War in Ukraine: Russian strikes against a hotel in Kharkiv, dragon teeth and barbed wire… an update on the situation

L'hôtel touché à Kharkiv. MAXPPP – SERGEY KOZLOV

Tous les jours, Midi Libre fait le point sur la situation en Ukraine. Ce jeudi 11 janvier 2024, découvrez les dernières actualités autour de ce conflit.

Russian strikes against a Kharkiv hotel

Two Russian missiles struck a hotel in downtown Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, this Wednesday evening, injuring 11 people, including one seriously, said the governor of the region. Photos posted on the internet show several windows blown out, balconies destroyed and rubble littering the street.

Rescue teams entered the building to search the rubble. Kharkiv region governor Oleh Sinehoubov said on Telegram that the strike took place around 10:30 p.m. local time and that S-300 missiles were used. "Nine of the injured were transported to medical facilities," Oleh Sinehoubov said. "One of them, a 35-year-old man, is in serious condition."

Turkish journalists who were visiting the city were among the injured. "A missile fell next to the hotel, near a fence. The other hit a nearby annex, Volodymyr Tymochko, Kharkiv police chief, told state TV channel Suspilne.

"No soldier has ever stayed in this hotel, it's common knowledge in Kharkiv. (The establishment) was used by journalists." Oleksandr Filtchakov, head of the Kharkiv prosecutor's office, said in a video posted on Telegram that 23 guests and eight staff members were in the hotel during the strikes.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said several houses were damaged in the neighborhood, as well as a factory and a car dealership. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dragon teeth, barbed wire… Ukraine in turn retreats

Rows of white concrete barricades and rolls of razor wire cross the field for more than a kilometer. Trenches were dug under cover of darkness. Artillery rumbles nearby. On December 28, Reuters was able to visit new Ukrainian defense lines against Russian forces near the town of Kupiansk, in the northeast of the country.

For several weeks, after having noted the failure of its counter-offensive launched in June, Ukraine has been increasing fortification work on the front. These lines, some of which are inspired by those built by the Russians in the south and east of the country, should allow Kiev to contain the assaults of Moscow, which has regained the initiative on the ground, while rebuilding its forces.

Military experts note that Russia is intensifying its assaults on the towns of Kupiansk, Lyman and Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, and no longer needs to keep troops in reserve for fear of an adverse breakthrough. On November 28, President Volodimir Zelensky announced that the defenses around these three cities would be “significantly strengthened”.

The Ukrainian head of state also cited the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kiev, Rivne and Volyn, which extend along the border with Belarus , and that of Kherson, in the South.

By consolidating its fortifications in this way, Ukraine hopes to reduce the number of soldiers positioned on the front lines, while the government in Kiev has not yet decided the delicate question of a conscription reform to compensate for the reduction in its numbers. kyiv must also deal with the decline in its ammunition stocks.

According to Jack Watling, an expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London, Russian casualties have declined for this reason, allowing Moscow to build up new units that could eventually open new fronts. "On the Ukrainian side, they are trying to minimize their own losses but also to reconstitute an offensive combat force,” adds Jack Watling.

On Wednesday, Reuters was able to visit trenches dug using backhoes in the Chernihiv region, near the Russian border. “When the civilians have finished their (consolidation) work, we will undermine everything,” Serhiy Nayev, commander of the forces for the northern sector, told the press. "(Work is in progress) all along the Northern Operational Zone, in the Sumy region, Chernihiv and here in the direction of kyiv."

"Concrete structures, barbed wire,  dragon's teeth (anti-tank concrete blocks) which will be mined and surrounded by barbed wire", added the & #39;officer. "It's taking too long", worried a military engineer, "Lizard" on the front. "I think most of his barriers should have been built much earlier, probably in the spring."

Several hundred meters behind these dragon's teeth, we were busy extending a network of individual trenches supported with wooden beams, provided with basic accommodation and bunk beds.