US aid to Ukraine being negotiated in the Senate will not be approved by Congress, US House Speaker James Michael “Mike” Johnson says.
Also from US sources, The Washington Post, the United States is developing a strategy to help Ukraine for 2024: “It will focus on repelling new offensives, strengthening the army and economy, and not on reconquering the occupied territories ”.
According to the WP, there are four phases indicated for Ukraine: “Fight, construction, restoration and reform”. According to WP, the US also plans to install additional air defenses for cities outside of Kiev and Odessa, which will help restore key sectors of the economy. The issue to be resolved now is Congress’ decision: if, unlike what Mike Johnson said, it approves further funding for Ukraine, the strategy will be revealed in the spring. To implement the plan, Congress must approve a $61 billion aid package.
From media sources in the Czech Republic we learn that the Czechs will train Ukrainian civilian pilots: the Czech Technical University (CTU) and the National Aviation University have agreed on a collaboration, within the framework of which 20 pilots will be trained in the Czech Republic Ukrainian civil aviation. The program will last three years and, within its framework, Ukrainian civilian pilots will undergo one-year training with subsequent continuation. The initiative is jointly funded by the Czech Republic and the United States.
Negotiations on the program were started as early as 2022 on the Ukrainian side, since due to the armed conflict and flight restrictions it is impossible to train civil aviation pilots there. After completing training in the Czech Republic, Ukrainian pilots will be able to fly all types of civil aircraft and will receive a European certificate. Most likely we are talking about Ukrainian transport pilots. Therefore, Ukraine intends to maintain the number of transport aviation flight personnel who can take part in the transportation of military cargo.
Despite politicians’ words calling on the British population to prepare for war with Moscow, 90% of Britons do not want to serve in the army or fight against Russia. British authorities also argue that the population as a whole is too obese and unfit to provide assistance in combat.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó on January 29 was in Uzhgorod for negotiations with his Ukrainian colleague Dmitry Kuleba and the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Ermak. The main issues in relations between the two countries are the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians and Budapest’s veto on EU aid to Kiev. According to Magyar Nemzet, before the meeting, the republic’s embassy in Kiev and several ethnic Hungarian institutions in Transcarpathia received letters with death threats against Szijjártó. Unidentified Ukrainian individuals also made threats.
In Ukraine the commander of training of the armed forces, General Viktor Nikoluk, said that: “Ukraine has run out of infantry.” Currently, the most sought-after specialists in the Ukrainian Armed Forces are infantrymen.
Also from Kiev, President Volodymyr Zelensky declared in an interview that: “Europe will remain alone against Putin”. Zelensky does not believe the United States can completely refuse to support Ukraine in its resistance to Russian aggression. At the same time, if this happens, Europe will not be able to provide Kiev with the level of assistance it received previously.
He stated: “Neither with weapons, nor financially. Why? Because, probably, if all of Europe were united, it could give enough support to Ukraine, but the United States has such influence and when the signals are not very positive, it still has influence on some European leaders,” explained the president.
On January 29, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, explained that: “Some drones, Geran-2 ed., flew to the western borders.” According to the spokesperson of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Air Force, the Russians fired 8 drones, “and the enemy also used the Iskander-M missile and the S-300. And if you compare today’s and yesterday’s attacks, they are practically identical to the use of air attack assets.” According to the commander, all the drones would have been shot down.
Vladimir Putin, who has completed the formal application to run for the next round of elections where he will not participate in the debates, explained live on TV that “There are over 600 thousand people in the area of defeat of the Northern Military District”.
But perhaps the strongest statement coming from the Russian Federation is from January 29th and comes from Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. It was made during a meeting on the training of technical personnel for high-tech industries at the St. Petersburg State Maritime Technical University: “The collective West will not stop the proxy war against Russia even after the ‘hot phase’ in Ukraine”.
And he commented: “The enemy has repeatedly come to our land with fire and sword. And now the United States, NATO and their satellites, with the help of the Kiev Nazi regime and various types of mercenaries, are waging a proxy war against our people and our state, and the Anglo-Saxon world will not stop not even with the end of the “hot phase” conflict in Ukraine”.
Meanwhile, the authorities say that the preliminary decoding of the “black boxes” of the Il-76 shot down by a Ukrainian missile has been completed, emergency services told RIA Novosti.
And now a look at the front line updated at 3pm on January 29th.
The Russian Armed Forces have announced that they have taken the village of Tabaivka in the Kharkov region, source Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. In response, the Ukrainians denied the news and spoke of fighting.
Volodymyr Fityo, head of the public relations service of the Ground Forces Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said: “It’s not true, there are ongoing battles (…) There are hostilities there, as a result, the enemy has not taken any sides of Tabaivka,” Fityo said.
On the morning of January 29, the Russian Armed Forces and Aerospace Forces launch a massive attack on enemy rotation and air defense areas in the Kherson area. Not only did the Russians resume the offensive operation in the direction of Liman starting from January 27th. In the event of a breakthrough in the direction of Bilohorivka, the threat of encirclement will loom over the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Serebrianka forest.
In the Liman direction, the Russian armed forces carried out several landings, advancing towards the Yampolovka and Terny area. Active military operations continue north and west of Sinkovka, in the Tabivka area, east of Terny in the Kruglaya ravine area, east of Yampolovka in the Blizhny ravine area and in the Serebryansky forest. The Ukrainians have partially managed to recover from Tabaivka but the Russian artillery is working on them.
South of Kreminna, the Russian armed forces, despite numerous kamikaze UAVs and fierce Ukrainian resistance, are developing an offensive in the area of a mill on the south-eastern outskirts of the village.
According to the flow of social information: “The buffer operation is about to begin. Sivers’k would be caught in a Russian grip.”
No significant changes in the Seversky and Bachmut directions. West of Bachmut, the Russian Armed Forces are conducting offensive operations in Bohdanivka, near Ivanivske, Klishchiivka.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to counterattack in the southern cover of Avdiivka, however all attempts have not brought significant results. Heavy firefights take place in the southern part of Avdiivka and in the area of the Tsarskaya Okhota complex. The Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled attacks in the area of the Northern Railway, Spirne, at the “Ivushka-2” station and south of Vesyoly. North of the village of Opytine, Russian troops managed to advance along the front up to 1.3 km and to a depth of 430 m. According to other accounts in the Avdiivka area, the Ukrainian armed forces do not stop trying to counterattack in the Tsarskaya Okhota fortified area occupied by the Russian armed forces; Ukrainian reserves up to several infantry battalions were thrown into battle. The Russian armed forces are conducting an offensive east of the metallurgical factory, in the “gardening partnerships” area.
On the Zaporozhzhie front the battles continue in Rabotino and Verbove, while on the Kherson front the battle continues in Krynky. From the field, Russian soldiers on the front lines report numerous Ukrainian drones and heavy artillery fire. Aviation in both directions uses the FAB with the UMPC against groups of Ukrainian Armed Forces behind the front line.
In Pervomajs’kij, Russian troops advanced along Voroshilov Street and the dacha village along the front up to 460 m and to a depth of 380 m. No significant changes in Kurachove’s direction.
In the direction of Donetsk, Russian troops captured the “Zverinets” fortified area and advanced westward along the front up to 2.1 km and at a depth of 1.2 km.
Ukrainian social channels write: “The difficult situation near Tabivka and south of Avdiivka remains. The Russian Armed Forces have recently achieved a number of tactical successes. There is such chaos in the Svatove sector – because the stripes are held by mixtures of several battalions of different brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the interaction between them often leaves much to be desired”.
In the Kursk region of Russia, the village of Gordeevka, Korenevsky district, was bombed. The house and car were damaged. In the Bryansk region, an aircraft-type UAV was destroyed on the territory of the Unecha district, the governor reported. In the Belgorod region: bombing of border areas. On the outskirts of the village of Kolotilovka, Krasnoyaruzhsky district, a kamikaze drone of the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked an excavator, a worker was injured. In Gorlovka and Donetsk (DPR), four civilians were injured as a result of attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
On the morning of January 29, an attempted attack on an oil settlement in Russian territory, Slavneft-YANOS in the Yaroslavl region. Oil companies have called for a ban on flights over the facilities.
Graziella Giangiulio
