Ukraine’s war: Rage in Russia against military top, killer drones, Sweden’s NATO membership
1. Russian fury over devastating attack on troops in Ukraine
Russians have called for military commanders to be punished after scores of Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian strike.
Nationalist bloggers and lawmakers accuse Russia’s top brass of ignoring the risk of a Ukrainian strike and putting troops in a dangerous situation.
In a rare revelation, Russia’s Defense Ministry said 63 soldiers were killed on New Year’s Eve, after a large explosion destroyed a temporary barracks in Makiivka, a town in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv claimed the death toll was around 400 Russian soldiers killed and another 300 wounded in the incident, making it one of the deadliest attacks of the war so far.
Russian critics said the soldiers were being housed by military commanders next to an ammunition dump, compounding the devastation caused by the Ukrainian strike.
The site was hit by four rockets fired from US-made HIMARS missiles, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
Russian military bloggers, who wield considerable influence in the country, also condemned top brass for knowing the site was within range of Ukrainian missiles.
Many of those killed were newly mobilized troops, meaning they have been called up by Russian authorities, rather than volunteering to fight.
Igor Girkin, one of the most high-profile Russian military bloggers, said hundreds of men had been killed or wounded. Ammunition had been stored at the site and military equipment there was uncamouflaged, he said.
“What happened in Makiivka is terrible,” wrote Archangel Spetznaz Z, another Russian blogger with more than 700,000 followers. “Who came up with the idea of placing personnel in large numbers in a building, where even a fool understands that even if they hit with artillery, there will be many wounded or dead?”
Commanders “couldn’t care less,” he added.
2. Putin orders review of documentaries on Ukraine’s war
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered his government to show “documentary films” about the war in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Culture must now show national documentary films in cinemas on subjects related to what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine and the fight against “Ukrainian neo-Nazis”, a statement published by the Kremlin’s website read.
Russia justifies its war in Ukraine as an attempt to “denazify” the country, and denounces Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders in Kyiv as ultra-nationalists.
Experts have questioned the claim that Ukraine is ruled by Nazis as false, calling it a lie.
This decision to vet video on Ukraine comes amid several Russian setbacks in the battle. In recent months, Moscow’s forces have abandoned the northeastern Kharkiv region and Kherson, a city in the south.
Since the start of the invasion in February, Russia has passed several laws controlling information about the Ukraine war.
A law severely punishes anyone who spreads what authorities consider “lies” about the Russian armed forces.
3. France reiterates its support for Sweden’s NATO bid
French President Emmanual Macron expressed his country’s continued support for Sweden’s bid to join NATO on Tuesday, during a trip to the Nordic nation.
When he met with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Stockholm, Macron reiterated his desire to see Sweden and Finland join the Western military alliance.
Sweden, along with Finland, launched a bid to join NATO in May 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although the pair were close allies of the US-led alliance, they were not formally part of NATO.
Their membership is currently blocked by Turkey and Hungary.
Macron said he wanted Sweden’s accession to become a reality “as soon as possible”, while his Swedish counterpart expressed a desire to strengthen cooperation with France in the defense and space sectors.
“You can count on France’s support and solidarity,” Macron insisted.
The two leaders reaffirmed Europe’s determination to support Ukraine as it faces the Russian offensive and winter sets in.
“The Ukrainians need our support more than ever,” Macron said.
“Ukraine’s victory is existential for Europe and for the whole world,” Ulf Kristersson added.
Macron was visiting Sweden to investigate, among other things, the possibility of building a new nuclear power plant in the Nordic region.
It was his first visit to an EU capital since Sweden took over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU Council on 1 January.
4. Drone advances in Ukraine may prompt killer robots to begin
Drone advances in Ukraine have accelerated a long-awaited tech trend that could see the world’s first fully autonomous robots on the battlefield
Military analysts and scientists warn that the longer the war drags on, the more likely it is that drones will be used to identify, select and attack targets without human assistance.
Such a development could inaugurate a new era of warfare, marking a revolution in military technology as profound as the introduction of the machine gun.
Ukraine already has semi-autonomous attack drones and counter-drone weapons that use AI. Russia also claims to have AI weapons, although this is unproven.
So far, there are no confirmed cases of a country fielding combat robots that have killed completely on their own.
Experts say it could only be a matter of time before either Russia or Ukraine deploys them.
“Many states are developing this technology,” said Zachary Kallenborn, a weapons innovation analyst at George Mason University. “Obviously it’s not that hard.”
Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, agrees that fully autonomous killer drones are “a logical and inevitable next step” in weapons development.
He said Ukraine has done “a lot of R&D in this direction.”
“I think the potential for this is great in the next six months,” Fedorov told reporters in a recent interview.
Ukrainian military leaders currently prohibit the use of fully autonomous lethal weapons, although that may change.
5. Bulgaria weans itself from Russian gas and signs an agreement with Turkey
Bulgaria signed an energy deal with Turkey on Tuesday, in a bid to diversify supplies after Russian gas supplies stopped due to the Ukraine war.
“This [deal] will allow us to buy gas from all international producers and unload it in Turkey, where it suits us,” said Bulgaria’s Acting Energy Minister Rossen Hristov.
According to the Turkish Energy Minister, Fatih Donmez, the contract covers the next thirteen years and could mean up to 1.5 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) being transported per year.
This amount of gas corresponds to about half of Bulgaria’s needs.
The agreement between the Bulgarian public gas operator Bulgargaz and the Turkish public gas company Botas provides access to both the country’s terminals and the Turkish transit network.
It also includes a promise to “increase security for [gas] deliveries” across the Balkan region.
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Moscow gave Bulgaria – an EU member – almost all the gas it needs, which is estimated at 3 billion cubic meters of gas.
Russia cut off supplies in April 2022, as Sofia was one of the countries that refused to pay for gas in rubles that Russia demanded in retaliation for EU sanctions.
Currently, Bulgaria imports about one billion cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan.
In July, a new gas pipeline linking Greece and supplying LNG from the USA was inaugurated.