Hello everyone,
Hope you enjoy your weekend! High time for the weekly update about Ukraine.
On Sunday alone, Russian forces shelled more than a hundred cities, towns, and villages in nine regions of Ukraine. The biggest attacks are in Donetsk region. Institute of Study of War said that Russian forces advanced along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line on January 20. Geolocated imagery published on that day indicated that Russian forces captured Krokhmalne and marginally advanced east of Ivanivka. Today, Ukraine confirmed withdrawal of troops from Krokhmalne.
President Joe Biden’s top aides bluntly told lawmakers in a private meeting on Wednesday that if Congress fails to authorize additional military aid for Ukraine in the coming days, Russia could win the war in a matter of weeks — months at best, according to two people familiar with the meeting, NBC reported. National security adviser Jake Sullivan and the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the lawmakers that Ukraine will run out of certain air defense and artillery capabilities in the coming weeks, according to the people familiar with the meeting.
The grim assessment, which one White House official described as “incredibly stark,” was delivered as the future of Ukraine aid has never been more uncertain. It also comes as White House officials are increasingly alarmed at the prospect of Biden failing to follow through with his promise that the U.S. will be there for Kyiv “as long as it takes.”
At the same time, the U.S. is pushing Kyiv to adopt ‘active defence’ throughout 2024. A Western official told FT that there is “little prospect of an operational breakthrough by either side in 2024”, and a strategy of “active defence” would allow Ukraine to “build up its forces” this year and prepare for 2025. Ukraine is in desperate need of defence capabilities.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is continuing its long-range drone strikes on the infrastructure and military depots inside Russia. Today this seems to be the most effective way of deterring the Russian army.
An interesting piece was published in the New York Times that tells that the front line in Ukraine is largely peopled by the elderly these days. Some can’t afford to get out. Others say they won’t abandon their homes.
Unfortunately, big scandals occurred in Ukraine last week. A series of attacks and smear campaigns targeting prominent Ukrainian journalists has cast a shadow over Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s record on safeguarding media freedom, FT wrote based on the domestic news.
In a rare statement since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Mediarukh, an association of media outlets and watchdogs, on Wednesday directly called on the country’s president to “resolutely condemn” the attacks and “take over control of the investigation” in order to find out who the culprits were.
“Unknown aggressors are trying to smear Ukrainian journalists as ‘enemies of the people’, Russian agents, drug addicts, and to discredit their professional work,” the statement said. “There is surveillance, wiretapping and a violation of journalists’ right to privacy — all with the aim of putting pressure on independent media.”
Zelenskyy on Wednesday said the domestic security service (SBU) had launched an investigation into the monitoring of journalists, adding: “Any pressure on journalists is unacceptable.”
Ukraine’s media freedom has been partly curtailed over what the government has said were national security concerns since the Russian invasion, with Reporters Without Borders warning that the war “threatens the survival of the Ukrainian media”. You can read the details via the link I incorporated. It’s a free article.
Also, Ukraine is trying to work further on the mechanisms of using the frozen Russian financial assets for future post war rebuilding. And I personally hear from a lot of people how they would like to visit Ukraine when the war is over. Gives some hope for me as a Ukrainian.
Wishing you a peaceful Sunday,
Iuliia Mendel
P.S. Don't forget about the book “The fight of our lives.” It's only $6 on Amazon these days!
Stay Strong. Love and best wishes from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.