Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Tuesday, January 14, 2025, discover the latest news around this conflict.
Ukraine fired six US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, six Storm Shadow cruise missiles and at least 146 drones into Russian territory, Moscow said on Tuesday, in an attack that will not go unanswered, a- he warned. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down all missiles fired by Ukraine at the Bryansk region, as well as 146 drones outside the war zone. The ministry added that two more Storm Shadows had been shot down over the Black Sea, and promised that “the actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by its Western patrons, will not go unanswered.”
According to Andry Kovalenko, director of the Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation, Ukrainian strikes hit several targets in Engels, Saratov, Kazan, Bryansk and Tula. Weapons factories, oil refineries and warehouses were targeted, he added. Russian officials and media said the Ukrainian strikes damaged industrial sites in at least three cities. Roman Bousargin, the governor of the Saratov region, said the cities of Saratov and Engels, on the other bank of the Volga, had suffered a large-scale drone attack and that two industrial sites had been damaged.
Schools in both cities were closed and classes taught remotely, he added. The drone attack hit an ammunition warehouse containing guided bombs and missiles at the Engels airbase in Russia’s Saratov region and other targets, a Ukrainian security service source said on Tuesday . The attack caused a large fire at the Aleksin chemical plant in the Tula region and a fire at the Saratov oil refinery, while the Bryansk chemical plant was also hit, the source said. Reuters could not independently verify the reported damage.
Ukraine had already attacked this region last week by bombing the fuel depot used to supply strategic bombers at the Russian Engels air base, causing a fire which lasted five days. Russian independent media Astra reported a fire at the industrial site in the city of Kazan, east of Moscow, following a drone attack. Flight restrictions were imposed in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.
On November 21, Ukraine launched British-made ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles towards Russia for the first time. Moscow has threatened to retaliate any time Ukraine hits Russia with these weapons. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said Tuesday it had shot down 58 of the 80 drones launched by Russia into Ukraine overnight.
Ukrainian soldier recounts his almost 1,000 days in a Russian prison
Captures of soldiers are increasing in number between the Ukrainian and Russian armies. On December 30, an exchange of prisoners was announced between the two countries. Ukraine repatriated 189 prisoners of war in an exchange with Russia, out of a total of 300.
“The return of our compatriots is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of those days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,” declared the Ukrainian president on Telegram, who notably thanked the United Arab Emirates for their mediation efforts.
Oleksandr is a Ukrainian soldier who spent almost 1,000 years in detention in Russia. Once released, the latter told BFMTV what he experienced when he was in the hands of the enemy. “I saw people die in captivity. Sometimes their chronic illnesses got worse and there was no medicine or care. The Russians had no desire to treat us, and then there were those who do not tolerate torture. Others were killed as soon as they arrived.
The Ukrainian soldier was captured on April 12, 2022 and spent no less than 991 days in captivity. During his detention, he claims to have had to endure the horror and barbarity of the Russians. “When you fall asleep, when you wake up, when you eat, you hear the screams of people who are being tortured nearby. In some prisons where I was, we received blows every day, blows with a stick. , electric current, tear gas and constant threats, insults, humiliation.he says.
A recapture of two villages by the Russians
Russia claimed on Tuesday to have recaptured two villages in eastern Ukraine, which had been liberated by Ukrainian forces from a first Russian occupation in 2022 and 2023, a sign of kyiv’s difficulties on the Eastern front.
According to the daily report of the Russian Defense Ministry, the army captured the villages of Terny and Neskuchne in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where the fighting is concentrated.
