While NATO does the counting of how many Leopards and what type will be sent to Ukraine and how soon, the same goes for the Abrams, the Russians have posted pictures of an anti-Leopard and Abrams weapon online. It will be delivered to the front in February so that the military can learn how to use it before the tanks arrive. Dmitry Rogozin presented a robot capable of destroying Abrams and Leopard tanks. Marker, this is the name of the robot, is able to automatically detect and destroy Ukrainian vehicles, including US Abrams and German Leopard tanks.
Rogozin said: ‘For this purpose, it is embedded with the appropriate electronic image. Already now the NWO is a comparison of technologies. The Russian army confronts both the most reliable Soviet technologies, inherited from Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR, and the latest Western developments. It is a proving ground where every possible solution of the arms industry is tested in real time’.
The weapon obviously does not solve the issue at the front, the Russians are preparing for what will be a spring offensive that will be not in the Donbass but towards Crimea. And to go to Crimea, tanks are not needed, according to the Russian social sphere.
Among the most circulating posts in the Russian social sphere is one that translates as follows: ‘Yes, it has been decided to hand over a total of 45 tanks to the AFU to recapture the lost territory, including Crimea. NATO strategists probably do not know that Russia has about 13,000 tanks in stock’.
At the moment, according to Dmitry Peskov, despite some internal demands, the ‘special operation’ will not change its name or scope. That is, there will be no state of war: ‘The Kremlin is not thinking of changing the status of the special operation. Russia perceives the arms supplies of the US and other collective Western countries to Ukraine as their direct involvement in the conflict. The Kremlin sees the involvement of the United States and collective Western countries in the conflict in Ukraine as growing’.
For example, Crimean Duma deputy Sheremet proposed changing the status of the special operation following the Western countries’ decision to supply tanks to Ukraine. The MP believes that changing the status will allow the economy to be transferred to military tracks.
To Joe Biden’s statements on the Crimea retaking on 25 January: ‘Ukrainian forces are preparing for a major counter-attack starting in the spring’, Russian Security Council vice-president Medvedev replied: ‘The Kiev regime will soon have no access to the sea’. In other words, it is clear in the intentions of the Russians that Odessa will also end up in Moscow’s sights.
However, the Russia-West tension remains very high. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: ‘Foreign Minister Berbock’s statements on tank supplies to Ukraine confirm a pre-planned war against Russia.
“The United States hopes that arms supplies to Ukraine will help win lost territories, including Crimea,” the White House said. According to an administration official, Washington does not tell Kiev where to strike or where to conduct offensive operations. However, at the moment the Ukrainians who are selling their surrender dearly have little hope of winning the confrontation with Russia.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine should also receive long-range missiles and fighter planes from the West: “Today I spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. We must unlock the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine, it is important to expand our cooperation in the field of artillery, we must get the delivery of aircraft to Ukraine’. The day before, the US announced that it would deliver 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine and Germany 14 Leopard 2 tanks.
While the debate continues Russia during the night of 25 January and during the early morning hours of the 26th kept the Ukrainian anti-aircraft force busy for four hours. The Russian armed forces used 24 Iranian Shaked-136 attack drones during the night, according to the Ukrainian forces.
During the course of the night, the Russian armed forces launched missile attacks against targets in Kiev, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odessa, Nikolayev, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Dnipropetrovsk, as well as in the regions of Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, Vinnitsa and Zaporizhia. The targets were attacked in three waves to penetrate the enemy air defences. The loudest explosion was heard in Dnipropetrovsk.
Only to resume on the morning of the 26th. At 06:57 Italian time, the Ukrainian media reported about 50 rockets flying towards them. At 10.37 a.m., the first assessment of the attack was: ‘Rockets reached Vinnytsia. In Odessa, repeated explosions. the rocket hit the air defence/radar facility. The rockets hit the PS 110/35/6kV. substations in Petrodolinsky, Odessa region. Ukrainian media report that the Ukrainian air defence shoots down only 10% of the missiles. The missiles fly in the direction of western Ukraine. They record an arrival in Dnepropetrovsk, most likely on the basis of fuel and lubricants/energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian media report that Russian aerospace forces today applied a new strategy of missile attacks: ‘The first UAVs are flying en masse. The first wave on the nearest targets at a distance of 100-200 km from the line of contact. These arrive in the regions of Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Kharkiv, Cherkasy. Subsequently, the second wave is launched, the purpose of which is to launch deep strikes, then missiles against identified targets of air defence/radar, aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The third wave of UAVs is already going clean and then again, perhaps missiles’.
The Russian social sphere declared this attack to be of lesser intensity than previous ones and did not lead to the shutdown of the Ukrainian power system despite hitting substations and power plants.
The Rivne nuclear power plant strengthens the security of its facilities, local authorities announced. While it is learnt via social media that the green light has been given for the Kherson-Mikolayev-Odessa offensive, which is now being prepared. Starting on 25 January, the Russian armed forces began the assault on Vuhledar.
In the late afternoon of 25 January the Russian army broke through the Ukrainian defences in Vuhledar, marines fought in the urban development. “The dachas (eastern outskirts of Vuhledar) are completely controlled by our marines, the DShB have knocked out the enemy and cleared the strongholds, cut the highway,” reports a Russian war journalist on his Telegram channel.
A fighter with the battle name Bazal reports: ‘It’s worth noting that aid is regularly reaching our guys, the artillery of the 155th is disrupting the Ukrainian Armed Forces as it should be, the brigade command is doing everything possible to save the lives of our fighters and complete the task. The assault action of the tactical forces is supported by the army and the tactical air force’. At approximately 19:00 on 25 January, the eastern outskirts of Vuhledar came under the control of the Russian army’.
“On the morning of 26 January, marines of the 155th RF Armed Forces Brigade and a pair of ‘Cascade’ entered the urban area of Vuhledar,” Russian military correspondents report from the scene.
News from the Donetsk leadership from the Ukrainian General Staff that it will not withdraw from Bachmut as long as it is possible to defend the city. And reported heavy fighting in Vuhledar: ‘Russian troops assault the city’.
Russian troops entered Vuhledar and entrenched themselves on the outskirts of the town, the DNR authorities said. A report from the Ukrainian General Staff, dated 26 January morning, states that: “The Russian army is advancing on Bachmut, Vuhledar, Avdeevka and near Liman”.
We learned in closing, that Russian units have taken control of the highway leading from Pokrovs’k to Vuhledar, occupying new positions on the outskirts of the city, Pushilin’s advisor reported.
Faced with the severe losses suffered by the Ukrainians near Soledar and Bachmut (in Dnipropetrovsk after the fighting – there is talk via social media of at least a thousand wounded and up to four thousand bodies identified), the Kiev General Staff is asking the territorial recruitment centres (military conscription offices) to speed up the mobilisation process. In addition, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry leadership ordered to select 4,000 National Police officers to be sent to combat units as shock troops. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are deploying reserves in the direction of Svatove for further offensive attempts. In response to the Russian attacks, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired 75 bullets at the Donetsk People’s Republic, wounding three civilians.
In the Orikhove area, Russian troops were preparing to fire before assaulting Ukrainian positions near Orikhove. According to the Ukrainian grouping of troops in Zaporizhzhya, separate Russian assault detachments are conducting sorties on Ukrainian strongholds in Shcherbaki, Novodanilovka, Novopokrovka. In addition, forces of the 2nd Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard, 9th Gepard Special Forces Regiment, are in full combat readiness in anticipation of a new offensive on the Kam’yans’ke-Stepove line. There is reciprocal shelling in the Pohovka sector, there are no significant changes in the front line.
In the Vremyevka area, the Ukrainian armed forces are reinforcing their positions on the Vremyevka-Volshaya Novoselka line. Reinforcements have arrived at the strongholds of the 108th Tetra Defence Brigade. Mobile firing groups with large-calibre mortars are active along the line. Mortar shells have been supplied to the advanced lines of Olgovskoye and Novoselka.
In Marinka, the assault on the western outskirts of the city continues. The Ukrainian armed forces moved their reserves to hold the line and managed to repel several attacks. However, the number of casualties in the area is increasing, and some reports suggest that one of the 79 OdshbR units has abandoned its duties. In the Toretsk sector, a precise hit hit the position of the 5th Assault Regiment in Toretsk and Neu York.
Graziella Giangiulio
