314th day of fighting: the main thing

At least three civilians killed in Ukraine as a result of Russian shelling The moment of the explosion at the Altair ice arena in Druzhkovka was broadcast on French television In Turkey, details of the exchange of prisoners involving Viktor Medvedchuk were revealed British intelligence: a breakthrough of the Russian army near Bakhmut is unlikely ISW : Ministry of Defense Russia shifts responsibility for the deaths of those mobilized in Makeevka to “DPR officials”

• In Ukraine, at least three civilians have been killed by Russian shelling over the past day. This was reported by the adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko. According to him, 2 people were killed and 9 injured in the Kherson region, 1 dead and 1 injured in the Donetsk region.
• The ice arena "Altair" in the city of Druzhkovka, Donetsk region, was destroyed as a result of a missile attack on the night of January 3. The moment of the explosion was broadcast on the French TV channel TMC . correspondent Bild Bjorn Stritzel, who happened to be at the site of the explosion in Druzhkovka, received minor shrapnel wounds.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed the strike on Druzhkovka. The military department said MLRS launchers that Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS MLRS combat vehicles , four RM-70 Vampire , more than 800 rockets for them and six vehicles.

• The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet   revealed the details of the exchange of prisoners between Moscow and Kiev, as a result of which the defenders of Azovstal and Putin's godfather Viktor Medvedchuk were released. According to the publication, the exchange was initiated by the Russian side.
• The SBU has filed the first charges against representatives of the Russian military command for massive shelling of civilian facilities in Ukraine. The department said that they had collected evidence against Colonel-General of the Russian Aerospace Forces Sergey Kobylash and the former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Igor Osipov.

Kobylash and Osipov are accused of planning, preparing, unleashing and waging an aggressive war (part 2 of article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), as well as of encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine (part 3 of article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). They face life imprisonment.

• In the Kiev region, the alleged thief of the graffiti "Woman in a gas mask", created by an anonymous street artist Banksy in Gostomel, was charged . The detainee was a resident of Kyiv Sergey Dovgy. He faces up to 12 years in prison under the article on attempted secret theft of another's property on an especially large scale under martial law (part 2 of article 15, part 5 of article 185 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on additional social guarantees for military personnel, employees of the National Guard and members of their families. The document introduces a one-time payment of 5 million rubles in the event of the death of a combatant and 3 million rubles in compensation in case of injury.
• In the cities of the Samara region, were held mourning events for the soldiers who died during the shelling of the vocational school building in Makeevka, Donetsk region. Patriotic activist Ekaterina Kolotovkina, the wife of the commander of the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army, Lieutenant General Andrei Kolotovkin, who was in charge of those killed in Makeevka, spoke at the mourning meeting. She blamed the West for what had happened. Her husband was not injured during the missile attack on the vocational school.
• British intelligence considers a breakthrough of the Russian army near Bakhmut unlikely. Experts believe that in the coming weeks one should not expect major successes from the soldiers in the Donetsk direction. In its daily report, the UK Department of Defense notes that the increase in infantry attacks in the area has proven to be of little effect, as many of these operations were "poorly supported".

“Over the past ten days, Ukraine has sent significant reinforcements to protect the sector, and the frequency of Russian attacks appears to have decreased from its peak in mid-December. Both sides suffered heavy losses,” the report says.

• The American Institute for the Study of War ( ISW ) in a new report analyzes the reaction of the Russian Defense Ministry to the incident in Makiivka. Analysts note that the Russian military department is trying to shift the blame for the destruction of the mobilized, housed in the building of a local vocational school, to "DNR officials."

Representatives of law enforcement agencies of the “DPR” told reporters that Russian servicemen “violated operational security” using personal mobile phones. According to them, this allegedly led to the fact that the Ukrainian troops were able to track the location of the soldiers.

Some Russian military bloggers supported this point of view and called for tougher rules for the use of mobile phones in the service, while others, on the contrary, criticized the Russian command for "criminal negligence." In their opinion, the explanation of the causes of the incident by the “DPR” officials is an outright lie.