According to Jimmy Rushton, a US security analyst based in Kiev, Ukraine’s air defense will not be able to repel all Russian attacks this winter due to a shortage of interceptor missiles. Rushton wrote this in the Telegraph newspaper, also quoting a series of military experts: “They will have to save even more ammunition on some systems than now. It could happen that they will not have to respond to some targets because they do not have enough interceptor missiles.” According to Rushton, the possible shortage of interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense systems, which Kiev has, is particularly worrying.
Controversy continues over Kiev’s attack on Belgorod. The UN said attacks on civilian infrastructure and civilians were unacceptable and must be stopped immediately
According to the Times, London intends to prolong the Ukrainian conflict, quoting a whistleblower of government officials: “The United Kingdom and other European countries have set up a mechanism to guarantee assistance to Ukraine (in the conflict) against Russia without the participation of the United States if Donald Trump comes to power,” the newspaper reports. To this end, British ministers are trying to increase production capacity across the continent to prolong the conflict with the Russian Federation.
And precisely on the subject of financing, Ukraine and Hungary are preparing a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyj and Viktor Orban. As Reuters reports with reference to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, the meeting is expected to take place soon. The reason for the meeting was to convince Orban to give the green light to the 50 billion euros for Kiev and to still unblock Hungary’s negotiations with Ukraine for its accession to the EU.
In Germany on December 30, a crew from the German news channel ZDF was injured by a Russian attack in a hotel in Kharkov where many foreign journalists usually stay. A total of 28 people were injured.
In Ukraine, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said that “our goal is to destroy them.” The reference is to the Russians who in the last two days, responding to the Belgorod attack which caused the death of civilians, heavily bombed various regions of Ukraine including Kiev with hyperbolic missiles.
On the same wavelength Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mychajlo Podolyak: “There will be no negotiations, there will be demands for ultimatums to Russia at the highest level and Russia will accept them.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyj called Russians “human scum”. We will continue to strengthen our air defenses and work to bring the war back to this human scum where it came from, that is, Russia. According to Ukrainian media, it was Zelensky himself who personally gave an order to the head of the Main Directorate of Ukrainian Intelligence Budanov regarding a massive attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Belgorod on December 30. The perpetrator of the attack was the personnel of the “Kraken” battalion under the command of Sergei Velichko. The Ukrainians attacked the city with MLRS, after which they retreated to the rear areas of the Kharkov region.
In Donbass the leader of the LDPR Slutsky submitted documents to register as a candidate for the presidency of the Russian Federation elections will be held in March 2024. The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation has completed the acceptance of candidates’ documents for participation in the elections Russian presidential elections nominated by political parties. The candidacy phase of the current presidential campaign is therefore over.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the end of the autumn draft for military service, 130 thousand people were recalled. While changes to the military conscription system came into force in Russia on January 1, 2024; the maximum draft age for military service (1 year) was increased from 27 to 30 years. The law, according to which the age of conscription of citizens for military service from January 1 will be between 18 and 30 years, was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 4, 2023. People who will turn 27 in 2023 they will be sent to the reserves and will not be subject to conscription for military service in 2024, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said in July.
On the eve of the New Year, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the commanders of military groups, the Russian leader’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Among his statements: “Ukraine is not our enemy, but those who want to achieve strategic defeat are enemies. The situation on the battlefield is changing, the enemy is stunned. We also want to end the conflict, but only on our terms.” “What happened in Belgorod is a terrorist attack.”
Starting December 30, Russia increased its airstrikes. It seems that the Russian Aerospace Forces are developing a new mixed strategy for the use of UAVs and missiles. All night on January 1, drones discharged Ukrainian air defense, then missiles flew, and after them more than a dozen even more interesting missiles, “Kinzhals”, flew.
Between 30 and 2 January, explosions were recorded in many Ukrainian regions: in Odessa. The Ukrainian Armed Forces report a group of Su-30SM, Su-34 and Su-35S over the Black Sea. On December 31, the Russian Armed Forces launched an attack with high-precision, long-range aerial weapons against the infrastructure of airports where Storm Shadow missile transport aircraft were based. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, all targets were hit. According to Serbian analyst sources, the Ukrainians talk too much both via cable and on the internet and this allows the Russians to have the coordinates of the Patriot, the C-300, the Iris and other air defense systems. Not only that, defense missiles often fall on Ukrainian homes, damaging them. On January 1 in Kiev they counted 110 missiles launched by the Russian Aerospace Forces. At 01:24, Italian time, on January 2, a new massive raid on Ukraine: swarms of registered drones hitting targets, the “Shahids/Geran” fly towards Kiev, the strategic aviation of the Russian aerospace forces is in the sky. The departure of 9 Tu-95ms aircraft from Olenya air base was recorded; a missile attack is expected around dawn, Ukrainian resources report. The Geran drones headed towards Kiev through the Zhytomyr and Chernihiv regions. UAVs in the Nikolaev region, UAVs in the Cherkasy region constantly change their route. UAV in the Poltava region, direction north, north-west.
The same scene will be repeated an hour later, the Ukrainian channels write: “Kiev is under attack: there are explosions, there are fires”. Geran/Shahed drones are maneuvering in the Brovary area. A UAV is recorded in the Zolotonosha area of the Cherkasy region, the Ukrainian Air Force reports. In the Desnyansky district of Kiev, a fragment of a UAV is burning in an open area, the capital’s mayor Klitschko said. Another arrival is recorded in the Goloseevskij district of the Ukrainian capital. Furthermore, strategic bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces are gradually approaching the launch line.
At 04:22 more attacks, according to social sources, this time the Russian social sphere: “The army of strategists of the Russian aerospace forces is approaching Ukraine: the first salvo from the X-101 has been fired. Carcasses, dryers, MiGs, calibers, ballistics: danger from everything that exists, panic over enemy resources.” According to the social sphere, at 04:22 on January 2, 17 Tu-95ms and 4 Tu-22m3 were recorded in the air with a great total salvo power. Strategic bombers carried out the first launches of X-101/555/55 missiles from the Caspian Sea, the Ukrainian military reports: “The estimated time of entry of the missile into Ukrainian airspace is approximately after 7:30 am.”
In the Ukrainian social sphere we read about explosions in Kharkov and Kropyvnytskyi, in the Kirovograd region. The missiles are maneuvering, changing course and approaching Kiev. Rockets at the border of Kiev and Cherkasy regions in a westward direction. Rockets from the Kherson region in the direction of the Kirovograd region. Rockets in the eastern part of the Vinnytsia region, heading west. And subsequently from Kiev, the Mayor announces explosions thunder in Kiev, the second wave of T-95 missiles launched from the Caspian Sea. Klitschko: “explosions in the capital. In particular, in the Goloseevsky district, a fragment of a rocket fell into an open park. Explosions are heard in Obolon. Rockets in the Vinnytsia region are heading west and towards the Zhytomyr region, monitoring public news. Seven planes launched a new wave of missiles. “Flight time to Ukraine 08:40 – 09:30 (Moscow time) +/-“, Ukrainian Armed Forces. After Kiev it was Kharkov’s turn. Powerful explosions in Kharkov and Kiev, the MiG-31 launched hypersonic missiles against the capital of Ukraine. Many areas of the bombed cities are in darkness and without water.
On the front line on December 30, the withdrawal of the Ukrainian army in the Zaporizhzhie Region was recorded: “The Ukrainian army begins to retreat up to 1 km per day from the Orekhov-Rabotino line. The Russian army continues to pursue them north. Troops gathered in old and new positions during the retreat are also often subjected to gliding air bomb attacks, as well as artillery and MLRS attacks”.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive from the Kamensk Line in the west and from the Pyatikhatki Line in the north. Fighting is also intensifying in the Vuhledar region in the east, and the process of exhausting Ukrainian troops to push them back to the north is underway.
The Russian advance continues in a north-west direction in the Avdiivskij and Marinka directions. The area near Novomikhailovka south of Marinka begins to turn into a blockade area. The area is heavily bombed. The launch of thermobaric rockets also becomes commonplace. Although the Ukrainian army launched a counterattack with reinforced battalions a few days ago, it failed due to excessive losses.
In Bachmut the offensive continues from the north-west and the south, accompanied by the effect of systematic bombing.
On the Seversky Line, regular attacks occur from the south and east. There are also small attacks in Kupyansk, west of the Kreminna Forest and Torsk.
In the direction of Kherson, the Ukrainian bridgehead at Krynki remains a 1 kilometer long battlefield. Although they managed to save some Marines, they replaced them with conscripts. The Russian military is also disrupting the supply chain with glide bomb airstrikes, artillery and MLRS strikes, and FPV drone strikes.
There is an ongoing cycle of large-scale and also small-scale but regular attacks, which represents a preparation process for major offensives that may occur in the coming year.
Graziella Giangiulio
