Here are the key developments on the 1,066th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Saturday, January 25:
Fighting
- Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed that its troops had fought their way into the strategically important eastern Ukrainian town of Velyka Novosilka, after a months-long battle.
- Moscow said it intercepted 121 Ukrainian drones, including 37 in Russia’s Bryansk, 20 in Ryazan and 17 in the Kursk and Saratov regions of the country.
- Ukraine’s military says Russian forces are failing to outflank its forces in Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, as Russia attempts to cut off supply lines to Ukrainian defenders in the town. The area has served as a crucial logistics hub for Ukrainian forces in the area.
- An analysis by the Oryx Project suggests Russia has lost 20,000 units of military equipment since February 2022, with 15,051 of the units directly destroyed in the conflict with Ukraine and 852 damaged.
- The BBC and independent outlet Mediazona have identified the names of 90,019 Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine, adding 1,964 names to its list since the last update in mid-January.
- Ukraine is in the final stages of drafting recruitment reforms that will see those aged between 18 and 25 – who are currently exempt from mobilisation – join the military in an effort to bolster the country’s fighting force.
- Ukrainian military officials say the reforms are necessary as the country is currently operating on recruitment systems inherited from the Soviet Union.
Politics & Diplomacy
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested meeting in person with US President Donald Trump to discuss an end to the Ukraine war.
- Putin said he always had a “pragmatic and trusting” relationship with Trump and supported his view that he was the real winner of the 2020 US election.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused the Russian president of seeking to manipulate Trump to secure an end to the war on Moscow’s terms.
Military aid
- The US froze all foreign aid for 90 days on Friday in a sweeping executive order that also put a halt to development and military assistance to Ukraine, including billions of dollars in weapons.
- Sales of US military equipment to foreign governments in 2024 surged 29 percent to a record $318.7bn, the State Department said, as countries sought to replenish stocks sent to Ukraine and prepare for other conflicts.
Regional developments
- Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in a central square in the Slovak capital to protest Prime Minister Robert Fico’s policy shift towards Russia. Rallies were also held in 20 other cities and nearly reached the scale of protests carried out in 2018 that forced Fico from office.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, pardoned 15 prisoners two days before an election, which is expected to extend his more than 30 years in power.
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatened to block the renewal of EU sanctions on Russia.
Regional Security
- Denmark has agreed to discuss Arctic security with the US, despite a heated call between Donald Trump and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen early in January, where the US President said he wanted Greenland.
Economy
- Trump reiterated a call for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut oil prices in order to hurt oil-rich Russia’s finances and help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
- The leader of Moldova’s separatist Transdniestria region, gripped by gas and heating cuts, said on Friday that the country’s remaining gas reserves would be empty within days after Moscow’s Gazprom ended shipments.
