Ukraine war latest: Finland sends 'accelerated' defense package to Ukraine amid deepening energy crisis
This is Kollen Post reporting from Kyiv on day 1,423 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Today's top story:
Finland is sending Ukraine another 98 million euros worth of weaponry, the Finnish Defense Ministry announced on Friday.
"We have built a package on an accelerated schedule that helps meet the most critical needs of the moment," the announcement said.
The package falls outside of the regular schedule of Finnish aid, which has been among the most generous in the world relative to GDP, largely as a result of Finland also sharing a massive border with Russia and consequently very real fears of invasion as well.
The Defense Ministry avoided disclosing details of the new package out of "operational safety," and indeed often doesn't announce its aid packages at all. Ukraine's critical needs of the moment, however, certainly include an ongoing energy crisis and Russian aerial attacks on power plants, electricity terminals and natural gas nodes.
Zelensky today also announced that Ukraine had received a "serious" aid package to replenish depleted air defenses, but provided no details.
Macron claims France now provides 2/3 of Ukraine's intelligence, replacing U.S.
France has stepped in to fill in an intelligence gap left as the U.S. has stepped back from Ukraine, President Emmanuel said today.
"Where Ukraine used to be extremely dependent on American intelligence capacity, with a huge majority (provided by the U.S) a year ago," Macron said, "over (the last) year, two-thirds is today provided by France."
It's difficult to quantify such concrete figures for intelligence sharing. Nonetheless, Macron's statement is symbolic of a broader European desire to build an independent foreign policy extending even to warfare. It comes just shy of a year after Donald Trump's return to the presidency in the U.S., during which the former real estate developer has bulldozed much of the goodwill undergirding the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Majority of Ukrainians reject trading Donbas to Russia, survey finds
A new survey from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found Ukrainians optimistic about continuing the fight against Russia.
The survey found 54% of Ukrainians polled "categorically reject transferring all of the Donbas to Russian control in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S. and Europe."
Eighty-three percent of Ukrainians surveyed considered Russia's ambitions to be greater than control over the Donbas, including 28% who named Russia's goal to be the genocide of Ukrainians.
The survey also found that 77% of those polled considered Ukraine capable of continuing its resistance, "although Russia is moving ahead at the front, slowly and with large losses."
The poll collected responses from 601 Ukrainian citizens ages 18 and older living in unoccupied territories of Ukraine, who were found by random telephone survey.
Energy crisis prompts rollback in curfew restrictions in Kyiv
Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure have left the country economizing on electricity, heating and hot water. Recent mass attacks have particularly targeted Kyiv, which is in a state of emergency.
In response, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal announced before Ukraine's Parliament that Kyiv is lowering its curfew, which has kept people off the streets between midnight and 5 a.m. The stated aim is to allow residents access to "Points of Invincibility" – freely accessible locations throughout the city that are supplied with heat and electricity.
"This is necessary so that everyone who currently has no electricity, water, or heat receives the necessary assistance," said Shmyhal, who took over as Energy Minister two days ago, after less than five months as Defense Minister, which in turn followed nearly five years as President Volodymyr Zelensky's Prime Minister.
It remains to be seen whether the decision constitutes a full drawdown of curfew rules in the Ukrainian capital.
At least 3 dead, 22 injured in Russian overnight attacks
A Russian glide bomb attack killed one person and injured 11 in Bilopilsky in Sumy Oblast. The regional government reported 40 attacks across 27 municipalities in the oblast, where air raid alerts sounded for nearly 18 of the past 24 hours.
Another attack in Zaporizhzhia Oblast killed one and injured six, Governor Ivan Fedoro reported.
In the port of Odesa on the Black Sea, a Russian ballistic missile hit what local authorities wrote was a civilian freighter flying under the Maltese flag. They reported one crew member injured but no deaths in the attacks across the oblast.
Governor of Kherson Oblast Oleksandr Prokudin wrote that "due to Russian aggression one person has perished," but did not elaborate further.
He added that 23 municipalities fell under fire and that his administration identified a 53-year-old woman who was injured on Jan. 14 who had only just been hospitalized with a concussion due to blast trauma.
Elsewhere, a Russian drone attack injured two in Malomykhailovsky in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and a 63-year-old woman was injured in Kharkiv Oblast.
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,224,460 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022
Russia has lost around 1,224,460 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Jan. 14.
The number includes 1,370 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
According to the report, Russia has also lost 11,563 tanks, 23,908 armored fighting vehicles, 74,486 vehicles and fuel tanks, 36,230 artillery systems, 1,614 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,277 air defense systems, 434 airplanes, 347 helicopters, 107,884 drones, 28 ships and boats, and two submarines.
