New attacks, and a possible wave of displaced persons to be expected. On Friday January 27, a Russian military adviser, Ian Gagine, indicated to the Tass agency that “serious, brutal fighting” was underway in Vougledar and that the Russian forces had “established themselves in the south-east and the east from the city”. This new offensive follows Russian strikes that took place the day before, causing eleven deaths and eleven injuries.
Asked by AFP on Thursday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, then warned that Europeans should prepare for a probable new wave of displaced people fleeing the fighting. For his part, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, declared on Friday that an international prosecutor’s office responsible for gathering evidence of the crime of aggression committed by Russia in Ukraine can be established “quickly”.
A “fierce” battle is underway for Vougledar, a city in eastern Ukraine, which Russian forces are trying to conquer, the two sides said on Friday.
The head of the Russian occupation of the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said overnight “waiting for good news” from Vougledar, a mining town which had 15,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion. “The coming encirclement and liberation of the city will solve some things,” he told the Ria Novosti agency, stressing that a victory would “change the balance of power on the front” by opening the way to an offensive towards the towns of Pokrovsk and Kourakhové, located further north.
For its part, kyiv assured that Moscow “exaggerated” the success of its offensive.
An international prosecutor’s office responsible for gathering evidence of the crime of aggression committed by Russia in Ukraine can be established “quickly”, in a “first step” before the establishment of a special court, estimated this Friday the European commissioner to Justice Didier Reynders.
This “international coordination center for the prosecution of the crime of aggression” would be located in The Hague at the headquarters of Eurojust, the EU agency for judicial cooperation in criminal matters, according to the Commission.
“As we have seen everywhere, in Mariupol, in Kherson, whenever the fighting escalates, people will naturally try to take cover,” said Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees, in reference to two major battles of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022. And to add: “We say to the Ukrainian government, but also to the governments of neighboring countries, to be ready, to prepare for any eventuality”.
Vladimir Putin on Friday accused “neo-Nazis in Ukraine” of committing crimes against civilians, on the occasion of the international day of victims of the Holocaust, a rhetoric that the Russian president regularly uses to justify his military offensive.
“Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies. The proof of this is the crimes against civilians, the ethnic cleansing (and) the punitive actions organized by the neo-Nazis in Ukraine”, denounced Vladimir Putin in a press release . “It is against this evil that our soldiers are fighting courageously” in Ukraine, he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed, for his part, that “indifference and hatred” continued to kill, alluding without naming it to Russia’s military offensive.
A missile attack took place on Thursday against Ukraine, targeted by more than fifty Russian missiles, said the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny. The anti-aircraft defense “destroyed 47 cruise missiles, including 20 near the capital” kyiv, he said on Telegram. Of the 55 “high precision” missiles, two were of the KH-47 Kinjal type and four were KH-59s fired from Mig-31 and Su-35 aircraft respectively, the army said. Ukrainian air on Telegram. Another 40 missiles, of the Kh-101 and Kh-155 types, were fired from Tupolev-75 bombers beyond the Caspian Sea and nine of the Kalibr type from Russian surface boats and submarines at sea Black, according to the same source.
At least 11 people were killed and 11 others injured in these strikes. “Emergency” power cuts were triggered Thursday morning in kyiv and in three regions.
The previous evening, Ukraine had already shot down a set of 24 Russian-launched, Iranian-made suicide drones, according to the Air Force.
Srdjan Djokovic, at the center of a controversy at the Australian Open with pro-Russian fans, announced on Friday that he was giving up attending the semi-final of his son Novak in order not to stir up tensions. “I had no intention of making headlines or causing any disruption […] So that there is no disruption during the semi-final for my son or his opponent, I chose to watch the game from home,” he said.
A video posted on a pro-Russian Australian YouTube account on Thursday showed Srdjan Djokovic posing outside the stadium with a man holding a Russian flag with the face of President Vladimir Putin. The video was captioned: “Novak Djokovic’s father makes bold political statement”.
Under pressure for several weeks, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 heavy tanks to Ukraine, despite his reluctance, and while claiming to want to avoid “an escalation” which would lead to a war between Russia and NATO. They should arrive “at the end of March, beginning of April”, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday.
After long procrastination, Washington announced on Wednesday the delivery of 31 Abrams tanks to theUkraine, thereby further pushing the boundaries between aid and co-belligerence. To avoid being accused of participating directly in the war, Joe Biden also immediately affirmed that the act did not constitute an “offensive threat against Russia”.
Until recently, the United States said it was not ready to provide its most advanced heavy tanks, the Abrams, to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion, justifying this refusal by questions of maintenance and training. Last week, the Pentagon’s number three, Colin Kahl, pointed out that the Abrams tank was “a very complicated piece of equipment”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed this turnaround during his daily address, while calling for long-range missiles and fighter jets. In the immediate term, “the key now is the speed and volume” of tank deliveries, he said. The delivery of these tanks is “an important step for the final victory”, added Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russian justice declared Thursday “undesirable” the independent media Medusa in Russia, paving the way for criminal proceedings against its journalists, a new episode of repression that targets civil society in the country.
Medusa, a popular online Russian-language newspaper based in Latvia to evade censorship, was launched in March 2014. For almost a year, its articles have been widely critical of the Russian military operation in Ukraine and the crackdown on Russian civil society. . The Prosecutor’s Office explained in a statement on Thursday that it had “established that its activity represents a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of Russia”.
