Life at the Ukrainian power plant and how Kyiv will receive Western tanks. The worldʼs leading media about the war on January 13

Associated Press journalists managed to get to one of the large Ukrainian energy facilities, which has been repeatedly attacked by Russian missiles and drones. In order not to help the occupierʼs troops, visit organizers asked that neither the name of the object nor the surnames of its employees be mentioned in the article ― so only workersʼ names appear there. So, Mykola, who worked at the facility for 36 years, witnessed one of the blows. "The glass in the windows flew out instantly, dust started pouring from the ceiling," he recalls. In order to quickly assess the damage, Mykola immediately put on a bulletproof vest and a helmet and went outside. "We are not afraid for ourselves," he explained. "We worry more about the equipment that gives people light and warmth." "We carried this station like a child," another employee, Oleg, told the newspaper. In the operational room dispatchers monitor the equipment and in case of attacks there are bulletproof vests for them. Some processes at the facility need to be constantly monitored, so they cannot go down into the storage together with other station employees. The station has already suffered several attacks, but continues to supply electricity to both the population and industry ― albeit in much smaller volumes. On the territory of the facility, journalists see fragments of projectiles: the electricians simply do not have time to thoroughly clean everything. The stationʼs life now is a repeating cycle from attack to recovery. According to the director, the station will continue to work as long as there is something to repair. However, the workers complain that the necessary equipment for repairs is still lacking ― and call on foreign partners of Ukraine to help.

Western countries overcame another of their recent "taboos" and agreed to provide tanks to Ukraine. The New York Times examines the circumstances of this decision in its article. The agreement to provide Kyiv with heavy artillery is tied to an operational pause before a possible attempt at another Russian offensive in the spring. Now the Russians are training a part of the mobilized for this and, according to the statements of Ukrainian intelligence, are preparing to recruit more people into the ranks of the occupation army. At the same time, Ukrainian troops are also planning offensive operations, and tanks are a necessary element for their success. Up until now, Ukraine has made do with tanks of Soviet models, which were supplied to it, in particular, by the former countries of the socialist bloc. However, many of them are destroyed or damaged, and there is a lack of ammunition for them. If not to start fighting on Western tanks now, there may not be a better moment for this, the publication writes. Recalling the words of the head of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, that for a successful counteroffensive, Ukraine needs about three hundred Western tanks and 600 armored personnel carriers. It is already obvious that the basic model of tanks that will be supplied to Ukraine will be the German Leopard. Many countries are ready to provide them, but this is possible only with the consent of Germany. As for Berlin, as in the case of IRIS-T anti-missile systems or Patriot air defense systems, Germany first denies the possibility of providing such weapons, then hesitates ― and then, under pressure from the international community, finally helps Kyiv. As German opposition politician Norbert Röttgen says, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his party "want to preserve relations with Russia and Putin for the future, so he believes that if Germany gives Ukraine the best it has, Russia will perceive it as the end of the "special relationship" regime. But, in the end, the pressure of the allies becomes too strong for Germany to resist."