Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 26, 2023 - Kateryna Stepanenko, Karolina Hird, Riley Bailey, Grace Mappes, Layne Philipson, Nicole Wolkov, and Frederick W. Kagan

The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian troops repelled a Russian attack on Marinka, on the southwestern outskirts of Donetsk City.37 A Russian milblogger claimed that Russian forces are continuing to fight for the western part of Marinka.38 Another Russian milblogger claimed that the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) 1st Motorized Rifle Brigade took control of Vodiane, on the northweste. [...] Russian milbloggers, including one who has been proven to have fabricated false information about the situation on the front lines, claimed that Russian and Ukrainian forces fought near Shcherbaky, Mali Shcherbaky, Novodanylivka, and Novopokrovka.50 A Russian milblogger characterized Russian offensive operations in the area as a “positional offensive” and claimed that the front line has not change. [...] The Ukrainian General Staff reported on January 26 that Russian officials in occupied Crimea are conducting preparatory measures for a new wave of mobilization and are requiring all state and private institutions in Crimea to submit lists of employees for mobilization to military recruitment offices by January 29.60 Official Ukrainian sources have reported in the past month that Russian officials. [...] Russian and social media sources amplified footage purporting to show a reconnaissance group of the 106th Guards Airborne Division of the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) operating in eastern Ukraine that is completely comprised of personnel from a football hooligans club.71 A Russian milblogger claimed that the formation is one of the most motivated and combat-ready Russian formations in Ukraine.72. [...] The Ukrainian Resistance Center reported on January 26 that Russian occupation officials seized the building of an Evangelical church in Melitopol and noted that Russians are persecuting representatives of confessions other than the Kremlin-backed Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox Church.73 The center also reported that the Russian Association for the Protection of Religious Freedom, which is sponsored.