Exclusives
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Defense expert: Ukraine aid ramps up fast despite Western bureaucracy, isn’t “drip-feeding”. “A year ago, the debate was still going on about tanks. Fighter jets were not even in the making,” stresses Andras Racz |
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What long-range weapons Ukraine can get in the wake of Ramstein-18 meeting. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says the latest Ramstein Format meeting paid special attention to deep-strike weapon supplies to Ukraine, experts predict missile-bomb hybrids for HIMARS or US cruise/ballistic missiles among the most probable acquisitions. |
Military
Commander: Ukraine would win faster if allowed to hit Russia with Western weapons. Ukraine’s navy commander, Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, told Sky News that the war course would have been very different had Ukrainian forces been allowed to use Western munitions without restrictions from the very beginning. He also named two main objectives of Ukrainian operations in the Black Sea.
Intelligence and technology
Telegraph: Russian military spending seven times higher than NATO average. According to only official information, Russia spends 29% of all public expenditures on defense, while the NATO average is 4.3%, including the vast 11% contribution from the USA. The actual number may be even more in favor of Russia due to a large part of classified expenditures.
Insider: Taiwan becomes Russia’s top supplier of precision machine tools. An investigation has exposed how Russia has tapped Taiwan as its primary source of banned high-tech machine tools by evading sanctions through intermediaries in Türkiye and China
International
Scholz urges EU states to provide more aid to Ukraine. Scholz urges the EU member nations to send Ukraine more aid, with Germany committing €7 billion in 2024, over half the bloc’s total funding.
France accuses Russia of fake news campaign after debunked mercenary strike. France’s defense minister has slammed what he called Russian fake news aimed at discrediting French nationals fighting alongside Ukraine.
Humanitarian and social impact
Russian rockets attack civilian residences in Ukraine’s Myrnohrad at night, injuring three, including 15-year-old. In the early hours of 28 January 2024, Russian forces launched a missile attack on a residential area of Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast, 30 kilometers from the frontline.
Political and legal developments
UK intel: arson attacks on Russian military enlistment centers double over six months. This may indicate people’s distrust of the government’s promise not to carry out a new wave of mobilization.
Hungary far-right party calls for seizing Ukraine’s Zakarpattia if Russia wins. The leader of the Hungarian party Mi Hazank (Our Homeland), Laszlo Toroczkai, stated that his party would lay claim to Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region if Ukraine loses its statehood due to the war with Russia.
Avon continues doing business in Russia despite Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. BBC investigation shows Avon expanding Russia operations – UK-headquartered cosmetics firm still making products outside Moscow and recruiting Russian sales agents during Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
New developments
SBU uncovers that officials, arms dealers steal some $40 mn budget for 100K mortar shells. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), in collaboration with top military officials, has exposed a massive embezzlement scheme within the Defense Ministry, involving about $40 million earmarked for 100,000 mortar shells, implicating dubious arms contractors and bureaucrats, the SBU reports.
Read our earlier daily review here
As of 28 Jan 2024, the approximate losses of weapons and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces from the beginning of the invasion to the present day:
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- Personnel: 382110 (+740)
- Tanks: 6280 (+9)
- APV: 11671 (+19)
- Artillery systems: 9097 (+12)
- MLRS: 972
- Anti-aircraft systems: 660
- Aircraft: 331
- Helicopters: 324
- UAV: 7041 (+4)
- Cruise missiles: 1845
- Warships/boats: 23
- Submarines: 1
- Vehicles and fuel tanks: 12103 (+31)
