17/1/2024–|Last updated: 1/17/202412:22 AM (Mecca time)
The Russian President confirmed Vladimir Putin Yesterday, Tuesday, Ukraine may suffer a “fatal blow” if the conflict lasts, while French President Emmanuel Macron renewed his country’s support for Kiev, and promised to send it more high-quality weapons.
Putin said during a televised meeting, “Not only did Ukraine’s counterattack fail, but the initiative on the front is now exclusively in the hands of the Russian armed forces, and if the status quo continues, the standing of the Ukrainian state may be exposed to a very serious and fatal blow.” He stressed that the initiative on the front was “completely” in the hands of the Russian forces.
Putin re-accused Ukraine of “refusing to negotiate” an end to the war, and recalled that Moscow and Kiev “agreed on various matters” during talks held in Istanbul in 2022, before the Ukrainian delegation “abandoned everything that had been agreed upon.”
He pointed out that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “convinced” Kiev at the time to refuse to negotiate with Moscow and continue the war.
He also considered the “peace formula” proposed by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky – which stipulates the restoration of all territories occupied by Russia and the establishment of an international court – includes “conditions that restrict the negotiation process.”
French support
On the other hand, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country would deliver hundreds of bombs and 40 new long-range “Scalp” missiles to Ukraine, which is the French name for a missile. happy storm“, confirming that he will visit this country next February.
Macron said during a press conference that Europe’s priority is to “prevent Russia’s victory,” stressing that France and the European Union may have to “take new decisions in the coming weeks and months to prevent Russia’s victory.”
The French President also indicated that France is “finalizing a security agreement” with Kiev similar to the agreement concluded last Friday between the United Kingdom and Ukraine for a period of 10 years.
Field developments
On the ground, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that it had thwarted Ukrainian attacks, which it described as terrorist, by using drones in the western regions of the country.
It added that its air defenses shot down 8 drones over the city of Voronezh and 4 over Belgorod.
For its part, Voronezh District authorities confirmed that a child was injured and 35 apartments were damaged as a result of the Ukrainian attack last night.
The mayor of Voronezh, which is close to the Ukrainian border, also declared a state of emergency in the city to deal with the repercussions of the Ukrainian attack.
In Kharkiv (the second largest city in Ukraine, located in the northeast of the country near the border with Russia), Kiev announced that two Russian S-300 surface-to-air missiles hit a residential area in the city center, resulting in at least 17 wounded.
Oleg Sinigubov, governor of the region, said Kharkiv In a post on Telegram, the two missiles fell in an area devoid of any military targets, indicating that the bombing led to the destruction of a number of residential buildings.
The Kharkiv region authorities called on about 3,000 Ukrainian villagers living in more than 20 villages near the border with Russia to evacuate their villages due to the increasing pace of Russian bombing.
