In the town of Klintsy in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast, an oil storage facility caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack, according to the local governor. The Russian military shot down the drone, explains Governor Alexander Bogomas on the Telegram short message service. The drone was aimed at targets in the city. According to preliminary information, there are no injuries. The fire department quickly extinguished the fire. Bryansk borders the northeast of Ukraine. Just on Thursday, Ukraine attacked an oil terminal in St. Petersburg, around 800 kilometers behind the front, with a drone. In Ukrainian military circles it was said that the attack on the Russian metropolis was part of a “new phase” in the region.
Meanwhile, according to Kiev military sources, Russian ground troops are again intensifying their attacks on the fronts in the east and south of Ukraine. According to the situation report from the Ukrainian General Staff, there were 114 attempted attacks on eight sectors of the front on Thursday – significantly more than last time. According to reports, the fighting on the ground increased in intensity again. The Russian troops ran most violently against the front-line town of Avdiivka. 36 battles were recorded in and around the city close to Russian-controlled Donetsk. The Russian army has been trying to encircle the Ukrainian defenders since October. She suffered high losses of soldiers and material.
Further north, the Russian military said it occupied the village of Vezyoloye in the Donetsk region. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said the place was under control. The Ukrainian General Staff report did not provide any information about this. Heavy fighting was also reported from the Kupyansk, Lyman, Mariinka sectors of the front and from the Ukrainian bridgehead on the southern bank of the Dnipro. In addition, many villages and towns near the front were under Russian artillery fire, as the General Staff announced.
In the sky over Ukraine, however, things initially remained calm during the night. The Ukrainian Air Force did not record any of the usual attacks by Russian combat drones. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hopes that the F-16 fighter jets, which are expected to strengthen the air force this year, will shift the balance of power in the air. “The pilots are preparing. The engineers are preparing. The infrastructure is being prepared,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on television. All countries that wanted to provide Ukraine with jets would fulfill their obligations. “I think that this year we will achieve the first F-16 aerial victories in Ukraine,” the minister said. So far, Ukraine lacks aircraft to fight Russian jets. The Netherlands and Denmark want to sell dozens of F-16 fighter jets.
Despite the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s economy grew by five percent last year compared to 2022, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Tax revenues also increased to the same extent, the head of state said in his video address. The European Union had also expected Ukrainian economic growth of around five percent. It is a rebound effect after Ukraine’s economy shrank by almost 30 percent in 2022 in the first year of the war.
Meanwhile, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned in the “Tagesspiegel” against an expansion of the war in Ukraine. “We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day – most recently against our friends in the Baltics,” said the SPD politician. “So we have to take into account that one day Vladimir Putin will even attack a NATO country.” He currently doesn’t think a Russian attack is likely. “Our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible.” With his warning or his demand that the Bundeswehr must become “war-ready,” he wanted to “wake up our society.” Precautions must now be taken for this. Pistorius had already discussed a modified conscription, for which he expects proposals from his ministry by April.
The Ukrainian military expects Russian troops to continue their attacks on various sectors of the front.
