Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for January 2, 2023:
– Fighting continues around Bakhmut and across the wider Donbass region;
– Russian missile and drone strikes continue for several days now;
– Ukrainian sources claim “all” drones were downed but damage to infrastructure proves otherwise;
– Ukraine claims to have hit Russian troops with a HIMARS rocket attack;
– The attack is only in the news because it happens so infrequently;
– Russia carries out similar attacks nearly daily with its much larger number of guided-rocket launchers and ballistic missile systems;
– NATO admits Russia can fight on long-term and that Ukraine requires long-term support;
– EU begins training 1,100 Ukrainians for 2 months and plans to train up to 15,000 over the next 2+ years;
– 200-300 Ukrainian perish in fighting daily at a minimum with fighting around Bakhmut raising deaths and injuries to around 1,000 daily;
– Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterates that the West is using Ukraine as a proxy to harm Russia, a fact stated in US policy documents like RAND’s 2019 “Extending Russia” paper;
Credit to : The New Atlas