The most recent barrage targeted Kiev’s military command and control sites, as well as associated energy facilities, MOD has said.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said that the latest missile strikes against Ukraine on Saturday hit “all assigned targets.” Earlier, Kiev’s officials reported that the country’s power grid had been damaged in several regions on the same day.

“On January 14, 2023, a missile attack was carried out on the military command and control system of Ukraine and associated energy facilities. All assigned targets have been hit. The objectives have been reached,” the military said in its statement on Sunday.

Multiple strikes were reported by Ukrainian officials and media outlets on Saturday, with Energy Minister German Galushchenko claiming Russian missiles made it through to multiple energy infrastructure sites across the country. Ukraine’s largest private energy operator, DTEK, said that two of its thermal power stations came under attack. Footage circulating online suggests at least one of the facilities sustained heavy damage, with its main machinery hall destroyed.

A residential building was heavily damaged amid the strikes in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnepr (previously known as Dnepropetrovsk), according to videos published on social media. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that some 25 civilians were killed and 73 were injured. Kiev officials have laid the blame on Moscow, but given differing accounts about what transpired.

Moscow ramped up its strikes against Kiev’s infrastructure in early October of last year, citing repeated Ukrainian sabotage on Russian soil. The attacks followed the bombing of the Crimean Bridge, which Moscow blamed on the Ukrainian military intelligence service and its Western partners. The attack was widely celebrated by top Ukrainian officials and the country’s postal service even released a commemorative stamp hours after the blast. One road section of the bridge was severely damaged, killing three civilians. However, Ukraine denied involvement.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to stop the fighting in Donbass and give Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. Brokered by Germany and France, they were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

Shortly before hostilities started, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Last September, Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, were incorporated into Russia following referendums.

Putin is such an unstable dictator, this is the same man that called for peace talks, he will say one thing and do the opposite

Did Poland stop accepting refugees? Are these so called civilians too poor to seek refuge In a safe country? If that's the case, what's all that Western aid doing?
Any 'civilian' remaining in a conflict zone is a combatant.
If there's no space in Europe/US/Canada/Australia/NZ etc, we may consider accommodating Ukrainian refugees in Africa on the condition that they renounce and denounce Nazism.

DebbyParkway:
Did Poland stop accepting refugees? Are these so called civilians too poor to seek refuge In a safe country? If that's the case, what's all that Western aid doing?
Any 'civilian' remaining in a conflict zone is a combatant.
If there's no space in Europe/US/Canada/Australia/NZ etc, we may consider accommodating Ukrainians in Africa on the condition that they denounce Nazism.

Despite all what's happening in Northern Nigeria including the fact Farmers have t o pay Levies to bandits before they could work, even me still find it difficult to understand why people still remains there. Imagine bandits & BokoHaram terrorists controlling Local Governments and you still remain there.

The very day a state very close to the Nearest State to Lagos begins to show signs of being like Northern Nigeria, me go just port into the nearest country.

bassdow:


Despite all what's happening in Northern Nigeria including the fact Farmers have t o pay Levies to bandits before they could work, even me still find it difficult to understand why people still remains there. Imagine bandits & BokoHaram terrorists controlling Local Governments and you still remain there.

The very day a state very close to the Nearest State to Lagos begins to show signs of being like Northern Nigeria, me go just port into the nearest country.

Me too
For northerners, most really want to leave but they're unable to due to financial constraints.
With inadequate govt support, where will they live and how will they survive when they migrate to the South?
Even the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps are underfunded, overcrowded and poorly managed.
But what's the excuse for Ukraine?

DebbyParkway:

Me too
For northerners, most really want to leave but they're unable to due to financial constraints.
With inadequate govt support, where will they live and how will they survive when they migrate to the South?
Even the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps are underfunded, overcrowded and poorly managed.
But what's the excuse for Ukraine?

if I can't afford cost of transportation, I would follow those Trailers carrying Pepper or tomatoes or Cow, etc. I either follow the trailer as motorBoy or as Commodity or Passenger, either way, I go comot

bassdow:


if I can't afford cost of transportation, I would follow those Trailers carrying Pepper or tomatoes or Cow, etc. I either follow the trailer as motorBoy or as Commodity or Passenger, either way, I go comot

Lol.
Alternatively, a region within Ukraine can be designated as a camp for internally displaced persons.
The aforementioned camp should be surrounded and fortified with white house air defense grade weapons(shouldn't that be top quality?), catapults, bows & arrows, ghosts of Kiev etc (awon oloshi).
In summary, they should make that camp impenetrable...is it not the white house and her allies against Russia? Shouldn't they have the wherewithal?
Ukraine can confidently depend on her sponsors. The resources saved from thier defeat in Afghanistan has not been exhausted and thier economies are in the best shape.
Ukraine can also burn those bodies and use them to generate heat to keep the Nazis warm.

DebbyParkway:

Lol.
Alternatively, Ukraine can designate a region in Ukraine as a camp for internally displaced persons, then fortify and surround the aforementioned camp with white house air defense grade weapons(shouldn't that be top quality?), catapults, bows & arrows, ghosts of Kiev etc (awon oloshi).
In summary, they should make that camp impenetrable...is it not the white house and her allies against Russia? Shouldn't they have the wherewithal?
Ukraine can confidently depend on her sponsors. The resources saved from thier defeat in Afghanistan has not been exhausted and thier economies are in the best shape.
Ukraine can also burn those bodies and use them to generate heat to keep the Nazis warm.

Lol

DebbyParkway:

Me too
For northerners, most really want to leave but they're unable to due to financial constraints.
With inadequate govt support, where will they live and how will they survive when they migrate to the South?
Even the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps are underfunded, overcrowded and poorly managed.
But what's the excuse for Ukraine?

It's same for most of the Ukrainians that remain in the war zones.

Most are poor and have very little in savings to start life afresh in other climes. It's not as easy as you think.

I Will Continue To Say This, Russia Cannot Win Nuclear War Even America. No Nuclear Country Can Win Nuclear War Because It Will Be Something When You Nuke One I Nuke Two And The Two Parts Will Surfer The Lost. Remember, Third World War Will Be Armaggedon War That Will Distroy Every Living Things On Earth.

I Welcome Myself To Shithole Forum. I Didn't Know Nairaland Forum Has Thousand Of Shithole Journalists Onboard. I'm Here To Hear From Brainless Journalist.

Appleyard:


It's same for most of the Ukrainians that remain in the war zones.

Most are poor and have very little in savings to start life afresh in other climes. It's not as easy as you think.

I know, my message was subliminal and a representation of the endemic corruption present in Ukraine. This has impoverished most of it's citizens.
It's also to speak about the hypocritical nature of Western aid.
Yes they're poor but if they were a priority and not merely being used as human shield, does the west (sponsors of the Ukrainian terroristic regime) not have the capacity to evacuate them?

Medvedchuk publishes first article in Russian daily on situation in Ukraine after swap

Nairaland's server is currently overwhelmed, I'll create a thread for this topic later.

KIEV, January 16. /TASS/. Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk has written his first article for the Russian media after arriving in Russia from Ukraine as a result of a detainee exchange. Medvedchuk previously held the position of the head of the political council of the Opposition Platform - For Life party, now banned in Ukraine. On April 12, 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced Medvedchuk’s detention and arrest on charges of high treason and violation of the laws of warfare. At the end of September, Medvedchuk left Ukraine for Russia.

In an article published on January 16 in the daily Izvestia, Medvedchuk discusses the military confrontation in Ukraine, examines its genesis and offers a forecast of how the situation may develop.

Conflict development forecast
According to Medvedchuk, in order to defuse the situation in Ukraine, it is crucial to recognize Russia’s interests.

"The Cold War ended with a political decision to build a new world where there will be no wars. It is clear that such a world has not been built, that the current world politics has returned back to square one - the point where the policy of detente began. Now there are only two ways out: a further slide towards a world war and a nuclear conflict or renewed efforts to ease tensions again, for which it is necessary to take into account the interests of all parties. But for this, it is crucial to politically recognize that Russia has its own interests to be taken into account," Medvedchuk believes.

In his opinion, the conflict will either grow to eventually spill over into Europe and other countries, or it will be localized. However, for the latter option to materialize "it is essential that the party of peace be heard." For the time being, the Western countries actively supporting military operations in Ukraine refuse to let this happen.

Political movement for peace in Ukraine crucial
Medvedchuk points out that many Ukrainians are peace-minded and do not support Zelensky in his pursuit of military triumphs. For these people to be heard, a political movement is needed without the participation of Western countries.

"If a party that seeks peace and civil dialogue does not fit into some kind of democracy, then is it real democracy? It is necessary to create a political movement of those who have not given up, who have not renounced their convictions on pain of death and prison, who do not want their country to become a scene of geopolitical skirmishes," he wrote.

Medvedchuk noted that Ukraine had spent most of its history with Russia and is connected with it culturally and mentally. The economy is an unambiguous imperative for integration with Russia. Anti-Russian sentiment has brought nothing but grief and poverty to Ukraine," Medvedchuk
stressed.



Tbc

Role of Ukraine’s southeast
In his opinion, Russia began to integrate into the European market faster than Ukraine thanks to its energy resources. "Ukraine’s independence could well have ended in economic collapse, had it not been for the southeast, currently a scene of fierce battles.

In the 1990s, it was the Russian-speaking southeast that saved the economic, and with it, the political independence of Ukraine," Medvedchuk believes. "The business of the southeast is largely pegged to Russia and its interests, because the conflict has ceased to be an exclusively internal affair. Russia is faced with the need for protecting not only its economic interests, but also its international honor and dignity."

Genesis of conflict
As for the genesis of the current conflict, according to Medvedchuk, the West and Russia perceived the end of the Cold War differently. The West unambiguously claimed its victory, considering Moscow as the loser.

"And since Russia, in its scheme of things is the loser, then the territories of the former Soviet Union and the Socialist block are legitimate spoils of war of the United States and NATO, which, in accordance to the ‘woe to the vanquished’ rule fall under the control of the West. Hence Ukraine is to be seen as a domain of the US and NATO, and by no means of Russia," he explains.

Medvedchuk believes that the way out of the military confrontation between the East and the West, which could end in a nuclear catastrophe, was at a certain point jointly found by Moscow and Washington. It did not at all imply that the West would absorb the East.

"It was about equitable cooperation and joint construction of a new political and economic reality.