Ukraine Daily

Tuesday, January 3

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Emergency service workers extinguish a fire after shelling on the Bakhmut front line in Ivanivske, Ukraine as Russia’s war continues on Jan. 2, 2023 (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Police: 25 torture chambers discovered in liberated areas of Kharkiv Oblast. Investigators have discovered 25 torture chambers in the liberated areas of the northeastern Kharkiv Oblast, head of the regional police Volodymyr Tymoshko reported on Jan. 2. Tymoshko described detention conditions of civilians as “inhumane.”

Ukrenergo: Emergency power outages introduced due to Russia’s Jan. 2 drone attack. The supply of electricity in Kyiv and central Ukraine has been negatively impacted by Russia’s Jan. 2 overnight drone attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, reported Ukraine’s state grid operator Ukrenergo.

General Staff confirms Dec. 31 attack on Russian troops in occupied Makiivka. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its daily update that the Ukrainian military damaged or destroyed up to 10 units of Russian military equipment of various types in the occupied Makiivka in the eastern Donetsk Oblast. The number of Russian military personnel killed in the attack is still being clarified, the military reported.

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Poll: Most Ukrainians opposed to territorial concessions. A poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from Dec. 4 to 27 said 85% of Ukrainians believe that no territorial concessions to Russia are acceptable, “even if because of this the war may last longer.”

Ukroboronprom executives charged for supplying low-quality equipment to army. Ukraine’s Economic Security Bureau reported on Jan. 2 that it had charged six executives of Ukroboronprom, the country’s main defense company, with embezzlement and abuse of power.

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Minister: Russia’s war has caused damage worth $35 billion to environment. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Jan. 2 that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had caused damage worth $35.3 billion to the country’s environment.

Ukraine-EU summit to take place in Kyiv on Feb. 3. The statement followed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s first diplomatic phone call in 2023 with European Commission Head Ursula von der Leyen. The summit’s primary focus is expected to be the EU’s further support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression.

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Ukraine war latest: Russia unleashes another drone attack on Ukraine overnight on Jan. 2.

In a targeted attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Russian forces launched a mass strike using Iranian-made Shahed-131/136 kamikaze drones overnight on Jan. 2.

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Russian attacks across 9 Ukrainian oblasts kill 1, injure 7 over past day. Russian attacks against Kyiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk oblasts killed one person and wounded seven, according to local authorities.

Mayor: Russian Dec. 31 attack on Kyiv kills another person. A 46-year-old man injured during Russia’s New Year’s Eve attack on Kyiv died in the hospital on Jan. 2, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported.

Governor: Russian forces attack Kherson Oblast, injuring 5 people. Russian troops struck a market in Beryslav, Kherson Oblast, on the morning of Jan. 2, wounding five people, three of which are in “serious condition,” reported Kherson Oblast Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych.

Ukrainian military says it killed 400 Russian troops in occupied Makiivka. A Russian military base in occupied Makiivka, Donetsk Oblast, was hit on New Year’s night, killing 400 soldiers and injuring at least 300, the Strategic Communications Department of Ukraine’s military wrote on Telegram. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed Ukraine’s strike.

Russian forces suffer major casualties in Kherson Oblast. The Ukrainian military confirmed that on Dec. 31, the units of the Armed Forces struck personnel and equipment concentration in the village of Chulakivka, Kherson Oblast. Chulakivka is located 67 kilometers south of Kherson, on the Russian-occupied east bank of the Dnipro River.

Media: At least 538 mobilized Russian conscripts died in past 3 months. As of the morning of Jan. 2, at least 538 mobilized Russian conscripts have died in the past three months, according to BBC Russia, which carries out a name-by-name count of the dead together with Mediazona, a Russian news site.

General Staff: Russia has lost 107,440 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Jan. 2 that Russia had also lost 3,031 tanks, 6,093 armored fighting vehicles, 4,725 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,027 artillery systems, 423 multiple launch rocket systems, 213 air defense systems, 283 airplanes, 269 helicopters, 1,836 drones, and 16 boats. These numbers have not been independently verified.

International response

Emergency Service: Estonia supplies Ukraine with demining equipment. The Estonian Rescue Council has provided land mine removal equipment to Ukraine and trained emergency workers on its use, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported on Jan. 2. According to the service’s head, Serhii Kruk, about 30% of Ukrainian territory is mined due to Russia’s full-scale war.

EU Ambassador says union decreased Russian oil supplies by 90% in 2022. The European Union cut down Russian oil imports by 90% before the end of 2022, “radically reducing” energy dependence on Russia, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas told Ukrinform. According to Maasikas, Russia can sell its oil to other markets, but the revenue from such sales is limited as Russia is forced to significantly discount every barrel sold.

European Commission President: Ukraine to start receiving 18 billion euro aid package. The EU would begin disbursing the support package worth 18 billion euros for Ukraine in monthly tranches, European Commission Head Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter after her first diplomatic phone call in 2023 with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In other news

Expert: 50-70 people die from COVID-19 in Ukraine weekly. From 50 to 70 Ukrainians die from confirmed COVID-19 cases every week, Fedir Lapii, head of the National Group of Experts on Immunoprophylaxis, told Suspilne on Jan. 2. He added that 90% of these people are over 60 years old. He called the current situation with coronavirus in Ukraine “threatening.”

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Teah Pelechaty, Dinara Khalilova, Oleksiy Sorokin, Thaisa Semenova, Oleg Sukhov, Brad LaFoy, Anastasiya Gordiychuk, and Olena Goncharova.

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