Faced with Moscow’s incessant strikes on strategic sites in Ukraine, kyiv is responding. This Tuesday, January 14, several Russian energy and industrial sites caught fire after Ukrainian drone attacks in two regions of the country, Russian authorities said. kyiv and Moscow have intensified their strikes in recent months and want to strengthen their positions before Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20, the American president-elect having said he wants to stop the war in Ukraine as soon as he takes office.
Information to remember
⇒ Russian energy and industrial sites targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks
⇒ Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron spoke on the phone last night
⇒ “We cannot abandon” Ukraine, warns Joe Biden
Ukraine strikes Russian energy and industrial sites
In the suburbs of Kazan, capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan (Volga), “a gas tank caught fire […] following a drone attack”, the local government indicated on Telegram this Tuesday, January 14, assuring 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.
Additionally, in the Saratov region, located about 700 kilometers southeast of Moscow and some 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, “two industrial enterprises were damaged” following a “massive drone attack” , regional governor Roman Boussarguine wrote on Telegram. A fire was caused by this attack on a company in Engels, he indicated, without specifying the nature of the damage caused to the second company struck, located in Saratov. The city had already been targeted on January 8 by a major drone attack which caused a fire on an oil site.
A Ukrainian official, Andriï Kovalenko, head of the center for combating disinformation, a government communications body, mocked on Telegram the “shortcomings of the Russian air defense system”. “Oil refineries, oil depots, factories producing weapons components, so many elements without which the Russian army will not be able to fight intensively,” he assured.
Ukrainian army says it shot down 58 drones launched overnight by Russia
Along with their strikes towards Russia, the Ukrainian air forces indicated Tuesday morning that they had shot down 58 of the 80 drones launched by Russia on Ukraine. “On the night of January 14, 2025 (from 6:30 p.m. on January 13), the enemy attacked with 80 drones,” the kyiv army said in its morning report, adding that at “9 a.m. the destruction of 58 drones […] was confirmed in Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, kyiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Odessa and Kherson oblasts.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, “downed enemy drones caused damage in Sumy, kyiv, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Cherkasy oblasts.”
Volodymyr Zelensky says he discussed with Emmanuel Macron the “deployment of foreign contingents” in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Monday evening that he had discussed with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron support for Ukraine and a possible “deployment of foreign military contingents” in the country. The idea of deploying European troops in Ukraine has been raised several times in recent months amid speculation about possible future peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. This contingent would be deployed to ensure the maintenance of a hypothetical ceasefire, which was notably called for by US President-elect Donald Trump, who is due to take office on January 20.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, the two leaders also discussed “investments in the purchase of shells for Ukraine”. “We also discussed the deployment of partner contingents and the training of our military,” said the Ukrainian president.
“We cannot abandon” Ukraine, warns Biden
United States President Joe Biden said Monday that his country and its Western allies could “not abandon” Ukraine in its war against Russia, one week before the inauguration of Donald Trump.
“We helped the Ukrainians stop (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. And three years later, Putin has failed in all his strategic goals […] It failed because of NATO unity […] We cannot give up,” insisted the Democratic leader in a speech in Washington on the results of his foreign policy.
German Defense Minister visits kyiv on Tuesday
Boris Pistorius will have bilateral talks “on continued cooperation and support” and “on the Ukrainian defense industry”, a ministry spokesperson told AFP. Contacts are intensifying between Ukrainian and European officials before Donald Trump takes office on January 20 as head of the United States.
kyiv fears losing US support with the return of Donald Trump and being forced to make concessions to Russia. Germany is the second largest provider of military aid to Ukraine behind the United States, but the scale and nature of this support has been the subject of much prevarication on the part of the Olaf Scholz government for three years, and again in view of the legislative elections of February 23.