1/24/24-1/26/24 Ukrainian General Update LanguageLearner

1/24/24-1/26/24 Update, day 700-702 of Russian invasion.


Belarus/Western Border:

UA is planning to construct 4 additional nuclear reactors at the Khmelnytskyi NPP, 2 of which will be built off RU made equipment imported from Poland, and 2 which will be use Westinghouse equipment from the USA.

UA CiC Zaluzhny held a phone conference with the Polish general staff, focusing on training programs and sharing of air defense tactics and needs.

Slovakian PM Robert Fico stated he would not oppose the 50 billion Euro package for UA. Reportedly negotiations with HU PM Viktor Orban are not going well, and causing frustration with other EU member states who have floated the idea of removing HU voting powers in some capacity.

Slovakia reiterated they will not terminate existing private military contracts with Ukraine, referring to artillery production and armored vehicle repair operations taking place in Slovakia.


Kyiv/ Central Ukraine:

The new head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will come to UA next week on a working visit.

Zelensky held a telephone conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, thanking him for the allocation of 8 Billion euros of aid, as well as 6 Sea King heavy lift helicopter, plus discussions of strengthening UA SAM systems. Germany reportedly plans to train 10,000 UA soldiers this year.


Sumy/Chernihiv/Kharkiv city region:

Following the crash/shootdown of an RU Il-76 leaving from Belgorod on wednesday, dueling rumors continue to swirl. RU claims that it was actively carrying 65 UA POW's, however there are certain inconsistencies with its story including-
The reported # of RU guards (3) aboard was 10x less then the usual complement for POW flights, the same airframe had previously been used for delivering missiles to both S-300 and TU-95 bombers around RU, and there was a noted lack of bodies for the claimed # of passengers.

However, UA has confirmed there was originally a planned POW swap scheduled for 65 UA POW that day, which RU later cancelled. RU has thus far refused to allow international investigators into the crash site.

Kharkiv has declared a day of mourning following a large RU rocket attack on Kharkiv, which killed 10 and wounded 75 people.


Kupyansk/East Kharkiv/Kreminna:

RU launched 6 assaults over the last day towards Kupyansk via Synkivka. Generally these assaults include approximately 20 soldiers with limited tank support at max distance. RU continues to utilize about 10 airstrikes a day here, the bulk being glide bombs.

RU bloggers complained that any larger concentration of soldiers then this was struck by drones, preventing RU from massing enough troops for a breakthrough.

RU has increased its shelling notably in this region, firing some 850 shells in the last 24 hours compared to previous average of 400-500.

RU continues to intensify assaults along the East Kharkiv axis, losing some 360 soldiers, 7 tanks, and 2 APC along with 72 other unspecified pieces of equipment in the last day.

UA claims that the situation around Krokhmalny is stable after UA soldiers withdrew from the village to positions further W. RU is reportedly not carrying out assault activities in the area currently.

UA repelled 4 attacks near Dibrova, W of Kreminna. An additional 5 assaults were repelled in the SW forestry area near Kreminna.

UA is heavily using drones around Kreminna to positive effect against RU assaults.


Kramatorsk/Bakhmut:

RU is apparently re-attempting further advance NE of Soledar, contesting territory towards Siversk.

UA regained territory NW of Bakhmut near Bohdanivka, where heavy RU artillery strikes on the route to Chasiv Yar continues.

UA awarded state honors to the parents of slain UK volunteer Christopher Perry, who was executed along with his partner in Bakhmut by Wagner soldiers in January 2023.



Avdiivka:

RU has advanced further from the SE of Avdiivka into the SE suburbs, where UA tanks have been seen engaging RU forces.

RU forces continue efforts to contest UA from the NW near Stepove, with no observed success. There appears to be an increased usage of UA tanks on this axis, shelling the nearby RU group concentration in Krasnohorivka some 2.5-4 km away from friendly lines.

Meanwhile, RU continues to heavily shell downtown Avdiivka with missiles and airstrikes.

UA repelled 4 assaults towards avdiivka and 8 assaults near Pervomaiske over the last 24 hours.


Donetsk/Luhansk occupied regions:

UA repelled 9 assaults near Marinka over the last day.


Zaporizhia/Southern Axis:

UA repelled 3 RU attacks near Robotyne, but otherwise the frontline remains positional with UAV and artillery strikes.

In Kryvi Rih, an unknown person shot an RPG into an apartment building. No injuries were reported, and there is a police investigation ongoing.

RU shelled 23 settlements 124 times along the frontline here yesterday.

UA again targeted a railway bridge NE of Mariupol in Granitne, destroying its remains and local engineering units.


Kherson:

UA continues to hold the bridgehead at Krynky, repelling 7 RU assaults in the last day. UA destroyed 3 recon stations and 3 supply caches in this area, along with 15 artillery systems and 10 vehicles.

RU fired 21 shells into downtown Kherson today, including a city hospital, wounding 3 medical workers.

RU launched a cyberattack on Naftogaz and Gazmerezhi, two gas supply companies in Mykolaiv. Currently their systems are down.

RU drones attacked Mykolaiv oblast as well, damaging power infrastructure.


Odessa/Black Sea/Crimea:

Following a night drone attack on Odesa, 177 apartments were damaged across the city. 10 drones were reportedly shot down.

The UA security services exposed an embezzlement scheme dating back to 2017, where 32 barges from the "Ukrainian Danube Shipping" state company fleet worth $2.2 million USD were floated to the middle east, reconstructed into 12 higher capacity barges, and then had their registrations changed to be used for personal profit by Odesa politicians.

Another large RU landing ship arrived in Sevastopol, replacing the sunken Novocherkasy of the same class.


Russia:

Former FSB officer and DPR instigator Igor Girkin was sentenced to 4 years in RU prison for "extremist incitement online" and banned from using social media for 3 years.

RU passed a law allowing for confiscation of property against anyone who disparages the RU military or its operations.

An RU oil depot in Krasnodar was struck by UA, reportedly on an SSO mission.

The largest bank of Cyprus has left RU, leaving only 1 foreign bank currently operating in RU, from Kyrgyzstan.

Reportedly UA volunteers hacked the RU meteorological center in E Russia, destroying 280 servers with 2 petabytes (200 million GB) of data at a value of approx $10 million. This primarily encompassed weather and satellite data which was used by many aspects of RU governmental and military operations.


General:

Over the last day UA forces conducted 6 airstrikes and RU forces 97 air strikes (including drones) and 6 missile strikes.

Yesterday Ukrainian forces eliminated:
990x troops (380,600 in total)
16x APC
8x Tank
0x Air defense
15x Artillery (0x MLRS)
0x Aircraft
20x vehicles
0x UAV


Overseas:

The official screening process for UA accession to the EU has begun in Brussels. This is the very first step, in a long chain.

The French MoD handed over 2 M270 MLRS launchers to UA.

Nepal has demanded that RU stop recruiting Nepali citizens into its army, and return any who are in service (alive or deceased) to Nepal.

The combined GDP of UA and all its allies is 21x larger then that of RU and its current allies. The current Republican speaker of the House in the US has announced the current Border/Ukraine spending bill is "dead on arrival" for nonspecific reasons, reportedly linked to partisan politics and the 2024 election cycle.

The Senate will hear a bill on confiscating RU assets to fund UA aid and development.

The UK Chief of General Staff stated that Britain was not taking the threat posed by RU seriously, and advocated for increased military preparedness to swell the ranks to 120,000 soldiers over the next 3 years (up from approximately 72,000 currently).

The UK will reportedly offer additional storm shadow missiles to UA, in exchange for receiving Taurus long range missiles from Germany.

Germany and UA will reportedly finalize security guarantees in the near future.

Latvia will hand over 14 more vehicles confiscated from DUI's to Ukraine.