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missiles. Ukrainian UAVs also successfully attacked the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region. A terminal belonging to the Novatek company, where liquefied gas is pumped onto tankers, was heavily damaged in a fire.
NATO official warns of 'all-out war' with Russia within next 20 years. “We have to realize it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we [Nato forces] are preparing for a conflict with Russia," said Lieutenant Admiral Rob Bauer, Chair of the NATO Military Committee.
Russia focusing on destruction of Ukraine's defence industry, not power grid, says Ukrainian intelligence. Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR), said in an interview with RBC Ukraine on January 15. This marks a change from last winter when Ukraine's energy facilities were massively targeted, Skibitskyi said. The UK Defence Ministry also highlighted this shift in strategy in its January 3 intelligence report, noting that this may indicate that Russia anticipates a protracted war in which relative defence industrial capacity is of high importance.
Zelenskyy said he so far doesn’t feel pressure from his nation’s allies to reach a ceasefire with Russia, according to Bloomberg. “There will definitely be no pauses for the benefit of Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said during his tour of the Baltics this week. His comments came less than a week after Politico reported that the Biden administration and European officials want Zelensky to eventually enter a negotiation with Russia and that negotiation would likely mean giving up parts of Ukraine to Russia. This week has seen Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto call for greater diplomatic efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. “The time seems to have come for effective diplomatic action,” he declared, according to FT.
The winter offensive of the Russian army in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions has failed, writes Bild. "Apart from the deaths of thousands of their soldiers and the loss of more than 400 armored vehicles, they have not achieved anything," the article states. At the same time, it is noted that it is not yet clear how long Ukraine will be able to maintain such active defensive actions and how much ammunition will be available. At the same time, the US recently made it clear that their support level will decrease significantly in the future. According to the WSJ's chief international correspondent, the US deliberately withheld military aid in sufficient quantity to support Ukraine’s counteroffensive so as not to provoke Putin into using nuclear weapons. Kyiv did not receive Western weapons precisely when they could have played a decisive role in 2022’s conflict. Currently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces is pointing to a shortage of guided anti-aircraft missiles because Ukraine has spent a considerable amount of them to repel the last three combined Russian attacks.
NATO predicts that Russia's war against Ukraine will last at least two more years. Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoană, announced the Alliance’s expectations of a long-term conflict. He said this is indicated by the fact that neither side shows an ability to win a decisive victory. At the same time, Geoană noted that there is no risk of Ukraine's defeat because Russia is losing 300 soldiers a day, thousands of armored vehicles, and hundreds of planes. “They are not in a better situation," the official explained. He also recalled that the Ukrainians have managed to recapture 50% of the territory that was occupied by the Russians immediately following the full-scale invasion. The Deputy Secretary General of NATO also expressed confidence that the US Congress will approve new financial assistance to Kyiv soon. In
24 UKRAINE Country Report February 2024 www.intellinews.com