Ukraine at war, January 16 update: “It’s such a disaster”

The governor of Russia’s Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev, reported on social media that a drone attack hit an oil depot on Wednesday evening. Gusev claimed that Russian air defense units and electronic warfare systems shot down incoming drones, starting a fire at the premises.

Ukraine and Russia exchanged attacks on energy sources this week, during a season when Kremlin forces traditionally bomb Ukraine’s power grids in a bid to freeze residents out. After such an attack on Wednesday in western Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media: “We are in the middle of winter and the Russian objective remains the same: our energy sector. »

Sources from the social network Telegram spotted by Ukrainska Pravda reported that the oil depot hit by Ukrainian drones was in the town of Liski, about 90 kilometers from the regional capital of Voronezh, and not far from the northeastern border of Ukraine with Russia.

This latest attack on a Russian energy source comes on the same day as a fire broke out at a Lukoil refinery in Volgograd, Russia’s 16th largest city. Formerly known as Stalingrad, the city is one of the country’s major refining and transportation centers.

This Lukoil refinery is one of the largest producers of petroleum products in the Southern Federal District, processing 13.5 million tons of oil in 2023 alone.

Other topics of interest

French special forces held a secret exercise to counter Belarus’ attack on Ukraine

Exercise Perseus was a secret French exercise organized for several weeks towards the end of 2024 to prepare for a possible intervention in the event of an incursion into Ukraine from Belarus.

Russia counterattacked Wednesday with a barrage of missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) said Russia launched 43 cruise and ballistic missiles and 74 attack drones, mainly targeting sites in western Ukraine.

Oleksandra Komuna, an elderly resident of the village of Sknyliv in western Ukraine, was at home at the time of the attack when lamps and plaster began to fall, she told AFP.

“All the doors and windows exploded, everything exploded. The car was damaged and the roof was damaged. There were cracks everywhere… It’s such a disaster.

Mariupol defenders among a group of repatriated prisoners of war, while the Azov brigade recovers 23 more

Ukraine and Russia conducted their first prisoner exchange of the year, with Ukraine bringing home 25 Ukrainian men and women from captivity, and reportedly returning an equal number to Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the exchange on Telegram, stating that “as a result of the negotiation process, 25 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the kyiv regime. In exchange, 25 Ukrainian soldiers were handed over.”

The repatriated military personnel included soldiers, sailors and sergeants who defended the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions, as well as the city of Mariupol, including Azovstal, according to a statement from Zelensky.

“Ukraine is constantly working to bring our people home, and we will not stop until we bring all of our people back,” the president said on social media.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian troops captured 23 Russian soldiers in the Donetsk region along the Toretsk front near the decimated town of Bakhmut.

The press service of the 12th Azov Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard said its units captured 23 Russian soldiers who voluntarily surrendered. They were discovered in basements during assaults by Ukrainian troops, the press service said.

Zelensky’s office highlights and describes latest round of sanctions against Biden

The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, welcomed the latest round of sanctions imposed by the White House as US President Joe Biden prepares to hand over power to Donald Trump. The latest sanctions concern banks and institutions collaborating with Russia, affecting nearly 100 entities.

“Today, the United States announced a new sanctions package aimed at increasing pressure on Russia over its aggression and violations of international law. Several proposals from the McFaul-Yermak sanctions group were taken into account,” Yermak wrote on the social media platform Telegram.

Yermak listed the individuals and organizations involved:

• The Russian Federal State Unitary Enterprise of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and its general director V. Isayev, illegally managing the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
• Two Rosatom subsidiaries: Centrotech Scientific Production Association and Federal State Unitary Enterprise Gorno-Khimichesky Combinat (mining and chemical plant)
• Banks circumvent restrictions: Keremet Bank, a financial institution in Kyrgyzstan, worked with Russian officials to circumvent sanctions
• More than 25 Russian defense companies, including the Serov Mechanical Plant, the NNPO named after MV Frunze and the Saransk Instrument-Building Plant
• Companies from China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia that supplied goods worth millions of dollars to sanctioned entities in Russia
• Nearly 30 Russian companies involved in the purchase and distribution of sanctioned products, including hardware for ZALA drones
• Individuals such as Viktorov, a lawyer who helped hide Rotenberg family assets, and related companies like Evocorp
• About 25 Russian metallurgical enterprises, including Kamensk-Uralsky Metallurgical Plant, Terra Steel Group and Keramax Group companies.
• Turkey’s Kuzey Star Shipyard, which built a floating dock for servicing Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers.