While the death toll from the Russian attack on Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, rose to 40 this Monday, January 16, Moscow launches a new attack on Zaporizhia, in the south, where several civilians were injured as confirmed by local authorities. Meanwhile, in Germany, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has resigned amid pressure to increase military aid to kyiv and bolster the German army in the context of the Kremlin-ordered war.
After months of setbacks in the war, Russia increases its fury against Ukraine. While the Ukrainian Army responds and tries to stop new Russian attacks throughout the country, in Dnipro, in the center of the nation, the number of people killed by the assault perpetrated by Moscow on Saturday, January 14, increases.
In the last hours, the authorities confirmed a total of 40 fatalities. However, the death toll could rise as search and rescue operations from the rubble continue. At least 30 more residents are missing.
Among the victims of the attack that hit a residential building are two children and 15 other minors are among the 75 injured, the National Police of Ukraine reported.
This has become the deadliest single attack on record since before the European summer. Around 1,700 people resided in the apartment building and there were no military installations in the place, according to local authorities.
Amid strong criticism for its actions against the civilian population, Moscow once again denied the accusations.
“The Russian Armed Forces do not attack residential buildings or social infrastructure facilities. The attacks are carried out against military targets, whether obvious or disguised,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Monday.
However, the Ukrainian Air Force said the apartment complex was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, a type of projectile that kyiv does not have the military equipment to shoot down.
Russia launches new attack on Zaporizhia
This same Monday, the Kremlin Army launched a new attack against Zaporizhia, in the south of the invaded country, where several civilians were injured, including children, regional officials confirmed.
It was a missile onslaught that also destroyed large swaths of residential infrastructure, said Oleksandr Starukh, head of the regional state administration.
“The Russians fired again at our city. As a result of the night attack, there were injured people. There are damaged houses. Three people were taken to hospitals. Among them there are two children of nine and 15 years old, ”confirmed Anatoly Kurtev, secretary of the city council, belonging to the region of the same name and one of the four that Moscow annexed last September in disputed referendums.
International analysts point out that the Kremlin is reinforcing its offensives in the face of a prolonged war, after almost 11 months of conflict.
A scenario in which kyiv’s international allies, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, promise greater military cooperation for the attacked nation, which increases the anger of the Kremlin.
The tanks that the British government promised to send to Ukraine “will burn and burn like the rest,” Peskov said defiantly.
German Defense Minister resigns, after criticism in the context of the war in Ukraine
Christine Lambrecht, Germany’s Defense Minister resigned on Monday to Chancellor Olaf Sholz, after spending several months under the eye of the hurricane.
The official has received harsh criticism for her management to modernize the German forces in the face of the Russian war against Ukraine and the pressure for Berlin to increase military aid to the invaded country.
“Months of media attention on me got in the way of a factual debate about the Army and Germany’s security policy (…) The valuable work of the soldiers and many people in my department must be in the foreground ”, stressed Lambrecht, a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), in a statement.
His decision to resign also comes as directives from German forces are being questioned after several Puma infantry tanks were put out of action during a recent military exercise.
In the early part of the war, the German defense ministry came under fire for its decision to send helmets but no weapons to kyiv, a move seen by many as a mockery. However, gradually and under pressure from its NATO allies, Berlin has been increasing its military support for Ukraine. The German government recently agreed to deliver Leopard 2 main battle tanks.
But critics, some within the ruling coalition, rebuke what they see as the Scholz administration’s continued hesitancy to increase cooperation.
After learning of Lambrecht’s resignation, Poland asked the German authorities to supply the Ukrainian Army with “all kinds of weapons”, including heavy tanks.
Germany should take “decisive actions” and send “all kinds of weapons” to Ukraine to help its troops defend against invasion by Russia, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has declared.
Russia reinforces its operations from Belarus
The Ukrainian government alerts about new movements in Belarus, a country allied with Russia and bordering northern Ukraine, where kyiv, the capital, is located.
Minsk and Moscow confirmed on January 16 the start of joint military exercises between their air units.
According to a statement from the Belarusian Defense Ministry, units of the Russian aerospace forces arrived at airfields in Belarus late Sunday night and shortly after 8 am local time on Monday.
In recent months, Minsk and Moscow have carried out various joint operations. Despite previously denying direct involvement in the conflict, that country has served as a military ally of Russian troops since weeks before Vladimir Putin ordered war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The new joint military tests raise fears in kyiv and the West that Moscow could use its ally to launch a new ground offensive.
With Reuters, AP and local media
