Farewell ceremony for Ministry of Internal Affairs employees, Raider UAVs for Ukrainian intelligence: today's highlights

Farewell ceremony for leaders and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv

The farewell ceremony for the leaders and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who died in a helicopter crash in Brovary on January 18 was held at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv today. This was reported by a hromadske correspondent.

On January 18, 14 people, including seven representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, died as a result of the crash of a helicopter of the State Emergency Service:

• Denys Monastyrskyi, Minister of Internal Affairs;
• Yevhen Yenin, First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs;
• Yurii Lubkovych, State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
• Tetiana Shutiak, Deputy Head of the Patronage Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
• Mykhailo Pavlushko, Head of the Protection Division of the Internal Security Department of the National Police of Ukraine;
• Andrii Marynchenko, Senior Security Officer for Particularly Important Cases of the Internal Security Department of the National Police of Ukraine;
• Mykola Anatskyi, Leading Inspector of the Communication Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

First, the deceased were honored outside the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The farewell ceremony at the Ukrainian House began around noon. It was attended by the state leadership, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena, as well as ambassadors and church leaders.

Reznikov is satisfied with the results of the Ramstein meeting

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he was satisfied with the results of the 8th meeting in the Ramstein format. He said this in an interview with the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America.

“The keywords that were important today (January 20 — ed.) were unity, timeliness, immediate assistance, building the capacity of the Armed Forces, the security and defense sector to continue counteroffensive operations to liberate the occupied territories,” Reznikov said.

He added that during the Ramstein meeting, the partners paid attention to strengthening air defense — they talked not only about Patriot but also about other systems.

The Defense Minister confirmed that the Ukrainian military has already begun to master the Patriot system. According to Reznikov, our defenders should complete this process “radically faster than the traditional standards”.

Russian subversive reconnaissance group in Sumy Oblast

Yesterday, January 20, a Russian subversive reconnaissance group attempted to cross the border in Sumy Oblast. However, it was stopped by the Defense Forces. This was reported by the head of the regional military administration Dmytro Zhyvytskyi.

“Yesterday at about 5 a.m. a group of 6 people tried to move from the territory of the Russian Federation to the Yunakivka community. Our military opened fire and the enemy fled,” he wrote.

A fire broke out at an oil depot in Angarsk, Russia

A fire broke out at an oil depot in the Russian city of Angarsk, Irkutsk region. This was reported by the regional department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

It is stated that the fire occurred on the territory of an industrial estate. The area of the fire was 400 square meters. According to preliminary data, the fire spread from a fuel tanker to three tanks of a railroad train located on the territory.

Reconnaissance men received Ukrainian Raider drones from volunteers

Ukrainian intelligence officers received from volunteers a hexacopter and an unmanned aircraft, which were developed specifically for them. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with reference to the Port Frankivsk Charitable Foundation.

It is noted that in November, the volunteer organization announced fundraising for two models of drones: a Raider hexacopter and a Raider VTOL drone. Experts conducted the final calibration of the aircraft, and they were delivered to the Ukrainian servicemen to perform combat missions.

The Raider VTOL reconnaissance aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing can fly up to 30 kilometers and transmit video from a thermal imaging camera. The Raider hexacopter can fly up to 15 kilometers in reconnaissance mode or 8 kilometers with a payload weighing up to 4 kilograms. It also has a thermal imager. The developers claim that both drones are resistant to electronic warfare.