Polish PM: "Together with President A. Duda, we are building a coalition of European countries that will be able to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. We will provide more details soon." https://twitter.com/MarQs__/status/1611746578590490625

Zelenskyy slams Kremlin for sacrificing troops in the ‘meat waves’ of Bakhmut
 

Ukraine’s president accuses Russia’s elite of disregarding human life, but keeping their own loved ones from the front. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the shattered city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday — the key node in a 1,300 km frontline he says is the “hottest spot” in the war and epitomizes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to hurl his soldiers into suicidal attacks. In a late-night video address Monday, Zelenskyy focused on Putin’s cold-blooded disregard for the lives of his forces at Bakhmut, noting that the Russian elite kept their own loved ones away from the slaughter.

“Since May, the occupiers have been trying to break our Bakhmut, but time goes by and Bakhmut is already breaking not only the Russian army, but also the Russian mercenaries who came to replace the wasted army of the occupiers,” he said, adding that Russia had now lost almost 100,000 soldiers. “For what? No one in Moscow can answer this question. And they won’t.” “They wage war and waste people’s lives, other people’s lives, not of their loved ones, not their own lives, but the lives of others only because a group in the Kremlin can’t admit mistakes and is terribly afraid of reality. But reality speaks for itself,” Zelenskyy added. Bakhmut was once a center of salt production and an important railway junction in the eastern province of Donetsk, but has now been mostly destroyed by daily bombardments. The flooded trenches and splintered trees across the scorched earth of the front bear striking resemblances to scenes from World War I.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy gave awards on his unannounced visit to support the troops, his spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said in a statement to the Ukrainian state-owned Freedom TV channel. “I think that the heroes of Bakhmut should receive the same thing that every person receives. I wish that their children, families — that everything would be normal for them, that there would be warmth, that there would be health. I would like to wish that there would be light, but in such a difficult situation, that there is light, then there is no light. The main thing is that there is light inside,” Freedom reported Zelenskyy as saying, posting a video of the award ceremony.

Ukrainian Army soldier Oleksandr Solonko used to be one of the Bakhmut defenders until last week, when he started his long-awaited rotation. Just like many other Ukrainian fighters, he posted on social media about the Russian tactics of throwing their own soldiers to their deaths in so-called “meat waves,” Solonko claimed this has become the regular Russian tactics, not only in Bakhmut. “They have been sending their recruits from Russian prisons into the suicidal attacks that not only deplete our military equipment, but also help the invading army to mark Ukraine’s firing positions,” Solonko told POLITICO.

This helps Russians to adjust artillery fire too. After the first suicidal wave, there may be new waves of attacks by the Russian army or the Kremlin-backed paramilitary group of Wagner mercenaries might enter the battle directly, Solonko said. “The Russians are trying to break through to the south of the city to take the road to Kostyantynivka under fire control. This is a very important transport artery. They fail to do this,” Solonko added. As for the morale of the Ukrainian troops that have to face the suicidal waves of Russians every day, Solonko claimed that it remained high despite all the horrors.

“If we retreat, give slack, there will be a new Bucha, a new Mariupol, new executions of civilians and other atrocities committed by the Russian occupiers. Therefore, they must be stopped here and now where we are and will be,” Solonko said. “Despite all the difficulties, despite the cold, the threat of death, there is a clear awareness of the goal and destination. It helps to maintain proper morale,” he added.

https://www.politico.eu/article/volo...ps-meat-waves/

RELEASE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
More Than $3 Billion in Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine
Jan. 6, 2023 |


https://www.defense.gov/News/Release...OpjxOA.twitter

Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announces the Biden Administration's commitment of $3.075 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine. This includes the authorization of a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $2.85 billion to meet Ukraine's critical security and defense needs, as well as the Department of State's announcement of $225 million in Foreign Military Financing to contribute to the long-term capacity and modernization of Ukraine's military.

The Presidential Drawdown is the twenty-ninth such drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine that the Biden Administration has authorized since August 2021. Capabilities in this package include:

50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles with 500 TOW anti-tank missiles and 250,000 rounds of 25mm ammunition;
100 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers;
55 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs);
138 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);
18 155mm self-propelled Howitzers and 18 ammunition support vehicles;
70,000 155mm artillery rounds;
500 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds;
1,200 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems;
36 105mm towed Howitzers and 95,000 105mm artillery rounds;
10,000 120mm mortar rounds;
Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
RIM-7 missiles for air defense;
4,000 Zuni aircraft rockets;
Approximately 2,000 anti-armor rockets;
Sniper rifles, machine guns, and ammunition for grenade launchers and small arms;
Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
Night vision devices and optics;
Spare parts and other field equipment.
The Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles and artillery systems will complement the recent commitment of combat vehicles to Ukraine by Germany and France. DoD also welcomes Germany's commitment to join the United States in supporting Ukraine's urgent requirement for air defense capabilities by also supplying one Patriot air defense battery to Ukraine.

The Biden Administration will continue to encourage Allies and partners to make additional donations of air defense systems, artillery, combat vehicles, and other critical capabilities to support Ukraine in defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity for as long as it takes. Toward that end, the Department of State also announced today $682 million in additional Foreign Military Financing to incentivize and backfill donations of military equipment to Ukraine by Allies and partners.

In total, the United States has committed more than $24.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $27 billion in security assistance to Ukraine and more than $24.2 billion since the beginning of Russia's unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24.

You hit the nail squarely on the head Markus.

This is going to be at least a four year war, if not longer.

It will be the longest three-day special operation in history.

Putin warned 'split in power is growing' as he scrambles to regain control

Vladimir Putin has been warned by one of his senior allies of "growing splits" in the Russian leadership. In a post on Telegram, Igor Girkin shared a report indicating Yevgeny Prigozhin - who bankrolls the Wagner Group - believes "money oligarchs" are responsible for "discrediting" his organisation's work in Ukraine.

Girkin commented: "If I knew how to draw, I would create a caricature on which two heads of our national coat of arms, equipped with faces, peck at each other. The split in power is growing."

Meanwhile officials have warned Putin's 36-hour ceasefire is merely a ruse during which he will launch attacks on Ukraine's churches.

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's deputy Prime Minister, put religious institutions on notice after Russian forces apparently broke the terms of their own in the east of the country.

Writing on Facebook, she claimed to have received warnings that orthodox churches would be targeted today - the day they celebrate Christmas.

She added: "I urge citizens to be careful and avoid visiting places with large crowds. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Wait for the Armed Forces of Ukraine."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...18633d59b36abb

Total combat losses of Russian Federation since beginning of war - about 111,170 people (+430 per day), 3,069 tanks, 285 planes, 272 helicopters, 2,065 artillery systems, 6,130 armored vehicles. INFOGRAPHICS

The losses of the Russian occupiers as of the morning of January 8, 2023, are approximately 110,740 people.

This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to the press center of the General Staff.

As noted, the total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02.22 to 08.01.23 are approximately:

personnel - about 111,170 (+430) people were eliminated,
tanks - 3069 (+3) units,
armored fighting vehicles - 6130 (+5) units,
artillery systems - 2065 (+3) units,
MLRS - 431 (+0) units,
air defense equipment - 217 (+0) units,
aircraft - 285 (+0) units,
helicopters - 272 (+0) units,
Operational-tactical UAV - 1849 (+5),
cruise missiles - 723 (+0),
warships/boats - 16 (+0) units,
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 4801 (+3) units,
special equipment - 183 (+1). Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391909

Speeches boost the morale. More of that, Vlad! FOCUS writes:
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Suspected hundreds of Russian soldiers died in a Himars missile attack on a military shelter on New Year's Day. One who was there now tells why the recruits were all in the same place at 0.01 am.

At 0:01 a.m. on New Year's morning, four Himars missiles struck a Russian military shelter in Makiyivka (Donetsk region). The impact probably killed several hundred attack warriors. Now one who was there tells why so many soldiers were so close together in the first place.

During a video interview with the Belarusian investigative portal "Nexta," Anton Golovinsky, a newly mobilized man from the Samara region, says so many Russians died because they had to watch President Vladimir Putin's New Year's address.

Golovinsky recounts, "We were taken to Makiyivka at the end of the year and lodged in the technical college building." He says the recruits asked not to be housed all together so as not to be an easy target.

But on New Year's Eve, he said, they were all gathered in the assembly hall. "We had to listen to Putin's speech. We asked not to do that. But we were told we had to obey orders." Colonel Roman Enikeyev was responsible for this, the Russian soldier said in the video. "Because of his order, almost all of our men died."

Golovinsky initially survived the Ukrainian attack, according to his own statement "miraculously." However, he has since reportedly died in a Russian clinic.

Russian authorities previously blamed the attack on the soldiers. These would have used in the New Year's night all their cell phones, were to be located thereby by the Ukrainians. Many experts have already contradicted this account.

Rather it is probable that inhabitants gave the tip as spies. Golovinsky also supported this account: "All the locals knew about it. Everyone knew."

Time and again, Ukrainians manage to strike such blows against Russian aggressors. This time, apparently, a speech by Vladimir Putin - and his order that soldiers watch it - became a death sentence for his men.
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One may wonder on which side Turkey is

This article is from a Danish newspaper

Markus

This cannot be excluded - German Minister of Economy Habeck on tank supplies to Ukraine

German Minister of Economy Robert Habeck said that he does not rule out the supply of Leopard tanks to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the future.

According to Censor.NЕТ, this is stated by RBC-Ukraine with reference to Reuters.

"Of course, this cannot be excluded," Habeck said.

As the newspaper noted, the minister's comments came two days after Germany said it wants to deliver about 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine by the end of March. Habeck called this decision correct and long overdue. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3392009

Statement of Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation about "murder of more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers" in Kramatorsk is fake. Occupiers cannot deliver high-precision strikes, - Cherevaty

The Armed Forces of Ukraine denied the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation about the alleged killing of more than 600 Ukrainian defenders in Kramatorsk.

As reported by Censor.NET with reference to Suspilne, this was reported by the spokesman of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces Serhiy Cherevaty.

According to him, the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation does not correspond to reality, because the Russian troops do not have the ability to deliver high-precision strikes.

"This information is as true as the data that they destroyed all our HIMARS. This is an information operation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in response to the successful actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to attack their large concentrations of personnel, their warehouses, and logistics with our high-precision attack systems. They do not have such an opportunity," Cherevaty said.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation called the attack on Kramatorsk a "revenge operation" for Makiivka and announced the alleged killing of more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers.

On the night of January 7-8, Russian troops launched 7 rocket attacks on Kramatorsk. Educational institutions, residential buildings, and garages were damaged.

Iy will be reminded that the attack on the location of the mobilized occupiers took place on New Year's Eve. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced that the number of people killed in Makiivka as a result of the attack on the place of deployment of Russian servicemen has increased to 89. According to unofficial information, on New Year's Eve, thanks to a precise strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, about 400 mobilized Russians were eliminated in Makiivka, and about 300 invaders were wounded of varying degrees of severity.

It was noted that Russian soldiers were stationed in the building of the local vocational school No. 19. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391990

Defenders in a difficult situation. Der Tagesspiegel reports:
----------------------------
Fighting in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine has left defenders in the Soledar area in a difficult situation, according to Kiev. "At the moment it is difficult in Soledar," Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar wrote on her Telegram channel on Sunday. Soledar, like Bachmut, which has been contested for months, is part of Ukraine's defensive wall in front of the agglomeration between Slowyansk and Kramatorsk.

Taking the agglomeration would be almost tantamount to conquering the Donbass - one of Russia's publicly stated goals at the start of its war of aggression. In front of Soledar, the Russians would have concentrated large forces. The attacks involve not only regular units of the Russian army, but also mercenary troops, Maljar wrote.

In fact, in the area around Bachmut and Soledar - both towns are only 14 kilometers apart - the mercenaries of the "Wagner" force, considered well-equipped, are attacking. Russian military blogs had recently reported a breakthrough of the defense lines in Soledar, this has not yet been officially confirmed by Moscow. According to information from Kiev, Ukrainian troops continue to hold the city under control.

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