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| U.S. President Joe Biden spoke at the White House on Wednesday (January 2023, 1), making it clear that the United States will continue to provide support to Ukraine. |
WASHINGTON — A few hours after launching a drone attack on Ukraine on the night of Wednesday (January 25), Russia launched a new round of missile attacks on Ukraine on Thursday morning, resulting in at least one death. The fierce fighting in the eastern part of Wudong continues, and the pressure of the Russian offensive on the Ukrainian defenders continues unabated.
Ahead of Russia’s latest missile attacks, both Germany and the United States pledged to provide Kiev with advanced main battle tanks, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called hours later on Kiev’s Western allies to provide long-range missiles and military aircraft to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russian airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital killed one person and wounded two. He appealed to citizens to stay in shelters and not go out.
“Since a rocket hit a non-residential building in the Holosiif district, we received information that one person was killed and two injured. The injured have been taken to hospital,” he said.
The head of Kiev’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said that air defense forces shot down more than a dozen missiles over the capital.
“The enemy fired more than 15 cruise missiles in the direction of Kiev, but due to our excellent air defense work, all air targets were shot down,” he said.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said in a Telegram
post that “the first Russian missiles have been shot down,” but he did not specify where.
The local government reported that two energy facilities in the southern Odessa region were hit by Russian missiles.
“There have been reports of damage to two critical energy infrastructures in Odessa, but no one has been injured. Air defense units are working in the Odessa region,” Yuriy Kruk, head of the state’s military administration, wrote on social media. Serhiy Borzov, head of the military administration of the central Vinnytsia region, said Vinnytsia oblast was also the target of Russian missile attacks, but there were no casualties.
Earlier, the Ukrainian General Staff said that the Ukrainian army shot down 24 drones in an air strike launched by the Russian army on Wednesday night, including 15 of them over Kiev. In a routine video conversation on the evening of January 25, Zelensky noted that it is now necessary to “take action to supply aircraft to Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian General Staff noted in a daily briefing on January 26 that on the ground battlefield, Ukrainian forces are under constant pressure from the Russian offensive in the east, mainly in Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region and Chervono Popivka in the Luhansk region.
“Despite the serious damage suffered, the enemy did not stop its offensive operations,” the General Staff said. The General Staff also noted that the Ukrainian defenders also repelled enemy attacks in the Liman, Kupyansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Jan. 25 that Russia has been “intensifying” its offensive near Bakhmut, not only deploying “a super-large number of troops and weapons” on the ground but also turning the area into an 11-month war of aggression. Maryar also said that in the “Bakhmut and Vukhlaidar sectors, the enemy is increasing its pressure” on the front line.
Ukrainian officials acknowledged on Jan. 25 that the salt-mining city of Soledar in the Donetsk region had fallen into Russian hands, and many military experts believe the Russian army will launch a spring offensive there.
After months of heated debate among NATO allies, Berlin and Washington finally agreed to provide tanks to Ukraine to help it respond to Russia’s expected offensive. Zelensky praised allies for their commitment to supply advanced tanks but called on allies to provide a large number of tanks as soon as possible.
“The key now is speed and volume. Quickly train our troops, and quickly supply tanks to Ukraine. The amount of tank assistance,” he said. “We have to form a ‘tank fist’, that is, a ‘freedom fist’.”
“It is very important that we also make progress in other areas of defense cooperation,” Zelensky said.
“We must open supply lines for long-range missiles to Ukraine. This is important – we must also expand cooperation in the field of artillery, and we must start supplying aircraft to Ukraine. It’s a dream, it’s a task.
President Biden said on January 25 that the United States would provide 31 very advanced Abrams tanks, but he did not believe that this posed a threat to Russia.
Moscow warned that it saw the West’s supply of advanced main battle tanks to Ukraine as a dangerous provocation.
Biden said at the White House that NATO’s supply of tanks to Ukraine will help the Ukrainian army “improve their ability to maneuver in open areas.”
He praised Berlin’s announcement of the same decision, calling it evidence that “Germany really has a responsibility.”
Governor Olaf Scholz said a few hours ago that Germany will supply Ukraine with 14 Leopard 2 tanks, while also agreeing to other countries transferring their German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Scholz said the decision, approved on January 25, represents “the right principle” in the face of Russia’s unprovoked aggression against its neighbors.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the first Panther tanks could arrive in Ukraine within three months.
