Here are the key developments on the 1,065th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Friday, January 24:
Fighting
- Russian aerial attacks in eastern and central Ukraine killed at least three people and wounded dozens. Among those killed were a 53-year-old in the Kostiantynivka area and a 54-year-old in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
- The mayor of Russia’s Ryazan region, Sergei Sobyanin, said air defence units intercepted three Ukrainian drones headed for Russia’s capital Moscow. No damage or casualties were reported, but specialist emergency crews were deployed to the site.
- Ukraine ordered the evacuation of some 267 children and their families from 16 settlements along the front line in the east of the country that were under threat from advancing Russian forces.
- Ukraine accused Russia of killing six unarmed soldiers that were captured by its forces. Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said footage showed “the occupiers recorded their own crime” and said Kyiv is notifying international rights groups of the war crime.
- Kyiv’s air force said it shot down 57 of 92 drones that Russia launched in attacks overnight. The air force also said 27 of the drones were “electronically lost” and did not cause any damage.
- Moscow’s Ministry of Defence said Russian forces destroyed 49 Ukrainian drones over a three-hour period in the evening. It also said 37 of the drones had been destroyed in the Kursk region.
- Ukraine said the number of those injured in Wednesday night’s Russian missile attack on Zaporizhzhia increased to more than 51. The attack also killed a 47-year-old man and left tens of thousands of people without power and heat.
- Ukraine’s police said it conducted some 1,000 raids nationwide and arrested two dozen people to curb the illegal sale of weapons and ammunition. “The main goal is to shut down sales and storage channels,” the law enforcement agency said, adding that they also wanted to seize trophy weapons, ammunition and explosives from illicit trafficking.
- Russian media cited Moscow’s Defence Ministry as saying that their forces captured the village of Solone in the Donetsk region in east Ukraine. The village is about 12km (7.4 miles) from Pokrovsk, a key supply hub for Kyiv’s forces.
Politics & Diplomacy
- United States President Donald Trump said he wants to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately, and told reporters that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to make a ceasefire deal.
- Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo, told a panel in Davos that an analysis by the European Union concluded that the Russian economy could sustain its war with Kyiv for at least another year. De Croo also said it was vital that the 16th package of sanctions against Moscow include gas, energy and fertilisers.
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Ukraine would one day join NATO when there is sustainable peace, and warned NATO must make it clear that Russia has no right to veto a vote on who joins the alliance.
- US presidential envoy, Richard Grenell, hit back at Rutte’s remarks and said NATO allies must pay their “fair share” on defence before expanding the alliance. “You’re going to run into a big buzzsaw in America if we have the NATO secretary-general talking about adding Ukraine to NATO,” he said.
- At the forum, Rutte said it was vital that Russia did not win its war against Ukraine and reaffirmed the need to boost support for Ukraine, adding that the “front line is moving in the wrong direction”.
- Rutte also warned that a Russian victory over Kyiv could heavily undermine NATO’s power as the world’s biggest military alliance, costing trillions to restore its credibility.
- Rutte also called on the US to continue supplying Kyiv with weapons, otherwise, “the bill will be paid by Europeans”. His comments followed Trump’s remarks that the EU needed to do more in support for Ukraine.
- Kremlin Spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, responded to Trump’s earlier threats of additional sanctions if Putin fails to negotiate a ceasefire deal with Ukraine soon, saying there was nothing new about Trump’s remarks.
- Peskov also responded to a Reuters report that claimed Putin had grown increasingly concerned about distortions in Moscow’s wartime economy. Peskov said the country’s economy is stable and maintains a relatively high rate of development despite certain problematic factors.
Regional security
- Germany deployed two Patriot air defence units to Poland to protect a key logistical hub supplying military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. “This is to protect Poland and its airspace,” Germany said.
- Kyiv’s government announced they are in “the very early stages” of talks with partners on possible foreign military contingents. However, it is too soon to talk specific numbers, a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson is reported to have said.
- Russia denied allegations of spying on the United Kingdom, a day after London accused a “Russian spy ship” of passing through UK waters and warned retaliation.
