Russia said today, Monday, that it had bombed a naval base in southern Ukraine, causing deaths, while the Ukrainian army announced that it had repelled Russian attacks on the city of Vogledar in the Donas region, where battles described as very difficult are taking place.

The Russian "RIA Novosti" agency quoted an informed source as saying that Russian artillery bombed the naval base in the city of Ochakov yesterday, Sunday, killing 14 Ukrainian soldiers, including "British mercenaries."

The Russian source said that the information obtained by the Russian side indicates that the bombing destroyed equipment, life support systems and infrastructure at the base where a unit of the Ukrainian Special Naval Operations Center is deployed, according to the same source.

He added that the "mercenaries", some of whom were among the dead, took on the task of special training for Ukrainian fighters to carry out what he described as sabotage operations in the Black Sea basin and the Sea of ​​Azov.

The announcement of this operation comes at a time when the pace of Russian attacks in southern Ukraine is escalating, amid speculation that Moscow is preparing to launch a major attack next spring.

dec.

- NWO Channel (@Ogairi1) January 28, 2023

East battles

And in the Donbass region in the east, Russian forces continue their pressure to achieve progress on several axes, especially in the cities of Bakhmut and Voglidar in the Donetsk canton.

The pro-Russian forces in Donetsk announced that they had advanced in the eastern part of the city of Voglidar at the intersection of the south and east fronts, noting that repeated Ukrainian shelling of the region coincided with the progress in it.

However, the spokesman for the Ukrainian army in the region, Yevgen Yeren, confirmed that the Russian attacks on the city failed, and said that the Ukrainian forces succeeded in repelling the Russians and did not lose their positions, and the other military spokesman, Sergey Cherivaty, said that the Ukrainian forces are holding the defense lines and inflicting losses on the Russians.

On the other hand, the pro-Russian Lugansk authorities announced that Kyiv was sending military reinforcements to the town of Chasov Yar on the outskirts of Bakhmut.

Voglidar - which was inhabited by 15,000 people before the war - is located south of Bakhmut, which is also surrounded by fierce battles between the Ukrainian army and the forces of the Russian Wagner Military Group, with the support of the Russian regular forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the situation on the Bakhmut and Voglidar fronts was "very difficult," saying that Russian attacks and attempts to penetrate Ukrainian defenses in the region continue.

Today, Monday, Zelensky visited the city of Mykolaiv (south), accompanied by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Ukrainian soldiers take part in exercises on the border with Belarus (Reuters)

Cut supplies

On the southern front, battles continue in parts of Zaporizhia and Kherson provinces, at a time when Ukrainian forces are seeking to cut off land supply routes for Russian forces between Crimea and the Donbass region.

The spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Southern Operations Command, Natalia Hominyuk, said that the Russians have begun to intensify their use of reinforcements that arrive successively from Crimea to their forces on the southern fronts, adding that the reason for the use of units is the heavy losses among their forces stationed there, as she put it.

In the context, the Russian forces carried out a series of raids on Kherson, in which internationally banned incendiary missiles were used, and the bombing also included the south of Zaporizhia province, which resulted in civilian deaths and injuries, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

The Ukrainian army responded with a series of raids on the positions of Russian forces and their missile systems inside Ukrainian territory, in addition to two radar stations and an ammunition depot, according to a military statement.

In simultaneous developments, the Ukrainian Emergency Service broadcast scenes of what it said was a Russian bombing of a residential building, killing an elderly woman and injuring 3 people in Kharkiv Province (northeast), and Ukrainian media broadcast pictures of rescue operations in the 4-storey building.

combat aircraft

On the other hand, the director of the Ukrainian President's office, Andriy Yermak, said that Kyiv had received positive signals from Poland regarding the "F-16 GFX" fighters, and it was ready to transfer them to Ukraine in coordination with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Earlier, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Colonel Yuri Ihnat, told Al-Jazeera that his country needs American F-16 fighters to replace its "worn out" Russian air fleet, and that it needs at least 25 combat aircraft.

Prior to that, a Ukrainian official explained that negotiations on obtaining modern combat aircraft from Western allies are still in their infancy.

Recently, both Washington and Berlin promised Kyiv to deliver dozens of advanced "Abrams" and "Leopard 2" tanks, and the move angered Moscow.

Lavrov said that his country has never abandoned equal dialogue with the Europeans (Reuters)

European statements

Politically, the European Union denied today, Monday, that the decision to send tanks to Ukraine was in the context of the escalation, and said that it was a response to the Russian escalation towards civilians and Ukrainian infrastructure.

The European Union said in a statement that it had not rejected any request for dialogue.

Adding that it is Russia that has rejected all peace initiatives so far.

The European Union's statement comes after statements by Sergei Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, in which he said that it is useless to talk with Kyiv after Washington's decision to supply Ukraine with tanks, stressing at the same time that Moscow is ready for consultations with Washington to find solutions to issues of common concern.

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today, Monday, that his country has never abandoned equal dialogue with the Europeans or the search for ways to solve security problems.

Lavrov added that he does not rule out that Poland and the Baltic states will cut off contacts with Russia, stressing that Moscow does not support severing diplomatic relations.