Sunday, February 5

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Heavily-damaged buildings in central Kharkiv after a Russian missile strike on Feb. 5, 2023. (Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration)

Zelensky representative: Military installations in Russia are legitimate targets. “Russia attacks peaceful Ukrainian cities from its territory, just like from Belarus,” Venislavsky, a member of parliament’s security and defense committee, told Bild, a German newspaper. “Are the places where Russia stores its missiles legitimate military targets? Of course, without question.”

UK Defense Ministry: Russia claims to ‘formally’ integrate occupied areas into its southern military district. In its recent update, the U.K. Defense Ministry drew attention to the Feb. 3 report by the Russian government-controlled news agency TASS that claimed Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts “are being placed under the three-star command which is headquartered in Rostov-on-Don.”

Media: Germany has evidence of Russia’s war crimes cases ‘in three-digit range.’ German Prosecutor General Peter Frank said that they “are not yet investigating specific people, but rather collecting information and evidence,” also questioning Ukrainian refugees who “may have knowledge of war crimes in Ukraine.” “Currently, for example, we are focusing on the mass killings in Bucha or attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure,” he said.

Official: Russia ‘threw its full strength’ into encircling Bakhmut. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Feb. 4 that, over the past week, Russian forces had thrown all their strength into “breaking our defense and encircling Bakhmut and launched a severe offensive near Lyman.“

ISW: Russia fails to sustain ‘major offensive operations’ required to take Zaporizhzhia. Russia has “not shown the capacity to sustain the multiple major offensive operations that would be necessary to simultaneously reach the Donetsk Oblast administrative borders and take Zaporizhzhia,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Feb. 4.

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Ukraine to introduce Delta situational awareness system for military. The government officially green-lighted the implementation of Delta platform, the first Ukrainian military-tech situational awareness system developed in accordance with NATO standards, in Ukraine’s defense on Feb. 4.

Russia renames 86 streets named after Ukrainian figures in occupied Melitopol. Russian forces in occupied Melitopol have renamed 86 streets named after Ukrainian figures, Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said on Feb. 4.

Russian proxies discuss forcibly sending children in Luhansk Oblast to Republic of Karelia. Russian proxies in Luhansk Oblast discussed sending Ukrainian children to the Republic of Karelia in Russia, the National Resistance Center, an organization operated by Ukraine’s Special Forces, reported on Feb. 4.

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116 Ukrainian POWs, bodies of foreign volunteers, returned to Ukraine in prisoner swap with Russia.

116 Ukrainian military personnel were freed from Russian captivity and returned to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange, head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak reported on Feb. 4.

Photo: Andriy Yermak / Telegram

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Russian attacks across 9 Ukrainian oblasts kill 3 over past day. According to local authorities, three people were killed, and 17 were wounded in the past 24 hours. Russian forces killed two people in Toretsk and Bakhmut and wounded 14 more in Donetsk Oblast, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the oblast governor, reported on Feb. 4.

US volunteer confirmed killed in Bakhmut. Pete Reed, a 33-year-old U.S. volunteer aid worker, was killed in the front-line city of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, “while rendering aid,” Global Response Medicine, the humanitarian aid group Reed founded, confirmed on Feb. 3.

International response

First Leopard tank leaves Canada on its way to Ukraine. “Canada stands with the people of Ukraine – and we’ll continue to provide Ukraine’s Armed Forces with the equipment that they need to win,” Anand said on Twitter. “Canada’s support for Ukraine is unwavering.“

Media: Portugal to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Portugal confirmed it would send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Prime Minister Antonio Costa told Diario de Noticias on Feb. 4. The country is reportedly preparing to give Ukraine four Leopard 2 tanks, media reported on Jan. 25, citing unnamed government sources.

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Sunak says he’s focused on sending UK weapons to Ukraine as quickly as possible. On Jan. 14, Sunak announced the delivery of 14 Challenger 2 tanks as part of a major new military aid package for Ukraine.

In other news

German top official says no evidence of Russian sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline. German investigators currently have no evidence that Russia is behind the explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, German Attorney General Peter Frank told Die Welt. Frank said Russian involvement couldn’t be proven “at the moment” as the investigations are ongoing.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Francis Farrell, Daria Shulzhenko, Olga Rudenko, Oleg Sukhov, Anna Myroniuk, and Teah Pelechaty.

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