Day 354 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Head of Wagner admits it may take 2 years to Conquer Donetsk and Luhansk

Yevgeny Prigozhin

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Russian offensive in Eastern Ukraine

The Russian military launched missile strikes against energy facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. The capital Kyiv, the cities of Odesa and Dnipro will still avoid power cuts while restoration work is underway, the energy operator said.

Three Russian S-300 missiles hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov announced. An infrastructure object is damaged. There is no information on casualties or the extent of the damage at this stage.

According to reports from Kyiv, major power and heat productions were temporarily lost. Ukrainian representatives report that a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine is already underway. According to British estimates, Russian forces are advancing north of Bakhmut, but encountering difficulties at Vuhledar.

The mayor of the occupied Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region reported one dead and two wounded in Ukrainian shelling of the city.

As part of the ongoing anti-corruption campaign, President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired Ukrainian National Guard Deputy Commander Ruslan Dzyub. At the same time, the deputies from the ruling party "Servant of the People" submitted a proposal to the parliament to amend the law, according to which until now only a civilian could become the minister of defense. This paves the way for the appointment of Kirilo Budanov, who is currently the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence.

The defense ministers of the United States and Ukraine, Lloyd Austin and Oleksii Reznikov, discussed priorities ahead of upcoming meetings of the allies in Kyiv and Brussels, agreeing that arms supplies are of paramount importance.

Austin and Reznikov discussed the importance of getting these promised military capabilities to Ukraine as quickly as possible, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said.

After the phone conversation, Reznikov announced on Twitter that "the United States is unwavering in its support for Ukraine" and added that he and his colleague also talked about the situation on the front.

After receiving a promise to provide Ukraine with dozens of modern tanks, including the US M1 Abrams, Germany's Leopard 2 and Britain's Challenger 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Kyiv officials began urging allies to send fighter jets as well.

On Tuesday, the so-called Contact Group for providing defense assistance to Ukraine is meeting at a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels as a continuation of the January 20 conference at the Ramstein base, Germany, which played a key role in the decision to provide tanks to Ukraine, BTA recalls.

Poland hesitates to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine

Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview with the BBC that "sending F-16 fighter jets will be a very serious decision that is not easy to make."

One of Ukraine's closest allies has expressed doubt that it will be able to supply President Volodymyr Zelensky with much-needed fighter jets to win the war with Russia.

In an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg in Warsaw, Andrzej Duda said that sending the F-16s would pose "a serious problem because the Polish army itself has less than 50 fighters and needs more of them". He also stressed that the F-16 fighter jets have "a very serious need for maintenance, so it's not enough to just send a few".

Since Poland is a NATO member, Duda said, any decision to provide fighter jets should be a "joint decision" and not a decision to be made by any individual country.

Poland has been one of the most vocal supporters of Ukraine since the Russian invasion. Last month, it was one of the countries that pledged to send more tanks, ammunition and equipment to the front line.

Duda's comments come even though he and Zelensky spoke last week as part of the Ukrainian president's surprise tour of Europe, the BBC noted.

President Duda is adamant that arms must be supplied to Ukraine at all times, but it is clear that he does not think that sending many warplanes from Poland or another ally is likely, at least in the short term, concludes Laura Kuenssberg.

Head of “Wagner”: It may take 2 years to conquer Donetsk and Luhansk

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said in a rare interview that it could take Moscow two years to fully control the two eastern Ukrainian regions it has declared the main goal of the war.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said his understanding was that Russia's plan was for it to fully control Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Moscow last year declared Russian "republics" - a move condemned by most UN countries as illegal.

"As far as I understand, we have to take over the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, and basically that suits everyone so far," he told Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov in a video posted on Friday.

According to him, this could take from one to one and a half to two years.

"If we have to reach the Dnieper, then it will take about three years," Prigozhin added, referring to a larger area that would extend to the vast Dnieper River, which runs roughly north to south, cutting through Ukraine.

His comments provide a rare insight into Russian expectations of the likely length of the conflict from a man whose private army is at the center of some of the fiercest fighting.

Prigozhin does not speak on behalf of the Russian military, but in recent months he has sharply raised his public profile, including by criticizing the army's leadership for its failures during the nearly 12 months of war, Reuters commented.

In the interview, however, he insists he has "zero" political ambitions.

A Russian spy tried to recruit the new Tory leader in 2010

The new leader of Britain's Conservative Party, Greg Hands, has said he is convinced a Russian spy tried to recruit him over a pint of beer in a London pub.

Greg Hands said he met the man in question at the Seven Stars pub in the London Borough of Fulham at the time he was standing as a Conservative MP. He added that the man presented himself as an employee of the Russian embassy at one of the Tory campaign rallies in 2010.

In a Channel 4 documentary, Hands said the man first asked to talk and share experiences about cleaning the streets and picking up rubbish, but a short time later he suddenly asked him to get him a document on Iran's nuclear program from the library of The House of Commons.

A suspicious Hands refused. He says in the film that he assumes it was a special "espionage technique" that involved getting someone to supply you with a document that was easily obtained as an attempt to test someone's willingness to do something for you. Hands says that two years later, MI5 officials told him that his number had appeared on the phone of a Russian spy.

Greg Hands was appointed Tory party leader last week in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's cabinet reshuffle. Channel 4 reported that the Russian embassy declined to comment on the claims made in the film. The film, titled “Strippers, Spies and Russian Money,” investigates how Russia tried to influence British politics in the years leading up to the invasion of Ukraine and will be broadcast late tonight.

"Mickey Mouse" flees Russia

In March, the licenses of Russian online cinemas to broadcast films, animations and series of the American studio "Disney" expire. The company does not plan to renew them due to Russian invasion of Ukraine - content from video services will be removed.

This was reported to "Vedomosti" by four top managers of video services, the Russian version of "Free Europe" reported.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Disney, like other film companies, halted distribution and licensing of its products in Russia. However, its content is still available in Russian online cinemas. According to an agreement with the studio, its films and series were left on the platforms until the licenses for their display expire, Vedomosti writes.

According to two movie service executives, Disney products attract consumers based on viewing hours and subscriber growth. The most popular content for children and families are the cartoons The Lion King, Soul, Frozen, and the films Cruella and Home Alone.

The exclusion of "Disney" from the libraries of Russian video services may lead to a decrease in the income of online cinemas by 2-3%, writes "Vedomosti".

In December 2022, instead of "Disney", which was the second most rated among children's channels in Russia, "Солнце" - an equivalent with "mainly Russian content" - was launched.

In February, films about the wizard Harry Potter were removed from Russian online cinemas: "Warner Bros" also did not renew the license. Earlier, the studio banned the broadcasting of its films by Russian TV channels, which are part of the National Media Group. These are STS, REN-TV, "Пятый канал" and "Домашний", as well as the video service more.tv.

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