WAR IN UKRAINE: January 29, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 339
A Russian strike on a city in the eastern region of Donetsk killed at least three people as Ukrainian forces engaged Russian troops in ferocious battles in several hot spots in the east, where Moscow has been pressing its offensive with increased urgency amid Western pledges of modern tank deliveries for Kyiv, reported RFE/RL. Meanwhile, Russian troops shelled the settlement of Pokrovske near Nikopol in the morning of Jan. 28, Mykola Lukashuk, the head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council, said.
The russian federation may launch a new large-scale offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by February 24. Oleksii Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security Council, stated this in an interview with Radio Svoboda. "Now they are preparing for maximum activation, taking into account the fact that they are people from the Soviet "scoop". They believe that if there is anniversary, they should have some achievements. There is no secret that they are preparing for a new wave until February 24.”
Poland's armed forces have recruited the largest number of soldiers since it ended conscription in 2008 as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked greater interest in defending the homeland.
Italy’s state-run energy company ENI has signed an $8 billion deal with Libya’s National Oil Corporation to develop two Libyan offshore gas fields as European nations seek to cut their dependence on Russian energy. Meanwhile, Russia's Gazprom said it will ship 24.3 million cubic meters of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine - RFE/RL
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will summon Hungary's ambassador to complain about "completely unacceptable" remarks Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made about Ukraine, Kyiv said.
The Daily Mail this week made a scandalous discovery: outposts of several famous British luxury brands are very much still open for business in Moscow. One is Paul Smith, the Nottingham-based purveyor of stripy scarves and modish menswear that its eponymous multi-millionaire founder and owner likes to describe as 'classic with a twist'. The other is the iconic British car maker, Rolls Royce. Yet another is Agent Provocateur, the upscale English underwear brand popularised by Kate Moss in the 1990s. It is also stocking designs from the new season.
Required reading…
Russia is losing the energy war as Putin’s winter gas attack backfires
By Aura Sabadus
Vladimir Putin expected to use gas exports this winter to blackmail Europe and weaken Western support for Ukraine. Instead, this tactic appears to have backfired disastrously and critically undermined Russia’s position on European energy markets.
In September 2022, I anticipated that Putin’s plan to cut gas supplies to Europe and leave consumers to freeze would fail. With the cold season now almost over, this prediction has so far turned out to be correct. Contrary to the Kremlin’s expectations, Western consumers not only stayed warm in their homes; many European companies have actually been turning to Ukraine to place surplus gas volumes in local storage facilities.
Admittedly, Europe has been lucky. Demand and supply have been balanced because consumption remained muted thanks to unseasonably mild temperatures and falling industrial demand. Meanwhile, there have been sufficient alternative deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the global market amid a lack of competition from China, which has been struggling with the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.
Much was also due to the resilience of European markets, which responded promptly to Russia’s decision to cut gas supplies to a trickle in 2022, forcing gas prices to reach record levels. Far from breaking Europe’s resolve, Putin’s energy war against the EU has shocked the bloc into fast-tracking its energy transition, completing projects which had been long overdue or forgotten and seeking alternative supplies to plug the gaping Russian shortfall.
Read the full Atlantic Council Ukraine Alert here