War in Ukraine. Over 7,000 civilians killed, Zelensky urges Westerners… Update at night

The day is dawning in Europe and the 328th day of armed conflict opened in Ukraine following the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. This Monday, January 16, 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked his Western allies to speed up the process of arms shipments to Ukraine. In his daily updates, he explained that facing Russia’s new offensive preparations, the need for quicker and well-coordinated decisions by Westerners was great.

In Dnipro, emergency services are still working to find victims of the attack on Saturday 15 January. More than 40 people were reported dead. In a new report, the United Nations human rights agency estimates that the limit of 7,000 civilians killed since the Russian invasion on February 24 has been exceeded.

We record the events that have marked the last few hours.

CAN NOT. War in Ukraine: balance sheet up on Dnipro, Kremlin denies the attack… Bottom line on day 327

More than 7,000 civilians have died since the invasion began, according to the United Nations

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the limit of 7,000 civilian casualties since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 has been exceeded. This Monday, January 16, 2023, the UN human rights office has indeed stated that it has confirmed the deaths of 7,031 civilians, but stated that the true number of victims is beyond doubt. “significantly higher”.

It is still very difficult to report the number of deaths in zones of intense fighting, or in uncontrolled areas of Ukraine. Already in October, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin, a guest on BFMTV, reported that he could prove “that at least 7,497 were civilians” dead, but “50,000 civilians” may have been killed. He already spoke about the area’s difficulties beyond control: “Take Mariupol, we are talking about tens of thousands of victims. »

Zelensky wanted a quicker weapons delivery decision

Deadly attack on a residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, illustrating the need for quicker and better-coordinated decisions about arms shipments to Kyiv, said late Monday, January 16, 2023. , President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in his daily update on the evolution of the conflict , broadcast on his social networks and on the presidential website.

Speaking in his daily video address, he stresses the need “accelerating the decision-making process”, while Kyiv has long urged its Western allies to provide it with more weapons, including tanks, out of fear that Moscow could launch a new offensive in the north of the country via Belarus.

A major prisoner exchange is in preparation

A large exchange of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners, including a total of 1,000 people, will be prepared according to the declaration of the Turkish mediator Seref Malkoc, this Monday, January 16, presented by the British daily Security. The newspaper said that Tatyana Moskalkova, Russian Commissioner for Human Rights, and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets, met in Ankara, Turkey, on the sidelines of a conference of international mediators.

For the Secretary General of NATO, the war is in a “decisive phase”

In an interview given to the German daily Handelsblatt this Sunday, January 15, 2023, the Secretary General of NATO confirmed that the war is in “decision phase”. He added that Western countries should “provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win”.

For the American Institute for War Studies (ISW), a think tank specializing in the strategic study of conflict, “Stoltenberg’s statement supports ISW’s January 15 assessment that the Kremlin most likely intends to take decisive strategic action by 2023. Stoltenberg’s statement does not mean that the war is in its final stages or that Russian forces plan to use all available resources on the ground. war. upcoming action. »

Jens Stoltenberg also said on Sunday that Ukraine can expect new deliveries of heavy weapons ” soon ” and that this “Recent machine appointments have been significant – and I expect more in the near future.”