05.01.2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 08:14 indefinitely: fights for Bachmut continue +++
Fierce fighting continues in the destroyed but Ukrainian-held town of Bakhmut. The fierce fighting is likely to continue indefinitely, says a senior US government official. However, Russian forces made progressive advances. “The fighting is still quite fierce,” the official said. “I think what we are seeing in Bakhmut, we should expect elsewhere on the front lines that fighting will continue in the coming months.”
+++ 07:34 Christians accuse Selenskyj of political persecution +++
More and more Christians are complaining regarding violent attacks and, above all, humiliating raids by the Ukrainian secret service SBU, which hunts down Russian spies. Head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyj sees the church’s ties to Russia as a threat to the security of the country fighting for its independence. “There is no gold in the world for crosses or anything else that might hide the moral rust of relations with a terrorist state,” he said when he appeared before parliament in Kyiv at the end of the year. Kyiv sees the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the largest religious community in the country with 12,000 priests, as being infiltrated by Moscow agents.
+++ 06:49 “After Putin comes Xi”: FDP federal politicians travel to Taiwan +++
Leading politicians of the FDP parliamentary group want to send a signal of support once morest military threats from China with a joint trip to Taiwan. The Chinese head of state and party leader Xi Jinping is threatening a reunification that will be forced by the military, warns the FDP Federal Deputy and First Parliamentary Secretary Johannes Vogel before the trip, which is scheduled to begin on Monday. In the new systems competition, autocrats must be taken seriously and literally. Referring to Russia’s actions once morest Ukraine, Vogel said: “Because following Putin comes Xi.”
+++ 06:07 air alert in four Ukrainian regions +++
During the night, air alerts were raised in four Ukrainian regions, according to the official air traffic control service. Sirens are sounding in the Kropyvnytskyi, Dnipro, Cherkassy and Poltava regions.
+++ 04:51 CSU: Berlin must start initiative for tank deliveries +++
The CSU in the Bundestag is calling for a European initiative by the federal government to work with allies to deliver western-style main battle tanks to Ukraine. “We want Ukraine to be able to exercise its right to self-defense. To do this, it needs more heavy weapons – including Leopard 2 tanks,” says CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt. “The federal government must start a European initiative for the joint sale of battle tanks,” he demands. The demand can also be found in a draft resolution for the retreat of the CSU state group that begins on Friday in Seeon Monastery in Upper Bavaria.
+++ 00:59 USA are considering delivery of armored personnel carriers to Ukraine +++
The US government is considering supplying Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. According to the US military, the armored tracked vehicles usually have a cannon, a machine gun and armor-piercing missiles. US President Biden affirmed a reporter’s question as to whether the delivery of the armored personnel carriers would be considered. However, he does not give any details and so it remains unclear which model variant of the “Bradley” would be suitable for Kyiv.
+++ 23:29 Selenskyj: France’s tank delivery has signal character +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj evaluates the announced delivery of French scout tanks as an important signal to other western countries. “France is taking defense support to Ukraine to a new level and I thank President Macron for this leadership,” said Zelenskyy in his evening video address. “This sends a clear signal to all our partners: there is no rational reason why western-style tanks have not yet been delivered to Ukraine.”
+++ 21:53 Kyiv: Dozens of Russians killed in Zaporizhia region +++
The Ukrainian military reports a successful attack on Russia’s army. According to the General Staff in Kyiv, 80 Russian soldiers were killed or injured in an attack in the occupied city of Tokmak in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia. The information cannot be independently verified. A spokesman for the Russian occupation administration of Zaporizhia Vladimir Rogov claims that the Ukrainian attack was aimed at the Tokmak district hospital. A military doctor and several patients were killed.
+++ 21:16 New Ukrainian church uses famous cave monastery for Christmas service +++
In the Ukrainian church dispute, the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine will hold its Christmas mass in the famous Kiev Cave Monastery for the first time. Metropolitan Epiphany has received permission to celebrate the Christmas service in the Assumption Cathedral, the church reports. According to the calendar of the Orthodox Churches, the service will take place next Saturday. Previously, the rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s lease on the cathedral had not been renewed at the end of the year. This church, which was originally associated with the Moscow Patriarchate, had already been given the monastery grounds for use before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The cave monastery is state-owned and is considered the largest sanctuary of the Eastern European Orthodox Churches.
+++ 20:17 secret service: partisans have stopped military trains in Krasnoyarsk +++
According to Ukrainian intelligence, partisans stopped military convoys on the Trans-Siberian Railway in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia. This is at least the sixth case of rail sabotage in Russia this year, the intelligence agency said. The Ukrainian military believes this indicates a growing resistance movement in the country.
+++ 19:34 head of intelligence: Ukraine is planning a major offensive in the spring +++
According to the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, Kyiv is planning a major counter-offensive in the spring. “By that time we will see the liberation of territories and inflict the final defeats on the Russian Federation,” Budanov said in an interview with the Sender ABC News. “This will happen across Ukraine, from Crimea to the Donbas.” The goal is a return to the 1991 borders, “just as Ukraine was recognized by all subjects of international law,” says Budanov.
Read earlier developments in the Ukraine war here.
