Russian invasion of Ukraine: Day 689

Summary for Saturday, 13th January 2024 - DAY 689

• The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said he would visit Kyiv in the next few days. Warsaw is one of Ukraine’s key allies in its war against Russia but relations between the two countries became tense last year, under the rule of Tusk’s predecessor, Mateusz Morawiecki.
  
  
• Zelenskiy said he was more positive now than he was last month that his country would secure new financial aid from the US. But there was no indication in Washington that congressional approval for an aid package proposed by the White House would be forthcoming anytime soon. “I am viewing this with more positivity than in December, I think we will [get it],” Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv.
  
  
• Ukraine’s military spy chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said Kyiv’s attacks in Russian-annexed Crimea were set to intensify, adding that Moscow’s economy was proving surprisingly resilient despite sanctions. “In 2023, the first Ukrainian incursions took place in temporarily occupied Crimea,” Budanov, 38, said in an interview with French daily Le Monde published on Friday. “And this is just the beginning.”
  
  
• Ukraine’s ground forces commander told Reuters that Kyiv needed more military aircraft for its war effort, such as US A-10 attack jets to support infantry as well as planes that could fire long-range cruise missiles. “I would talk about A-10s as an option if they’ll be given to us … this is not a new machine, but a reliable one that has proven itself in many wars, and which has a wide array of weapons for destroying land targets to help the infantry,” Col-Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
  
  
• Russian shelling on Friday killed two people in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, while a drone attack by Kyiv in the Moscow-controlled east killed another two, officials said. The head of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said the Russian army used artillery, striking a street. A Ukrainian drone, meanwhile, killed two people and wounded six during an evacuation of injured people near the Russian-controlled city of Gorlivka, the Russian-backed mayor, Ivan Prikhodko, said.
  
  
• Russia labelled the exiled writer Boris Akunin, who has spoken out against Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, as a foreign agent. The Kremlin has intensified its crackdown on dissent since launching its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022 and targeted the arts, with books by authors critical of Moscow disappearing from bookshops. Akunin is the pen name of Georgian-born writer Grigory Chkhartishvili.
  
  
• Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist Transniestria region accused central authorities in the ex-Soviet state of training Ukrainian soldiers to launch attacks on the rebel area’s institutions and leaders. Moldova’s pro-European government, which denounces Russia’s war in Ukraine, immediately denied the allegation.
  
  
• The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, made a £2.5bn commitment to Ukraine’s defence on Friday during a visit to Kyiv, and pledged that the UK would not falter at a time when military aid from the US has stalled. Sunak met the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, embracing him warmly and addressed Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. The two leaders held talks and signed a new UK-Ukrainian security treaty. It guarantees that the UK will give “swift and sustained” help should Russia attack Ukraine again.
  

Russia launches attacks across Ukrainian regions in early hours of Saturday

• In the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine, the governor said that the attack had caused damage in an unspecified location but there were no casualties.
  
  
• In central Ukraine, a missile was shot down over Kremenchuk in the Poltava region. A building was damaged but no casualties were reported.
  
  
• In the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-east Ukraine, two cruise missiles were downed over the district of Kryvyi Rih.
  
  
• Explosions were also heard in the city of Kropyvnytskyi in the Kirovohrad region in central Ukraine, with no casualties reported.
  
  
• In the Khmelnytskyi region in the west of Ukraine, with local authorities reporting that no “critical infrastructure” or civilians affected.
  
  
• Air defence forces were also operating in the Rivne region in western Ukraine, with no casualties or damage reported.
  
  
• In Lviv, western Ukraine, there was an air raid alert from around 6.30 am to 8.25am – but the governor said air defence forces meant “rockets did not manage to enter the airspace” of the Lviv region.
  

Russian military base in Mariupol comes under attack amid air defense failure

Powerful explosions rocked the occupied city of Mariupol on the morning of January 13th. Witnesses report an attack on a Russian military facility in the Kalmius district.

A warehouse in St Petersburg owned by one of Russia’s biggest online retailers has gone up in flames

Photos from Russian online retailer Wildberries’ warehouse fire have started coming through – here are a couple showing the huge blaze in a suburb of St Petersburg:

More detail about the damage caused by the attacks, from the former deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine:

Here are some images of people taking sheltering in Kyiv’s metro during the air raid alert on Saturday.

Russia says it has hit 'Ukrainian military-industrial complex' facilities

About 3,000 trucks are queuing at Ukraine’s borders, according to Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform, with more than 2,000 at the border of Ukraine and Poland, and about 1,000 at other parts.

• Why is this happening? The Polish drivers want the EU to reinstate a transport permit scheme that limited the number of Ukrainian drivers able to operate in Poland to 200,000 entries a year. They say that the lifting of restrictions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has hit their earnings due to cheaper competition.
  
  
• The protests come against a background of Ukraine one day becoming a member of the EU. EU leaders agreed to start accession talks with Ukraine in December.
  

Afternoon Summary

• France and Ukraine have agreed to “scale up” their defence cooperation, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said after a meeting with his counterpart. France’s show of continuing support will be welcome news to Ukraine, which fears backing for the country is waning as the war nears its second year and critical aid packages remain stuck in both Brussels and Washington.
  
  
• Russia launched 40 attacks against regions across Ukraine on Saturday morning using weapons including hypersonic missiles, according to local authorities and the Ukrainian air force. According to Ukraine, 37 were missiles, and three were drones. Eight were downed, and 20 failed to hit targets.
  
  
• Russia has said it has destroyed its targets in a series of strikes on facilities producing ammunition and drones in Ukraine. Its ministry of defence said Russia said it had targeted facilities producing shells, gunpowder and unmanned aerial vehicles, saying “all designated facilities were hit”.
  
  
• About 3,000 trucks were queuing at Ukraine’s borders on Saturday morning. Polish drivers have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine since 6 November, demanding the EU restore the requirement for permits for Ukrainian hauliers, who they claim are undercutting them. The system was scrapped in the months following Russia’s invasion.
  
  
• Russia has designated one of the country’s most popular fiction writers a “foreign agent” due to his opposition to its war in Ukraine. Grigori Chkhartishvili, who writes under the pen name Boris Akunin and lives in the UK, made light of development on social media.
  
  
• The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said he would visit Kyiv in the next few days. Warsaw is one of Ukraine’s key allies in its war against Russia but relations between the two countries became tense last year, under the rule of Tusk’s predecessor, Mateusz Morawiecki.
  

60-year-old man injured in Kherson Oblast on Saturday

A 60-year-old man was injured as a result of the attack on the village of Sadove in Kherson hromada. [an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories]

Russian cruise missile crashes en route to Ukraine

Russia has lost 369,160 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion almost two years ago, according to Ukraine’s armed forces.

• 6,065 tanks
  
  
• 11,269 armoured fighting vehicles
  
  
• 11,632 vehicles and fuel tanks
  
  
• 8,728 artillery systems
  
  
• 957 multiple launch rocket systems
  
  
• 646 air defence systems
  
  
• 329 airplanes
  
  
• 324 helicopters
  
  
• 6,848 drones
  
  
• 23 boats
  

Two businessmen are driving from the UK to Ukraine to deliver supplies donated by the public

Hundreds of people have been evacuated from a Kyiv shopping centre after a fire broke out

A man has been wounded following Russian shelling of a district in the Kherson region on Saturday, according to the local authority.

About 30 countries ready to establish security partnership with Ukraine – PM Shmyhal

“Ironclad”: Ukrainian wheeled combat robot destroys Russian positions

The new Ironclad robot that can remotely pound Russians with heavy machine gun fire is the latest example of Ukraine’s tech-driven approach to warfare

Fighters of Ukraine’s 5th Separate Assault Brigade employed the domestic ground unmanned combat platform Ironclad in combat, Ukraine’s Land Forces said on Tuesday.

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Video footage shows the robot targeting a Russian position with a heavy machine gun. The Ironclad uses a domestic “Shablya M2” combat module, which can be fitted with 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine guns, according to the statement.

Ironclad robotic system. Photo: Militarnyi

While the exact specifications of the modernized platform are unknown, earlier announced characteristics indicate a net weight of 1,800 kilograms and maximum payload capacity of up to 350 kilograms.

Top speed on roads is approximately 20 kilometers per hour, and 15 kilometers per hour off-road. Operating range is up to 130 kilometers on a single charge, with remote control range from 5 kilometers, extendable to 10 kilometers with a repeater, according to Militarynyi.
Ironclad’s armored hull withstands 7.62 mm ammunition.

The Shablya robotic turret. Photo: Brave1

The shots seen in the video are made by the robotic Shablya turrets, developed by a Ukrainian engineering team. Ukraine has now contracted them for the first time, Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on 10 January.
“Shablya is innovation and an example of modern warfare weapons,” Fedorov said.
Shablya is an example of a Ukrainian homegrown military tech startup that received state investments through the Brave 1 defense cluster as part of Ukraine’s strategy to develop unique technological solutions for its defense forces.
The combat module can be installed on the ground, vehicles, or special transport, providing fire support from trenches, bunkers, and pickups, according to the developers. It accommodates 7.62 mm PKT, M240, M2 machine guns, or other weapons.
The operator inserts the armament into the turret and coordinates fire at distances up to 1,200 meters using a remote control panel, camera, and monitor. Shablya’s armor withstands bullets. It can team up with the robotic Ris platform to deliver firepower on the hottest fronts, the developers said.

Ukraine’s tech-driven war and focus on drones

Faced with Russia’s prevailing manpower and military resources, Ukraine has opted for a tech-driven approach as it seeks to expel Russian invaders from its territory.
Drones have a special place in this approach. In the air, Ukraine’s state project, Army of Drones, provides hundreds of drones daily to the army, including small reconnaissance FPV drones, kamikaze drones, and heavy drone bombers.
In the sea, an agile fleet of naval drones has pushed away Russia’s Black Sea Fleet out of occupied Crimea and has sunk at least two flagships.

Regarding ground combat drones, Ukraine has three key priority areas, as Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Havrylov outlined in July 2023.

1.  logistics drones that can operate near the frontlines to evacuate wounded soldiers or deliver ammunition on contested ground within enemy firing range.
   
   
2. combat drones equipped with light weaponry like automatic grenade launchers, machine guns, or anti-tank munitions operated remotely by a human. These low-profile robots can ambush Russian forces from bushes or other concealment.
   
   
3. stationary robotic systems with machine guns or optical surveillance equipment that can be positioned at key points and remotely controlled. While limited in mobility, these can assist in reconnaissance or be integrated into defensive fortifications, Havrylov explained.
   

Ground robots like the Ukrainian-made Ironclad can save lives by destroying enemies while keeping personnel safely distant, Havrylov said. Ukraine’s military is providing feedback to developers on how to optimize the unmanned platforms for the battlefield.

Closing Summary

• Moscow continues to consider Taiwan an integral part of China, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry has said after voters elected Lai Ching-te from the ruling pro-sovereignty party. The president-elect said it was a “victory for the community of democracies”.
  
  
• Russia has lost 369,160 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion almost two years ago, according to Ukraine’s armed forces. The Russian military is on course to lose 500,000 personnel within the next year, according to a statement by the UK’s Ministry of Defence last week – the average daily casualty numbers, which today stood at about 700, have risen by nearly 300 during the course of 2023.
  
  
• France and Ukraine have agreed to “scale up” their defence cooperation, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said after a meeting with his counterpart. France’s show of continuing support will be welcome news to Ukraine, which fears backing for the country is waning as the war nears its second year and critical aid packages remain stuck in Brussels and Washington.
  
  
• Russia launched 40 attacks against regions across Ukraine on Saturday morning using weapons including hypersonic missiles, according to local authorities and the Ukrainian air force. According to Ukraine, 37 were missiles and three were drones. Eight were downed, and 20 failed to hit targets.
  
  
• Russia has said it has destroyed its targets in a series of strikes on facilities producing ammunition and drones in Ukraine. Its ministry of defence said Russia said it had targeted facilities producing shells, gunpowder and unmanned aerial vehicles, saying “all designated facilities were hit”.
  
  
• A warehouse in St Petersburg owned by one of Russia’s biggest online retailers has gone up in flames, Reuters reports Russia’s ministry of emergency situations as saying, as firefighters battled a huge blaze on Saturday.