Russia can allegedly use the exploded bridge over Crimea again for the army.
The losses will probably remain high.
The news ticker on military events in the Ukraine war.
Crimean bridge
passable again: Russia repairs supply line for army.
Many
dead Russian soldiers
: Ukraine has now allegedly destroyed 299 planes.
Finland
delivers
Leopard tanks
to Kiev : Ukrainian army gets more heavy weapons.
This
news ticker
on
military events
in the
Ukraine war
is continuously updated.
Update from February 24, 6.45 a.m .:
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian troops are attacking Ukrainian positions in the Donbass with all their might.
The Ukrainian military repelled around 100 attacks on various fronts including Bakhmut over the past day, the latest General Staff report said.
The Russian troops carried out ten rocket attacks and 31 airstrikes.
There were dead and injured in the Kharkiv and Cherson regions.
The Ukrainian military, on the other hand, attacked 17 assembly areas and four air defense positions of the Russian army from the air.
Ukraine war: Mariupol back in the center of the fighting?
– “no longer completely unattainable”
Update from February 23, 10:45 p.m
.: Is Mariupol coming back into focus in the military battles?
The spokeswoman for the Southern Command of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, declared a day before the anniversary of the Ukraine war that the territory of Russian-held Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast was "no longer completely inaccessible".
This is reported by the Ukrainian media project
The Kyiv Independent
.
The city, which once had a population of 440,000, fell in May 2022 after heavy fighting and a week-long siege of the Azov Steelworks.
In recent months, however, the Ukrainian armed forces have pushed back the Russian attackers in the south of the country.
The reconquest of the city of Cherson was symbolic.
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Catch fire on October 8, 2022: The Crimean Bridge over the Kerch Strait.
© IMAGO / SNA
Crimean bridge passable again: Russia is apparently repairing a supply line for the army
Update from February 23, 9:05 p.m .
: The Crimean bridge between the peninsula of the same name and the Russian region of Krasnodar is fully passable again.
The Russian authorities announced this Thursday.
The four-lane bridge for trucks and cars was severely damaged in an explosion on October 8, 2022 during the fighting in the Ukraine war.
Moscow had blamed Kiev for an alleged attack with a truck loaded with explosives.
The Ukrainian government denied this version.
The affected section of track collapsed after the explosion into the Strait of Kerch, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov.
The repair work in the area of the road was therefore completed earlier than planned.
500 workers worked around the clock for four and a half months and the construction work was now completed 39 days earlier than planned "as a great gift" for Russia's Defender of the Fatherland Day, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Chusnullin explained in the online service Telegram.
The railway bridge that runs next to it is still being repaired and will probably not be operational again before the summer.
The bridge is considered a prestige project by Moscow ruler Vladimir Putin after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Crimean bridge is also an important supply route for the Russian army in the Ukraine war.
The attackers can now allegedly use this supply line again.
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Apparently passable again: the four-lane bridge that crosses the Kerch Strait to Crimea.
© IMAGO/Konstantin Mihalchevskiy
Heavy fighting for Bakhmut: Ukrainian defenders hold city in Donbass
Update from February 23, 6:55 p.m .
: Even today, one day before the anniversary of the Ukraine war, heavy fighting is said to have broken out again in and around Bakhmut.
The Russian army and Wagner mercenaries have not yet succeeded in taking the strategically important city in the Donbass.
The Ukrainian defenders have held the city for weeks.
Photos and videos with the hashtag #bakhmut and #bachmut are intended to show how dramatic the situation at the front is.
These cannot be independently verified.
Meanwhile, ZDF also reports heavy fighting - and that the Ukrainian army is on the defensive.
Many dead Russian soldiers: Ukraine has now allegedly destroyed 299 aircraft
Update from February 23, 6:20 p.m
.: More than 145,000 Russian soldiers are said to have been killed or wounded in Ukraine.
This is reported by the Ukrainian media project
The Kyiv Independent,
citing the General Staff in Kiev.
Accordingly, 299 aircraft and 287 helicopters of the Russian army were shot down or damaged.
The number of tanks destroyed or captured is said to be 3,350.
According to Kiev, 873 missiles have been intercepted since February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded its western neighbor.
Current figures on alleged (or actual) losses of people and material have long since ceased to exist in Russia.
These are the indicative estimates of Russia's combat losses as of Feb. 23, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
pic.twitter.com/2HktBnhScK
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 23, 2023
China peace plan?
Ukraine President Zelenskyy would talk to China
Update from February 23, 3:52 p.m .
: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Kiev that he had not seen China’s peace plan so far.
In this context, he expressed interest in meeting with the People's Republic, at the press conference he said: "We would like to meet with China".
At the Munich Security Conference at the weekend, China announced a peace initiative to mark the first anniversary of the war of aggression in Ukraine.
Update from February 23, 2:46 p.m .
: The Hague-based EU judicial authority Eurojust says it is setting up a center for criminal investigations into Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The center's work is scheduled to begin in the summer, with the aim of collecting evidence: Among other things, evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide is to be compiled in a central database.
Ukraine news: IW Institute comments on the war
Updated February 23, 1:20 p.m
: The IW Institute sees an increasing interpretation of the Russian economy for the war.
In an analysis by the Institute of German Economics, which is available to the Reuters news agency, it says: "In fact, Russia has become a war economy."
The institute comes to the conclusion that the sanctions imposed by the West would have economic consequences, but without bringing Russia to its knees.
The prognosis: "Since an end to the war does not appear to be in sight at the moment and the decoupling of the West from Russia is progressing further and further, Russia will have to make do with increasing expenditure and falling income in the future." Russia's plans for the national budget would make it clear that one is in towards a "war economy guided by defense and social policy".
Ukraine update: Moldova rebukes Russia
Update February 23, 12:51 p.m
.: Moldova has denied Russia’s accusation that Ukraine is planning an invasion of Transnistria.
The Russian Defense Ministry has accused Ukraine of planning a false flag attack on the breakaway Moldovan region, the RIA news agency reported.
An attack allegedly carried out by Russian forces should serve as a pretext for a subsequent invasion, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Moldova has now clearly rejected this accusation and called for calm, according to the Reuters news agency.
Finland delivers Leopard tanks to Kiev: Ukrainian army gets more heavy weapons
Update February 23, 11:43 a.m
.: Finland has announced that it will deliver three more Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
Finland also plans training measures for operating the devices.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic has also promised Ukraine additional supplies, and the government has approved further military aid.
Details about the scope of the deliveries are not yet known.
So far, the Czech Republic has provided Ukraine with 38 tanks, 55 armored vehicles and self-propelled howitzers.
Ukraine news: Putin wants to renew the army – expansion of the nuclear forces announced
Update from February 23, 10:58 a.m
.: Russian President Vladimir Putin has again emphasized the strengthening of the nuclear armed forces.
In a speech published by the Kremlin, he stated: "We will continue to pay increased attention to strengthening the nuclear triad".
With regard to the armed forces, the head of state said: "A modern, efficient army and navy are guarantors for the security and sovereignty of a country." Among other things, Putin announced the first commissioning of the Sarmat-type ICBM, which can be equipped with nuclear warheads.
That was originally planned for 2022.
In addition, serial production of the Kinzhal missile should continue and mass deliveries of ship-launched Zircon hypersonic missiles should begin, Putin said.
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Vladimir Putin has announced the strengthening of Russia's nuclear forces.
The Sarmat-type ICBM, which can be equipped with nuclear warheads, is also to be put into service this year.
(Collage)
© Montage: IMAGO / SNA
Ukraine news: Wagner group gets ammunition
Update from February 23, 9:59 a.m
.: According to its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner group is now receiving ammunition.
The head of the mercenary force wrote on Telegram: "Today at 06.00 in the morning it was announced that the delivery of ammunition had begun".
Further, Prigozhin wrote: “Most likely, the ball is rolling now.
So far everything is on paper, but as we were told, the most important documents have already been signed.” Recently, the dispute between the Wagner boss and the regular Russian armed forces and the Ministry of Defense over ammunition deliveries had come to a head.
Ukraine news: Air Force spokesman speaks out
Update from February 22, 6.40 a.m .:
The spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Colonel Yuri Ignat, commented
on the statements by some experts, according to the
ArmyInform news portal, that the Russian army could attack Ukraine with hundreds of aircraft.
"This is not World War II and such actions make no strategic sense because of the work of our air defense," he said.
In many situations, the overflight is a "death sentence" for Russian planes, which is why they are no longer constantly invading Ukrainian airspace compared to when the Ukraine war began.
Ukraine news: Putin's army is probably strengthening troops at the front
Update from February 22, 6:56 p.m .
: Shortly before the Ukraine war marks its first anniversary, according to Kiev’s knowledge, the Russian army is strengthening its troops on various front sections.
The Ukrainian general staff announced on Wednesday that this suggests that new attacks are imminent.
The Russian armed forces concentrated their main efforts "on offensive operations in the Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk directions," according to the statement from the Ukrainian military leadership.
Heavy fighting continues, especially around Bachmut.
With the help of its aerial reconnaissance, the Russian military is trying to coordinate the artillery attacks more precisely.
Russian attacks were repulsed near Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk.
Ukraine news: Two people die after Russian airstrike
Update from February 22, 5:50 p.m .:
At least two people were killed in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian region of Cherson.
In the village of Novotiahynka , an 81-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man
died, according to the
Kyiv Independent .
Since the recapture of Cherson, the region has repeatedly been the target of Russian attacks.
Only on Tuesday six people died in a Russian artillery attack, twelve were injured.
According to Ukrainian sources, a residential area and a bus stop were shot at.
According to the "South" command of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian army shelled the city with multiple rocket launchers.
Ukraine President Selenskyj condemned the attack: "This Russian attack had no military purpose," he said in his nightly video address on Tuesday.
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Local residents walk past a bus station in Kherson, which Ukraine says was damaged after a massive shelling by Russia.
© Nina Lyashonok/dpa
Update from February 22, 4:41 p.m .:
Belgium is arming itself against possible Russian sabotage actions from the sea.
Justice and North Sea Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne has now confirmed to the AFP news agency that the Belgian Navy sighted a suspicious Russian ship off the coast in November.
"This is worrying because we know the risk of sabotage following the Nord Stream events," he said, referring to the explosions on both gas pipelines in September.
"We have to be vigilant," said Van Quickenborne.
According to the minister, it is apparently the same ship that the Netherlands had previously sighted in its own waters.
On Tuesday (February 21), Van Quickenborne said the ship's voyage "must undoubtedly be viewed in the broader context of the Ukraine war."
The motives of the occupation are unknown, but the government in Brussels is "not naive".
Ukraine news: Ukrainian military staff reports drone downings
First report from February 22
: KIEV – The Ukrainian army general staff reported on Tuesday (February 21) that three Russian drones had been shot down.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff on Facebook, these were Zala Lancet UAVs.
The information could not be checked independently.
"Over the course of Monday we carried out 16 counterattacks, attacked an air defense system and took down three Lancet projectiles from the sky," the US news portal quoted from the Ukrainian situation report.
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Image from October 2022: A drone in the Kiev region
© Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP
Ukraine News current: Traffic light comments on Bundeswehr special assets
Meanwhile, the German Ministry of Defense announced that about a third of the Bundeswehr's special pot was "contractually bound".
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense named an amount of around 30 billion euros in Berlin on Wednesday.
"And as soon as the goods arrive, so to speak, we can pay for them," he said.
"We are bound by the regulations and laws and are only allowed to pay when the service has been rendered." He mentioned the full outfitting of the clothing, the arming of drones and the procurement of the US F-35 stealth jets.
A Year of Ukraine War: The Origins of the Conflict with Russia
A Year of Ukraine War: The Origins of the Conflict with Russia
Ukraine news: Bundeswehr special fund continues to be criticized
The so-called special fund in the amount of 100 billion euros to better equip the Bundeswehr was launched by the federal government after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
The armaments industry and the Bundestag have repeatedly criticized the fact that the orders are not progressing.
(dpa/AFP/frs)
Rubric list image: © IMAGO / SNA
