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Ukraine live briefing: Anger in Russia over Donetsk strike; Zelensky says Russia planning drone campaign

Russia is preparing a prolonged air campaign using Iranian-made drones in an effort to exhaust the Ukrainian people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Monday. “We will do everything” for this campaign to fail, he said.

A Ukrainian strike in its eastern Donetsk region that killed at least dozens of Russian service members has sparked a wave of criticism of Russia’s military leadership. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the attack in the occupied city of Makiivka, though it said a building housing Russian troops was destroyed. Russian officials acknowledged the attack, but the two sides disagreed on the number of casualties.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

1. Key developments

• Russia’s Defense Ministry said 63 service members were killed in the strike in Donetsk shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day. Ukraine said at least 400 Russian soldiers were killed and hundreds more injured. Russian officials said Ukrainian troops carried out the attack with U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). The Washington Post could not independently verify the accounts.
• Moscow’s acknowledgment of the attack “has generated criticism towards the Russian military command,” the Institute for the Study of War think tank reported. Russian military bloggers have questioned why a large group of service members was apparently stationed in one location, and they criticized claims from Kremlin-backed officials that some soldiers inside the building were using their cellphones, which allowed Ukrainian forces to locate them more easily. Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of Russia’s Vostok Battalion, said that while “what happened cannot be changed,” if it were to happen again, “those whose inaction leads to such consequences” should be punished.
• More than 80 Iranian-made drones have been shot down in Ukraine so far in 2023, Zelensky said in his nightly address Monday. Ukraine and the West have repeatedly accused Iran of supplying unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia for use in the war. Tehran has denied those claims.
• Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office said at least 452 children have been killed and 876 injured during the war. The number is in line with figures previously released by international institutions but is probably an underestimation because reliable casualty figures are difficult to obtain in conflict zones. Ukrainian prosecutors said more than 3,000 educational institutions have been damaged in the fighting, over 300 of which were destroyed.

2. Battleground updates

• Pro-Russian forces have probably increased the pace of infantry assaults against Ukrainian positions near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city at the center of the heaviest fighting in recent weeks, the British Defense Ministry said.
• The governor of Kherson said Russian forces attacked the region dozens of times on Monday with artillery, multiple-rocket launchers, mortars and tanks. Yaroslav Yanushevych said on Telegram that a car market, a utility company and private residences were struck in the region, which Moscow illegally claimed to annex in September. Two people were killed, and nine more were injured in the strikes, he said. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said its forces attacked Russian military positions in Kherson over the weekend, causing casualties among Russian service members and damage to equipment. Russia’s Defense Ministry did not acknowledge the strikes. The Post could not independently verify the claims.
• More than 20,000 Ukrainian troops participated in training in partner countries in 2022, according to figures released by Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the most senior uniformed official in the Ukrainian military. Ukrainian personnel are being trained in 17 European countries, he said.

3. Global impact

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke to Zelensky in what she said was her first call of the new year and reaffirmed the European Union’s support for Ukraine. Von der Leyen told Zelensky that she looked forward to meeting him in Ukraine soon. European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, also emphasized their support for Ukraine in their New Year’s addresses.
• Zelensky’s office said he urged the European Union to provide 3 billion euros, or $3.2 billion, to Ukraine this month during his conversation with von der Leyen. That financial aid would be the first tranche of a package worth $19.2 billion, according to Zelensky’s office. Zelensky and von der Leyen will convene for a summit next month in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

4. From our correspondents

People gather in Przemysl, Poland, in February to greet buses full of refugees. (Kasia Strek for The Washington Post)                                                                        

Europe prepares to take in more Ukrainians, with less support, in 2023: In Poland and across Europe, some governments are poised to reduce funding for Ukrainian refugees as energy and housing costs rise, Claire Parker writes. The cuts have left humanitarian groups and volunteers grappling with the difficult question of how to sustain aid to Ukrainian refugees in the year ahead, with new hardships as winter sets in.

“One would have to be made out of stone” not to help in the face of such suffering, one Polish welfare worker told The Post. But help from private citizens “has its limits,” he added.