Russian drone attack that failed
On the night of December 29 into December 30, Russia attacked Ukraine with 16 Iranian-made Shahed drones. The Russian forces sent Shahed 131 and Shahed 136 drones from the southeast and north, Ukraine‘s Air Force Command said. Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted all 16 drones. The Russians launched the drones along the Dnipro river to bypass air defenses.
Debris of a kamikaze drone aimed at Kyiv damaged a four-story non-residential building in Holosiyivskyi district in the capital, causing a fire. The fire was later put out. The strike blew out windows in a nearby nine-story residential building up to the fifth floor. Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko released photos from the scene.
Russia to begin new round of mobilization January 5, Ukraine’s defense intelligence says
The Kremlin made a decision to begin a new wave of mobilization on January 5, 2023 as the Russian army suffers from shortage of personnel, Head of the Main Intelligence Department of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with BBC.
“They made a decision to begin another round of mobilization January 5. I don’t know if they will announce it on that day, but their plans say January 5.”
“They will have to begin another mobilization of conscripts even as the past draft that was deemed ended, actually never stopped. People are being actively called up,” Budanov said.
The new conscription will be no different from the previous round, he said. Russian military recruitment centers have adapted, and the drafting process will be smoother.
The Russians have problems with staffing the units and forming new ones. “They are already short of personnel,” Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said.
Almost all Ukrainians believe their country will prevail over Russia
Some 93 per cent of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine will win the war against Russia, a survey by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center finds. The field period for this survey was December 13 to December 21. The research includes a sample of 2,018 adults. Only three per cent doubt the outcome.
While the vast majority of Ukrainians all across the country believe that Ukraine will win the war, respondents in the east (10 per cent) showed more skepticism. Thirty-nine per cent of those who believe that Ukraine will win say it will defeat Russia by summer 2023. Twenty-two per cent believe the war will continue for one or two more years. Twenty per cent say they hope Ukraine will win the war in the coming months.
A majority of Ukrainians (54 per cent) want to see the Russian forces withdrawn from all of Ukraine and its 2014 borders restored. One-fifth (22 per cent) say they want to see the Russian army destroyed and Russia dissolved. Eighteen per cent say they are willing to cede the occupied territories to end the war. Eight per cent of those respondents are willing to cede only Crimea, and six per cent – only the territories that Russia seized before February 24, 2022.
Podcast Explaining Ukraine, latest episodes
Kherson, a city under constant Russian shelling. A dispatch from our trip here | Ep. 175
Mykolaiv, a southern fortress. A podcast from our trip | Ep. 174
Ukraine’s Azovstal defenders still missing. Ukraine in Flames #295
Wives of three Ukrainian Azovstal defenders captured by Russia speak out.
