UKRAINE WAR BRIEF DAILY DRAFT
For: 2024-01-08
Slava Ukraini! Since June 2023 I have provided a daily draft for the Ukraine War Brief Podcast collecting news from over 40 sources daily much of which ends up in the script. I will make this Draft available here for those who wish to keep up with events on a daily basis.
INSIDE UKRAINE
ALONG THE CONTACT LINE
GSAFU Morning Report
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its situation update at 06:00 on Jan. 08 stated that it was The six hundred and eighty fourth day of large-scale invasion of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
During the past day, 35 combat engagements took place. Over the past 24 hours, the enemy carried out 11 missiles and 69 air strikes, carried out 53 shelling from MLRS on the positions of our troops and settlements. As a result of the Russian terrorist attacks, unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population. Residential private and apartment buildings, other civilian infrastructure has been destroyed and damaged.
Air Force: Ukraine downed 25 Russian Kinzhal missiles since the beginning of the all-out war
Since the Russian full-scale invasion commenced, the Ukrainian military has successfully intercepted 25 out of the 63 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles fired by Russian troops, according to Yurii Ihnat, the spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force Command stated on Ukrainian TV on Jan. 07.
“63 Kinzhal missiles have been fired since the full-scale invasion started, and 25 of them have been destroyed. Last spring, we obtained the Patriot [surface-to-air missile] systems and the capacity to destroy air-launched ballistic missiles,” Ihnat said.
On 2 January, Russia launched a large-scale aerial assault on Ukrainian territory, employing 99 missiles of various types, of which Ukraine reportedly downed 72. Among these, the Russian forces launched 10 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles, all of which were successfully intercepted by Ukraine’s air defense units.
The Khortytsia operational-strategic group is responsible for the Kup’yans’k, Lyman, and Bakhmut axes, in the northeastern part of Ukraine.
Kupyansk axis: Ukrainian defenders repelled 2 enemy attacks in the vicinity of the settlements of Syn’kivka and Ivanivka (Kharkiv oblast).
Lyman axis: Ukrainian defenders repelled 4 attacks of occupiers east of Terniv (Donetsk oblast).
Bakhmut axis: Ukrainian troops repelled 3 attacks of the adversary near Klishchiivka and Andriivka (Donetsk oblast).
The Tavria operational-strategic group is responsible for the Avdiivka, Mar’inka, Shaktars’ke, and Zaporizhzhia axes, in the central-eastern and southeastern part of Ukraine.
Avdiivka axis: the Ukrainian defenders continue to hold back the enemy who keeps trying to encircle Avdiivka. The Ukrainian soldiers are standing their ground and inflicting major losses on the invaders. Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 6 attacks of the adversary in the vicinities of Novobakhmutivka and Avdiivka, and 15 attacks near Pervomais’ke and Nevel’s’ke (Donetsk oblast)
Mar’inka axis: the Ukrainian defenders continue to hold back the enemy near Mar’inka and Novomykhailivka (Donetsk oblast). Ukrainian troops repelled 3 attacks in that area.
Zaporizhzhia axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled an attack west of Verbove (Zaporizhzhia oblast).
The Odesa operational-strategic group is responsible for Kherson, Qırım, (also known as Crimea) and the Black Sea
Kherson axis: the Ukrainian troops continue to expand the bridgehead. Despite significant losses, the enemy does not abandon its attempts to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their positions. Russian made 3 unsuccessful attempts to assault the positions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces during the past day.
Ukraine bypasses Russian air defenses in Russia-occupied Qirim
The Institute for the Study of War in it’s Jan.06 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment stated that Ukrainian forces have carried out multiple strikes against Russian military infrastructure in Russian-occupied Qirim over the past week and “has successfully struck several targets throughout the peninsula,”
The assessment further stated that Ukrainian strikes over the summer of 2023 “pushed Russian naval operations out of the western part of the Black Sea. This aimed to degrade the Russian military’s ability to use Qirim as a base for further offensive operations in southern Ukraine.”
On 5-6 January, Russian sources reported that Ukraine struck an administrative building at the Russian-controlled Saky airbase in Russian-occupied Qirim with up to four Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Ukraine’s Air Force Commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, confirmed strikes at Saky but did not specify the date. Commander Oleshchuk expressed gratitude towards the Ukrainian pilots for their successful operation.
The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported on 6 January that the HUR, Ukrainian Air Force, and Ukrainian forces conducted “a complex special operation that struck Russian radar positions at the Saky airfield and an equipment depot near Hryshyne (60km northeast of Yevpatoria) on 4 January.”
ISW reported on Jan. 04, citing Ukrainian officials, that Ukrainian forces have also struck an air defense radar system and a communications center in Yevpatoria responsible for coordinating Russian air defense operations in Russian-occupied Qirim, ammunition warehouses near Pervomaiske (82km north of Simferopol), and a Russian command post near Sevastopol in strikes since Jan. 04.
Ukrainian forces are regularly targeting Russian military positions in Qirim, as the peninsula and other occupied territories by Russian forces have become Russian military bases used for further aggression against Ukraine.
Ukraine exports 15 million tons of cargo via Black Sea corridor in five months despite Russia’s blockade
In five months, almost 15 million tons of cargo have been exported through the Ukrainian Black Sea shipping corridor, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Vice Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine, Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine reported.
The Minister said that of those 15 million tonnes of exports by sea, 10 million account for Ukrainian agricultural goods.
“Over the five months of the corridor’s operation, 469 new vessels have called at our Ukrainian ports for loading. Currently, 39 vessels are being loaded in the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi. Another 83 vessels have confirmed their readiness to call at the ports and export 2.4 million tons of cargo,” the Infrastructure Ministry wrote.
TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Russia bombed occupied Rubizhne in Luhansk Oblast
Luhansk Oblast Head Artem Lysohor said that a Russian aerial bomb hit occupied Rubizhne, and due to numerous witnesses, the incident could not be concealed. Rubizhne is a city in Luhansk Oblast occupied by the Russian forces since 2022.
It is the Russian air force’s second incident of this kind in less than a week. Earlier, a Russian missile hit a village in Russia.
According to Lysohor, a FAB-250 bomb hit Rubizhne’s high-rise buildings which survived the Russian assaults in the spring of 2022. He does not mention the exact date of the accident, however, it is implied that it occurred today, 8 January.
THE HOME FRONT
Russia’s night attacks on Dnipro, Kherson injured 17, including 4 children
Overnight into 7 January, Russia attacked with 28 Shahed attack UAVs from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk area, Russia, and three S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles from the occupied territory of Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine’s General Staff reported.
Ukraine’s Air Defense shot down 21 Russian drones over Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Vinnytsia and Cherkasy oblasts.
In the early hours of 7 January, Russia shelled the Nikopol district in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, injuring 12 people and damaging an educational institution and its dormitory, residential and administrative buildings, and four cars, according to local governor Serhii Lysak. Rescuers saved six people, including two children, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported.
On the evening of 6 January, Russian forces attacked Dnipro with Shahed drones, hitting an apartment building where 22 families lived, Lysak said. According to the governor, six people were rescued, and two sought medical help at the hospital.
In Kropyvnytskyi district, Kirovohrad Oblast, the wreckage of a downed Russian Shahed drone damaged a private house and a power line overnight into 7 January, local governor Andriy Raykovych said. Reportedly, there were no casualties.
Over the past day, Russian troops conducted 89 attacks, launching 382 shells at Kherson Oblast, hitting residential areas and critical infrastructure facilities, local governor Oleksandr Produkin said.
Kuleba on Russia’s “war strategy”: They can’t capture us so they are trying to destroy us
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, spoke at a joint press conference with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Yoko Kamikawa. The Minister stated that Russia has been destroying Ukrainian cities with their missiles and drones on a daily basis because this is its main military "strategy" - if you can't capture something, you have to completely destroy it.
He recalled that during the chairmanship in the Group of Seven, Japan invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to a summit in Hiroshima, at which a decision was made to donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
"I informed my colleague today about the other side of the war, namely about Ukraine's need not only for aircraft, but also, first of all, for air defense capabilities. I emphasized to my counterpart that the main Russian military strategy is this: if you can't capture something, you have to completely destroy it. That is why Russian missiles and drones destroy Ukrainian cities every day. They can’t capture us so they are trying to destroy us," Kuleba said.
He expressed his conviction that Russia will not succeed in this, thanks to the support in strengthening air defenses that Ukraine receives from its partners.
Another massive air attack on Ukraine
On the night of January 8, 2024 Russia dealt a massive blow to Ukraine, using cruise, aviation, ballistic, anti-aircraft guided missiles and UAVs. air defense forces destroyed 18 cruise missiles and eight "shaheds".
This was reported in the Air Force of the Armed Forces.
According to the military, 59 means of air attack were recorded:
8 - UAVs type “Shahed-136/131” from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk district, Russia;
7 - C-300/C-400 anti-aircraft guided missiles from the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation;
4 - X-47M2 Kinzjal aerobalistic missiles from four MiG-31K aircraft (launch area – Ryazan, Tambov, RF);
24 - cruise missiles X-101/X-555/X-55 from 11 strategic bombers Tu-95MS (launch area – Engels, Russian Federation);
8 - X-22 cruise missiles from Tu-22M3 bombers from the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation;
6 - Iskander-M ballistic missiles from Jankoy, Chaud, Crimea;
2 - guided X-31P aircraft from tactical aircraft (launch area – Belgorod region, Russian Federation).
"Critical infrastructure, industrial civilian and military facilities have been attacked. The consequences and casualties will be reported on the ground by military administrations, — The Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.
Russian attacked various regions of Ukraine. In particular, ballistic missiles are aimed at Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and Khmelnytsky regions.
As a result, the defenders of the sky destroyed:
8 - shock UAVs Shahed-136/131;
18 - cruise missiles X-101/X-555/X-55.
"It should be added that not all enemy missiles that failed to shoot down have achieved their targets," — said in the Air Force.
Zelenskyy: If Russia loses control of the sky, it will lose power on the battlefield
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has underscored the importance of bolstering Ukraine’s air defense capabilities to deny Russia control of the skies, ultimately weakening the enemy’s influence on the battlefield.
Zelenskyy stated that on 7 January during an online conversation with participants of the annual Swedish national conference “Society and Defense,” according to the President’s website.
The Ukrainian President said the situation at the front today is rather stable, although Russia continues to concentrate its troops and loses a lot of soldiers in its infamous “human wave attacks.” However, Ukraine requires additional air defense systems to strip Russian forces of their capacity to dominate the airspace and carry out aerial attacks on Ukrainian positions:
“There is a lack of air defense both on the battlefield and for the defense of Ukrainian cities across the country. There were 500 strikes within a few days. Yes, we managed to repel most of them thanks to the help of our partners – more than 70%. But this is not enough. If Russia loses control of the sky, it will lose all its power on the battlefield. They have no other power: we do not see it,”
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
THE RUSSIAN WORLD
Russia revives Stalin’s hated SMERSH Secret Police
The UK Ministry of Defence in their Jan. 08 Intelligence Update stated that in late 2023, russian politicians claimed that the Soviet SMERSH counter-intelligence (CI) organization was being re-established. In early January 2024, an open-source image showed operatives apparently wearing SMERSH uniform patches, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.
An abbreviation of the russian phrase for “death to spies”, Joseph Stalin established the original organization which existed from 1941-1946. In the West, it became known via its fictionalized portrayal in lan Fleming’s James Bond books.
It is unclear whether the new name indicates any substantive new capabilities or role for russia’s Cl function, or whether it is merely a re-badging. However, it provides another example of how the russian authorities consciously couch the war in the spirit of the Second World War, and their strong focus on the supposed infiltration of external threats into the country.
Ukrainian hackers put Alfa-Bank’s customer base in public domain
The Ukrainian hacker group Kiborg has leaked the entire client base of the Russian Alfa-Bank. Censor.NET reported with reference to the official website of the Kiborg group.
Kiborg hackers, in cooperation with NLB hackers, gained access to the database in October 2023 and at the same time published information about 44 thousand customers.
"The database contains information about the client's name, date of birth, account and phone number, as well as other interesting data," the website says.
The table contains 115,217,571 records, including approximately 38 million unique individuals and legal entities. The database has customer records dating back to 2004
NEWS WORLDWIDE
Senator Lankford: US aid to Ukraine could be finalized in days
Republican negotiator Senator James Lankford in an interview with Fox News stated that US aid to Ukraine could be finalized in days.
The US Congress agreement, tying aid to Ukraine with border security on the Mexico border, may be released this week, according to Lankford during the interview.
Senator Lankford said Congress "needs to pass something because inaction is not an option"
MILITARY & TECH
Ukraine will launch production of microchips for high-precision weapons
Ukraine is preparing a program to create a network of companies for automated microchip design.
The National Industrial Portal reported that Ukraine will launch the production of microchips and parts for high-precision weapons.
The program’s production capacity can reach up to 50 thousand microcircuits per month within three years after the project’s launch.
Valeria Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration, noted that Ukraine will meet the needs of the domestic market and create a basis for exports.
If the strategy for reviving the industry will be approved, the Ministry of Digital Transformation plans to start looking for a partner for chip production in 2024.
According to Ionan, Ukraine will create a network of fabless companies (a company that does not have its own factory) for automated microcircuits design. This will make it possible to enter the chip market and take a position in the global semiconductor market.
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