Shaun
Russian forces have claimed a breakthrough in capturing two settlements in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region as an onslaught of overnight bombardment across Ukraine killed six people.
The Russian defence ministry announced the capture of Petropavlivka, a village near the contested towns of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, and Vremivka, located further south.
However, Ukrainian military officials dismissed suggestions that Russian forces had breached Pokrovsk, a critical transport hub.
Ukraine’s popular Deep State blog, which documents changes in the positions held by both sides using open source materials, confirmed Petropavlivka and Vremivka falling into Russian hands.
In Kyiv, three people were killed and three others injured following a deadly nighttime attack which saw Putin’s forces launch a barrage of drones and missiles in the early morning on Saturday.
A shopping mall, business centre, metro station and water pipe were damaged in the assault, said city military administration chief Timur Tkachenko.
Three others were killed in the country’s south as Russian forces unleashed a combined drone and missile strike.
It comes as France accused Russia of “intimidation” after its air defences locked onto a French patrol plane over the Baltic Sea.
“In a farewell call, I thanked @SecBlinken for his crucial role at a watershed moment in history that helped ensure Ukraine’s survival as an independent, free, and European nation. We value our strategic partnership and rely on continued support from the new U.S. administration,” he said on X.
The Biden administration marks its final day in power today as it hands over the control to the incoming Trump administration in the evening.
Ukrainian forces used the US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time in October 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the weapons had “proven themselves.”
Ukraine likely has what are known as M39A1 Block IA ATACMS that are guided in part by Global Positioning System and have a range of 40 to 190 miles. They can carry a payload of 300 bomblets. The M39 Block IA were used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Army documents, and were added to the US arsenal in 1997.
When outgoing president Joe Biden was asked if he or Donald Trump deserved credit for the Gaza ceasefire deal struck in Qatar he shot back: “Is that a joke?” It wasn’t. Trump’s claim of having secured the “EPIC” deal was comic, but his contribution was real.
Biden’s team worked in tandem with Trump’s incoming administration – and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff – to deliver the agreement which had taken many months to thrash out.
It was no accident that it was struck in the dying days of the Biden years, less than a week before Trump was due to move back into the White House. Israel’s prime minister knew that involving Trump would set him up to warm relations with the 47th president.
