Ukraine Daily
Wednesday, January 4
Russia’s war against Ukraine
A destroyed residential building in the town of Borodyanka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine on Jan. 3, 2023. (Photo by Oleksii Chumachenko/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ukraine intelligence: Russia may be preparing new offensiv**e from north, east. “**They know they will lose but they aren’t planning to end the war,” said a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence.
Chief commander: Ukraine has liberated 40% of territories occupied by Russia since Feb. 24. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi published a post summarizing the achievements of 2022, “the year that went down in world history under the name of Ukraine and its Armed Forces.”
Southern Command: ‘Too early’ to talk about liberation of Velykyi Potomkinskyi Island in Kherson Oblast. Ukrainian military installed the state flag on Velykyi Potomkinskyi Island near the Dnipro River’s delta in Kherson Oblast, but “it is too early to talk about liberation,” the Southern Operational Command spokeswoman Nataliia Humeniuk said on Jan. 3.
Explosions reported in Black Sea port of Sevastopol. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Telegram that explosions were heard in Sevastopol overnight on Jan. 4. Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, reported that air defense has been activated in Sevastopol at least twice.
Official: 3,392 Ukrainian soldiers, civilians remain in Russian captivity. Previous reports said that nearly 3,400 Ukrainian soldiers are being held prisoners by Russia. In a comment to the Suspilne media outlet, Alyona Verbytska, the President’s Commissioner for Protecting Defenders Rights, clarified that the number includes civilians.
ISW: Putin confirms Russia is using different social schemes to justify transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia. In his annual New Year’s speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Russians for their efforts to send children from occupied Ukrainian territory on “holidays,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its recent update.
Authorities report finding another Russian torture chamber in southern Ukraine. Russian forces had allegedly suffocated the victims with plastic bags, beat them with heavy objects, and used electroshocks, trying to elicit “the addresses of Ukrainian patriots, particularly members of the resistance movement.”
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Security Service suspects 2 Russian commanders of attacking civilian infrastructure. This is the first time Ukraine has announced suspects of attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
Zaluzhnyi, Milley discuss Ukraine’s military needs in first phone call of 2023. “I highly appreciate General Milley’s leadership in providing military aid to Ukraine. Mutual trust and common vision help to increase the Ukrainian army’s ability to defend our country’s peaceful cities and villages, which is a guarantee of security in all of Europe,” Zaluzhnyi wrote on Facebook.
Local authorities: Russian forces block village in Luhansk Oblast for ‘filtration.’ Russian troops are conducting “filtration measures” in the occupied village of Polovynkyne in Luhansk Oblast due to the alleged local residents’ assistance to Ukraine’s military, Luhansk Oblast Military Administration reported on Jan. 3.
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Air Force: Ukraine has shot down nearly 500 drones launched by Russia since September. According to Yuriy Ihnat, the spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 84 of these drones were downed in the first two days of 2023.
Shmyhal: Ukraine must transition to ‘strong contract army’ after end of Russia’s war. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also emphasized the importance of providing every Ukrainian with the skills and knowledge necessary to defend the country in the event of an attack.
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Hell in high definition: Inside front-line aerial unit surveilling battle of Bakhmut.
On the screen of a large handheld remote control, a Ukrainian drone operator scans a gray, washed-out landscape of ruined houses and muddy trenches.
Photo: Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent
Eyeing victory in 2023, Ukrainians meet New Year with prayers for loved ones on battlefield.
Spending the day together was always an important tradition for the Kardash family, whose hometown in Luhansk Oblast has been under Russian occupation since 2014.
Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv expects Russia to lose up to 70,000 troops in the next 4-5 months.
Russia will likely “continue offensive operations this year” even though it may lose tens of thousands of its soldiers in the months ahead, a representative of Ukrainian intelligence said on Jan. 3.
Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images
The human cost of Russia’s war
Russian attacks across 8 Ukrainian oblasts kill 3, injure at least 11 over past 24 hours. Russia launched attacks on Ukrainian oblasts in the east, south, and north, using missiles, artillery, mortars, and tanks, according to local authorities.
Donetsk Oblast Governor: Russian Jan. 3 attack on Kurakhove kills 1, injures 2. Russian forces hit a residential area in Donetsk Oblast’s Kurakhove with artillery on the morning of Jan. 3, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the oblast governor.
Governor: Landmines kill 2 in liberated area of Kherson Oblast. The victims were in a car that came across the Russian mine near the liberated village of Mala Oleksandrivka, according to Kherson Oblast Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych.
Russia says 89 troops killed in Ukrainian attack on Makiivka. Russian Ministry of Defense said on Jan. 3 that 89 Russian soldiers had been killed in a Ukrainian New Year’s Eve attack on their quarters. The regiment’s deputy commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bachurin, was among the killed. Footage posted online showed a building purported to be a vocational college in Makiivka, a city in the Russian-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast, reduced to rubble.
General Staff: Russia has lost 108,190 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Jan. 3 that Russia had also lost 3,036 tanks, 6,100 armored fighting vehicles, 4,735 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,033 artillery systems, 424 multiple launch rocket systems, 214 air defense systems, 283 airplanes, 270 helicopters, 1,839 drones, and 16 boats.
International response
Lithuanian President: 2023 to be the year Ukraine defeats Russia. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced on Jan. 3 that his country would continue providing military support to Ukraine in 2023 amid Russia’s invasion.
SpaceX to launch Ukrainian nanosatellite into Earth orbit on Jan. 3. The satellite will be used to conduct a scientific experiment on the effectiveness of heat pipes as the main element of space vehicles’ thermal stabilization systems, according to the Ukraine’s science ministry.
In other news
Ukraine suspends auctions on transparent procurement platform ProZorro citing blackouts. The ministry said that the measure is needed because Russia’s continuous attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure led to scheduled and emergency power outages, often impeding access to the internet.
Top lawyer wanted for organizing fraudulent scheme to sell property seized by state. Investigators obtained evidence that Andriy Dovbenko had headed a criminal group of four people accused of the embezzlement of property transferred to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).
Ukraine’s Anti-Monopoly Committee opens case against Philip Morris over IQOS advertising. The company is accused of violating Article 151 of the Law “On protection from unfair competition” by spreading misleading information about the lower health risks of using the IQOS system compared to cigarettes.
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