The U.K. Defense Ministry said on Dec. 3 that Russian forces had “highly likely” made small advances south of Bakhmut in recent days after five months of trying to capture the besieged town in Donetsk Oblast.
The ministry said that Russia likely plans to encircle Bakhmut with “tactical advances to the north and the south,” investing a significant portion of its military effort in capturing the town.
After Russia's battlefield defeats in Ukraine’s northeast and the south, “there is a realistic possibility that Bakhmut’s capture has become primarily a symbolic, political objective for Russia,” it added.
While seizing Bakhmut could allow Russia to launch more attacks on urban areas such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast, it would have “limited operational value," according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.
“The campaign has been disproportionately costly relative to these possible gains,” the report reads.
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Saturday, January 17
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The delegation consists of the recently appointed President’s Office head Kyrylo Budanov, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, and the parliamentary leader of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, David Arakhamia.
Russian forces launched overnight attacks on Jan. 16-17 across Ukraine, hitting energy infrastructure, including substations, in Odesa and Kyiv oblasts, triggering emergency power outages, authorities reported
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The motorcade had been moving at a high speed before encountering an obstacle, leading to a mass accident and a number of victims.
The number includes 1,130 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
Polish authorities have charged five men in an alleged Russia-orchestrated plot to send out parcels with explosives to various Western countries, Poland's National Prosecutor's Office announced on Jan. 16.
American officials have put forward the idea of expanding the Gaza 'Board of Peace' to include other countries affected by war and conflicts, including Ukraine and Venezuela, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Jan. 16.
Germany turned away a Russian-linked oil tanker from entering its territorial waters in the Baltic Sea this week, marking the first known instance of a European country blocking a vessel in Moscow's shadow fleet, Bloomberg reported Jan. 16.
Saturday, January 17
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Ukraine hopes to gain more clarity on "documents that we have actually drafted with the American side, and regarding Russia's response to all this diplomatic work," Zelensky said.
Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal agency responsible for monitoring mass media and telecommunications, has imposed new restrictions on the Telegram messaging app, Moscow 24 reported Jan. 16.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Jan. 16 that Russia is preparing a new wave of large-scale attacks on Ukraine as the country grapples with a deepening energy crisis.
"I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that," Trump said.
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