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22h36 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his troops were resisting “new assaults, even more violent” in Soledar, near Bakhmout, a city in eastern Ukraine which Moscow has been trying to seize for months. “I thank all our soldiers who protect Bakhmout”launched the president in his daily message.
9:42 p.m : The Russian human rights commissioner (ombudsman), Tatiana Moskalkova, announced to the Tass agency that she will meet her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets, between January 12 and 14 in Turkey. This meeting was confirmed to franceinfo by the Ukrainian side. The discussion will focus in particular on the repatriation of civilians who are the subject of criminal proceedings. “Ukraine is ready to study all options to allow their return, which is a priority”explains this source to franceinfo, without specifying the exact date.
17h57 : Ukrainian authorities claim that a medical team managed to extract a small unexploded VOG grenade from the body of a soldier. The surgery took place in the presence of two demining experts, specifies the general staff of the armed forces. It took place without electrocoagulation – an electric current to stop bleeding – because of the risk of detonation.
17h26 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed last night that the area between Bakhmout and Soledar was “one of the bloodiest places on the forehead”. Wagner’s fighters have been trying for months to take the city of Bakhmout. They are currently trying to encircle it from the north, which involves taking Soledar.
17h28 : Russian forces launched “a mighty assault” on the city of Soledar, announces the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Ganna Maliar. “The enemy has regrouped” et “transferred additional assault units”she says, as the fighting rages in this locality located 15 kilometers northeast of Bakhmout. “Fierce battles are underway” against the mercenaries of the paramilitary group Wagner, she adds.
16h32 : Two civilians were injured in a strike carried out in the village of Kurakhivka, located in the Donetsk region. Homes and farm buildings were damaged. In addition, at least eight people were injured in the village of Ochakiv, in the Mykholaiv region. The toll is provisional, as casualties continue to be reported. Hundreds of homes were damaged to varying degrees.
(KIRILO TIMOCHENKO / TELEGRAM)
4:05 p.m : Did the Russian army really kill 600 Ukrainian soldiers in strikes in Kramatorsk? This is what she claims, but the Ukrainian authorities deny it and the evidence is lacking.
(ALEXANDRE GONCHARENKO)
15h57 : We mentioned this morning a strike on the market of the village of Shevchenkove, in the Kharkhiv region. At least two women aged 50 and 60 died during the bombing, regional governor Oleg Sinegoubov has just announced in a new report. Six other people were injured, including a 13-year-old girl who was injured in the neck by shrapnel. She was sent to the operating room in critical condition.
(OLEG SINEGOUBOV / TELEGRAM)
16h06 : Andrew Bagshaw, also of New Zealand nationality, worked with the NGO Kiwi KARE. Its manager, Tenby Powell, said he was in close contact with the volunteer’s parents. “We have not given up hope of finding him”, he told Radio New Zealand (in English). “His family is very worried and upset” by the disappearance of the young man, aged 28.
16h06 : Two British humanitarian volunteers aged 28 and 48 have been missing since Saturday near Soledar, the Ukrainian national police announces. Located near Bakhmout, on the front line, this locality is the scene of very violent clashes. “Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Perry reportedly left Kramatorsk for Soledar on January 6 at 8 a.m. and communication with them was lost”, the statement said. An investigation is underway to locate them.
15h21 : The relatives of these released detainees have all the documents to prove it, adds Eva Merkacheva. The presidential decrees granting this pardon, on the other hand, will remain secret. Several media managed to establish, in part, the identity of these twenty combatants. Among them are at least two people convicted of murder, according to the Russian version of the BBC and Agentsvo.
15h17 : At the beginning of January, the Wagner group said it had released a group of fighters recruited in prison from their obligations, after the end of their six-month contract in Ukraine. The leader of the paramilitary group, Evguéni Prigojine, then explained that their criminal record had been erased. This pardon was granted even before their release from prison, Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Human Rights Council attached to the presidency, told RIA Novosti.
14h04 : Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine claim to have taken control of a village, Bakhmutské, located near the town of Bakhmout, the current epicenter of the fighting that Moscow forces have been trying to conquer for several months. A claim that could not be independently verified.
12h06 : Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, denies on Telegram (content in Russian) rumors about a new wave of mobilization. “There is no need to attach such importance” to rumours. Information on mobilization cannot come from “only official power headed by the President of the Russian Federation”, he says.
10h38 : Falling temperatures have direct consequences on electricity consumption in Ukraine. The national operator Ukrenergo announces that the network is not able to fully cover consumption. Restrictions are again introduced in the country, in order to avoid emergency cuts. The situation is particularly difficult in the eastern and southern regions, which are on the front line of the fighting.
10h32 : Ukraine accuses the Russian army of carrying out a missile strike on the market in the village of Shevchenkove, in the Kharkhiv region. There are at least seven injured, including a 13-year-old girl, writes Governor Oleg Sinegoubov. It is possible that people are still under the rubble, said presidential adviser Kirilo Tymoshenko, and the emergency services are at work.
(OLEG SINEGOUBOV / TELEGRAM)
10h50 : It is already more than 10 o’clock, here is a new point on the news:
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11h11 : Hostilities resumed yesterday in the country after the truce of the Orthodox Christmas decreed without convincing by Vladimir Putin. In the Sumy region alone, in northeastern Ukraine, the local administration reported in the early evening of more than a hundred bombardments and strikes. Here’s what to remember from Sunday.