Putin replaces the linchpin of Russia's military
Indicative estimates of Russia's combat losses as of January 12, according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Total enemy combat losses from February 24 to January 12
More than 200 Ukrainian soldiers arrive in Spain to improve combat technical skills
55% of Ukrainian heating infrastructure repaired, according to Naftogaz
The Ukrainian gas supply company Naftogaz, which supplies the majority of the population, reported that more than 55% of the energy infrastructure for heating that had been damaged by the Russian attacks has been repaired.
This was indicated on Facebook by its president, Oleksiy Chernyshov, the Ukrinform agency reported. "Despite the bombing, local governments, supply companies and workers have already recovered more than 55% of the infrastructure facilities destroyed or damaged by the enemy, allowing us to supply heating to Ukrainians," Chernyshov wrote.
Estonia calls on EU countries to reduce Russian staff at embassies
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu has urged the rest of the European Union states to reduce the staff of Russian embassies in the various countries, a day after the Estonian government announced a cut in Russian diplomats from February 1.
"The other countries in the community should reflect on this," Reinsalu told EUobserver news portal before arguing that Russian diplomats "do not work to promote peace" with the West.
Ukraine aims to turn war theatres into tourist destinations
Tourism will be one of the ways for the reconstruction of Ukraine, which aims to turn scenarios of the Russian invasion into tourist destinations so that the horror of war is not forgotten, with a program that will be presented at the Fitur international fair in Madrid.
"Ukraine wants to turn some of the scenarios that the Russian invasion of the country has made internationally famous into tourist destinations to promote this sector and, at the same time, help not to forget the suffering and destruction they have suffered at the hands of Russia," a Ukrainian delegation that will attend the fair next week said in a statement on Thursday.
To well-known destinations such as the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which in 2019 was visited by more than 100,000 people, the capital Kiev or the UNESCO heritage city Lviv, they now want to add "new products related to the war".
The State Agency for the Development of Tourism of Ukraine works with localities such as Bucha or Irpin, scenes of massacres of civilians during the occupation of Russian troops, the statement said.
Russians fill the front with people
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said today that in the face of shortages of equipment and supplies, Russia is reinforcing troops on the battlefield.
"In the absence of the necessary number of technically prepared military equipment, the Kremlin is actively using human resources to achieve success on the battlefield," Maylar wrote in a message on Telegram, quoted by "Ukrainska Pravda."
He added that "as of January 10 this year, Russian occupation troops, including the operational reserve, consist of around 280 formations," up from 250 last week.
Moscow considers Paris' decision to send armored vehicles to Ukraine irresponsible
France's plans to send tanks on wheels to Ukraine will cause an escalation in this conflict, making it an "irrational and irresponsible" step by Paris, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today.
"We describe them as irrational and irresponsible steps by the French authorities in the context of the Ukrainian crisis," the representative of Russian diplomacy said at a press conference.
According to Zakharova, "the decision to send new supplies to Ukraine is a new step that provokes an increasing escalation and, consequently, new victims of the conflict, including the civilian population of the new Russian regions, against which French weapons are already used."
Donetsk Russians say they destroyed five Ukrainian brigades in Soledar
An adviser to the acting leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, annexed by Russia last September, said today that five Ukrainian brigades have been destroyed in the town of Soledar, which the mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Group consider captured despite the denial of Ukraine.
"There (in Soledar) about five brigades were annihilated. This information is quite objective, but I believe that the final figure of losses will be somewhat higher, because these losses do not include mercenaries. There were quite a few there," Denis Pushilin's adviser Yan Gagin said on Rossiya-1 television.
The founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, wrote last night on his Telegram channel that mercenaries from the private military company fighting in Soledar killed about 500 soldiers.
Ukraine will be present at Fitur
Ukraine will be present this year at the Fitur 2023 Tourism fair held next week in Madrid with the desire for the world to know its tourist wealth, its interesting culture and its rich gastronomy. He believes that tourism will be one of the ways to rebuild the country and is fully confident of his victory in the war with Russia.
The war conflict in Ukraine is about to turn one year old and this does not prevent the constant search for solutions, this time betting on tourism as a vehicle for development and understanding between peoples.
Under this premise, the Tourism and Society Think Tank (TSTT), the Polytechnic University of Valencia with its O-CITY.org project and the University of Applied Sciences of Dresden (Germany) will present in Fitur the program 'Meet Ukraine', accompanied by Mariana Oleskiv, president of the State Agency for the Development of Tourism of Ukraine and Pavlo Kukhta, former Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.
Macedonia puts peace in Ukraine as a priority
The Foreign Minister of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, insisted today that ending Russian aggression in Ukraine will be the priority of his twelve months as rotating president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"This year will be no less challenging, so we count on your energy and continued support," Osmani said during today's presentation of his programme to the 57 OSCE member countries.
Osmani recalled that the "war of aggression continues" and that "people continue to die and suffer." The minister said the consequences and cost of the war for the OSCE region is "deplorable and unbearable."
Moscow and Kiev advocate contacts between ombudsmen
Russia and Ukraine are interested in maintaining contacts between ombudsmen, Russian representative Tatiana Moskalkova said today after a meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubynets.
"The Ukrainian side has a pragmatic approach and is open to dialogue ... Everyone is mutually interested in maintaining contacts," he told Russia's TASS news agency.
Moskalkova said both sides have achieved "concrete results both in the search for missing persons and the mutual return of minors to their families."
Veterans of Ukraine's military campaign will be allowed to run in Russian elections
Veterans of the military campaign in Ukraine will be able to stand for elections at different levels in Russia, the ruling United Russia party announced Thursday.
"Some will run without fail (in the 2023 elections)," said Alexander Sidiakin, head of the ruling party's central executive committee. Sidiakin, quoted by the TASS agency, assured that the veterans will have "popular support", since that "is already noticeable".
The electoral candidates will be chosen in a vote that will begin this March, he added.
The Wagner Group says it has found the body of a fallen Briton in Soledar
The Russian mercenary company Wagner claimed to have found the body of a British citizen disappeared on the 6th in the Ukrainian city of Soledar, in the eastern region of Donetsk and currently the main focus of battles between the Ukrainian and Russian armies.
Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed on his Telegram channel that the private military company received a request to search for two British nationals missing in Soledar on January 6, identified as Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry.
On Wednesday "the body of one of them was found, along with it documents of both Britons were found," wrote Prigozhin, who published photographs of Bagshaw and Parry's purported passports and a "volunteer certificate" of the latter.
Russia acts against the United Kingdom
The Russian Foreign Ministry has announced on Thursday a new list of personal sanctions against the United Kingdom that includes 36 soldiers, journalists and members of the Government for carrying out an "anti-Russian campaign" and "discrediting" Moscow.
"Deliberately rejecting a creative and constructive dialogue, London continues a line of confrontation, in collaboration with Washington, spreads false information about Russia and incites Russophobia," the official statement said.
Moscow warns that "hostile actions and aggressive rhetoric by British officials will not go without an adequate response."
And "support for the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev will cost its Western masters dearly," he concludes without giving the names of the sanctioned people.
More than a hundred Russian soldiers eliminated near Soledar, according to Ukraine
The defenders of Ukraine eliminated in a single attack more than a hundred Russian soldiers near the city of Soledar, in the Donetsk region, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported today.
"This happened thanks to the coordinated work of the soldiers of the Special Operations Forces, gunners and missile forces," the General Staff said on Facebook, quoted by the Ukrinform agency.
He said that the Special Operations Forces "detected an enemy concentration in several places" and that "artillery was directed to defeat the enemy, and a Tochka-U tactical missile system was also used at one of the sites."
Hungary urges international community to prevent NATO entry into war in Ukraine
The Hungarian president, Katalin Novak, has urged the international community to prevent the entry of NATO into the war in Ukraine and has called for "thinking about the survival of Europe" as the Russian invasion of the territory progresses.
In a meeting attended by foreign ambassadors working on Hungarian soil, he stressed the need to "be pragmatic", in addition to taking into account "the survival of Europe".
"NATO must stay out of the war, we cannot allow it to be carried away by feelings and be involved in conflict," he said, while calling on diplomats to work in a spirit of "mutual respect" between different cultures.
Pentagon unable to confirm that the city of Soledar is under Russian control
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that U.S. authorities have no confirmation that the town of Soledar, a few miles from Bajmut, is completely under the control of Russian forces.
Austin has explained, in response to questions from journalists, that there is "a dynamic struggle in the area", since it is being a "very fluid environment" with "a really violent struggle", so "at this time, they cannot be corroborated (...) the reports."
The defense secretary said his department is "focused on doing everything possible to help ensure that Ukrainians have the capabilities they need to succeed in efforts to defend their sovereign territory."
Russia's session of the UN Security Council
Dmitry Poliansky, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, said the UN Security Council would hold a meeting on Ukraine next week following a request by Moscow.
"I will not dwell on what will happen in the Security Council on Ukraine early next week: let our opponents live in ignorance for the time being," a cryptic Polianski wrote in a message on Telegram.
Good morning and welcome to the last minute of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. A war that has already completed ten months and that has the international community in suspense. Putin ordered a large-scale "military operation," but Ukraine has fought back and now taken the lead in the war.