Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title
[Korrespondent] 23:14 Kuleba said that the example of Britain has inspired other countries to negotiate security agreements with Ukraine: “There are already such countries. I will not reveal the surprise, but we must admit that the British example has inspired a number of countries to negotiate such an agreement and to make such an arrangement more powerful than they originally intended."
21:55 For the first time, Russia used a rare four-ton P-35 anti-ship missile to attack Ukraine, reports the specialized publication Defense Express. The missile was put into service back in 1962, its range is 350 km, speed is 2000 km/h, warhead weight is 1000 kg. It could have been fired either from the Redut coastal missile system or from the underground Object-100.
21:01 Australian Defense Minister Pat Conroy said that Ukraine requested Taipan helicopters too late - after the decision to dismantle them, which was made in September 2023. According to him, then other countries were not interested in buying helicopters, so Australia decided to scrap them. When Kyiv sent the request in December 2023, the disposal process had already been going on for three months.
20:12 All Russian missiles contain dozens of critical components that are produced abroad, and many of them by companies from the free world, Zelensky said in an evening video message. The President said that today he heard the corresponding report from the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Alexander Litvinenko: “Clear facts. So blocking Russia’s ways of circumventing sanctions is literally blocking terror.”
20:04 Ukrainian hackers stole important documents about 500 objects of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian media write, citing sources. Hackers of the Blackjack group, who are associated with the SBU, hacked a Russian state-owned enterprise engaged in the construction of military facilities throughout the Russian Federation.
19:50 The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation included the Ukrainian nationalist organizations UNRA, UPA, UNS, OUN in the list of “Nazi organizations that violate the law on perpetuating the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.”
19:17 Biden agreed to an immigration agreement with the Republican Party to ensure funding for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, writes The Wall Street Journal. Specifically, the treaty would limit the ability of migrants to seek U.S. asylum on the southern border in exchange for new military aid for Ukraine and Israel. As the publication notes, such a concession to leftist Biden on the issue of immigration was a turning point in his long political career. More details - in the material Biden made a compromise: will there be money .
19:11 Minister for Strategic Industries Alexander Kamyshin confirmed that the drone that hit a target in St. Petersburg at night was made in Ukraine: “We are able to develop something that will cost from $350 apiece, and something "that will fly this night to St. Petersburg. It was made in Ukraine. Yes, this night we hit the target, and this thing flew exactly 1250 km this night."
18:33 Ukraine is seeking to organize a telephone conversation between Zelensky and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as it plans to hold a leader-level Formula Peace summit, Bloomberg writes. Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said in Davos that Kyiv insists on establishing a direct channel of communication between Xi Jinping and the Ukrainian president: “There are things they can talk about... Zelensky’s peace formula is a way to restore a lasting, just peace in Ukraine.”
17:54 The commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Alexander Syrsky, said that he visited the military units that are holding defense in the Kupyansky direction. According to him, the situation remains tense; the Russian army has focused its main efforts on ousting Ukrainian units from the Kupyansky forest and capturing Sinkovka.
17:20 NATO announced the start of the largest exercises since the Cold War on January 22 to practice a possible Russian attack. About 90 thousand military personnel will take part in the exercise Steadfast Defender 2024, which will last several months. During the exercise, the alerting and deployment of international ground forces will be practiced.
The legend of the exercises implies an attack by the Russian Federation on one of the NATO members, which triggers Article 5 on collective defense, dpa reports. The last exercise of this scale took place in 1988, with 125 thousand people taking part.
16:59 NATO expects Russia to receive Iranian missiles, said the head of the Alliance’s military committee, Rob Bauer. He added that he has not yet seen such missiles used by the Russian army.
16:34 Ukraine will soon receive six Caesar self-propelled guns from France, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said after a conversation with his French colleague Sebastian Lecornu. The head of the French Ministry of Defense clarified that Paris will transfer six installations “in the coming weeks.”
16:20 Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Guillas, said that there is still a long way to go before reaching an agreement with the EU on new long-term financing for Ukraine. According to him, Budapest is negotiating with the European Commission, but their positions are very different, so there is no confidence that they will reach an agreement. At the same time, Guillas added that Hungary does not rule out supporting Ukraine on a bilateral basis.
16:03 The European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it expressed “serious concern” about Hungary’s actions. Parliamentarians condemned the Hungarian government's "deliberate, sustained and systematic efforts to undermine the fundamental values of the EU." They also called on the European Council to determine whether Hungary is committing “serious and persistent violations of EU values” under Article 7.2 of the EU Treaty. This article provides for the possibility of suspending certain rights, including a vote in the EU Council, against a state that has repeatedly violated the bloc's values.
15:46 Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov at the opening of the “coalition of artillery” in Paris announced a shortage of ammunition and a shortage of shells in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to him, Russia is far superior to Ukraine in daily artillery attacks: on different parts of the front at different times, the Russian army fired 5-10 times more shells than Ukrainian forces. The minister emphasized that strengthening artillery potential is one of the key needs of Ukraine to win the war.
15:05 The Russians launched six airstrikes on the city of Orekhov, Zaporozhye region. The bombs hit non-residential buildings and a multi-storey building, in which an entire entrance was destroyed. As of this moment, there was no information about casualties, said the head of the OVA, Yuri Malashko.
14:58 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with Macron, thanked him for the launch of the “artillery coalition” initiative and for France’s announced commitment within its framework to produce dozens of Caesar artillery systems for Ukraine in 2024 and ammunition for them. They also discussed the situation on the battlefield and Ukraine’s defense needs, in particular strengthening air defense. We instructed political and military advisers to begin preparations for Macron’s upcoming visit to Ukraine and to speed up negotiations on a bilateral agreement on security guarantees.
14:39 Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski criticized the idea of persuading Ukraine towards peace negotiations: “As for negotiations, I want to share one of Sikorski’s “laws” on foreign policy: there is never a shortage of pocket Chamberlains who are ready to sacrifice other people, the freedom of other people for the sake of our own peace of mind. And we shouldn’t do that.”
13:53 Shmygal said that in the coming weeks he plans to meet with Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico to “discuss all urgent issues and remove possible obstacles to the implementation of the Ukraine Facility.” The Prime Minister recalled that the European Council summit will take place on February 1, and Ukraine is counting on a positive decision on the allocation of financial support in the amount of 50 billion euros under the Ukraine Facility program.
13:18 In Davos, Kuleba reproached the allies for the presence of Western components in Russian weapons: “In almost all weapons, in the Russian missiles that we shoot down or intercept over the past two years, which were produced in Russia, there are a lot of Western spare parts. Some even say, "that 95% of modern Russian weapons come from the West. The West has the best business intelligence in the world. I do not believe that the West does not have the ability to track these schemes and shut them down."
12:46 Russian Kh-101 missiles are different from those used in 2022, Vadim Skibitsky, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, said in Davos: “The enemy is learning, learning quite quickly. I’ll just give you an example: Kh-101 cruise missiles are completely different, than those used in 2022. This is a missile already with an active electronic warfare system, with active protection, heat traps, etc.”
12:09 Project 205P patrol ship Tarantul sank in Sevastopol, reports the Atesh partisan movement. The ship was likely hit during a naval drone attack on Russian military installations several weeks ago. The partisans claim that this ship was stolen by the invaders in 2014 and was actively used for combat purposes.
11:24 British Foreign Minister David Cameron compared Putin to Hitler and urged not to appease him. According to the British minister, today's events in the world are reminiscent of the pre-war 1930s, when the West tried to appease Adolf Hitler: “It’s like being the foreign secretary or the leader of Europe in the 1930s, we must not appease Putin. We must "Resist the evil that is his invasion. The only thing we can do is demonstrate during this year that Putin is not winning."
Cameron also said that the United States spent 10% of the defense budget and achieved the destruction of 50% of Russian military equipment. According to him, Russia has lost 300 thousand people, 20% of its Black Sea Fleet, while NATO is expanding.
10:58 A night attack by Ukrainian drones on an oil depot in the Leningrad region of the Russian Federation is a special operation by the Main Intelligence Directorate, reports the UP, citing a source in the special services. “This is a power steering operation using modern Ukrainian means. Data collection continues, there are confirmed hits on targets. Now the military facilities of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region are within the reach of Ukrainian forces,” the publication’s interlocutor noted.
10:43 The Russians struck Kupyansk, Kharkov region, hitting an apartment building. One person was killed and two were injured, said the head of the OVA, Oleg Sinegubov.
10:40 Lavrov said that Moscow did not see “legally binding provisions” in the security agreement between Ukraine and Britain.
10:19 France will produce 78 Caesar self-propelled artillery units for Ukraine, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said. According to him, Ukraine is ready to partially pay for production and has already purchased six Caesar units at its own expense “to launch this initiative.” In addition, France will begin supplying Ukraine with 50 AASM gliding bombs per month from January throughout the year. The French minister also noted that France is introducing a war economy regime.
Le Monde writes that France has doubled the production of ammunition for Ukraine: from 1,000 to 2,000 per month, while the goal is to reach 3,000.
09:38 Defense Minister Rustem Umerov canceled today's visit to France “for security reasons,” AFP writes, citing the French Ministry of Defense. They reported that Umerov notified Paris of the cancellation shortly before the visit. It was planned that the Ukrainian minister would meet with his French colleague Sebastien Lecornu - including to launch a conference on the launch of the “artillery coalition”.
08:57 In the Nikolaev region, during a night attack as a result of falling debris from downed UAVs, the warehouses of an agricultural enterprise in the Snegirevskaya community were damaged, no people were injured, said the head of the OVA Vitaly Kim.
08:51 On the evening of January 17, the Russian army launched two strikes on the city of Chuguev, Kharkov region. Enemy ammunition hit the building of the educational institution, one person was killed, three were injured, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA.
08:29 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of January 18:
- personnel - about 373,600 (+780) people,
- tanks - 6147 (+21),
- armored combat vehicles - 11,410 (+38),
- artillery systems - 8835 (+24),
- MLRS - 966 (+2),
- air defense systems - 653 (+0),
- aircraft - 331 (+0),
- helicopters - 324 (+0),
- UAV of operational-tactical level - 6925 (+41),
- cruise missiles - 1818 (+1),
- ships/boats - 23 (+0),
- submarines - 1 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tank trucks - 11,794 (+39),
- special equipment - 1380 (+13).
07:53 In the Pavlograd district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, during a night attack, fragments of a downed drone fell on the territory of a farm - a fire broke out, which was promptly extinguished. One structure was destroyed and two were damaged, said the head of the OVA, Sergei Lysak.
07:38 Over the past 24 hours, 78 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report . In the Avdeevsky direction, the Defense Forces repelled 13 enemy attacks in the areas of Novokalinovo, Novobakhmutovka, Avdeevka and another 14 attacks near Severny, Pervomaisky and Nevelsky of the Donetsk region. In the Maryinsky direction, ten attacks were repulsed in the areas of Krasnohorivka, Georgievka, Maryinka and Novomikhailovka in the Donetsk region.
In the Kupyansk direction, six enemy attacks were repelled near Sinkovka, Kharkov region; in Limansky - 13 attacks in the areas of Ternov, Yampolevka of the Donetsk region and five more attacks near Makeevka, Belogorivka of the Lugansk region; on Bakhmutsky - eight attacks near Grigorievka, Ivanovsky, Kleshcheevka and Andreevka, Donetsk region; on Shakhtarsky - one attack north of Novodonetsk, Donetsk region. The enemy did not conduct offensive operations in the Zaporozhye direction. The expansion of the bridgehead continues in the Kherson direction; over the past 24 hours, the enemy has unsuccessfully attempted to storm the positions of the Defense Forces six times.
07:27 Governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly fired ten missiles at Belgorod, all of them were shot down, one person was injured.
07:11 Air defense at night destroyed 22 of 33 attack UAVs of the Shahed-136/131 type , which Russia attacked from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk region, the Air Force command reported. The main directions of impact are south and north. Air defense operated within the Sumy, Nikolaev, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovograd and Khmelnytsky regions.
In addition, the enemy launched two strikes with S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles from the Belgorod region in the Kharkov region.
01:32 The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the air defense allegedly destroyed one aircraft-type UAV over the territory of the Moscow region and intercepted another one over the territory of the Leningrad region.