The horrendous terrorist attack occurred on January 14, as a part of a massive missile strike on Ukraine. To date, the number of killed amounts to 45, including 6 children; 17 more people are missing. 79 people sustained injuries of varying severity, with 16 children among them. As of January 18, the removal of the debris and rescue efforts are still being continued.
Ukraine’s Air Force Command, as well as the UK Defense Intelligence and the US Secretary of State, believe it was a missile designed to sink ships that hit a living block in Dnipro. According to Ukraine’s Air Force Command and the UK Defense Intelligence, it was likely an X-22 (AS-4 Kitchen) large anti-ship missile launched from a Tu-22M3 medium bomber. The Armed Forces of Ukraine possess no capabilities for shooting down that type of missile.
The Security Service of Ukraine identified russian servicemen involved in the attack. The order to launch an attack on a residential area was given by the commander of russia’s 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, Oleg Timoshin; the executors carrying out the criminal order were five members of the said regiment.
As reported by Ukrinform, on January 13, Michael Carpenter, US Permanent Representative to OSCE, stated at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting that “russia reportedly abducted as many as 2,000 children from Ukraine into russia under the guise of protecting them from the ongoing violence of russia’s own war.” The US diplomat underscored that such conduct constitutes “a further grave breach of the Geneva Conventions.”
This was stated by Senator Lindsey Graham, who said on his Twitter that “it is imperative that the [President Joe] Biden Administration supply Ukraine with modern heavy tanks from the United States,” which would “encourage other Western allies to send theirs too.” Mr. Graham stressed that the goal for 2023 “should be to provide Ukraine with the military assets necessary to end the russian occupation of Ukrainian soil,” with modern heavy tanks being “indispensable to this cause.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Lithuanian parliamentarians via video link on January 13, on the occasion of Freedom Day.
He underscored that everything must be done to strip the aggressor of the very opportunity to dream of encroaching on the freedom of the peoples of Europe. According to him, it is in Ukraine where “the final victory over the empire” could be achieved, but to this end, Ukrainians would need “urgent solutions to expel the russian army” from their lands. Such solutions include modern tanks and efficient artillery, as well as expanded sanctions, economic pressure, and legal prosecution of russian war criminals.
Wrapping up his speech, Mr. Zelensky thanked the Lithuanian parliamentarians and people for their unwavering support of Ukraine.
Freedom Day is celebrated in Lithuania on January 13. It marks the anniversary of the storming of the Vilnius TV Tower by Soviet troops after the proclamation of Lithuania's secession from the USSR.
In his statement to the House of Commons made on January 16, Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace announced “the most significant package of combat power to date to accelerate Ukrainian success,” which includes, among other things, a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks with armored recovery and repair vehicles. Mr. Wallace believes the package is “an important increase in Ukraine’s capabilities,” as it would allow Ukrainians to “go from resisting to expelling russian forces from Ukrainian soil.”
Additionally, the UK Defense Secretary stressed that it is hoped that the example set by the UK and France, who had earlier made a decision to supply Ukraine with AMX-10 light, highly mobile, tanks, would “allow those countries holding Leopard tanks to donate as well.”
Ratifications:
Draft laws in the first reading:
Laws in the second reading:
According to Yaroslav Zheleznyak, MP, only 197 MPs voted for this initiative. Draft law no. 8242 prescribes that EU integration draft laws become automatically included in the Parliament’s agenda without additional decision and may be adopted as a Law in force at the first reading, skipping the second reading.
Mr. Zheleznyak expressed his concerns that the draft law could “create conditions in the Rules of Procedures under which the Cabinet of Ministers can block every legislative initiative or amendment.” In his opinion, thus, the Parliament transfers its sovereignty to the Government.
According to the results of an all-Ukrainian public opinion survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the perception of the Verkhovna Rada has improved significantly in the previous year. The increase in trust amounted to 24%: from 11% in December 2021 to 35% in December 2022.
According to Yaroslav Zheleznyak, MP, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine made these decisions at the plenary session on January 13, 2023. Earlier, on January 10, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy terminated the citizenship of the said MPs, who were notified of suspicion of treason. The day before, Mr. Aksyonov had applied for an early resignation.
The Activity contributed to the review of Draft law No. 7424, which provides for amendments regarding the political liability of MPs representing political parties, the activities of which have been suspended. Activity's experts developed an expert opinion on the draft law and communicated it to the Chair of the VRU Committee on Legal Policy and Justice, Denys Maslov, MP.
On January 9-12, the Program supported the organization of the practical seminars for Ukraine's PRS in cooperation with the Parliamentary Institute, a PRS in the Chamber of Deputies, Czech Republic. Over the four days of training, Ukraine's PRS staff increased their knowledge about research approaches and the sources of relevant information. The cooperation is implemented in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between the VRU and the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, the signing of which was facilitated by the Program.
On January 11, the Program, together with its partner Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), finalized the online video course, which is focused on the formation of state policy.
The course aims to help learn about the specifics of the proper policy formation at each stage of the policy-making process, as well as about the respective roles of parliament, government, and civil society. It is also designed to help participants develop practical skills in applying the policy cycle approach. The target audiences of the course are MPs, their assistants, VRU Secretariat staff, and representatives of the Ukrainian government and civil society.
The training will be dedicated to shadow-banning of social media pages, how to avoid and what to do. The meeting at 10:30 will be available via the link.
to discuss the issues related to its creating content and products.