Ukraine prepares for hostilities in Donbass

Germany didn’t allow Estonia to supply Ukraine with German-made artillery — namely old 122-mm pieces D-30, produced in the USSR — «The Wall Street Journal» reported while referring representatives of the German and Estonian authorities. ’’The Wall Street Journal’’ noted that, unlike the USA, the UK, Poland, and other allies — Germany decided to ban the export of lethal weapons to Ukraine. The situation points at the problems in the attempts of the USA and Europe to develop a common position on the situation with Ukraine. The representative of the German government clarified that the direct supply of German weapons, or an export via 3rd countries, is possible only after obtaining a special permission from Germany.

Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with the President of Finland, Sauli Niiniste, about the security guarantees in Europe. The Kremlin press office stated that Putin informed Sauli Niiniste in details about the Russian position on this issue. He added that Moscow expects the promised solid and detailed reaction to the prepared draft documents — by which he meant the situation in Ukraine. Putin noted that Ukraine continues to evade their obligations under the Minsk agreements, which involve the establishment of a direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk.

Ukraine is preparing for active hostilities in Donbass — the Deputy Head of the People’s Militia of the DPR, Eduard Basurin, stated while quoting the intelligence reports. According to him, Ukraine deployed several MLRS «Uragan» and «Smerch» to the conflict zone. The crews of MLRS are stocking up rockets at the moment. He mentioned possible provocations with the use of chemical weapons by Ukraine against the DPR and LPR. The DPR also spotted the arrival of the nationalists from the «Right Sector» political party, and snipers from the 74th reconnaissance battalion, and the special unit of the Ukrainian special forces «Alpha». The representative of the DPR defense department added that recently the NATO countries have been actively transferring various weapons and military equipment to Ukraine. According to him — the British instructors have already trained servicemen to use these weapons. The training was held at the 199th training center of the Ukrainian forces in the Zhytomyr region.

The Russian-Chinese-Iranian naval exercises «CHIRU» are being held in the Gulf of Oman, from January 18th to 22nd — the Russian Defense Ministry reported. «A few ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet are participating in the training. Namely, the missile cruiser Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs, and the large sea tanker Boris Butoma» — the message stated. Cannon firing at sea targets, joint tactical movement, search and rescue at sea will take place during the training. The organization of the search actions will be worked out as well, and the release of a ship, captured by pirates — the RIA NEWS reported.

The Saudi-led «Arab coalition» announced the resumption of the bombing of the Yemeni capital Sana’a in a response to the missile attacks of the ’’Ansar Allah’’ against the UAE. The coalition called the air strikes «a response to a threat, and a military necessity». The coalition claimed that they are only targeting the «terrorist leaders». Several F-15s destroyed 2 ballistic missile launchers that were used to strike the Emirates. According to the rebel TV channel «Al-Masirah» — 4 people were killed, 5 were injured. On Monday, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, was raided by a UAV. 3 people died, 6 were injured.

The DPRK launched 2 short-range ballistic missiles aimed at a target on a military training ground — an empty island in the Sea of Japan — the «Korean Central News Agency» reported on 18th of January. According to the Japanese military — the North Korean missiles flew for about 300 kilometers and fell into the Sea of Japan, near the east coast of North Korea. The maximum flight altitude of the missiles was about 50 kilometers. South Korea stated that the launch of ballistic missiles was carried out from the ’Sunan International Airport’, near the city of Pyongyang, towards the Sea of Japan. The South Korean military reported that the missiles flew for about 380 kilometers with a maximum flight altitude of about 42 kilometers. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS