DAccording to official information, 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. As early as Monday evening, there were Russian reports of drones being fended off over the strategically important naval port of Sevastopol.
Regaining Crimea is 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.
All developments in the live ticker:
09:23 – London sees insufficient Russian ammunition depots as a risk
According to British intelligence services, unsafe ammunition storage puts Kremlin troops at high risk. London is referring to the Ukrainian attack on a Russian military barracks in Makiivka in the Donetsk region on New Year’s Eve that killed 89 soldiers. In view of the extent of the damage, it is realistic that ammunition was stored near the accommodation, which could have caused further explosions during the shelling.
Even before the Ukraine war, the Russian military was known for storing its ammunition insecurely, the British said. However, the Makiivka incident shows how “unprofessional methods” contribute to a high number of casualties.
Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine at the end of February, the British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war, citing intelligence information. In doing so, the British government wants to both counter the Russian portrayal and keep allies in line. Moscow accuses London of a disinformation campaign.
08:41 – The current situation in Ukraine
The current situation in Ukraine
Source: Infographic WORLD
07:30 – Zelenskyy calls on West to strengthen Ukrainian defenses
Following new Russian missile strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the international community to strengthen his country’s defense capabilities. Ukraine is preparing for a new wave of mobilization by the “terror state” Russia and must therefore be prepared, said Selenskyj in his video message distributed in Kyiv on Tuesday evening. After telephone calls with the heads of government of the Netherlands, Great Britain, Norway and Canada, he called for everything to be done to ensure Russia’s defeat in the war.
Russia will leave no stone unturned to turn the war around and avoid defeat. “We have to destroy this scenario of the Russians,” Zelenskyj said. “The terrorists have to lose.” Russia will mobilize new reservists who will be sent to their deaths, he said. Ukraine, in turn, must mobilize the civilized world.
In his speech, the 44-year-old also condemned the Russian rocket attack on the “Altair” ice stadium in Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region, where children also trained. People have long experienced the stadium as a place of joy. The destruction is new evidence that Russia is a “terror state”.
06:01 am – Caritas expects a new wave of refugees from Ukraine
The Catholic aid organization Caritas International expects a new wave of refugees in the Ukraine war. “If infrastructure continues to be destroyed and temperatures drop, people in some areas will have no choice but to leave,” Ukraine team boss Gernot Krauss told the German Press Agency. “We expect that there will be another wave.”
Millions of people have already had to leave the war-torn country. According to Krauss, there are many older women among those left behind. “You will have to go. The first buffers the country. But it increases the pressure on neighboring countries, including us.” According to the UN refugee agency, almost 8 million Ukrainians are living as refugees in European countries. More than 6.5 million are displaced people in their own country.
5:30 a.m. – Strack-Zimmermann for a two percent target as a minimum requirement
According to statements from NATO, the chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), is in favor of tightening the current two percent target for defense spending. “NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s considerations of defining the two percent target as a minimum requirement makes a lot of sense, not only in the current world situation. Chancellor Olaf Scholz also emphasized in his time-of-turn speech in February that we must permanently ‘exceed’ the two-percent target,” Strack-Zimmermann told the German Press Agency in Berlin.
5:00 a.m. – Ukrainian attacks: Cell phones are said to have revealed the location of the Russian soldiers
After the Ukrainian attacks on a Russian military base in Makiivka in the Donetsk region, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow corrected the number of its own soldiers killed by more than 20 to 89. The men and the deputy commander were found after the rocket attack on New Year’s Eve in the rubble of the collapsed reinforced concrete building, said Lieutenant General Sergey Sevryukov in Moscow on Wednesday night. Previously there had been talk of 63 deaths. Ukraine had fired at the shelter with the US Himar multiple rocket launcher.
Sevryukov also acknowledged mistakes for the first time, thereby confirming media reports. According to them, the main reason for the “tragedy” was that the soldiers used their mobile phones en masse on New Year’s Eve, despite a ban, thereby alerting the Ukrainian side to their location. Ukrainian forces fired six rockets, four of which hit and two were intercepted, sources said. Ukraine had spoken of 400 dead and 300 injured in Makiivka.
The investigations are still ongoing, but so much about the background is already clear, said Sevryukov. “This factor enabled the enemy to determine the direction and locate the coordinates of the position of the soldiers in order to carry out the missile strike.” At present, care is being taken to ensure that this does not happen again. In addition, the guilty officials would be held accountable.
01:38 – Russia: Soldiers killed responsible for attack on barracks
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian soldiers killed in the improvised barracks in Makiivka are themselves responsible for the attack. “It is already apparent that the main reason for what happened was the turning on and massive use of cell phones by personnel – contrary to the ban – within range of enemy weapons,” the Defense Ministry said. “This circumstance allowed the enemy to find out the coordinates of the soldiers’ location and use them for a missile attack.”
11:45 p.m. – Russia admits 89 dead after Ukrainian attack
Russia has admitted the deaths of 89 soldiers in a missile attack on a city in occupied eastern Ukraine. The Defense Ministry in Moscow increased the death toll from 63 previously after four rockets hit a makeshift barracks in the Donetsk town of Makiivka. Ukraine, on the other hand, spoke of hundreds of Russian soldiers killed.
18:57 – Ukrainian intelligence announces charges against Russian military officials
The Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU) has announced criminal charges against two Russian military commanders. The SBU said it had very detailed evidence against Sergei Kobylash, the head of Russia’s long-range aviation forces, and Igor Osipov, who commanded the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the early months of the war.
The two are accused of violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity and of being involved in the planning, preparation and implementation of a war of aggression against the country. Should they ever face trial in Ukraine – which is highly unlikely – they would face life imprisonment on that charge.
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