Russia apparently uses hypersonic missiles in the Ukraine war - renewed attacks on the energy supply

The Russian military launched massive airstrikes on Ukraine on Thursday.

This led to power outages.

News ticker.

• Battle tank

  Abrams

  from the

  USA

  : Russian ex-colonel criticizes the model

• Kremlin spokesman

  scoffs at

  delivery of US tanks

  : "All will burn"

• "Technological superiority"

  of the

  T-14

  ?

  Duma Chairman brags about tanks

• Putin's T-14 tanks

  : Russian troops seem reluctant to use the tanks.

• This 

  news ticker 

  on

  military developments

  in the

   Ukraine war

   is constantly updated.

Update from January 26, 3:26 p.m .:

According to the Ukrainian military leadership, Russia again carried out massive air attacks on Ukrainian cities on Thursday.

A total of 55 rockets were fired.

Of these, 85 percent were intercepted, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valeriy Saluschnyi told the Telegram news service.

The Russian army has also used two hypersonic missiles of the type Kinzhal (German: Dolch), which cannot be intercepted by the anti-aircraft defense.

According to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, several objects of the energy infrastructure were hit, which is why the electricity went out.

The situation is particularly difficult in the Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Odessa regions.

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A Russian Air Force "MIG-31" fighter jet armed with a "Kinzhal" missile.

(archive photo)

© AP / RU-RTR Russian Television / dpa

Update from January 26, 12:51 p.m

.: Putin’s military continues to target Ukraine’s energy supply.

Large-scale power outages were reported, and the water supply in the port city of Odessa was not working properly.

A 55-year-old man has been killed and two others injured as a result of the recent Russian attacks on Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Battle tank Abrams from the USA: Russian ex-colonel criticizes the model

Update from January 26, 11:55 a.m

.: Shortly after the United States announced that it would deliver 31 Abrams to Ukraine, a Russian expert dismantled the main battle tanks in an interview with the state news agency Tass: Even “old Soviet-made tanks” could beat them, believes former Colonel Sergey Suvorov and lists what he sees as the vehicle's weak points:

• Incidents where they "burst into flames," such as the Iraq war

• The cause: A shot-prone engine at the rear

• Difficult maintenance

• Only limited suitability for use in dusty areas

The US M1 Abrams main battle tank therefore had "hardly a chance" in a battle against a Russian tank, Suvorov concluded.

However, he qualified that the power of the Abrams also depends on the skill of its driver.

Here is an overview of what Abrams and Leopard can do.

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A US M1 Abrams main battle tank

© JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/afp

Update from January 26, 10:29 a.m

.: The Russian military hit another civilian building in Kiev in the morning, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, according to

.

The incident happened in the Holosiiv district.

Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine

Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine

Fighting around Cherson: Russia representative reports strike against Ukrainian fighters

Update from January 26, 10:02 a.m

.: Ukrainian soldiers have suffered a setback in the Cherson region.

At dawn the plan to cross the Dnieper River near the town of Nowa Kakhovka failed.

"The enemy tried to secretly come to our side of the river at night," Russian official Vladimir Rogov told Telegram.

"We fought back the invaders," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency Tass.

The information could not be checked independently.

In September, Moscow declared the four Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson to be annexed.

Large parts of the international community do not recognize the annexations. 

Attacks with Russian drones: Ukraine reports numerous attacks at night

Update from January 26, 8:29 a.m

.: The regional military administrator Vitali Kim wrote on Telegram during the night that there were new waves of Russian combat drones made in Iran.

"The little crooks just couldn't do anything else for the birthday of the best president (Zelenskyj)."

Zelenskyj celebrated his 45th birthday on Wednesday (January 25).

There was another air alert in large parts of Ukraine during the night.

According to media reports, explosions could be heard in Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk – possibly due to the use of anti-aircraft defenses.

Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense reports repelling all night attacks

Update from January 26, 6:56 a.m

.: The Ukrainian air defense shot down about 15 Russian drones in Kiev.

This was announced by the city's military administration to the

.

The information could not be checked independently.

The drones are said to have been made in Iran.

Battle for Bachmut and Wuhledar: "Enemy intensifies his pressure

Update from January 25, 10:10 p.m

.: “The enemy is intensifying its pressure in the Bakhmut and Wuhledar sectors,” said Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar on Wednesday.

Maljar stated that Russia is sending a large number of soldiers and a lot of military equipment and weapons into battle.

Moscow recorded "considerable losses", but did not give up.

On Wednesday, Ukraine admitted that it had withdrawn from the fiercely contested town of Soledar in the region.

It is only about 15 kilometers north-east of the town of Bakhmut, which the Russian army and the Wagner mercenaries have been trying to take for months.

It is the first time that the city of Wuhledar is also mentioned among the scenes of "intense" fighting.

Ukraine war: Two dead in Beryslav (Kherson)

Update from January 25, 9:04 p.m

.: Two people were killed and four others injured by Russian shelling on Wednesday in Beryslav, 80 kilometers from Cherson.

According to the

, a grocery store was hit.

The information was not independently verifiable.

A ZDF correspondent emphasizes that the people in the region around Kherson reacted positively to the announcement of German tank deliveries.

At the same time, there is also concern about direct retaliatory strikes by the Russian army in the contested regions.

Ukraine-News: Wagner boss compares battle for Soledar with battle for Stalingrad

Update from January 25, 3:34 p.m

.: Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the “Wagner” mercenary group, even crudely compared the battle for Soledar to the battle for Stalingrad.

More than a week after the Russian side, the Ukrainian military has now also admitted defeat around the small town in eastern Ukraine.

In order to save the lives of the soldiers, they retreated to defense lines that had already been prepared, Eastern Group spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyy told Ukrainian public television.

The retreat prevented the enemy from breaking through to the rear.

There was neither encirclement nor capture of the Ukrainian units.

According to Cherevaty, the Russian troops suffered enormous losses during the conquest, which are comparable to the two Chechen wars.

The military spokesman gave no information about his own losses.

The information cannot currently be independently verified.

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A mercenary for the Wagner group on the streets of Soledar.

(archive photo)

© Imago

After suspected corruption: Ukrainian Attorney General fires five regional heads

Update from January 25, 1:46 p.m

.: The wave of layoffs continues: In Ukraine, Attorney General Andriy Kostin has given notice to five regional heads of the public prosecutor’s office.

The layoffs were "at their own request," said the agency.

Since Sunday (January 22), five deputy ministers, four governors and the deputy head of the presidential office have been fired following corruption scandals.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared war on corruption in his country.

Kremlin spokesman scoffs at delivery of US tanks: "All will burn"

Update from January 25, 12:09 p.m

.: The West wants to strengthen the combat power of Ukraine with its new tank deliveries.

This plan is doomed to fail, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov roared.

"This is a clear overestimation of the potential they add to the Ukrainian armed forces," he commented on reports of US readiness to supply tanks to Ukraine.

The plan is militarily useless, but politically extremely dangerous.

"These tanks will burn like all the rest," said Peskov. Russian experts consider the domestically produced T-90 tank superior and tried and tested in wars.

It is also clear that there are problems in NATO providing so many tanks.

"Technological superiority" of the T-14?

Duma Chairman brags about tanks

First report from January 25th

: Munich – Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin and his environment always speak with great pride about the Russian military industry.

Most recently, Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin boasted about the alleged "technological superiority" of Russian weapons.

This includes the Russian tank T-14 Armata.

Apparently things are not going well for him at the moment.

Troops probably don't want to use the tank.

Putin's T-14 tank: Russian troops seem reluctant to use the tanks

Citing intelligence information, the British Ministry of Defense reported on Twitter that Russia is preparing the first operational use of the T-14 tanks in Ukraine with a small number.

However, Russian soldiers have reacted cautiously to the tank in recent months.

The tanks were said to be in “poor condition”, which is why Russian troops were reluctant to accept the delivery.

However, it is unclear exactly what defects in the tank led to the soldiers' reaction.

Ukraine-News: Russian military has problems with T-14 tanks

The Ministry of Defense also referred to previous reports on the Russian super tank.

Russian officials have publicly pointed out problems with the T-14's engine and thermal imaging system for the past three years.

In 2021, even the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu described the production planned for 2022 as merely “experimental-industrial” production.

The assessment from London therefore: It is unlikely that the tanks will meet the requirements for use in Ukraine.

If, contrary to London's expectations, it were used in the Ukraine war, the T-14 tanks would most likely meet the German Leopard tanks on the battlefield.

After months of discussions, Germany wants to deliver the tanks to Ukraine.

Other countries also want to supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks from their own stocks.

List of rubrics: © AP / RU-RTR Russian Television / dpa