Sunday, January 12

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A woman with a child walks along the street after Russian shelling on January 10, 2025 in Zolochiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (Liubov Yemets / Gwara Media / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

‘Irrefutable evidence of North Korea’s involvement’ — Ukraine says it captured 2 North Korean POWs in Kursk Oblast. The two wounded soldiers received necessary medical care and are in custody in Kyiv, according to Zelensky.

Ukrainian drone hits large oil refinery in Russia’s Tatarstan, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation confirms. A drone strike reportedly hit the Taneko oil refinery in Tatarstan, Russian Telegram channel ASTRA reported on Jan. 11.

Ukraine mulls buying Italian air defenses with frozen Russian assets’ proceeds. Kyiv and Rome are discussing the possibility of purchasing Italian-made air defense systems and ammunition using profits from immobilized Russian assets, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Jan. 11.

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Ukraine’s Legion in Poland has received 1,300 applications; first women join the unit. The ministry announced on Jan. 10 that the second group of volunteers had already signed contracts in Lublin to join the unit. For the first time, the recruits included women who applied for medical and communications roles.

Russia claims it downed 85 Ukrainian drones; 2 apartment buildings reportedly damaged. In one of the regions that Moscow claimed it successfully countered a Ukrainian drone attack, the local authorities said that a drone crashed into two five-floor apartment buildings in the town of Kotovsk in western Russia.

Putin to push for barring Ukraine’s NATO accession in expected talks with Trump, FT reports. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main goals in any peace negotiations include prohibiting Ukraine from ever entering NATO and reducing allied military presence in the eastern flank, the Financial Times reported on Jan. 10, citing a former Kremlin official and a source who discussed the matter with Putin.

Police dismantle almost 50 illegal border crossing schemes in massive crackdown. Sixty suspects were charged in schemes that included crossing the borders outside of checkpoints, forging health documents, and entering falsified entries into an electronic information system, the police said.

Human cost of war

41-year-old Latvian volunteer soldier killed in Luhansk Oblast on Christmas. Edgars Platonovs was fighting in the areas near the village of Novoiehorivka in the largely Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast as part of the Ukrainian military’s International Legion, composed of mostly foreign volunteers, according to the Latvian Armed Forces.

Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 2, injure 12 over past day. Russia launched 74 Shahed-type attack drones and dummy drones against Ukraine overnight, the Air Force reported. Forty-seven drones were shot down over 11 oblasts, while 27 dummy drones were lost in the airspace, according to the statement.

International response

West must show Putin that ‘Russia is no longer an empire,’ Boris Johnson says. Russian President Vladimir Putin must come to understand that Russia is no longer an empire, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an online interview with Delfi released on Jan. 10, calling the Russian leader a “f***ing idiot.”

US Congress should ensure that Ukraine aid continues even under Trump, Biden says. Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden said on Jan. 10 he did all he could to help Ukraine and voiced hope that U.S. support will continue even after he leaves office.

Russia condemns new US sanctions on energy sector, says it will continue oil and gas projects. Russia’s Foreign Ministry argued the U.S. sanctions represented “an attempt to inflict at least some damage to the Russian economy, even at the cost of the risk of destabilising world markets.”

EU to start drafting new sanctions against Russia next week, media reports. The European Commission plans to begin drafting new sanctions against Russia next week, with the goal of approving the package on Feb. 24 — the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Fico accuses Zelensky of ‘begging’ and ‘blackmailing’ European leaders for support. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico called Ukraine an unreliable partner and accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of blackmailing European leaders for support at a parliamentary meeting on Jan. 10.

Inside one of Russia’s most horrific torture chambers in Ukraine

In other news

Transnistria eases blackouts amid gas shortage. Authorities in Moldova’s Russian-controlled region of Transnistria announced on Jan. 11 that energy-saving measures have allowed them to ease restrictions caused by a halt of Russian gas supplies.

Germany towing disabled tanker from Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ in Baltic Sea. “The towing convoy is moving eastwards to a position northeast of Cape Arkona (Rügen),” Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME) said, referring to the German island in the southwestern part of the Baltic Sea.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Martin Fornusek, Asami Terajima, Sonya Bandouil, and Olena Goncharova.

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