Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 341.
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues and the war rages on, reliable sources of information are critical. Forbes gathers information and provides updates on the situation.
National.
Kharkiv. A Russian S-300 missile struck an apartment building in central Kharkiv last night, reports Governor Oleh Synehubov. The attack and resulting fire demolished the fourth floor, killing a woman and injuring three other residents. Another 15 residents were evacuated from the scene.
Kherson. Russian forces attacked Kherson’s port yesterday, damaging two foreign-flag vessels, the regional administration said, causing fuel to leak from one of the ships into the Dnipro River. The crew soon plugged the leak.
Dmytro Pavlychko. Ukrainian poet, politician, translator and founder of the Ukrainian People’s Movement, died yesterday at age 93, reports Mykhailo Sydorzhevskyy, head of the National Writers Union. Many of Pavlychko’s poems were set to music, he took an active part in ‘Prosvita,’ a society devoted to preserving and promoting Ukrainian culture, and he was a co-author of Ukraine’s Declaration of State Sovereignty. For his services, he held the title of ‘Hero of Ukraine’ and the Order of Merit, third class.
Ukraine’s 299th tactical aviation brigade announced today that Major Murashko Danylo, 24, was killed in combat on January 27. Danylo, commander of an air squadron, flew 141 combat missions following Russia’s invasion last February 24, destroying 70 Russian armored vehicles, more than 80 motor vehicles and 30 fuel and oil tankers, and killing nearly 600 Russian troops. During a combat mission three days ago, his plane was hit by a Russian fighter and Danylo went down while attempting until the last second to avoid residential areas. Danylo posthumously has been awarded the title ‘Hero of Ukraine.’
Ahead of the February 3 Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told Politico that Ukraine intends to join the European Union in two years. Shmyhal said that Ukraine hopes meanwhile to begin the pre-entry stage of negotiations and make progress in specific areas, such as an agreement on a visa-free regime for industrial goods and the suspension of customs duties on Ukrainian exports next year. On the matter of corruption, the Prime Minister promised that the current government ‘takes corruption seriously’ and considers it a leading obstacle to Ukraine’s admission into the EU. “We have a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. Unfortunately, corruption was not born yesterday, but we are certain that we will uproot corruption.” Moreover, he said, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to meet European and Venice Commissions’ requirements, has formed a team to revise legislation ‘as early as this week’ regarding the Constitutional Court.
World.
Germany’s Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) and Britain’s Pearson Engineering (PE) companies will supply Ukraine’s military with mine plows, a PE press release says. Pearson considers the plows, specifically designed for clearing paths through mine fields for combat vehicles, a flagship product of the company. “We are proud to be in a position to provide proven equipment quickly to forces on the ground in Ukraine… under such challenging circumstances,” stated PE’s Business Development Director, Richard Beatson.
Lithuanian national broadcaster LRT, joined by the organizations ‘Blue/Yellow’, ‘Laisvės TV’, ‘1K fondas’ and ‘Stiprūs kartu,’ has launched ‘RADAROM!,’ a fund-raising campaign to raise money for the purchase of multifunctional radars to upgrade Ukraine’s aid defense systems. The main purpose of the radars will be to monitor the airspace around strategically important facilities, particularly power plants and water towers. So far, more than €460,000 ($499,000) has been collected. Andrius Tapinas, founder and host of the Internet television site ‘Laisvės TV,’ has invited donations such as made possible the purchase of Bayraktar military drones for Ukraine.
By Daria Dzysiuk, Alan Sacks
Forbes Business
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