January 5, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Germany will provide Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles and?an additional Patriot air defense battery, German ambassador to the US Emily Haber said on Thursday.??

The Marder is an infantry fighting vehicle used by the German military since the early 1970’s but continuously upgraded. While the German military is in the process of phasing the vehicle out, hundreds are still in service.??

An infantry fighting vehicle is a heavily armed armored vehicle used to move soldiers around the battlefield. It’s usually deployed together with main battle tanks.?

German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck on Thursday hailed his government’s “logical” decision to send more military aid to Ukraine.??

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday a 36-hour temporary ceasefire?in Ukraine on Jan. 6 and 7 for Orthodox Christmas. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia wants to use the holiday “as a cover” to resupply and stop Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbas region.

Here are other key developments:

In his nightly address Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia wants to use Orthodox Christmas “as a cover” to resupply and stop Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbas region.

In his first comments since the Kremlin announced a 36-hour temporary ceasefire over Orthodox Christmas on Friday and Saturday, Zelensky said, in Russian:

“Everyone in the world knows how the Kremlin uses breaks in the war to continue the war with renewed vigor. And in order to end the war faster, it needs something else entirely,” Zelensky said.?

“We need the citizens of Russia to find the courage to free themselves of their shameful fear of one man in the Kremlin for at least 36 hours during Christmas,” he appealed. “Your fear of him is destroying your country, which is also already in deep … but not in a bunker.”

Zelensky added that the war in Ukraine will end “when your soldiers either leave or we kick them out.”

The US is considering bringing Ukrainians to the US to train on the Patriot missile system and training overseas “or a combination of both,” according to a Defense Department spokesperson.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba speaks at a NATO Foreign Ministers meeting on November 29, 2022, in Bucharest, Romania.

Russia’s “unilateral ceasefire” on Jan. 6 and 7 for Orthodox Christmas “cannot and should not be taken seriously,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on Thursday.

Separately, Denis Pushilin, the pro-Russian leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine, said President Vladimir Putin’s order for a 36-hour temporary ceasefire will not stop Russian separatists from reacting to military actions taken by Kyiv.

“This does not mean that we will not respond to the provocations of the enemy,” he said on Telegram. “Or we will give at least some chance to the enemy during these festive hours to improve their positions on the line of contact.”

CNN’s Uliana Pavlova contributed to this report.

The United Nations on Thursday welcomed Russia ordering a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine and urged for a complete end to the war between the two neighboring countries.??

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at a briefing that the organization welcomes any effort to end the conflict.?

“Christmas represents a holy period for both Russians and Ukrainians. The possibility that this holy period be respected with a cessation of all hostilities is always welcomed by the Secretary General, knowing that this will not replace a just peace in line with the UN Charter and international law” he said.??

A US Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Syria in 2022.

US President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the United States “intends” to?supply Ukraine with another round of security assistance that will include Bradley Fighting Vehicles.?

The announcement was made in a readout of Biden’s phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, where they discussed the war in Ukraine. Biden said on Monday that the US was considering the move.?

Damage and debris are seen at a detention center in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on July 29, 2022.

The United Nations has disbanded its fact-finding mission regarding an attack on a detention center that killed more than 50 prisoners of war in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region,?UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said at a briefing Thursday.?

The fact-finding mission was announced on Aug. 3, 2022, following requests from Kyiv and Moscow.

“The Secretary-General reiterates his call for full respect of?international humanitarian?and human rights?law,?including?the protection and treatment of prisoners of war,” Dujarric said.

The Olenivka prison had been used to house many of the Ukrainian soldiers who?surrendered at the Azovstal plant?in Mariupol.

Read more here.

Residents stand near a crater created by a missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 1.

Ukrainians are skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for a unilateral temporary ceasefire over Orthodox Christmas.

In Kherson, where at least four people were killed on Thursday, Pavlo Skotarenko said he doesn’t expect much to change. “They shell us every day, people die in Kherson every day. And this temporary measure won’t change anything.”

Skotarenko is an entrepreneur and spoke to CNN by phone.

He believes even if the Russian military leadership sticks to the temporary ceasefire, the troops on the ground will not.?“Their soldiers here on the ground will continue to fire mortars. The provocations will happen for sure.”

“The only positive thing from this possible ceasefire is that our guys may have a day or two for rest and reset,” he added.

A Ukrainian soldier on the front lines in the eastern Luhansk region, who goes by the call sign Archer, told CNN by phone that the announcement looks like an effort to clean up Russia’s image. “I do not think that this is done for some military tactical purpose, one day will not solve much. Perhaps this is done to make the image of the whole of Russia a little more human, because so many atrocities are constantly emerging, and this could earn them few points of support from the people.”

A soldier from the 93rd brigade Kholodnyi Yar, who did not want to give his name due to security reasons, told CNN it is hard to believe anything will come of the announcement.?“As a serviceman, I don’t believe in this b*******t. I don’t think there will be any ‘silence mode’, I think they will keep shelling the same as they always do.”

Expecting any Russian promises “is self-deception,” he said.?

Maxim, an engineer originally from Kharkiv, said it is a trap. “They may not shell civilian targets, but the situation at the front will be the same, maybe even aggravated. And they will try to show the West, the Ukrainian strikes in response, as a violation of the ceasefire. But nobody will fall for it.”

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

US President Joe Biden expressed skepticism about the ceasefire ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine for Orthodox Christian Christmas services on Jan. 6 and 7.?

“I mean, I think he’s trying to find some oxygen,” he added.?

CNN previously reported that Putin ordered his defense minister Thursday to order a ceasefire in Ukraine for 36 hours starting at noon on Jan. 6. The pause would allow Orthodox Christians to attend Christmas services, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

Many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks at a press conference in Lisbon, Portugal, on January 4.

Germany has said that it is moving “together” with its Western allies as far as further weapon supplies to Ukraine is concerned.?

”Both the US and France have jointly considered how to better provide support (to Ukraine),” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters Thursday. ”We in Germany are also considering what more we can do together with our allies.”

Ukraine has repeatedly called on Germany to send modern arms for use in the war against Russia, including Leopard tanks and Marder tanks.?

When asked Thursday if Germany will send modern military vehicles to Ukraine, Baerbock said, ”We are going together with our partners,” without confirming what kind of new weapons Germany may potentially send.?

Her comments echoed remarks from German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck earlier on Thursday who said that Germany will adjust weapon deliveries according “to the needs of the battlefield,” CNN affiliate NTV reported.?

The pressure on Germany was only amplified by France’s announcement Wednesday that it is set to become the first Western country to deliver light-combat vehicles to Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on December 26, 2022, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Russian troops have been instructed to observe a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine starting at noon on Jan. 6, Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement Thursday.??

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Thursday ordered his defense minister to introduce the temporary ceasefire in Ukraine to allow Orthodox Christians to attend Christmas services.?

Adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak is pictured in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 22.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine, said Russia must leave “occupied territories” in Ukraine before any “temporary truce.”

“First. Ukraine doesn’t attack foreign territory and doesn’t kill civilians. As RF [Russian Federation] does. Ukraine destroys only members of the occupation army on its territory,” Podolyak said. ?

“Second. RF must leave the occupied territories — only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’. Keep hypocrisy to yourself,”?Podolyak said on Twitter.

Prior to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine, Podolyak responded to?Patriarch Kirill of Moscow’s appeal for a “Christmas truce,”?saying the statement was a “cynical trap and an element of propaganda”.?

“ROC called for the genocide of Ukrainians, incited mass murder and insists on even greater militarization of RF [Russian Federation],” he added.

Some background: Kirill?has been a vocal supporter of the war in Ukraine and gave a sermon in which he said that “military duty washes away all sins.”

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has also been locked in a feud with Pope Francis, who has described?the invasion of Ukraine as Russian “expansionism and imperialism.”

Serhiy Hayday, head of Luhansk region military administration, also said, “Russia cannot be trusted. Not a single word they say.”

“Regarding this truce, they just want to get some kind of a pause for a day or two to pull even more reserves, bring some more ammo,” he told Ukrainian television.

Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and Ukraine Epifanii, center, heads the divine liturgy at St Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral on Christmas, Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 7, 2021.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his defense minister to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine for 36 hours on Jan. 6 and 7 to allow Orthodox Christians to attend Christmas services, according to a statement from the Kremlin.?

Many Orthodox Christians?celebrate Christmas on?Jan. 7.?

Earlier on Thursday, Patriarch Kirill — the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a vocal supporter of the war — had called for a temporary ceasefire.

Local residents carry the body of a man killed during Russian shelling in Kherson, Ukraine, on January 5.

At least four people have been killed in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Thursday, according to Ukrainian officials.

A family of three was killed in their home in the city of Beryslav due to shelling, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

“This is all the baseness and meanness of Russia. In the morning, they talk about the ‘Christmas ceasefire,’ and in the afternoon they kill the whole family. What did the husband, wife and their 12-year-old son do wrong? The fact that they are just Ukrainians?” Tymoshenko wrote on Telegram, making a reference to Patriarch Kirill’s call for a temporary ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas.

Shelling in the city of Kherson also killed an 18-year-old man, said Yaroslav Yanushevych, head of Kherson region military administration.

The city of Kherson was retaken from Russian forces in November.

Turkish President Tayyip?Erdogan?speaks during a meeting of his ruling AK Party in Ankara, Turkey, on January 5.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has positioned himself as a broker in the Russia-Ukraine conflict throughout 2022, held separate phone calls Thursday with both President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He told Zelensky that Turkey was ready to undertake a mediator and facilitator role for lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine and that it could provide diplomatic efforts regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a Turkish government readout of the call said.

In his call with Putin, Erdogan told him that calls for peace and negotiations should be supported by a unilateral declaration of ceasefire and a vision of “a fair solution.”

Putin, however, told Erdogan that Moscow is open to “serious dialogue,” but Kyiv must accept the “new territorial realities,” according to a Kremlin statement.?

Putin also emphasized “the destructive role of the West, pumping Ukraine with weapons and providing it with target designation,” the Kremlin said.?

The readout also mentioned that the two leaders discussed expanding ties in the energy sector and Putin also asked to lift barriers on Russian exports as part of the Black Sea grain deal.

What Zelensky says: Later on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he and Erdogan “discussed security cooperation” between their two countries and “nuclear safety issues, in particular the situation at ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station).”

“There should be no invaders there. We also talked about the exchange of prisoners of war with Turkish mediation, the development of the grain agreement. We appreciate Türkiye’s willingness to take part in the implementation of our Peace Formula,” Zelensky said on Telegram, following a phone call between the two leaders.

The Belarusian Ministry of Defense announced Thursday it is continuing to increase its joint military grouping with Russia in Belarus.

The ministry also announced upcoming joint air force exercises between the two countries.??

“As part of ensuring the military security of the Union State, the build-up of the regional grouping of troops (forces) of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation continues,” the ministry said in a news release.?

“Further combat coordination activities are planned with the arriving units at the training grounds of the Republic of Belarus,” according to the release.

Planned joint air force exercises are aimed at increasing the level of combat training for Belarusian and Russian air force members, the ministry said.

Some background: Russian forces are based in Belarus and used its territory in the initial invasion of Ukraine in February. But President Alexander Lukashenko has gone to some lengths to ensure that Belarus’ troops do not become involved in Russia’s “special military operation,” the euphemism that the country calls its war in Ukraine.?

Last month, Ukraine warned it does “not rule out” a “deliberate provocation” from Russia after Belarus said that the wreckage of a Ukrainian missile landed on its territory.

NATO Secretary General?Jens?Stoltenberg?speaks during NHO's (Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise) annual conference in Oslo Spektrum, Sweden, on January 5.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday warned of the danger of underestimating Russia during President Vladimir Putin’s “war of aggression against Ukraine.”

“The Ukrainian forces have inflicted heavy losses on Russia in Ukraine. But Russians have once again shown a willingness to take great risks and endure great human losses,” Stoltenberg said in a speech at a business conference in Oslo, Norway.

“It is dangerous to underestimate Russia,” Stoltenberg continued.?

Tennis Australia is to stand by its decision to allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete at the upcoming Australian Open in the face of demands from the Ukrainian ambassador in Australia to implement a ban.

A statement from Tennis Australia on Thursday said: “Players from Russia and Belarus are only able to compete in international tennis events as individuals – and without flags or country recognition – which will be the case for Australian Open 2023.”

“Tennis Australia stands united with the international governing bodies of tennis – the Grand Slams, the ATP and WTA Tours and the ITF – in its condemnation of Russia’s actions and its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” it said. “The governing bodies of tennis issued?a?statement?in March 2022 expressing shock, distress and sadness, along with a pledge to provide ongoing support for the people of Ukraine.”?

“Russia and Belarus were immediately suspended from all tennis team competition and official WTA and ATP Tour events in those countries were cancelled,” Tennis Australia added.?

Some background: That statement came in response to?Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, arguing that the tournament should not permit Russian players. A?tweet Wednesday?from the Embassy’s official account quotes Myroshnychenko as saying, “It doesn’t matter what flag Russian Federation players compete under. It has Ukrainian blood on it.”

On his own?Twitter?feed Tuesday, Myroshnychenko shared an interview with?Sky News Australia, where he said, “We know how important it is for Russia to have their athletes perform.”

“Russians are really paying a great deal of attention to the performance of their athletes and this is pretty much an extension of their foreign policy, an extension of what they want to convey to the world,” he said.?

In 2022,?Wimbledon?banned all Russian and Belarusian players from competing in any guise as a result of the invasion.

The 2023 Australian Open runs from Jan. 16 through Jan. 29.

Video footage has emerged purporting to show Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin congratulating recruited prisoners who have been pardoned after serving six-month contracts in Ukraine.

Russian state media RIA Novosti published video in which Prigozhin is seen hugging, shaking hands and talking to alleged Wagner recruits who have finished their stint in Ukraine.

“The first, yes. You are the first,” he continues, suggesting that these recruits were the first to be recruited out of Russian prisons and given six-month contracts to serve as mercenaries in order to receive a pardon.

In the summer of 2022, videos began appearing showing Prigozhin in prisons offering amnesty for prisoners in return for a six-month contract on the front lines in Ukraine.

In the videos, Prigozhin is dressed in khaki military fatigues and is surrounded by a group of men.

“These are warriors. They were born warriors and now they’ve seen they are warriors,” he says. “Today, there is a war going on. And they need to protect their homes during that war.”

Prigozhin is then seen addressing other apparent recruits.

“Don’t drink too much; don’t do drugs; don’t rape women. Don’t cause trouble,” he says.

RIA Novosti suggested that some of those who recently received their pardon will be returning to the Wagner ranks.

“We want to return to finish what we started and continue to defend our homeland. Beat the Nazis, as our grandfathers did,” says an unnamed man quoted by RIA Novosti.

In August, CNN reported that recruiters, likely from Wagner, were touring Russian prisons searching for recruits. One prisoner told CNN that recruiters came to his prison in the first half of July.

Video of Prigozhin touring prisons himself began to surface online over the summer, and in recent weeks he has become more prominent in Russian state media.

Wagner forces are largely involved in fighting around the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Over the weekend Prigozhin said there was a “fortress in every house” in the city.

CNN has previously reported on Wagner recruits being killed in fighting around Bakhmut. A Zambian national was killed there in September 2022.?

Ukraine suffered a 30% hit to its economy in 2022, according to new figures from its economy ministry, but that’s a smaller decrease than some previous predictions.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, has called for a ceasefire to mark Orthodox Christmas on January 7.

Here are the latest headlines:

The leader of the self-declared, Russian-backed separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said that he has visited troops injured in the strike on Russian barracks in the occupied Ukrainian city of Makiivka.

Denis Pushilin said that he traveled to a hospital in the Russian city of Rostov where wounded soldiers are receiving treatment.

Only “three people remained in the republic. The rest were already transported to Rostov and then to other regions of the Russian Federation,” said Pushilin in a Telegram post.?

Pushilin said he visited the troops with the Russian Deputy Defense Minister Viktor Goremykin.

CNN could not verify that the troops were those injured in the attack, or if the hospital he visited was in Rostov.?

A US Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) patrols the countryside of the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, on April 20.

The United States is considering sending Bradley armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine, President Joe Biden said Wednesday.

Asked if Bradley vehicles were “on the table” for Ukraine, Biden told a group of reporters: “yes.”

The Bradley is an armored vehicle designed to transport troops on the battlefield. It is armed with several different weapons to protect the crew and to attack hostile targets.?

The US could announce the transfer of Bradley vehicles in the next Ukraine security package, one defense official said.?

It would be the first new piece of military equipment that the US has agreed to send to Ukraine following President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington late last month.?

During that visit the US announced it would send Patriot aerial defense missiles to Ukraine, one of the most significant and advanced systems Washington has yet provided to Kyiv.

But Zelensky made it clear he would still need more as the war in Ukraine nears its one-year mark.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday the US is planning to announce a new aid package in the coming days or weeks.

The US has provided other armored vehicles to Ukraine in the past, including Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and armored utility vehicles. The US also paid for the refurbishment of Soviet-era T-72 tanks.

At this time, the US is not ready to send M-1 Abrams tanks, despite repeated Ukrainian requests, two defense officials said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the announcement of 2022 foreign trade figures in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 2.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that calls for peace and negotiations should be supported by a unilateral declaration of ceasefire and a vision of “a fair solution,” according to a government statement.?

In a phone call with Putin on Thursday, Erdogan highlighted that previous negotiations have yielded positive results, such as the establishment of the Black Sea grain corridor, prisoner exchanges and initiatives to create a safe zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.??

Turkey has called for an end to the conflict on multiple occasions and throughout 2022 Erdogan attempted to position himself as the broker between Putin and the West.

On December 22, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to thank?Turkey?for its “efforts to ensure the continuation of the UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative,” according to a statement from US State Department spokesman Ned Price.

Ukraine’s economy shrunk by almost a third last year, after Russian forces invaded in February, according to a statement from the country’s economy ministry.

The ministry recorded a 30.4% decrease in gross domestic product (GDP), the worst result since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it said.

Yulia Svyrydenko, minister of Economic Development and Trade, said that “the successes of the Ukrainian defense forces on the battlefield, the coordinated work of the government and business, the indomitable spirit of the population, the speed of restoration of destroyed/damaged critical infrastructure by domestic services, as well as systematic financial support from international partners allowed us to hold the economic front and continue to move towards victory.”

Russia’s targeting of energy infrastructure has been an important factor in the hit to the Ukrainian economy, said the ministry, as a sustained campaign of strikes have “put pressure on business sentiment and activity.”

Russian Patriarch Kirill celebrates a Christmas service at the Christ the Savior cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on January 6, 2022.

Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox church, has called for a temporary 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark the Orthodox Christmas.

“I, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ [Russia], appeal to all parties involved in the internecine conflict with an appeal to cease fire and establish a Christmas truce from 12:00 on January 6 to 24:00 on January 7, so that Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day Christ,” reads a statement from the Moscow Patriarchy press service.

Kirill has been a vocal supporter of the war in Ukraine, and gave a sermon in which he said that “military duty washes away all sins.”

The leader of the Russian Orthodox church has also been locked in a feud with Pope Francis, who has described?the invasion of Ukraine as Russian “expansionism and imperialism.”

And in May, the Pope urged Patriarch?Kirill?not to “become Putin’s altar boy.”?

Some context: In November, a branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox church announced that it would allow its?churches?to celebrate Christmas on December 25, rather than January 7, as is traditional in?Orthodox congregations.

The announcement by the Kyiv-headquartered Orthodox Church of Ukraine widened the rift between the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox believers that has deepened due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In recent years a large part of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has moved away from Moscow, a movement accelerated by the conflict Russia stoked in eastern Ukraine beginning in 2014.

This post has been updated to correct the length of the proposed ceasefire. The suggestion is that it would run for 36 hours, from noon on January 6 until midnight on January 7.

The Russian frigate 'Admiral?Gorshkov', armed with Zircon hypersonic weapons, leaves the naval base in Severomorsk, Russia, in this still image taken from video released on January 4, 2023.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dispatched one of his country’s most modern warships armed with advanced hypersonic missiles on a long voyage through the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and into the Indian Ocean, Russian state media reported Wednesday.

The frigate Admiral Gorshkov set off from an unnamed northern Russian port on Wednesday after Putin spoke with the ship’s commander and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu via video link, according to a report from the TASS news agency.

Putin boasted that the ship was carrying Zircon hypersonic missiles, long-range weapons that travel more than five times the speed of sound and are harder to detect and intercept.

Russia tested the Zircon system in late 2021,?firing from the Admiral Gorshkov in the White Sea and hitting a naval target more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) away, according to reports at the time.

The current mission would be its first deployment in a potential combat situation.

Would it be used in Russia’s war in Ukraine? Russia’s war against neighboring Ukraine is now in its 10th month, but that conflict was not mentioned specifically in the TASS report.

And whether the Zircon missile could be brought to bear in that war is uncertain.

Read more here.

Parts of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), that Ukrainian authorities consider to be an?Iranian?made suicide drone?Shahed-136, are seen found after Russian strike on fuel storage facilities in Kharkiv, Ukraine, October 6.

Parts made by more than a dozen US and Western companies were found inside a single Iranian drone downed in Ukraine last fall, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment obtained exclusively by CNN.

The assessment, which was shared with US government officials late last year, illustrates the extent of the problem facing the Biden administration, which has vowed to shut down Iran’s production of drones that Russia is launching by the hundreds into Ukraine.

CNN?reported last month?that the White House has created an administration-wide task force to investigate how US and Western-made technology – ranging from smaller equipment like semiconductors and GPS modules to larger parts like engines – has ended up in Iranian drones.

Of the 52 components Ukrainians removed from the Iranian Shahed-136 drone, 40 appear to have been manufactured by 13 different American companies, according to the assessment.

The remaining 12 components were manufactured by companies in Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan, and China, according to the assessment.

Read more here.

Russia is focusing its offensive action in the directions of Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its situational update Wednesday.

“It is trying to improve the tactical situation at the Kupyansk direction,” the General Staff added.

“In the Kupyansk and Lyman directions, 15 settlements were shelled with tanks and the entire range of artillery,” the General Staff said.

Kupyansk, in Kharkiv region, and Lyman, in Donetsk region, were liberated by Ukrainian forces at the end of September.

“In the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions, areas of more than 30 settlements were shelled,” it added.

Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said it had repelled assaults and captured Russian positions in the Bakhmut direction, in an update on Wednesday.?

Other impacted areas:?Meanwhile, in the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, more than 40 settlements were fired on in the past day, the General Staff said.

“They do not stop terrorizing the civilian population of cities and towns along the west bank of the Dnipro river,” it added.

CNN is unable to verify these battlefield claims.

Emergency service workers extinguish a fire after shelling on the Bakhmut frontline in Ivanivske, Ukraine on January 2.

More than 60% of Bakhmut is now destroyed as Russian forces attempt an advance on the city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian official said Wednesday.?

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration, said two civilians died in the city on Wednesday due to shelling.

Some background:?Bakhmut is regularly?referred to as the most contested and kinetic part of the 1,300km (800 mile) front line in Ukraine. The Russian advance has left the city in ruins, a smoking shell of its former self. This fate has burnished Bakhmut’s power as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance – in the face of devastating Russian attacks, it is still holding on.

In his historic address to Congress last month, Ukraine President?Volodymyr Zelensky?dedicated six minutes of his 25-minute speech to the situation around Bakhmut.

“Last year, 70,000 people lived here in Bakhmut in this city,” he said. “Now only a few civilians stay. Every inch of that land is soaked in blood, roaring guns sound every hour… the fight for Bakhmut will change the tragic story of our war for independence and of freedom.”

Members of congress stood and applauded four times, as Zelensky recounted the city’s fate.

Workers remove debris of a destroyed building purported to be a vocational college used as temporary accommodation for Russian soldiers in?Makiivka?in Russian-controlled Ukraine, on January 4.

The Ukrainian military said Wednesday the use of cell phones by Russian troops was not the main reason their position was located in Makiivka, leading to a devastating strike in the eastern Donetsk region.

“Of course, using phones with geolocation is a mistake. But it is clear that this version looks a bit ridiculous,” according to the spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevatyi.

The Russian Ministry of Defense on Wednesday appeared to?blame the soldiers themselves?for the Ukrainian strike, saying that “the main cause” of the incident was the widespread use of cell phones by Russian soldiers “contrary to the ban,” allowing Ukraine to “track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers’ locations.” Russia also revised its estimate of soldiers killed, from 63 to 89.

Cherevatyi said “to deploy such large batches of newly mobilized — which means not very trained, not very coordinated — people in large rooms unsuitable for sheltering in case of danger, is a very weak excuse.”?

“Of course, this is a mistake [of the Russians], and I think that now they are engaged in [searching for] who is to blame. They are putting the blame on each other,” he continued.

Four rockets from US-made HIMARS launchers were used in the strike in Makiivka, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The Ukrainian military has claimed up to around 400 Russian soldiers died in the strike, but later added the number was “being clarified.”

CNN cannot independently verify either figure.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart?Volodymyr Zelensky?Wednesday and said France would deliver light armored combat vehicles.

Zelensky thanked Macron on social messaging app Telegram and said both presidents?“agreed on further cooperation to significantly strengthen our air defense and other defense capabilities.”

The call lasted just over an hour, according to the Elysee Palace.

The exact number of light armored combat vehicles is not known, and no delivery date was mentioned.?

In his nightly address on Wednesday, Zelensky?thanked France for the decision to deliver the vehicles and said the move was “very important in order to restore security for all Ukrainians and peace for all Europeans.”