Photo: BBC

Friday’s Coverage: Russia Launches Another Nationwide Wave of Missile Strikes

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1524 GMT:

Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani says Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries are working with Serbian paramilitaries to smuggle weapons and unmarked military uniforms into her country.

Osmani said the covert operation is preparation for a possible attack by Serbia to grab Kosovan territory.

“They bring in weapons and uniforms but they are not formally part of the Serbian army. Serbia wants to achieve its aims without it being called a military operation,” Osmani told The Telegraph of London. “[They wish to] prepare situations for a possible annexation — not through a traditional military operation but through a hybrid sort of attack.”

UPDATE 1518 GMT:

Ukraine State energy operator Ukrenergo says the situation is challenging but controlled after Russia’s missile and drone attacks on Friday.

The company said thermal power plants and “main network objects” were hit, but “emergency power cuts were prevented thanks to repair crews”.

UPDATE 1152 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says it downed 20 Russian attack drones overnight.

The drones, launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, targeted critical infrastructure.

UPDATE 1138 GMT:

Russian authorities have placed Alexandra Garmazhapova, the head of the Free Buryatia Foundation, on the wanted list.

The Ministry did not specify the criminal offense. Garmazhapova believes that it will claim she spread “known falsehoods” about the Russian military.

Garmazhapova, who lives in Prague, was already designated a “foreign agent” by Russian authorities.

The Free Buryatia Foundation, founded in March, provides legal advice to civilians from the Siberian republic of Buryatia who do not want to fight in Ukraine. It also monitors the number of Buryats killed and wounded in the invasion.

The Russian State communications watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked the Foundation’s website in July.

UPDATE 1116 GMT:

A draft resolution for the UN General Assembly calls for a peace which ensures Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity”.

Spokesperson Paulina Kubiak said an emergency session of the Assembly discussing Ukraine will start on February 22. A vote on the resolution is expected the following day.

The text was circulated on Thursday night to all UN member nations except Russia and its ally Belarus, and negotiations began Friday afternoon, diplomats said.

The draft reiterates the General Assembly’s previous demand that Russia “immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces” from Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders, which would include departure from Crimea as well as territory seized in the east and south during the past year.

Bolstering the demand, the resolution reaffirms that no territory acquired by the threat or use of force will be considered legal.

Other provisions include the treatment of all prisoners of war, detainees, and internees in accordance with the Geneva convention; the “complete exchange” of prisoners of war; the release of people unlawfully detained; and “the return of all internees and of civilians forcibly transferred and deported, including children”.

Calling for adherence to international humanitarian law, the resolution deplores “the dire human rights and humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine, including the continuous attacks against critical infrastructure across Ukraine with devastating consequences for civilians”.

UPDATE 1109 GMT:

Mediazona, an independent outlet tallying Russian casualties in Ukraine, has appealed for extra staff to keep up with the deaths.

“Over the past two to three weeks, we’ve noticed the number of reports has begun to rise,” Mediazona data journalist Maxim Litavrin said.

The site posted on January 27 that it had confirmed the deaths of 876 Russian troops in the previous 10 days.

“We simply don’t have enough time to process the information,” Litavrin said.

UPDATE 1055 GMT:

Russian authorities have labelled Zemfira, one of the country’s most popular singers, a “foreign agent”.

The Russian Justice Ministry said Zemfira Ramazanova had “openly supported Ukraine, held concerts in unfriendly countries while speaking against the special military operation and received support from foreign sources”.

For a time, Zemfira’s website featured the slogan “No to War”. She has reportedly left Russia to settle in France.

UPDATE 1048 GMT:

UK military intelligence concludes that in-fighting between the head of the Wagner Group mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the Russian military establishment is having an effect on mobilization of men for the Ukraine frontline.

The analysts say the rivalry is a key factor in the end of recruitment of prisoners.

Prigozhin said on Thursday that he had “completely stopped” the drive, in which convicts were pardoned if they went to the frontline.

Russia’s prison population dropped by more than 20,000 between August and November, the largest fall in over a decade. By January, the decline had largely stopped.

UPDATE 0747 GMT:

US Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander says half of Russia’s main battle tanks have probably been destroyed in combat or captured by Ukraine.

Speaking at a virtual event of the Centre for a New American Security thinktank, Wallander did not give an exact figure for the number of Russian tanks lost.

She said that Moscow, having committed 80% of its ground forces and lost tens of thousands of troops, was “significantly degraded” in its capabilities. However, she cautioned, Russia has a “bench of personnel that it can draw from”.

I think we need to be mindful that as Russia continues to suffer losses in Ukraine, it is learning how to adapt, it is learning tactically, operationally and somewhat strategically.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Summarizing his trip to Europe, Ukraine President Voldoymyr Zelenskiy has acclaimed progress on supplies of advanced weapons and warplanes to Kyiv — but added that more needs to be done.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskiy summarized:

London, Paris, Brussels — everywhere these days I spoke about how to strengthen our troops. There are very important agreements and we have received good signals.

This applies both to long-range missiles and tanks, and to the next level of our cooperation — combat aircraft. But we still need to work on this.

The President thanked the UK — “I was very happy to see how eager the British were for us to win” — and hinted at significant progress in talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris.

The three of us had a conversation, and it’s the right conversation.

It’s wrong to disclose its details, but we can say we heard each other. France — Ukraine, Germany – Ukraine. Partners have heard our position, our arguments.

He presented his meetings in Brussels as “the beginning of the new stage — When Ukraine is no longer a guest or partner from outside the EU in the European Parliament, the European Council and other institutions of the European Union. When Ukraine becomes a full part of the European Union.”

Zelenskiy spoke after Ukraine blunted another wave of Russian missiles and Iranian-made attack drones, the third this year.

The Ukraine Air Force said 61 of more than 100 Russian cruise missiles and at least five of seven drones were downed.

It explained that the Russians fired X-101, X-555, and Kalibr missiles from eight Tu-95MS strategic bombers, ships in the Caspian Sea, and land positions in the city of Volgodonsk in Russia.

There was some damage to electrical networks, including in the capital Kyiv, but no fatalities or significant, sustained power outages.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov says seven people have been injured, two seriously. The region, along with Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, were the primary targets of the Russian assault.

Five more civilians were wounded in other parts of Ukraine.