This week in Ukraine was marked by the strike in Dnipro (middle-east) that killed 45 people, including six children, on Saturday, and the crash of a helicopter carrying the interior minister. The plane crashed on Thursday, hitting a kindergarten near Kyiv, killing at least 14 people, including Minister Denys Monastyrsky, who was en route to the front lines.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to call for more aid from the West, and several countries have announced new supplies to Ukraine. 20 Minutes invites you to take stock of this new week of war in Ukraine, which ends this Friday, the 331st day of the conflict, thanks to four infographics.
A tense front line
Map of the situation on the ground in Ukraine as of January 20, 2023. – Simon MALFATTO, Paz PIZARRO, Kenan AUGEARD / AFP
The situation on the ground remains explosive, especially in the south and east of the country, at the front. On Friday, Russian occupation authorities said they had seen a “sharp increase in intensity” in fighting in the Zaporozhye region of southern Ukraine, where clashes were taking place “along the entire front line.” Elsewhere in Ukraine, the Russian army has announced it has taken control of Klichchiivka, a small town south of Bakhmout (east), a town that has become the epicenter of the fighting. Klichchiivka, which had a population of about 500 before the war, is less than 10 kilometers southwest of Bakhmout, which for several months was the target of the Russian offensive in the region.
Its capture, days after Moscow said it had taken control of Soledar northeast of Bachmout – which Kyiv denies – seems to indicate Russia is now looking to encircle the big city after attempting an unsuccessful frontal attack from the east. Since last summer, the Russian army, supported by mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary group, has been trying to take Bakhmout, but without success. The city is now largely destroyed and almost emptied of its civilian population.
One of the deadliest attacks on civilians
Map of Ukraine showing the location of the Dnipro strike that killed 45 people including six children, Saturday January 14, 2023. – Paz PIZARRO, Cléa PÉCULIER / AFP
Ukraine on Saturday experienced one of the deadliest bombings at a civilian site since the country’s Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022. A residential building was destroyed by a Russian missile in Dnipro, in the country’s east-central region, killing 45 people, including six children. A whole section of the building collapsed, trapping dozens of people in the rubble. About 1,700 people lived in the building, according to the presidency. “236 apartments were damaged. More than 400 people are homeless,” added an adviser to the Ukrainian Presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to bring “anyone guilty of this war crime” to justice. His chief of staff Andriï Iermak has stressed before the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) via video conference “the importance of creating an international special tribunal” to try “the Russian leadership and all criminals” for “Russian aggression in Ukraine,” it says in a message.
Home Secretary killed in helicopter crash
Map of Kyiv and environs locating the fatal accident of a helicopter transporting, in particular, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the town of Brovary near Kyiv. – Simon MALFATTO, Sabrina BLANCHARD, Paz PIZARRO, Sylvie HUSSON / AFP
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky was killed in a helicopter crash near Kyiv on Wednesday that killed at least 14 people. The helicopter, a Super Puma EC-225 (Airbus Helicopters), according to the State Emergency Situations Service (SES) to which it belonged, crashed in Brovary near Kyiv on Wednesday morning.
“The kindergarten building was hit, and the fire later spread to the windows of a 14-story building and three cars,” SES said on Telegram, adding that nine people were on board, including the minister and his deputy. According to a recent report by the SES, there are 14 dead, including one child, and 25 injured, including 11 children, in the hospital. Ukrainian officials, like Prime Minister Denys Khmygal on Telegram, called the death of Denys Monastyrsky, 42, a former lawyer who joined Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party, a “great loss”.
Europe continues to hoard gas
Graph showing the evolution of gas reserves in Europe since 2019 as of 16 January 2023 (latest available data). – Laurence SAUBADU, Paz PIZARRO, Sylvie HUSSON / AFP
The war in Ukraine has exposed Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, which the Old Continent has been fighting to reduce as much as possible, combining crises and demanding energy sobriety. This change of strategy, coupled with the exceptionally mild temperatures of this winter, has allowed European nations to stock up and not resort to it. “Gas stocks in Europe have hovered around 82% of capacity in recent weeks, down from 50% a year ago and well above the five-year seasonal norm of 70%,” says Mirabaud’s John Plassard. And the soothing speeches multiply.
“Prices in Europe are falling,” said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, welcoming the “decisions” to forgo Russian gas on Saturday after the surge of recent months. But high gas and electricity prices remain in the bill, Anders Opedal, CEO of Norwegian energy giant Equinor, warned the BBC on Monday, saying consumers shouldn’t expect them to return to pre-Russian invasion Ukraine levels would return.