According to local officials, a woman perished in a fresh attack on the devastated eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, while four people in two villages in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, close to the Russia border, were killed by Russian shelling.
According to local authorities, three additional persons were reportedly hurt when Russian drones struck Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine. Along with causing damage to apartment buildings and infrastructure, the attack also started a fire.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched two guided missiles and 35 attack drones aimed at military and energy infrastructure close to the front line as well as other areas of Ukraine. Of the 35 drones, air defense systems managed to destroy fifteen of them.
Russia claimed to have shot down eleven drones that Ukraine had launched over Crimea, which it had invaded and annexed in 2014 in a move that was not acknowledged globally. The Russian air defense radar station on the peninsula was struck, according to the Ukrainian military. Several allegedly launched drones from Ukraine were also shot down over Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, and Tula, all of which are in Russia, according to Russian news agencies.
Head of Ukraine’s military intelligence organization GUR, Kyrylo Budanov, predicted that Russia’s offensive on the eastern front would end by the early spring. Russia has intensified its attacks in the region in recent months to encircle towns like Avdiivka. They had only made “a few advances across some fields,” according to Budanov.
The contentious military mobilization bill from the Ukrainian government was redrafted and presented to parliament with a new clause permitting some individuals to enlist in the military even after being found guilty of a crime. The bill intends to reduce the conscription age from 27 to 25 years old.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Andriy Yusov, stated that Moscow was “not ready” to return the bodies of the sixty-five Ukrainian POWs that Moscow believes were killed in the crash of a military transport aircraft last week.
According to Ukraine, it carried out a cyberattack that took down a server used by Russia’s Defense Ministry, temporarily disrupting communications for military units.
Politics and diplomacy
The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Bill Burns, stated in a piece published on the journal Foreign Affairs website that 2024 would be a difficult year for Ukraine due to Russia and that any action taken by the US to sever aid to Kyiv would be an “own goal of historic proportions.” Congress is now delaying a massive aid package for Ukraine because some Republicans want to tie it to adjustments to US border policies.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician, was moved to a new Siberian prison colony and placed in solitary confinement for four months, according to a letter he wrote to his attorney. He claimed in the letter, which his wife made public, that the action was retaliation for him failing to stand up when a guard gave him the order to “rise,” which the authorities had labeled a “malicious violation.” After being found guilty of treason last April, Kara-Murza, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Two 17-year-olds were accused by Russian investigators of sabotage on behalf of Ukraine after they set fire to an equipment box near a rail line in Moscow. The two have been placed under arrest pending trial; if found guilty, they could spend up to 20 years behind bars.
Weapons
The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Bill Burns, stated in a piece published on the journal Foreign Affairs website that 2024 would be a difficult year for Ukraine due to Russia and that any action taken by the US to sever aid to Kyiv would be a “own goal of historic proportions.” Congress is now delaying a massive aid package for Ukraine because some Republicans want to tie it to adjustments to US border policies.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician, was moved to a new Siberian prison colony and placed in solitary confinement for four months, according to a letter he wrote to his attorney. He claimed in the letter, which his wife made public, that the action was retaliation for him failing to stand up when a guard gave him the order to “rise,” which the authorities had labeled a “malicious violation.” After being found guilty of treason last April, Kara-Murza, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Two 17-year-olds were accused by Russian investigators of sabotage on behalf of Ukraine after they set fire to an equipment box near a rail line in Moscow. The two have been placed under arrest pending trial; if found guilty, they could spend up to 20 years behind bars.
