.
In the northeast, Russian troops continued a “large but inconclusive offensive” near Kupyansk, the British wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter). In the north of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Ukraine held its front line despite smaller attacks around Bakhmut. The city of Avdiivka remains heavily contested, while the Russians in the small town of Maryinka have extended the gains they made at the end of December.
Zelenskyj thanks his partner Türkiye
In a conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zelensky emphasized Turkey’s role as a partner in the Black Sea region. “We have joint projects that have already been successful; and this year we must do even more to strengthen our states and our peoples,” Zelensky said after a phone call with Erdogan. Security in the Black Sea as well as the world’s food supply depended on Ukrainian-Turkish cooperation.
Erdogan maintains contact with Moscow despite Russia’s war of aggression. Turkey has not joined sanctions. But at the same time she is an important contact for Ukraine. Zelensky thanked Erdogan for his support in exporting Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. He also mentioned Türkiye’s role as a mediator. “Turkey’s mediation is very important so that the Crimean Tatars and everyone else, adults and children, soldiers and civilians, who are in Russian captivity can be released,” he said.
Ukrainian Order of Merit for Foreign Minister Baerbock
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) was awarded an Order of Merit by Zelensky for her support for Ukraine. Parliamentarians Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) and Anton Hofreiter (Greens) were also honored with Ukrainian medals.
In a decree issued shortly before the New Year, the Ukrainian president honored 32 foreign people. Strack-Zimmermann, chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, called the award a great honor. She will continue to advocate “that Ukraine gets the support it needs in the fight against the brutal Russian attack,” she said on Friday.
The FDP politician is considered one of the most committed advocates of aid for Ukraine. In the traffic light coalition, she makes no secret of the fact that she considers the approach of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to be too hesitant. Hofreiter, as chairman of the European Committee, also advocates military aid for Ukraine. Baerbock has visited the attacked country several times and advocates a “Europe from Lisbon to Luhansk”.
Taurus missiles to Kiev: pressure on Scholz is growing
Meanwhile, pressure is growing on Chancellor Scholz to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. The defense expert Strack-Zimmermann told the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday) with regard to Russian President Vladimir Putin: “We must not be afraid of our own courage. Putin hopes for that.” Germany must finally deliver the Taurus in order to interrupt the Russian supply lines.
“The delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is long overdue,” Sara Nanni, defense policy spokeswoman for the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag, told the paper. “The most effective protection against Russian air strikes is to fire at targets on Russian territory and in the occupied eastern Ukrainian territories, from where Russia launches its attacks.” So far, Ukraine lacks the necessary material for this.
CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter said that Russia saw itself strengthened by the weakness of the West and the lack of Taurus deliveries. “Therefore, the lack of support is not just a failure to provide assistance, which increases the number of Ukrainian victims, but is de facto support for Russia.”
At the beginning of October, Scholz decided not to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine for the time being. It is feared that Russian territory could also be hit by the precision weapons with a range of 500 kilometers.
That will be important on Saturday
The Ukrainian and Russian military are preparing for further fighting. In Russia, Christmas is celebrated on Saturday and Sunday according to the Russian Orthodox church calendar. Ukraine, which is also predominantly Orthodox, celebrates its Christmas on the 24th/25th according to the Western calendar. celebrated in December.