January 3, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

The Russian Defense Ministry said 89 servicemen were killed in the strike in eastern Ukraine that occurred on New Year’s Day. Among them was the regiment’s deputy commander, Lt. Col. Bachurin, the ministry said in a statement.

The apparent Ukrainian strike took place just after midnight on Sunday at a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka in the Donetsk region, according to both Ukrainian and pro-Russian accounts.

On Monday, in a rare admission, the Russian Ministry of Defense said 63 servicemen had been killed in Makiivka when Ukraine used HIMARS rockets to attack a building where Russian soldiers were quartering. The Russian Defense Ministry updated the death toll after more bodies were found under the rubble.

The Ukrainian military had claimed up to around 400 Russian soldiers were killed and a further 300 wounded, and then said the exact number was “being clarified.”

In any case, it would represent one of the deadliest single losses of the war for Moscow’s forces.

US officials “have had direct conversations with Russian officials regarding Paul Whelan,” an American wrongfully detained in Russia, since the release of fellow wrongfully detained American Brittney Griner, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday.

“Our imperative is to see that outcome brought about swiftly so it doesn’t do us any good to speak to the details of that. But we said we are going to be committed, we’re going to be relentless, we’re going to be creative in doing everything we can to bring about Paul Whelan’s return to United States, return to his family,” Price said at a State Department press briefing.

Some background: US officials were unable to secure Whelan’s release in prisoner swaps this past year that secured the release of two other Americans wrongfully detained in Russia: Trevor Reed in April and Griner in mid-December. Multiple US officials said following Griner’s release that the Russians refused to negotiate a deal for Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges.

Whelan, who called CNN exclusively from his remote penal colony in the hours following Griner’s release, said he hoped President Joe Biden and his administration “would do everything they could to get me home, regardless of the price they might have to pay at this point.”

Ukraine’s military on Tuesday alleged another devastating attack on Russian troops had taken place.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said around 500 Russian troops were either killed or wounded in a hit near Chulakivka, a town in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, on New Year’s Eve.

“The enemy continues to suffer losses. It was confirmed that on December 31 Ukrainian Defense Forces hit an enemy troop and equipment stronghold near Chulakivka, Kherson region.
“Around 500 enemy troops were wounded and killed,” the General Staff said.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces in the south, told Ukrainian television: “This is one of our achievements in this direction of the front.” 

“There will be more because we identify the enemy’s locations,” she said of the alleged hit.

CNN cannot verify the Ukrainian claim. Moscow has not publicly commented on the Chulakivka claim. 

However, a widely read Russian war blogger known as “Operation Z” said in a Telegram post on Tuesday “there is no f***ing denying” that Ukraine is now targeting barracks and other Russian troop strongholds with HIMARS, a reference to High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. He included Chulakivka in his list of hits on Russian troops he said had taken place in December.

It comes after both Russian and Ukrainian authorities acknowledged a strike that took place just after midnight on New Year’s Day at a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka, in the Donetsk region.

The Russian defense ministry on Monday acknowledged the Makiivka attack and claimed that 63 Russian servicemen died, which would make it one of the deadliest single episodes of the war for Moscow’s forces.

Ukraine’s military said Tuesday that Russian forces are continuing to focus efforts on offensive actions in the direction of Bakhmut in a bid to take full control over eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The United Kingdom pledged long-term support for Ukraine, adding that work is underway to provide additional equipment in the coming weeks to the embattled nation.

If you’re just joining us, here are other key developments:

Russia has kept targeting Ukraine’s energy system and civilian infrastructure, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said in a video message on Tuesday summarizing the information on Russian strikes for the past 24 hours.

Power lines and several civilian buildings suffered damage following Russian shelling in the Chervonohryhorivka community of the Dnipropetrovsk region, he said. “The city of Nikopol got hit but the strike fell on the open territory,” he said.

“In the Donetsk direction, the cities of Bakhmut and Kurakhove came under shelling as well,” he continued. “One person got killed and two injured in the town of Kurakhove shelling. One shell flew directly into the high-rise building. The water supply facility in the town suffered damage.”

The Kyiv region got hit twice with ‘Iskander’ cruise missiles. “A residential area, ice arena and industrial area suffered damage,” he added. “One person was killed and one injured.”

In other details, Tymoshenko said:

Tymoshenko added that Russia was also “shelling energy infrastructure in the eastern and southern Ukraine again,” without giving any further details.

Russian forces are continuing to focus efforts on offensive actions in the direction of Bakhmut in a bid to take full control over eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Tuesday.

“Russian occupiers do not abandon their plans to reach the administrative border of Donetsk region. The main efforts are focused on maintaining offensive potential and replenishing losses,” the General Staff said.

“Russian occupiers are making attempts to improve the tactical situation at the Lyman and Avdiivka directions, reinforce the grouping at the Novopavlivka direction at the expense of units redeployed from the Kherson direction,” it added.

The General Staff said Russia continues to maintain a military presence in the border areas of Belarus and Russia, but there are “no signs of the formation of offensive groups.”

Tuesday’s situational update added Russia conducted eight air strikes and shelled Ukraine 18 times with multiple rocket launchers.

Some context on the city: For months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his advisers and generals have been calling the battles for Bakhmut “fierce” and “difficult.” The Russian advance on the city has left it in ruins but made it a symbol of Ukrainian resistance as it continues to hold on. Zelensky thrust the city onto the world stage as he discussed it during his speech in the US Capitol on Dec. 22, speaking about Bakhmut for 6 minutes.

Ukraine’s military shared a video that it claimed shows the destruction of a Russian ammunition warehouse in Svatove in the eastern Luhansk region. 

Serhiy Hayday, the Ukrainian head of Luhansk region military administration, said on Telegram on Monday that Russian forces had been bringing ammunition to occupied Svatove for two weeks.

Some background: Svatove is a strategic hub in Luhansk, which is the Ukrainian region that remains under the most amount of Russian control.

The video, shared by Strategic Communications Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Tuesday, shows a building with two trucks outside, the moment of impact at night and the warehouse destroyed afterward. The authorities did not say on which day the destruction took place.

The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine outlined the battles on the Kreminna-Svatove line, in the eastern Luhansk region, in his first phone call of the new year with America’s top general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. 

Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi also thanked Milley for the “foreign-manufactured anti-aircraft missile systems provided with his active assistance.”

He detailed how since Dec. 31, 2022, until Tuesday morning, Russia “launched 14 cruise missiles” at Ukraine and deployed 94 Iranian Shahed-136 drones.

“I told him about changes in the operational and strategic situation, primarily on the land and in the air space of Ukraine,” Zaluzhnyi said on Twitter Tuesday.

“Fierce fighting is going on along Svatove-Kreminna line, also in the direction of Lysychansk. The most challenging situation remains in Soledar-Bakhmut-Mayorsk area, Russia is virtually attempting to advance over their corpses, but Ukrainian Defense Forces units constrain the enemy’s offensive,” Zaluzhnyi claimed.

Some context: The key Ukrainian city of Kreminna has been occupied by Russian forces since the spring of 2022 and is located on a key north-south road from Svatove, which Russian troops had been using to transport supplies. Losing Kreminna would limit Russia’s ability to resupply its troops in the city of Severodonetsk.

Ukraine’s military chief said his forces had managed to hold positions and continue counteroffensive efforts in the direction of the Donetsk region.

He also said Ukraine has “securely” held defensive lines in the Zaporizhzhia direction, in southeastern Ukraine, “and put effort into protecting against the hostile shelling of Kherson, primarily civilians and city’s critical infrastructure facilities.”

Satellite images taken by US satellite company Planet Labs show the aftermath of the strike in Makiivka, in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

The images — which were taken on Dec. 20, 2022 and on Jan. 2, 2023 — purportedly show the building allegedly housing Russian troops before and after the attack, according to Planet Labs. 

The satellite image taken on Jan. 2 shows a building almost completely demolished to the ground. 

According to both Ukrainian and pro-Russian accounts, the strike took place just after midnight on Jan. 1 on a vocational school housing Russian conscripts.

In a rare admission, the Russian Ministry of Defense on Monday said that 63 servicemen had been killed in Makiivka when Ukraine used HIMARS missiles to attack a building where Russian soldiers were quartering.

The Ukrainian military claimed up to around 400 Russian soldiers were killed and a further 300 wounded, and says the exact number is “being clarified.”

Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday detailed allegations of what they called “torture chambers” discovered in a village in the Mykolaiv region and the city of Kherson. 

Mykolaiv’s regional prosecutor’s office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and forensic experts with the National Police of Ukraine established the location of an alleged “torture chamber” in the village of Oleksandrivka, in the southern Mykolaiv region, after it was taken back from Russian occupation, according to statements from the regional prosecutor’s office and the SBU.

“According to the investigation data, the representatives of the aggressor country seized the houses in the village and illegally held and brutally tortured local residents who refused to cooperate with the enemy,” according to the Mykolaiv prosecutor’s office. 

The office also said that “physical evidence was discovered and seized” during the investigation. 

The SBU alleged in a statement that “Russians forcibly held and brutally tortured local residents who refused to cooperate.” 

“They tried to ‘beat out’ the addresses of Ukrainian patriots, in particular members of the resistance movement,” the SBU claimed. 

“The victims were suffocated with plastic bags, beaten with heavy objects and electrical torture was used,” the statement added. “During the inspection of the chamber, law enforcement officers discovered torture tools.” 

The SBU said that Ukrainian citizens who were “illegally detained and tortured by the Russians for a month were found.” 

CNN cannot independently verify the claims made by Ukrainian authorities. 

Another allegation: On Tuesday, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine also reported another “torture chamber” was discovered in the city of Kherson in “one of the police administration buildings, which Russians used to ensure the functioning of the occupation penal authorities.” 

CNN cannot independently verify the claim. 

Russia has previously denied allegations of war crimes and claimed its forces do not target civilians, despite extensive evidence gathered by international human rights experts, criminal investigators and international media in multiple locations. 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the United Kingdom will continue long-term support for Ukraine and work is underway to “provide further equipment in the coming weeks and months,” according to a Downing Street readout of a call between the two leaders on Tuesday afternoon. 

“The leaders discussed the abhorrent drone attacks on Ukraine in recent days, and the Prime Minister said the thoughts of the UK were with the Ukrainian people as they continued to live under such bombardment,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. 

“The Prime Minister said Ukraine could count on the UK to continue to support it for the long term, as demonstrated by the recent delivery of more than 1000 anti-air missiles,” the spokesperson added in the readout, adding that the prime minister said, “Work was also underway to provide further equipment in the coming weeks and months to secure Ukraine’s victory on the battlefield.”

Sunak also said that partners of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) are working closely to provide additional equipment requested by Ukraine, according to Downing Street. 

Russian forces shelled parts of Kherson region in southern Ukraine 79 times on Monday, killing two people, according to the head of Kherson region military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych.

He said two people were killed and nine residents were injured.

“The Russian army attacked Kherson city 32 times. Enemy shells hit a car market, a utility company, private and apartment buildings,” he added.

The day after an alleged Russian strike that destroyed an ice arena in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine’s foreign minister has criticized the argument that sports should be “beyond politics.”

“I invite all sports officials who want to allow Russian athletes to participate in international competitions, because ‘sport is beyond politics,’ including the President of the IOC Thomas Bach, to visit the ‘Altair’ and see for themselves the ‘sport neutrality’ of Russia,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Instagram on Tuesday.

A Russian strike destroyed an ice arena in Druzhkivka, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Ukrainian head of the Donetsk region military administration, said on Tuesday.

Kubela added that Ukrainian and international competitions were held at the arena.

“Children and adults trained here. It was not just a sports facility, but one of the key arenas for the development of Ukrainian sports and the largest hockey and figure skating school in Ukraine. The only blows that took place here were hockey bullets. Until the ‘depoliticized’ Russian bombs struck,” he said.

Ukraine’s presidential office last month criticized FIFA for refusing to show a video message from President Volodomyr Zelensky in Qatar’s Lusali stadium ahead of the World Cup final.

CNN’s Matthew Chance contributed to this report.

Uncertainty still surrounds the death toll from a strike on Russian barracks in Makiivka, eastern Ukraine, with a top Russian war blogger questioning Moscow’s official count.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian authorities have charged two senior Russian commanders with crimes related to attacking Ukrainian civilians for the first time.

Here are the latest headlines:

French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed that Ukraine “needs our support more than ever,” as he hosted Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Paris on Tuesday.

The two leaders mentioned Sweden and Finland’s application to join NATO, with Macron saying Sweden can “count on France’s support and solidarity.”

Kristersson said Sweden was “very grateful” for the “strong support,” adding “we are right now doing exactly what we said we were going to do to be able to enter the Alliance as soon as possible.”

Ukrainian authorities have for the first time charged two high-ranking Russian military commanders with crimes related to attacking Ukrainian civilians.

Colonel-General Serhii Kobylash, commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, and Admiral Igor Osipov, former commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, were charged in absentia.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced Tuesday that it had “collected a high-quality evidence base against two representatives of the Russian high command, who are responsible for attacking civilian facilities in Ukraine.”

The SBU said that Kobylash and Osipov were being charged under two sections of the Ukrainian criminal code: first with “planning, preparation, starting and conducting an aggressive war,” and second with “encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine.”

Were they to be captured and convicted, the two could face life in prison, the SBU said.

“During the investigation, SBU investigators found that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Serhii Kobylash has been following the instructions of Russia’s top military and political leadership to destroy Ukrainian cities,” the SBU said.

“It is on his orders that Russian invaders carry out massive missile attacks on residential buildings, hospitals and critical infrastructure in different regions of Ukraine.”

The SBU accused Igor Osipov of ordering “systematic missile strikes from the Black Sea on Ukrainian densely populated settlements.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense has not reacted to the charges, and CNN is unable to reach the accused directly.

Unseasonably warm weather in Ukraine is easing demand on the country’s electricity grid, the country’s state-owned electricity operator said Tuesday.

“Due to warm weather, consumption in Ukraine is reduced,” Ukrenergo said on its official Facebook page.

“Power plants produce enough electricity to cover the load,” it added. “In addition, due to clear weather in the morning and afternoon hours, the production of electricity by solar power plants is increased.”

Nonetheless, Ukrenergo said that power restrictions would need to be implemented again by Tuesday afternoon as demand increased through the day, and urged Ukrainians to “consume electricity wisely.”

Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, disrupting the supply of electricity, water and heat in the country this winter.

A top Russian military blogger, who just weeks ago received an award from President Vladimir Putin, has cast doubts on Moscow’s official death toll from an attack on Russian barracks in occupied eastern Ukraine.

Semyon Pegov, who blogs under the alias “WarGonzo,” posted a five-minute video on his Telegram channel Tuesday morning discussing what he called the “Makiivka tragedy.”

“Despite the official statement of the Ministry of Defense, the exact number of casualties is still unknown,” Pegov said in the video.

“To the degree we can trust our own sources who work at the spot where this tragedy happened, they are still digging up the rubble at this moment. And unfortunately, the number of victims of this tragedy – the HIMARS strike on the quarters of both newly mobilized and the serving military, including National Guard – could be bigger.”

In a rare admission, the Russian Ministry of Defense on Monday said that 63 servicemen had been killed in Makiivka when Ukraine used HIMARS missiles to attack a building where Russian soldiers were quartering.

The Ukrainian military claims around 400 Russian soldiers were killed and a further 300 wounded, and says the exact number is “being clarified.”

In any case, it would represent one of the deadliest single episodes of the war for Russian forces.

Putin personally awarded Pegov with the “Order of Courage” at the Kremlin on December 20.

Pegov is not alone is casting doubt on Russia’s official account. 

Igor Girkin, a former official in the Russia-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, suggested on Monday that the number of dead and wounded could run into the hundreds.

“There are still no final figures on the number of casualties, as many people are still missing,” said Girkin, who was found guilty by a Dutch court of mass murder for his involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Kateryna and her husband Oleg endure what every citizen of Kyiv must – long blackouts, hours without any internet connection and constant apprehension about the next missile barrage.

But as they begin 2023, they are also preparing for the arrival of twin boys. Kateryna, who is 34, is eight months pregnant. CNN agreed to use only first names for her and Oleg as they fear for their privacy.

She’s not getting much rest ahead of the big day. The air-raid sirens blare almost every day, the crump of explosions is all too familiar. Their lives are shaped by the scheduled power cuts, as electricity is shared among the regions to mitigate the impact of Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

“On New Year’s Eve, I tried to take a nap,” she told CNN from her house in the Kyiv suburbs. “But I woke to the sound of explosions, and they went on through the night. The sirens were on for much of the night, until 4:30 a.m.,” she said.
It’s difficult for residents to distinguish between the sound of air defenses in operation and the impact of Russian cruise missiles and drones.
“I don’t mind the blackouts,” Kateryna said, “but we worry about the next wave of Russian missiles. Will it be us? It’s like a constant gamble.”

Kateryna stands in front of seized Russian equipment on Sofiyivska Square, Kyiv

Related article 'It's like a constant gamble:' Ukrainian couple await birth of twins in wartime Kyiv | CNN

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia is planning a prolonged campaign of attacks with Iranian-made Shahed drones to exhaust Ukraine.

“We have information that Russia is planning a prolonged attack with Shaheds. Its bet may be on exhaustion,” Zelensky said in his nightly address Monday. “On exhaustion of our people, our air defense, our energy sector.” 

Zelensky said Ukraine’s main task is to ensure Russia’s drone plans fail.

He said more than 80 have been shot down over Ukraine since the start of 2023. 

“This number may increase in the near future. Because these weeks the nights can be quite restless.
“Now is the time when everyone involved in the protection of the sky should be especially attentive.”

Some 40% of territories occupied after Feb. 24 — when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine — were liberated over the past year, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, said Monday.

“The Armed Forces liberated 40% of the territories occupied during the full-scale invasion and 28% of all territories occupied by Russia since 2014,” he reported in a round-up post of 2022 on the Telegram app.

The current front line is 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) long, the general said.

According to Zaluzhny, Ukrainian Armed Forces have undergone military training in the territory of 17 European countries.

“Thanks to international partners it was possible to train more than 20,000 soldiers,” he said. “In 2022, more than 600,000 people were evacuated from the areas of hostilities and more than 2 million tonnes of humanitarian goods were brought in.”

The governor of Belgorod, a Russian region bordering Ukraine, reported shelling on Monday.

Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that “the village of Murom in the Shebekinsky urban district came under fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” 

He said there were no casualties, but the shelling caused damage to two homes and a car.

Gladkov also reported a local cemetery was hit by shelling.  

According to Gladkov, the village of Vyazovoye in the Belgorod region also came under fire on Monday.

“There were no casualties,” he said. “Windows of one private house were blown out, the facade and the fence were affected.”  

“A power transmission line was also damaged,” Gladkov added. “Emergency services are on site and are dealing with the aftermath.” 

Some background: Belgorod, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Ukrainian border, has been struck previously. In December, the governor said one person was killed and eight others injured in strikes.

The damage to Ukrainian ecology caused by Russia’s invasion is estimated at $35.3 billion, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, said on Monday.

“Millions of hectares of nature preserves are under threat. Article 55 of the Protocol I [Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts] prohibits waging war VS the natural environment by way of reprisals, but Russia doesn’t care,” he tweeted, referencing a 1977 amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources said in a Facebook post Monday: “The conduct of hostilities deepens the climate crisis, causing significant emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”

According to the latest calculations of the Ministry of Environment, the war has directly led to emissions of 33 million tonnes of greenhouse gases. The ministry broke that figure down, listing the estimated emissions from combat, the movement of internally displaced people and fires in the country. 

Some background: In May last year, CNN reported how Ukraine’s fertile soil was becoming contaminated with heavy metals and other potentially poisonous substances leaking from missiles, military equipment and spent ammunition.

Spilled fuel is polluting ground waters and ecosystems are being hammered by tanks and other heavy technology. All of this is damage that will be felt for decades after the war ends.

In December, Kyiv-based non-profit the Center for Environmental Initiatives Ecoaction published a report that said, “the population’s access to water in many regions of the country has significantly deteriorated.” 

“As a result of Russia’s armed military aggression against Ukraine, water treatment and purification infrastructure facilities are destroyed, and environmental components are polluted, in particular sources of drinking water and water bodies,” it said.

An apparent Ukrainian strike in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine appears to have killed a large number of Russian troops, according to the Ukrainian military, pro-Russian military bloggers and former officials.

The strike took place just after midnight on Sunday, New Year’s Day, on a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka, in the Donetsk region, according to both Ukrainian and pro-Russian accounts.

The attack has led to vocal criticism of Moscow’s military from pro-Russian military bloggers, who claimed that the troops lacked protection and were reportedly being quartered next to a large cache of ammunition, which is said to have exploded when Ukrainian HIMARS rockets hit the school.

The Ukrainian military said later on Monday that the number of Russian servicemen killed in Makiivka is “being clarified” after claiming earlier that around 400 Russian soldiers were killed and a further 300 were wounded. It has not directly acknowledged a role in the strike. CNN cannot independently confirm those numbers or the weapons used in the attack.

Some pro-Russian military bloggers have also estimated that the number of dead and wounded could run in the hundreds.

The Russian defense ministry on Monday acknowledged the attack and claimed that 63 Russian servicemen died, which would make it one of the deadliest single episodes of the war for Moscow’s forces.

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