"Unrestricted War": Expert fears "difficult" battle with new mobilization in Russia

Created: 01/03/2023 04:56

By: Markus Hofstetter

After the heavy Russian drone attacks on New Year's Eve, another air raid alarm was triggered in southern Ukraine on Sunday evening.

The news ticker.

• Zelenskyy condemns

  Russia 's

  drone attacks

  : Ukrainian President calls attackers "Russian terrorist sites"

• Ukrainian

  presidential adviser sees

  new Russian strategy

  : kill "as many civilians as possible".

• Heavy losses

  for Russia in

  Bakhmut

  : "conveyor belt of death" for Russian soldiers

• This

  news ticker on military developments

  in the

  Ukraine war

  has ended.

Update from January 2, 3:30 p.m

.: The power apparatus in Moscow hardly mentions any numbers of Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine.

However, under the pressure of a particularly large case and reports close to the Kremlin in Donbass, the Defense Ministry is now admitting high losses.

All information in the current news ticker.

Update from January 2, 9.40 a.m

.: According to the military administration, the Ukrainian capital Kiev was also attacked by the Russian army from the air on Monday night.

"Air raid on Kyiv ... air alert for the capital," said the military administration shortly after 1 a.m. local time (0 a.m. CET) in the online service Telegram.

The head of the military administration, Serhiy Popko, called on the city's residents to "stay in shelters".

The authorities' warning was lifted about three hours later.

They announced that "20 air targets had been shot down".

In the northeastern district of Desniansky, "parts of balconies and a high-rise building were damaged," said Popko.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko had previously reported an explosion in the northeastern district of Desniansky.

According to him, a 19-year-old was taken to hospital with injuries.

The head of the military administration for the Kyiv region, Oleskiy Kuleba, said Russia had launched "several waves" of attacks using Iranian-made drones.

"They target critical infrastructure facilities," Kuleba said.

The Russian army launched aerial attacks on dozens of targets in Ukraine on New Year's Eve and throughout Sunday.

Update from January 2, 6:50 a.m.:

According to the Ukrainian military expert Oleg Zhdanov, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is preparing his country for an “unrestricted war”.

There will be another mobilization for this in January, Zhdanov said, according to the Ukrainian news agency Unian.

"But I think they will first close the borders for that," said the expert.

During the partial mobilization in September, thousands of Russians fled to Kazakhstan, for example.

Zhdanov warned that defeating the newly reinforced Russian army will be "more difficult".

The military expert also pointed out that Putin is pumping propaganda into the Russian population.

"They are allegedly fighting against NATO, although there is not a single NATO soldier in Ukraine," he emphasized, adding: "They are allegedly fighting for the sovereignty and independence of Russia.

Show me one who has taken even an inch of territory from Russia.

On the contrary, Russia is taking away territory itself.”

Ukraime war: Russia again attacks neighboring country with Iranian drones

Update from January 1, 9:12 p.m .:

The Russian military launched new attacks with so-called kamikaze drones against targets in Ukraine on Sunday evening.

Two groups of Iranian-made Shahed drones have been sighted near Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, the state news agency Ukrinform reported on current attacks in the Ukraine war.

"Air alert, two groups of mopeds," regional military administrator Vitali Kim wrote on Telegram.

Because of their engine noise, the drones are now called “mopeds” by the Ukrainian population.

Air alert was sounded throughout the south of the country.

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Ukraine war topical: Zelenskyj condemns Russia's drone attacks - "Russian terrorists"

Update from January 1, 8:38 p.m .:

After the Russian drone attacks on numerous Ukrainian cities on New Year’s night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj condemned the current actions in the Ukraine war with sharp words.

"The Russian terrorists were already pathetic and started the new year the same way," said Zelenskyy on Sunday in his daily video address on the war in Ukraine.

These attacks could not harm the Ukrainians.

"Our sense of togetherness, our authenticity, life itself - all of this is so much in contrast to the fear that prevails in Russia."

Ukraine war: Selenskyj sees fear in Russia's military - "will lose"

The Russian military is palpably afraid, Zelenskyj claimed.

"And they are right to be afraid, because they will lose." Even with drones and rockets, the Russian military would not get very far.

"Because we stick together." The Russian side, on the other hand, is only held together by fear, he argued further in his speech on the Ukraine war.

War in Ukraine: New strategy of Russia - kill "as many civilians as possible".

Update from January 1, 6:41 p.m .:

The Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak sees a new strategy in the massive air raids on numerous Ukrainian cities on New Year’s Eve.

Russia for the Ukraine war "Russia has no more military targets," Podoliak tweeted on Sunday.

Russia is trying to "kill as many civilians as possible and destroy as many civilian objects as possible.

A war of killing,” says Zelenskyj's adviser on the current situation in the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine War: Heavy Losses for Russia in Bakhmut – “Conveyor Line of Death”

Update from January 1, 5:42 p.m .:

In the battle for the eastern Ukrainian frontline town of Bakhmut, Russian troops have suffered heavy losses, according to Ukrainian accounts.

On Saturday alone, around 170 Russian soldiers were killed, as the spokesman for the Ukrainian Army Group East, Serhiy Cherevatyj, announced on Sunday about the Ukraine war and the current situation in the region.

Another 200 Russians were wounded trying to attack the city.

Cherevatyj spoke of an "assembly line of death" for the attackers.

The information on the number of victims could not initially be independently verified.

War in Ukraine: Wagner fighters escape from training center

Update from January 1, 5:04 p.m .:

Six armed men from the Wagner military group are said to have escaped from a Wagner training center in the Luhansk region on Friday (December 30).

This was reported by the US think tank “Institute for the Study of War” (ISW) on Saturday evening.

Wagner boss and financier Yevgeny Prigozhin tried to downplay the story.

He claimed that the Russian National Guard, police and Wagner security forces had extensive experience in capturing various types of armed individuals.

According to the ISW, the escaped Wagner fighters were recruited prisoners.

The Russian medium

warned residents of the Rostov region to be careful.

You should be alert and watch out for persons in military camouflage uniforms.

Update from January 1, 3:30 p.m.:

In the Ukraine war, Moscow claims that Ukraine wanted to carry out “terrorist attacks” against Russia.

A statement by the Russian Defense Ministry said the Russian military had used precision strikes to destroy Ukrainian troops' facilities, "repelling the terrorist attacks."

In addition to warehouses, this also includes production facilities and airfields for drones, the ministry wrote in the report, according to the state agency Ria Nowosti.

Ukraine war: Putin's army apparently in great need of missiles

Update from January 1, 12:10 p.m .:

According to the Ukrainian secret service, Russia is running out of precision missiles.

This is the result of Western sanctions, said Ukrainian secret service spokesman Wadjim Skibitskyj, according to the Ukrinform news agency.

The Russian deficit is about the Iskandar ballistic missiles and the Kalibr cruise missiles.

In addition, the Russian military would also run out of Kh-101 and Kh-555 cruise missiles.

A photo provided by the Russian Defense Ministry shows a missile being launched from the Black Sea.

© imago

"Russia is only capable of a maximum of 2-3 powerful blows," emphasized Skibitskyj, referring to the most recent waves of attacks.

However, Russia keeps producing new missiles for their troops.

Now debris from rockets produced in the fourth quarter of 2022 has also been found.

Skibitskyj also pointed out that Russia is now changing tactics in the war: According to this, the Russian army is combining the use of Iranian drones, old missiles, high-precision missiles and modified missiles from the S-300 air defense system.

According to the Ukrainian secret service spokesman, the Russian army also has problems with anti-aircraft missiles.

There is also a deficit here.

"They brought a large amount from Belarus and are very actively cooperating with other countries to find missile stocks," Skibitskyj said.

Ukraine war: Kiev's military apparently shoots down 45 Iranian drones

Update from January 1, 10:05 a.m .:

Russia attacked Ukraine on New Year’s night with a total of 45 drones, according to the air defense in Kiev.

All Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze combat drones were destroyed by the Ukrainian air defenses, the armed forces said on New Year's Day in Kyiv.

"It was not possible to spoil the holiday for the Ukrainians," the statement said.

“The soldiers of the Ukrainian Air Force congratulate their indomitable nation on the New Year 2023!

Together to victory!” The message continued to emphasize.

According to military sources in Kyiv, Russia also fired 20 rockets at Ukraine on New Year's Eve, most of which were destroyed.

The capital Kyiv and other cities in the country were affected.

Prigozhin reports "a great many" prisoners - "Putin's cook" stages Wagner as a human troupe

Update from January 1, 9:10 a.m .:

In an interview with the Russian state agency Ria Novosti, the leader of the Kremlin-affiliated Russian mercenary group "Wagner" stated that his fighters had captured a large number of Ukrainian soldiers during the war.

"There are a lot of prisoners," Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin told the agency.

There are "wounded" but also "anxious prisoners".

Some of the Ukrainian prisoners were forced to surrender "to save the lives of their comrades".

In addition, Prigozhin claimed that the Wagner mercenaries had no hostile attitude towards the prisoners and treated them well.

After all, there is a difference between fighting on the battlefield with weapons and capturing Ukrainian soldiers.

However, the brutal execution of an ex-Wagner fighter and Prigozhin's jubilation raise serious doubts about this portrayal of the Wagner boss.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

(Archive image) © Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool EPA via AP/dpa

Ukraine war: Russia attacks Ukraine also on New Year's Eve

Update from December 31, 10:41 p.m .:

Shortly before the turn of the year, the arrival of so-called kamikaze drones from Russia was reported in Ukraine.

agency reported

on Saturday evening.

Mykolayiv military administrator Vitali Kim reported two formations of drones sighted in his area.

The air defense opened fire on the Iranian-made Shahed drones.

Update from December 31, 5:50 p.m .:

Ukrainian artillery attacked Russian positions in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.

The village of Pervomaiskoye in the Luhansk region of Donbass has been the target of at least two rounds of fire from the American Himars multiple rocket launcher, the Russian agency TASS reported

citing local authorities.

No information was given about possible casualties or damage.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reported explosions near Dzhankoy Airport in Russian-occupied Crimea.

They cited reports from social networks that the denotations in Crimea could be due to the use of anti-aircraft missiles.

Dead and injured after rocket attacks on Ukraine just before the New Year

Update from December 31, 4:17 p.m .:

According to the authorities, there were several injuries and deaths in the renewed rocket attacks shortly before the New Year.

As Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on Saturday, an elderly man died in the capital and 16 people were injured.

One of the injured is a journalist from Japan.

One person killed in the attacks was also reported from the Zaporizhia region.

Two people were said to have been injured in the attacks.

In addition, important buildings in Kyiv were damaged by the explosions, including the Palace of Culture “Palace Ukraine”.

This was announced by the deputy head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, via the Telegram news service and published a photo.

“Usually on these days parents and children are there on the eve of the new year.

Today, miraculously, there were no children.

Glass flew from Russian rockets,” Tymoshenko said.

In addition to the Palace of Culture, a hotel in Kyiv, which is also used by journalists, was also partially damaged.

The rockets on Saturday were "an attack by murderers and terrorists," Tymoshenko said.

It makes the Russians "joy at the holiday table" to see a "destroyed hotel in the heart of Kiev".

Ukraine War: Heavy attacks on Kyiv also on New Year's Eve

December 31 update, 2:23 p.m

.: Shortly before the New Year celebrations, Russia again attacked Ukraine with dozens of cruise missiles and missiles.

Around half a dozen explosions – presumably triggered by anti-aircraft defense – could be heard in Kyiv on Saturday, as a reporter from the German Press Agency reported from the center of the capital.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko spoke of destruction.

Emergency services and medical staff are on their way. 

Explosions were also reported from the western Ukrainian regions of Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr and from the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv.

According to the deputy head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the western Ukrainian region of Khmelnytskyi was attacked with drones.

There were two injuries there.

As a precaution, power has been shut off in several areas to reduce damage from power supply hits.

Police officers stand in front of a hotel in Kyiv that was damaged by shelling.

(Photo from December 31, 2022) © Efrem Lukatsky/dpa/picture alliance

President Zelenskyj: Ukraine's air defenses are to be expanded to become the strongest in Europe

First report from December 31: Kiev

- The British Ministry of Defense suspects a long-term strategy behind the regular attacks on the Ukrainian infrastructure.

"Since October, Russia has maintained the general pattern of conducting an intense wave of attacks every seven to 10 days," the ministry's Twitter page said.

Russia almost certainly wants to use it to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses.

But there is a realistic possibility that Russia will break this pattern and strike again in the coming days to undermine Ukrainian people's morale over the New Year holiday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine wants to massively expand its air defenses in response to repeated Russian missile attacks on its cities.

"In the new year, Ukraine's air defense will be even stronger, even more effective," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Friday evening.

Ukraine's air defense could become the strongest in Europe, he added, referring to the announced Patriot battery from the United States.

"This will be a security guarantee not only for our country but for the entire continent."

Patriot systems from the USA, here a device stationed in Poland, are intended to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks.

(Archive photo) © Christophe Gateau

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces' air defenses have achieved relatively high numbers of kills in large-scale Russian attacks with cruise missiles, rockets and so-called kamikaze drones.

Given the mass of incoming projectiles, not all missiles could be repelled.

The Ukrainian army, which already uses a number of foreign anti-aircraft systems, is awaiting deployment of the Patriot battery promised by the US government.

Ukrainian soldiers are currently being trained on the system.

Escape from military service: 15 Ukrainians die illegally crossing the border

According to the military, since the beginning of the Russian invasion and the declaration of a state of war in Ukraine, several thousand young Ukrainians have tried to evade military service.

As the Ukrainian border troops announced on Friday, almost 12,000 men were caught trying to illegally cross the country's border to the west.

15 men died while crossing the border.

Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness

View photo gallery

In Russia, too, thousands of young men tried to evade military service.

Immediately after the partial mobilization in September, thousands fled abroad, and veritable small Russian colonies were established in some former Soviet republics.