Key developments on Jan. 19:
- Ukraine hits 2 oil depots in Russia overnight
- Zelensky slaps sanctions on Ukraine's top pro-Russian politicians
- Lack of medical treatment, problems with unit transfers most common causes of appeals, new military ombudsman says
- Ukrainian troops withdraw from, launch attack on Chasiv Yar refractory plant
- SBU detains metro engineer who allegedly directed Russian missile strikes on Kyiv, Kharkiv
Ukrainian forces attacked oil depots in Russia's Tula and Kaluga oblasts overnight on Jan. 18, according to the General Staff and the Kyiv Independent's source in Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR).
The attack came amid an uptick in Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia, as Kyiv aims at damaging Russia's oil industry, crucial for sustaining Moscow's war effort.
The drones operated by Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) hit the oil depot in Tula Oblast at least 10 times in this attack, a HUR source claimed.
Tula Oblast, located south of Moscow, has regularly come under attack by Ukrainian drones.
Tula Oblast Governor Dmitry Milyaev said that a fuel storage tank caught fire at "one of the enterprises in the region." No casualties were reported.
Videos posted on social media and shared by residents appear to show a large fire at an oil depot in the town of Uzlovaya in the region.
Ukrainian soldiers also hit an oil depot in the Russian town of Lyudinovo in Kaluga Oblast overnight, causing a fire, Ukraine's General Staff reported.
Lyudinovo lies around 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.
The oil depot is owned by Kaluganefteprodukt, a subsidiary of Russia's state-controlled oil company Rosneft, according to the statement.
"(This is) a logistics center that supplies units of the Russian armed forces directly involved in the war against Ukraine," the military said.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
Oleksiy Sorokin
Zelensky slaps sanctions on Ukraine's top pro-Russian politicians
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree imposing new sanctions on pro-Russian politicians and propagandists, he announced on Jan. 19.
"We are blocking propagandists working for Russia, people who have gone over to the enemy's side, and those who help Russia continue the war," Zelensky said in a video address posted on Facebook.
The decree puts into effect a decision made earlier by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
Eighteen people were listed on the formal decree. Among them are prominent pro-Russian politicians Yuriy Boyko, Nestor Shufrych, and Yevhen Muraiev.
Boyko previously led the former pro-Russian political party Opposition Platform — For Life, which was banned by the Supreme Court following Russia's full-scale invasion.
Shufrych was arrested last year on charges of subversive activities against Ukraine and financing Russia's National Guard in occupied Crimea. According to the investigation, Shufrych paid Russia's National Guard to guard his elite real estate in Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Muraiev, former leader of the now-banned pro-Russian Nashi party, was charged with treason in 2023. The Security Service noted that Muraiev used his media empire, including the Nash TV channel, to disseminate pro-Russian narratives.
Shortly before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.K. Foreign Office warnedthat the Kremlin intends to install Muraiev as the head of the Russian puppet regime in Kyiv. Media reports have stated that Muraiev left Ukraine in 2022.
Zelensky also noted that the country is working to deprive pro-Russian figures of state awards, specifically mentioning the Hero of Ukraine title.
Last month, Ukraine's parliament voted to request that Zelensky strip the Hero of Ukraine award from Boyko. Boyko had days earlier repeated Russian propaganda talking points on social media about "radicals" controlling the streets in Ukraine.
He was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine in 2004 during his tenure as head of Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz.
Dominic Culverwell
Lack of medical treatment, problems with unit transfers are most common causes of appeals, new military ombudsman says
Twenty days into her new post as Ukraine's new military rights commissioner, Olha Reshetylova said that she had already received 3,876 appeals.
In what she described as a preliminary assessment in a Facebook post about her first days on the job, Reshetylova said that lack of treatment and referrals to military medical commissions and problems moving between military units are the two leading causes for the appeals she received.
More than 3,500 of the appeals have been relevant to her post and concern protecting the rights of soldiers. A portion of these concerning advice or clarification, which she referred to lawyers working "almost around the clock."
"The rest of the appeals are substantive. Although each of them has its own individual problems, in general, of course, you can already see trends and separate blocks of problematic issues," Reshetylova wrote.
While acknowledging that requests for medical treatment can be abused and that commanders face a "catastrophic" personnel shortage, she noted cases where commanders had denied referrals for treatment of injuries, urgent and planned operations, acute PTSD or panic attacks, and symptoms of severe concussions.
Regarding military unit transfers, servicemembers were promised in November a more efficient way for transfering between units using the Army+ app. However, she wrote, "very often commanders do not carry out the transfer order or specifically transfer servicemen against their will to other positions, which complicates the execution of the order."
"Now we're also solving these issues manually, where we have time. But it's obvious that we need to look for a systemic solution," Reshetylova wrote.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced in April that it would create the new military ombudsman position to ensure soldiers had a way to report violations of their rights.
Serhii Filimonov
Ukrainian troops withdraw from, launch attack on Chasiv Yar refractory plant
Ukrainian forces launched an aerial attack against a Russian-occupied refractory plant in the embattled city of Chasiv Yar, Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Zaporozhets, spokesperson for the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk, said on Jan. 18.
The attack confirms earlier reports that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the plant.
"On the territory of the refractory plant, the enemy tried to gain a foothold, attacking in small and medium groups," Zaporozhets said during a television broadcast.
"Thanks to coordinated actions ... (occupying Russian troops) were discovered in one of the premises on the territory of the refractory plant and an air strike was carried out. The enemy suffered losses."
The Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda posted a video, obtained from the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk, depicting the strike against the plant.
In the past week, Russian military bloggers alleged that Russian forces had pushed Ukrainian troops out of the refractory plant in Chasiv Yar. The crowd-sourced monitoring website Deep State also reported on Jan. 12 that Russia had occupied the site.
The plant served as reliable fortification for Ukrainian forces, who must now shelter in residential buildings weakened by constant shelling.
SBU detains metro engineer who allegedly directed Russian missile strikes on Kyiv, Kharkiv
A Kyiv Metro engineer allegedly let a network of agents who helped direct Russian missile and drone attacks against the capital and Kharkiv Oblast, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on Jan. 18.
The announcement coincides with multiple reports from Ukrainian law enforcement agencies on Jan. 18 exposing alleged instances of treason and plots to aid Russia's war against Ukraine.
The agents tracked the movement and positions of Ukrainian troops in order to coordinate Russian aerial attacks, the SBU said.
Russia's Federal Security Service recruited the network leader, a Kyiv Metro engineer, during a meeting in Moscow in 2015, according to the SBU. After the full-scale invasion in 2022, he was instructed to create a network of agents who would monitor the activitiy of Ukrainian troops and cargo.
The leader also personally directed Russian missile strikes on Kyiv, according to intercepted conversations.
SBU officers have detained the alleged leader in Kyiv and another suspected agent in Kharkiv. During the investigation, officers seized cell phones that they said contain evidence of collaboration with Russia, along with four firearms.
Both suspects have been charged with high treason in conjunction with the Prosecutor General's Office. A third suspect, currently in hiding abroad, may also be charged.
Oleksiy Sorokin
