Kyiv warns of a new Russian offensive - possibly in the next few weeks.
The news ticker on the military situation in the Ukraine war.
Russian
offensive
in
spring
: Ukraine expects "major battles" around Bakhmut
Mobilization
by
Putin
: In Russia more than 9000 men mobilized by mistake
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news ticker on the military situation in the Ukraine war
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Update from February 1,
10:29 a.m .: Even if US military analysts have doubts: Russia reports the encirclement of Bakhmut.
"Our armed forces are entering the city," said Tass Yan Gagin on Russian state TV.
Gagin is an advisor to pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Puschilin.
Russian soldiers are now focused on taking control of the Bakhmut-Hasiv highway in order to cut off the supply of troops to Ukraine, Gagin said.
Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, which Russia says it has annexed, is of strategic importance to Moscow.
The city is part of the Ukrainian defensive wall in front of the conurbation between Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Taking the territory would be a significant step towards conquering the entire Donbass - one of the Kremlin's war aims.
Departure in the Ukraine war: Ukrainian border guards publish numbers
Update from February 1, 10:12 a.m
.: The Ukrainian border guards have prevented more than 13,000 Ukrainians from leaving the country since the beginning of the war.
More than 9,100 people were arrested at the green border, most of them at the border sections with Romania and Moldova, said spokesman Andriy Demchenko.
In February 2022, as part of the general mobilization, a ban on leaving the country, with a few exceptions, was imposed on conscript Ukrainians between the ages of 18 and 60.
Battle for Bachmut: US military experts do not believe in Russian surprise attack
Update from February 1st, 9.39 a.m
.: Will Bachmut soon fall to the Russians?
The US Institute for War Studies (ISW) has doubts.
Despite the approach to the eastern Ukrainian city, which has been contested for months, its military experts consider a surprise encirclement to be "extremely unlikely".
Russian offensive in spring: Kyiv expects “most important battles
Update from February 1, 8:33 a.m
.: "Russia is preparing for the maximum escalation": Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, expects a new Russian offensive - and does not even rule out the start in the next two to three weeks.
He believes "that the most important fights are yet to come and will take place this year, in the next two to three months," he said in a TV interview now broadcast on British Sky News.
Danilov estimated the number of soldiers fighting in Ukraine at around 320,000.
About half of those could take part in the new offensive, he warned.
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A Russian soldier fires a Giatsint-B 152mm howitzer towards Ukrian positions.
(Archive)
© IMAGO/Alexander Galperin
Russia admits in the Ukraine war: More than 9,000 men were wrongly mobilized
Update from February 1, 6.42 a.m
.: Moscow has admitted that since last autumn it has wrongly drafted several thousand men into the army for the Ukraine war.
"More than 9,000 citizens who were illegally mobilized were brought back home, including those who should not have been called up for health reasons," Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said at a meeting with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
However, critical observers assume that significantly more people were illegally recruited during the mobilization ordered by Putin – and may never have returned.
Especially in the first few weeks, chaotic conditions in the district military replacement offices were described in many places.
A total of 300,000 men had been drafted for the front across the country.
Human rights activists accuse Ukraine of using landmines
Update from January 31, 9:52 p.m .:
The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses Ukraine of using banned landmines in the fight against the Russian war of aggression.
Kyiv must investigate the "suspected use of thousands of anti-personnel mines by its own army" in and around the city of Izyum, which was recaptured in September after the Russian occupation, HRW said on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian government blamed the Russian invasion for the "problem" with mines, and the UN called for an investigation.
HRW said at least 50 civilians, including five children, were injured in the Izyum area as a result of the use of so-called butterfly mines.
For its part, Russia has "repeatedly used anti-personnel mines" and "committed atrocities" throughout Ukraine, HRW weapons expert Steven Goose said.
However, this does not justify the use of "prohibited weapons" by Ukraine.
During an investigation in the Izyum region between September 19 and October 9, 2022, HRW says it interviewed more than 100 eyewitnesses and identified eleven mine victims.
However, interviews by HRW with health workers revealed that around 50 civilians were injured by mines during or after the Russian occupation and half of them had limbs amputated as a result.
Russian troops turn Bakhmut into 'total ruin': 'Break it to the ground'
Update from January 31, 6:51 p.m .:
Russian troops have turned the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut into “total ruin”.
This was reported by the head of the military administration of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, on Tuesday.
In the past few hours, two people have been killed, including an underage boy, Kyrylenko wrote via Telegram.
Four civilians were wounded, he added.
“The Russians are razing Bakhmut and killing everyone they can reach.
We carefully document all war crimes.
You will be held accountable for everything,” he wrote on Telegram.
Update from January 31, 4:13 p.m .:
Russia has admitted that it has wrongly drafted several thousand men into the army for the Ukraine war since last fall.
"More than 9,000 citizens who were illegally mobilized were brought back home - including those who should not have been called up for health reasons," Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said at a meeting with Putin.
Around 300,000 men were conscripted for the front across the country.
Critical observers assume, however, that significantly more people were illegally recruited during the mobilization ordered by Putin - and may never have returned.
Especially in the first few weeks, chaotic conditions in the district military replacement offices were described in many places.
In retrospect, Prosecutor General Krasnow also attested that his country's military structures had "a mass of serious problems".
On Tuesday (January 31) Telegram also circulated a video message addressed to Putin by the wives and mothers of mobilized Russians.
The women from the Far Eastern region of Primorye complain that their husbands lack equipment and medicines.
In addition, there are no hygiene products, lice and scabies are rampant.
"Armed to the teeth": Putin's troops are probably using armored trains against the Ukrainian army
Update from January 31, 3:02 p.m .:
The Russian Ministry of Defense has informed that an armored train “armed to the teeth” is being used in the war zone in Ukraine.
The armored train was named after the Volga River, and its crew would be used for technical reconnaissance and mine clearance - but also for destroying military targets in the air and on the ground.
The soldiers there had simple firearms, but also large-calibre equipment.
"This massive armament complex allows soldiers to work even in the most difficult conditions," the ministry said.
"This is a real armored train, armed to the teeth."
Ukraine-News: Russia reports capture of village near Bakhmut
Update from January 31, 2:23 p.m .:
In the Ukraine war, Russian troops claim to have completely taken control of the village of Blahodatne in the Donetsk region.
This was announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The head of the Russian private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had previously claimed combat success for his paramilitary units.
The place is north of the currently particularly competitive city of Bachmut.
The capture of the Ukrainian side was not confirmed.
The information cannot be verified independently.
The Russian army is trying to surround Bakhmut from the north and south in order to force the Ukrainian army to retreat from the small town.
The main north-west supply route remains under Ukrainian control.
Ukraine should educate about the use of banned landmines
Update from January 31, 12:18 p.m .:
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch criticizes the widespread use of banned landmines in Ukraine – including by Ukraine itself investigating the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum,” the statement said.
At the same time, the NGO also criticizes the Russian military for laying out such mines.
Izyum was occupied by Putin's troops from April to September.
Human Rights Watch is concerned with the scattering of so-called anti-aircraft mines by rockets or artillery.
These mines couldn't distinguish between soldiers and civilians, explains Steve Goose, director of the Weapons Division.
“Russian forces have repeatedly used anti-personnel landmines and committed atrocities across the country.
However, that does not justify Ukraine's use of these banned weapons.” The mines would displace civilians, hamper agriculture and the delivery of humanitarian goods.
The agreement banning anti-personnel mines was adopted in 1997, Ukraine joined in 1999 and ratified it in 2005.
Russia has not signed the treaty, but according to Human Rights Watch it still violates international law because of the indiscriminate impact of the mines.
Secret service report: Russia's army currently has little chance in the Ukraine war
First report from January 31:
Donetsk/London - Russia has overestimated itself with the Ukraine war - military experts have come to this conclusion repeatedly since Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin launched the attack on the neighboring country almost a year ago.
The experts at the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) only came to the conclusion in their most recent analysis that Putin could now make a mistake with his well-planned major offensive in the spring: he may again overestimate the capabilities of his troops and the Motivation of the Russian soldiers.
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Fighters of the Russian mercenary force Wagner in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
© Imago
Secret service does not believe in Russia breakthrough: But "realistic chance" of local gains
British intelligence experts are also currently giving the Russian troops little chance of achieving a major breakthrough in eastern Ukraine.
According to the British Ministry of Defense's daily intelligence update, Russian commanders are currently trying with increasing vehemence to advance into the Ukrainian-held part of the Donetsk region.
It is said that individual exploratory attacks have turned into more concentrated attacks in the past three days.
In this way, the Russians would try to push the Ukrainian troops out of the always heavily contested area around Bakhmut. "There is a realistic chance that Russia will make local territorial gains," write British intelligence experts.
"However, it is unlikely that Russia has enough untied troops in the area to achieve a significant breakthrough."
(smu/dpa)
List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Alexander Galperin