Winter has descended upon Putin in his war with Ukraine.

The first week of the New Year has ended and, already, as reported by AP News,

"Ukraine came under strong Russian missile attacks early Monday that struck near the front lines of fighting in the east as well as in central and western parts of the country, killing one person and injuring at least 30.

The heaviest casualty toll was in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where a woman died in a missile attack outside the city of Kryvyi Rih and 24 were injured in a strike on the town of Novomoskovsk. In Kryvyi Rih itself, more than 20 houses and a shopping center were damaged in a missile attack, said regional governor Serhii Lysak." (AP News : 8 January 2023) (my emphasis)

 

PBS News Hour : 5 January 2024 : YouTube

This attack by Putin [Pu-truschev] using North Korean missiles and Iranian drones come as the day before,

"Vladimir Putin staged a lavish Orthodox Christmas Eve dinner for children of soldiers killed in Ukraine as he attempted to present himself as a caring leader by ordering officials to do more for the country’s troops.

The Russian leader vowed to back those “with arms in hands” as he hosted Saturday evening’s heavily choreographed event at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence on the outskirts of Moscow." (James Kilner (left): The Telegraph on Yahoo News : 7 January 2023), 

nothwitstanding the fact that,

"Russia is on course to have lost a total of 500,000 soldiers by the end of this year if casualties continue at their current rate, the UK Ministry of Defense said.

The average daily number of Russian casualties in Ukraine has risen by almost 300 during the last year, the department noted, citing data from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense." (Alia Shoaib (right): Business Insider : 7 January 2024) (my emphasis)

Let us recall that in September of 2023, following on from the report of James Callery (left) that, "Vladimir Putin is scrambling to draft mercenaries from Armenia and Kazakhstan to plug the gaps in troop numbers fighting in Ukraine.", Alarabiya News informed us that,

"Cuba has identified an alleged human trafficking ring aimed at recruiting its citizens to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry said Monday.

The government was working to dismantle a “trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces involved in military operations in Ukraine”, the ministry said in a statement.

The Cuban government had initiated criminal proceedings against those carrying out the trafficking, it added." (Alarabiya News : 5 September 2023) (my emphasis)

Andrew Roth (right) now also reports that,

"The government of Nepal has banned its citizens from travelling to Russia or Ukraine for employment after 10 young men were killed and dozens more reported missing while fighting, predominately in the Russian military.

More than 200 Nepali soldiers are believed to have enlisted in the Russian army since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Nepal’s foreign ministry had said, and more than 100 of them have gone missing. A smaller number are believed to be fighting in the Ukrainian army.

“Work permits for Russia and Ukraine have been temporarily halted until further arrangements are made to minimise potential risks and losses for Nepali nationals entering these war-ravaged countries,” Kabiraj Upreti (left), a director at the department of foreign employment, told the state broadcaster RSS." (The Guardian : 5 January 2024) (my emphasis)

In repose to Putin's [Pu-truschev's] recent wave of heavy air strikes against the civilians of Ukraine, 

"NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg (right) will convene a meeting between NATO diplomats and officials from Ukraine on Jan. 10, following a recent wave of heavy Russian air strikes on the country, the transatlantic defence alliance said on Thursday.

The meeting, taking the format of the newly establish NATO-Ukraine Council, was being convened at Kyiv's request following missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, cities and towns, a NATO spokesperson said.

Russia has intensified attacks over the New Year period, with President Vladimir Putin warning that a Ukrainian air strike on the Russian city of Belgorod, which Moscow said killed 25 civilians, would "not go unpunished". (Andrew Gray and Tassilo Hummel : Haaretz : Haaretz on MSN : 4 January 2024) (my emphasis)

Added to which, Pavel Polityuk (left) reports that,

"Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, forced into a bomb shelter by an air alert in Kyiv on Sunday, pledged millions of dollars to NATO to help Ukraine avert Russian drone strikes and announced donations of generators and transformers.

"Russia has continued threats and attacks with missiles and drones in various locations, even on New Year's Day," Kamikawa said through an interpreter, after her news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was moved underground.
...
Kamikawa said Japan would allocate $37 million to a NATO Trust Fund that supports equipment such as a drone detection system.

She also announced donations of five mobile gas turbine generators and seven transformers. Russian air strikes caused frequent power cuts across Ukraine last winter, and its two main cities experienced cuts due to a major attack on Jan. 2." (Reuters : 7 January 2024) (my emphasis)

 Jon Brady : Daily Mail : 7 January 2024

And whilst Putin's [Pu-truschev's]  current attempt to bomb the Ukrainian people into submission, Gergana Krasteva (left) reports that,

"As Vladimir Putin is spending billions of pounds on his war in Ukraine, people across Moscow have been left freezing without heating or hot water.

Temperatures in the capital plummeted to -30°C, and the old heating network is reportedly unable to withstand the weather.

This has meant that more than 20,000 residents have been abandoned freezing in sub-zero temperatures recorded in their own homes for days." (Metro : 7 January 2024) (my emphasis)

Winter has descended upon Putin in his war with Ukraine.

Perkin Amalaraj and Will Stewart : Mail Online : 3 January 2024 

 

                                 

 

(to be continued)