“Christmas truce” from the occupiers – that the Russians shelled in a day

Putin announced the so-called “Christmas truce” on January 5, and on January 6-7, the occupiers continued to kill civilians and shell Ukrainian towns and villages.

According to reports from the heads of the military administrations of Ukraine, Russian shelling occurred in the following regions over the past day:

Kherson Oblast: the Russians shelled the region 39 times. They hit Kherson nine times — they hit private and apartment buildings and the fire and rescue department.

A rescuer died, and seven residents of the region were injured.

Mykolaiv Oblast: the occupiers launched artillery strikes on the water area of ​​the Ochakiv community. There are no casualties.

Dnipropetrovsk region: the air alert lasted for almost nine hours in Nikopol region. However, there were no strikes.

Kharkiv region: the Russians shelled Kupyansk, Vovchansk, Dvorichna and other villages in the region. No casualties. Residential buildings and commercial buildings were damaged.

Donetsk region: on January 6, the occupiers killed two civilians — in Bakhmut and Krasnaya Gora. Seven people were injured.

The main efforts of the Russian army are focused on attempts to completely capture the Donetsk region within the administrative border, advancing in the direction of Bakhmut.

Over the past day, units of the Defense Forces repelled attacks by Russian invaders in the areas of the settlements of Stelmakhivka, Makiivka, Dibrova, and Bilogorivka in the Luhansk region, and Ozaryanivka, Soledar, Krasna Gora, Pidhorodne, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Sil, Pervomaiske, Mar’inka, and Pobieda in the Donetsk region.

The Russians forcibly integrate Ukrainians in the occupied territories into the territory of the Russian Federation

The Russian military and officials of the occupation administrations continue the forced integration of Ukrainian citizens into the socio-cultural, economic and administrative systems of the Russian Federation.

Experts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote about this in a daily summary on January 7.

Referring to the data of the Ukrainian Center of National Resistance, experts note that the Russians take Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to Moscow, Rostov and other large cities of the Russian Federation to participate in festive events dedicated to the New Year.

This is how they try to convince children that life is better in Russia than in Ukraine. The Center of National Resistance claims that on Friday, Russian medics accompanied children from Horlivka in Donetsk to the Rostov region for the holidays.

ISW cites the words of the adviser to the chairman of Mariupol, Petro Andryushchenko, who stated that in the occupied city, fighters dressed in fake DРR uniforms are looking after students’ bags in schools – they are looking for something related to Ukraine.

As for the state of affairs at the front, the analysts of the Institute for the Study of War write that after the successful Ukrainian strikes, the Russian military is intensifying counterintelligence measures in Starobilsk (Luhansk region). In particular, according to the Ukrainian General Staff, the occupation authorities check the phones of local residents.

In the occupied parts of the Zaporizhia region, control over the movement of people is being strengthened, the summary says: a representative of the so-called Russian “administration” of the region, Volodymyr Rogov, said on Friday that a special pass will be required to travel by car. In the Kherson region, the occupation authorities are trying to get the Ukrainian hryvnia out of circulation, ISW analysts write.

Earlier, the Institute for the Study of War said that Putin’s “truce” is an information operation.

Putin may be aiming for a 36-hour pause for Russian troops to allow them to rest, regroup and regroup to resume offensive operations in critical areas of the front. Such a pause will bring a disproportionate benefit to Russian troops and begin to deprive Ukraine of the initiative, American analysts believe.

In addition, they believe that Ukraine’s expected non-implementation of the cease-fire suddenly announced by Putin can be used by Russia to “expose Ukraine as intransigent and unwilling to take the necessary steps towards negotiations.”

Analysts also draw attention to the fact that on December 14, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia does not plan to cease fire on Christmas, and “therefore, Putin’s sudden statement on January 5 is surprising.”

The Russian occupiers continue to terrorize the civilian population of the border towns of Kharkiv region.

This was reported by the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleg Sinegubov.

“Last day, the enemy shelled Kupyansk, Vovchansk and Dvorichna.

Also under enemy fire were the villages of Krasne, Strelecha, Zarichne, Kislivka, Kotlyarivka and other border settlements of the Kupyan, Chuguyiv and Kharkiv districts.

As a result of the shelling, residential buildings and commercial buildings were damaged. Fortunately, there were no victims or victims,” ​​the report said.

Janitors were cleaning the area and came across explosive objects. In the city of Izyum, Kharkiv Region, two landmines were found near a traffic stop. This was reported in the Izyum City Council.

“During the cleaning of the bus stops and the route on the School, the janitors of the “Izyum City Improvement” found two “Pelyustka” landmines,” the chairman’s office said.

Communal workers cordoned off the site of the discovery, called the emergency services and, despite the risk, continued to restore order.

Izyum is perhaps the most destroyed city by the invaders. According to various estimates, more than 70% of the city’s infrastructure and up to 50% of the housing stock were destroyed as a result of shelling by heavy artillery and aviation.

On January 6, the Russian occupiers continued to terrorize the border settlements of the Kupyan, Kharkiv and Chuguyiv districts of the region with shelling.

This was announced by the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleg Synegubov.

Kupyansk, Vovchansk and Dvorichna, Krasne, Strelecha, Zarichne, Kislivka, Kotlyarivka came under enemy fire.

“Residential buildings and commercial buildings were damaged as a result of shelling. Fortunately, there were no victims or victims,” ​​said the head of the region.

During the past day, pyrotechnicians of the State Emergency Service removed and neutralized 108 explosive objects. Rescuers delivered 15 tons of drinking water to the residents of Kupyansk and Izyum.

On January 5, as a result of an artillery strike by the occupiers, the building of the lyceum in the village of Dvorichna, Kupyan district, was destroyed. A 75-year-old man was also wounded as a result of the shelling.

On April 4, 2022, the Russians kicked the doctors out of their offices, and on January 4, 2023, doctors began to see patients again. During the occupation of Balaklia, the Russians turned the central district hospital into a barracks and ammunition depots.

The institution was destroyed both from the outside and from the inside: the children’s ward, the operating room and the dining room were destroyed by shelling, expensive equipment was stolen from the offices, leaving dirt and “Z” on the walls instead.

During the month of occupation, the doctors of the Balakliya Central District Hospital still helped the locals. They even performed complex operations. One of the last ones is mentioned by surgeon Yevhen Denysenko.

The Russians shot a man from Balaklia who was riding a bicycle through the city. Two firearms and heavy bleeding. As soon as the wounded man was “stitched up”, a projectile pierced the roof of the operating unit.

“There was a roof landing here. This surgical window is on the 3rd floor. The patient was injured in the 12th ward, where the damaged window is still partially visible. They cut off his brachial artery, a pool of blood. And girls 20-25 years old, there was a pregnant anesthetist, they dragged him to the operating room and operated on him,” says Yevhen Denysenko.

 The medics saw how the Russians fired at the hospital from a tank on April 2 and blamed it on the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And on the night of April 4, they broke into the last working building. Doctor Serhii Hoptsiy remembers how they were beaten and threatened with automatic weapons, regardless of gender or age:

“They put us on the first floor and asked why you live so well? Why do you have such a nice hospital? He is standing, he is poking with a machine gun, but tell me, are the doctors here good or not? Grandparents, grandparents, they cried here too. And there was physical violence towards the doctors: they were beaten, and they were let down the corridor in the dark, and the shutters were yanked open. – It is you? “And me too.”

The head of the surgical department, Yevhen Denysenko, adds: many doctors had to sneak out of the hospital. Patients were evacuated by ambulance.

“They shot at the department, at the wards. They opened the door with their feet and shot. It’s good that we have already lowered the patients to the first floor,” recalls Yevhen Denysenko.

This was the last day of operation of the hospital. The Russians placed their barracks and ammunition depots in its buildings. Until Balaklia was released, most doctors worked in the free part of Kharkiv region and Poltava region. Now 60% of medical personnel have returned to their workplaces. What I saw came as a shock, says the director of the Balakliya clinical multidisciplinary hospital for intensive care, Maryna Rudenko:

“When we returned here after the deoccupation of the city, we saw that the buildings were partially destroyed, there was almost no equipment, and only mountains of garbage. Mountains of garbage. Spoiled furniture, defaced doors, walls. Demined for a long time. There were surprises, there were mines attached to the gurneys.”

Construction workers entered the hospital after the sappers. Since October, the medical facility is being rebuilt.

“There was a very strong rocket attack to the children’s department, the floor slabs were also damaged. But they did. We have a dining room here. There were people at the table during lunch. Thank God, happiness is such that it hit the wall. 100% of the windows were broken. It was all replaced. Plus on the walls, about 15-20% damage. This transition was practically demolished. This corner is one third,” says builder Oleksiy Shkurin.

At the same time, the purchase of equipment continues. The occupiers, who could not steal, simply smashed. The restoration is financed by the regional and state budgets, namely the reserve fund for liquidation of the consequences of hostilities in the Kharkiv region, says the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleg Synegubov: “This hospital faced the fact that it was actually looted. That is, all medical equipment was taken away. We even found him in the liberated Kupyansk. As for funds, it is approximately 20 million of the regional budget for medical equipment. And the corresponding funds of the reserve fund. We are still calculating the final figure. Because the work is still going on.”

Much equipment has already been purchased or donated by benefactors. Currently, the reconstruction of the last 2 buildings is underway in the Balakliya hospital.

In the kindergarten, the capital works have been completed, and now they are moving to internal ones. But despite the continuation of construction, from January 4 the medical facility will already accept the first patients: all departments will be temporarily located in the restored part.

True, there are still traces of the “Russian world” in it: facades with traces of arrivals and knocked out locks on the doors of closets. The need for a hospital is urgent — about 16,000 people now live in Balaklia.