Putin evaluates a rudder change and analyzes an unpopular measure

The Ukrainian forces “almost certainly” held positions in Soledarnorth of Bakhmut, until this Sunday, despite the continuous attacks of the Wagner Group, according to the UK Ministry of Defense. Heavy fighting in the Kremina and Bakhmut sectors on the Donbass front continued over the weekend.

“Over the past six weeks, both Russia and Ukraine have made limited but hard-fought gains in different sectors,” according to the Defense report.

The repaired German Leopard tanks, which were promised by Germany, will not be ready to be delivered until 2024, as it became known in the last few hours, according to a record Reuters.

The company even said that I would need a confirmed order to begin repairs when. This was stated by its quoted executive director, Papperger, to the Bild newspaper on Sunday.

For Rheinmetall, repairing the tanks it has in stock, at least 22 Leopard 2 tanks and 88 Leopard 1 tanks, would cost several hundred million euros.

The warning from arms maker Rheinmetall dampens kyiv’s hopes that the UK’s promise to deliver Challenger 2 tanks would help other European nations quickly do the same, it said. Guardian.

At least three people have been injured, of which two are minorsafter the launch of a missile by Russia on the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia, according to local authorities.

”The Russians have fired on our city again. As a result of the night attack, there were injured people. There are damaged houses”, the mayor of Zaporizhia, Anatoli Kurtev, asserted in a message on Telegram.

The three injured were taken to a hospital for emergency medical attention. Among them, there is a nine-year-old boy and another 15-year-old boy. As reported by the mayor of the city, the emergency services continue to work at the scene of the impact.

The death toll as consequence of the attack on a building in Dnipro went up to 35 peopleincluding two kids, according to the latest update from the Ukrainian authorities. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Valentyn Reznichenko, reported the data on his Telegram channel.

According to Reznichenko’s post, 39 people had been rescued from the scene of the attack. At least 75 people in total were injured, including 14 children.

Meanwhile, until the early hours of January 16, some 35 people were still missing.

A Russian missile struck an apartment block in a residential neighborhood of Dnipro, a city of 1 million in central Ukraine, in the early afternoon of January 14.

The CEO of Ukrainian power provider Yasno, Serhiy Kovalenko, said Ukraine’s power system faces a “huge” power generation shortfall following the January 14 mass attack.

According to the official, there was significant damage to thermal power generation of Ukraine, according to The Kyiv Independent

While he did not provide details, Kovalenko said Ukraine’s state grid operator decided to significantly limit power consumption in Ukraine, including in kyiv.

“It is still too early to forecast the repair period,” he said. “All power engineers are working to restore productionbut you have to be prepared that power outages can be long-term.”

The UK Ministry of Defense stated that Russia plans to increase its upper limit for conscription from 27 to 30, in a measure that, according to what he realized, has the explicit support of Putin.

In its latest report, the ministry said Russian leaders hoped the change would be “less alarming” than announcing another round of the unpopular “partial mobilization” process that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered in September. That measure had generated strong discontent, to such an extent that it encouraged several young people to leave the country.

Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, said on January 12, 2023, that the move would allow the previously announced 30 percent increase in the size of Russian forces.

“Last year, President Putin said he supported such a move, and Russian officials are likely gauging public reactions.the ministry said in the update.

In September, the partial mobilization had generated strong rejection in Russian society. Amid strong internal criticism, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced in late October the end of the partial mobilization after recruiting about 300,000 people.

The death toll from a Russian missile attack on an apartment building in Dnipro, Ukraine has risen to 30, according to the latest official report. This was confirmed on Sunday by Natalia Babachenko, adviser to the head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, in a contact with the Ukrainian media. However, it can grow.

Babachenko also said that the rescue operation is ongoing and he added that there could be as many as 30 or even 40 people under the rubble.

After the attack, 75 people went to the hospital, 30 of whom remain there, Babachenko said.

Babachenko added that 12 of those hospitalized remain in serious condition, including a 9-year-old girl. The girl was walking near the apartment block when the missile struck, the adviser said.

The Dnipro attack was strongly condemned by Zelensky and other international leaders.

Russian forces bombed this Sunday “premises where representatives of the Red Cross” in Khersondenounced the deputy director of the office of the president of Ukraine, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, on his channel Telegram.

“The enemy projectiles hit the facilities where the representatives of the Red Cross work” in Kherson, he explained. “ANDThe shelling caused a serious fire. Rescue teams are working. There is no information about the victims, ”she indicated.

“During the shelling of the same building in mid-December, a volunteer and member of the Red Cross rapid response unit, Viktoria Yaryshko, died,” the official recalled.

While Russia seeks to redirect the war after the strong offensive launched by Ukraine, the Kremlin is plagued by internal disputes that have an impact on the leadership of Vladimir Putin. According to him he recorded CNNthe head of the russian mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhinmaintains a tough confrontation with the Defense Minister, Sergey Shoigu.

Hit by the successive territorial withdrawals, Shoigu saw in recent days how Prigozhin began to raise the profile regarding the performance of his mercenary troops on the battlefield. In fact, Prigozhin claimed the capture of the city of Soledar in the east, a version that kyiv has rejected.

Prigozhin said on Friday that it was “exclusively” his troops that allegedly made gains around Soledar in recent days.

In a filmed exchange with his fighters, Prigozhin provocatively asked: “Apart from Wagner, who else is here?” “Nobody else!” they responded.

Prigozhin, an oligarch close to Putin, posted a video on Saturday claiming he had just visited his troops in the brutally disputed town of Soledar. There, he praised his forces for what he claimed was the best combat prowess in the world.

At the beginning of the month it had issued a strong internal warning. “Once we conquer our internal bureaucracy and corruption, then we will conquer the Ukrainians and NATO”. He said so in a message to his troops somewhere in the eastern region of Ukraine.

According to CNNthe main bureaucrat targeted by the head of the Wagner Group is Sergei Shoigu. The two appear to have feuded over lucrative military contracts awarded and later taken from the Concord Group, from Prigozhin, as well as later, by Wagner’s controversial role in Syria.

Anyway, the internal dispute conspires against the alleged intent of the Kremlin leaderVladimir Putin to redirect his troops and guarantee a orderly command.

Even so, the United States recognizes the movements given by the mercenaries. The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Laura Cooper, recognized it in a dialogue with the press days ago. “In the recent past, we have seen Wagner advance at a faster rate than any other unit in the Russian army.”

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