► Shutdown of a Ukrainian mine
The Ukrainian group Metinvest announced on Tuesday January 14 the shutdown of the Pokrovsk mine, an essential economic pillar for the steel industry, and the evacuation of its staff, due to the fighting with the Russian army which is approaching this locality.
“Metvinvest announces the suspension of operations at the Pokrovsk mine due to (…) the deterioration of the security situation”said this company in a press release. It is the only mine under kyiv control to produce coke, a coal necessary for the manufacture of steel, Ukraine’s second largest export product.
► Ukraine claims its “most massive” attack
The Ukrainian military said the wave of nighttime strikes, which targeted industrial and military sites in Russia, was “the most massive” since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began three years ago.
“Ukrainian defense forces carried out the most massive strikes against military targets (…) at a distance of 200 to 1,100 kilometers deep in Russia”indicated the Ukrainian General Staff in a press release.
► Moscow accuses kyiv of having used Western missiles
The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of targeting targets in Russia’s border region of Bryansk using Western-made long-range missiles, saying it had shot them down and promising it would not remain “not unanswered”.
Six American ATACMS missiles and six British Storm Shadow missiles were fired from Ukrainian territory against “targets” of the Bryansk region, the Russian ministry said, saying that ” all “ had been shot.
The Ukrainian army claimed to have struck with missiles at night a chemical factory producing explosives for the Russian army in this region.
► Russia claims the capture of two villages
Russia claimed 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 in eastern Ukraine, where the fighting is concentrated.
► Ukraine says it hit a military chemical plant
The Ukrainian army claimed to have struck with missiles overnight a chemical factory producing explosives for the Russian army in the Russian border region of Bryansk.
“The drones managed to distract Russian air defenses, paving the way for missiles to hit the main targets” after which a new wave of drones struck infrastructure around this site, the Ukrainian army said in a statement.
► Energy and industrial sites on fire in Russia
A large-scale Ukrainian drone attack hit energy and industrial sites in two regions of Russia, hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine, in the morning, causing fires, local authorities announced.
The attack targeted the republic of Tatarstan and the Saratov region on the Volga, both located several hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
In the suburbs of Kazan, capital of Tatarstan, “a gas tank caught fire (…) following a drone attack”indicated on Telegram the local government, ensuring that “No one was injured.”
According to local media, which broadcast images of a large flame and a plume of black smoke rising into the sky, the attack targeted a liquefied gas depot near a chemical factory.
► The German defense minister in kyiv
The German Defense Minister arrived in kyiv for a trip intended to discuss continued military support for Ukraine.
Boris Pistorius to hold bilateral talks “on continued cooperation and support” et “on the Ukrainian defense industry”indicated a spokesperson for the ministry.
Contacts are intensifying between Ukrainian and European officials before Donald Trump takes office on January 20 as head of the United States.
