WAR IN UKRAINE: January 17, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 328
In Dnipro, a child's body was recovered from the rubble of the bombed residential building, bringing the number of dead to 44. More than 70 have been reported as injured and many are still missing.
Intelligence: Putin orders new commander to seize Donbas by March. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the new commander of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Valeriy Gerasimov, to seize Donbas, comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, reported the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate spokesperson Andriy Yusov.
Governor: Russian forces shell school in Donetsk Oblast. Russian forces shelled a school in Chasiv Yar, a community five kilometers west of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Jan. 16. No casualties were reported, but the school’s windows and sports facility were damaged.
The EU considers the rocket attack on a residential high-rise in the Dnipro as a sign of escalation on the part of the Kremlin and is discussing its possible response to it, said the spokesperson of the European Union, Peter Stano
A former commander in Russia’s Wagner private military company has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum after crossing that country’s arctic border, according to Norwegian police and a Russian activist. Andrei Medvedev, in an interview with a Russian activist who helps people seek asylum abroad, said that he feared for his life after refusing to renew his service with Wagner. Medvedev said that after completing his contract, and refusing to serve another, he was afraid of being executed in the same manner of Yevgeny Nuzhin – a defector from Wagner who was killed on camera with a sledgehammer. A spokesperson for Norway’s Police Security Service confirmed to CNN Monday that Medvedev was in Norway and seeking asylum.
The Ukrainian military is in Soledar and is repulsing the Russian army, Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesman of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. "The situation is the same as yesterday. Our units are there and are constantly hitting the enemy with fire” - Trukha
A Canadian medic serving in Ukraine has been killed in action, according to his family, and is being mourned by members of Ukraine's foreign legion. Gregory Tsekhmistrenko was working with Ukraine's Black Team in Bakhmut, a city in the eastern region of Donetsk, when he was killed in an assault that saw several others wounded by the Wagner Group, Russia's notorious mercenary force - CBC
The Kremlin continues to publicly challenge Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin’s claims that Wagner Group forces were solely responsible for capturing Soledar, Donetsk Oblast, on January 12. Russian President Vladimir Putin attributed the success on the frontlines to Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and General Staff plans when responding to a journalist’s question on January 15 regarding Russian advances in Soledar. Putin’s statement was aired live on state-controlled TV and was likely a deliberate effort to undermine Prigozhin’s influence within the Russian information space, given that Putin has previously refrained from commenting on tactical advances in Ukraine. Putin may have also sought to demonstrate he retains control over traditional Russian mass media, while Prigozhin continues to grow an audience on Telegram and other social media networks - ISW
Required reading…
‘This is what madness looks like’: Inside Putin’s endgame for Ukraine
As Russia claims to have seized the eastern town of Soledar after months of fighting, Bel Trew reports on what it means for Moscow’s invasion – and for the Ukrainians in the path of any further advance
The only way for many to survive the “meat grinder” of Russia’s 11-month invasion of Ukraine is to live a half-life underground.
In the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, deep in the burrows of a Soviet-era apartment block, Ludmilla, 47 and Tamara, 65 are busy trying to create some sense of normalcy in the musty four walls of the communal cellar.
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