Listed below are the important thing developments on the 1,050th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Right here is the scenario on Thursday, January 9:
Combating
- A Russian-guided bomb assault on the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 civilians and injured about 30 others, Governor Ivan Fedorov stated in an announcement on social media.
- A separate Russian strike killed two folks within the village of Stepnogirsk, south of Zaporizhzhia and near the entrance line, Fedorov additionally stated.
- Roman Busagrin, governor of the Russian metropolis of Saratov, stated two firefighters have been killed whereas battling a blaze which erupted after Ukrainian forces hit an oil depot within the area, which is situated some 500km (310 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
- The US advised the United Nations Safety Council that North Korea is “considerably benefitting” from its troops preventing alongside Russia in opposition to Ukraine, gaining expertise that makes Pyongyang “extra able to waging warfare in opposition to its neighbours”.
- Nada Al-Nashif, the deputy UN rights chief, has advised a UN Human Rights Council assembly in Geneva that she is “deeply involved” by a major improve in “credible allegations of executions” of captured Ukrainian troops by the Russian armed forces.
Army support
- The US is able to present Ukraine with an extra $500m in weapons shortly pulled from its current stockpiles, two US officers stated, including the transfer is being made by US President Joe Biden’s administration forward of Donald Trump taking workplace within the White Home.
- US management on Ukraine is “essential” and continued help for Kyiv is vital, US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin stated, a day forward of the anticipated announcement of the brand new navy support package deal.
Politics and diplomacy
- Membership in NATO is the one “credible” safety assure Ukraine can obtain in opposition to any future Russian aggression, Finland’s Overseas Minister Elina Valtonen stated.
- Valtonen, on a go to to Kyiv, met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited the nation’s largest kids’s hospital within the capital, which was badly broken by a Russian assault in July 2024.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated any future deal to finish the warfare in Ukraine would wish to construct into it “the mandatory deterrence” to forestall Russia from as soon as once more attacking Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy will attend a defence assembly of Kyiv’s allies hosted by the US on the Ramstein airbase in Germany, he stated in a video message on social media.
- United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, the place unlawful migration and assist for Ukraine are more likely to be among the many subjects up for dialogue.
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended a memorial occasion commemorating the fifth anniversary of a Ukrainian Airways flight that was shot down by Iran in 2020 that was carrying passengers from Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, the UK, Afghanistan and Iran.
Regional pressure
- Ukraine’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs stated the nation is ready to replace Hungary within the European Union and NATO ought to Budapest want to hitch Russian-led blocs after Hungarian Overseas Minister Peter Szijjarto criticised Ukraine’s refusal to resume a five-year transit gas deal with Russia.
- Finnish President Alexander Stubb will host a summit in Helsinki of the NATO nations that border the Baltic Sea along with Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal subsequent week.
- Lithuania stated it could carry ahead elevated safety of a key electrical energy cable linking it to neighbouring Poland, citing the potential for sabotage. The EU and NATO member, together with its Baltic neighbours Latvia and Estonia, is ready to decouple from the Russian energy grid subsequent month, the end result of decades-long efforts to scale back reliance on Moscow.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated the precept of inviolability of borders applies to each nation, nonetheless highly effective, and recommended that expansionist feedback by US President-elect Trump relating to Greenland, Panama and Canada are being met with “incomprehension” amongst European leaders.
- Zelenskyy performed down considerations over feedback by Trump wherein he stated that he understood why Russia didn’t need Ukraine to hitch NATO. “Don’t draw conclusions concerning the coverage of the US instantly,” Zelenskyy stated.
- Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico stated he had secured a fuel provide for Slovakia throughout a go to to satisfy Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow final month, simply earlier than Ukraine halted the transit of fuel from Russia at the beginning of 2025.
- Zelenskyy and Moldovan President Maia Sandu mentioned utilizing Ukrainian coal to ease the power disaster which has subjected Moldova’s separatist Transdniestria area to blackouts and a heating scarcity. Professional-Russian Transdniestria depends on provides of Russian fuel. However flows to the area by way of Ukraine have been halted on January 1 after Ukraine refused to resume an settlement on permitting fuel to transit by way of its territory.
