03.01.2023, Moscow.
We publish a summary of events concerning the situation around Ukraine as of 7 p.m., January 3.
Political situation
General Andrey Gurulev, a member of the Russian State Duma, believes that the most adequate response to the Ukrainian army’s attack on Makeevka, in which more than 60 mobilized Russian citizens were killed, would be to continue systematic strikes on Ukraine’s military infrastructure. “We don’t have the kind of war where something happened today and we respond, we just keep destroying these HIMARs, that’s all,” he said.
Gurulev also urged not to look for someone to blame for what happened so far. “Guilty parties will be found, an investigation will be conducted, conclusions will be drawn,” he noted.
The Russian company Syomka s Vozdukha began to supply unmanned small aerial vehicles (UAV) Binokl to the zone of the special operation, company’s spokesman Dmitry Zubarev told TASS on January 3.
Western countries and their supporters
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned, as best he could, the Verkhovna Rada’s message dedicated to Stepan Bandera’s birthday. “We are extremely critical of any glorification of Stepan Bandera, there can be no nuance here. In the next conversation with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal, I will say it very, very clearly. <…> In no way can we agree to any leniency for those who do not want to admit that terrible genocide was something unimaginable, and to make a full atonement, a full confession of guilt,” the Polish prime minister said.
The Head of the International Policy Bureau of the Polish President’s Chancellery Jakub Kumoch dared to exonerate Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera and his role in the 1943 Volyn massacre on January 3 on the air of RMF24 radio.
The US has launched a hunt for the hidden assets of Alfa Group. The activities of people close to Pyotr Aven, German Khan and Mikhail Fridman are being investigated. Roman Abramovich’s entourage is also of interest.
Former National Security Advisor to former US President Donald Trump John Bolton thinks that Turkey’s “Nato membership should be at issue in 2023 if president Erdogan is re-elected.” – The Telegraph.
Senator Lindsey Graham condemned the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s decision to “speak less “ about the conflict in Ukraine and for calling Lavrov.
The Birtish Home Secretary and his deputy are lobbying for the IRGC to be recognized as a terrorist organization. The Daily Telegraph wrote that the British authorities decided to declare the IRGC a terrorist organization.
The West supplies outdated weapons to Ukraine to update its own arsenal, Jacek Tochman wrote on January 3 in his article for the Polish newspaper Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny.
Poland has appealed to the UN to help it receive reparations from Germany for World War II, the country’s deputy foreign minister and government commissioner for reparations Arkadiusz Mulyarchick said on January 3 on Polish Radio.
French President Emmanuel Macron wished Sweden and Finland the earliest possible accession to NATO before his talks with his Swedish counterpart on January 3, the press service of the French president said.
The Netherlands will do everything possible to “help Ukraine win the war,” the country’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte wrote on his Twitter account on January 3.
