Here are the key developments on the 1,070th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Wednesday, January 29:
Fighting
- Ukraine’s military said it has shot down 65 out of 100 drones launched at Ukraine from Russia overnight. According to the military, 28 drones failed to reach their targets, two returned towards Russia and Belarus, while one remained in Ukrainian air space.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed its forces captured the Dvorichna settlement in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. The village was under Russian occupation in 2022 but was reclaimed by Kyiv months later.
- Russian officials and media outlets reported a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting oil and power facilities in western Russia. No casualties were reported. Debris from a downed drone sparked a fire at an industrial facility in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod, the region’s governor said.
- Vasily Anokhin, the governor of the Smolensk region in western Russia, said Russian air defence systems destroyed a Ukrainian drone attempting to attack a nuclear power facility in the region. No casualties or damage were reported.
Military
- Russian prosecutors began legal proceedings to recover the alleged embezzlement of nearly $33m of funds originally allocated for the defence of western Kursk. The lawsuit names the head of Kursk Region Development Corporation, his deputies and several businessmen as defendants.
- Reuters news agency reported that Ukraine’s government sacked Rustem Umerov, deputy defence minister in charge of weapons purchases, amid infighting over procurement. The move also comes after Umerov criticised Ukraine’s arms procurement efforts saying it failed to deliver results for front-line troops.
- According to the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Bureau’s press service, a criminal investigation was opened against Umerov regarding the procurement dispute. The bureau said the probe was launched following an appeal by a civil society watchdog.
- United States media reports suggest that Washington sent some 90 patriot missiles to Ukraine from Israel via Poland.
Russian oil and gas
- A Kremlin spokesperson said Russia is interested in resuming gas transit via Ukraine. This follows the European Commission’s statement announcing plans to continue talks with Ukraine on natural gas supplies to Europe.
Humanitarian aid
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said humanitarian projects in Ukraine suspended operations due to the US putting a hold on foreign aid. He also said Kyiv would partially replace the funds via public financing for the most critical projects.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said there is a legal pathway for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, but that Moscow sees no willingness on Kyiv’s part. Putin also said talks would not be possible with Zelenskyy, branding the Kyiv leader’s authority “illegitimate”.
- Putin also said Moscow’s war with Kyiv could end in two months or less if the West stopped supporting Ukraine. “They will not exist for a month if the money and, in a broad sense, the bullets run out,” he said.
- Zelenskyy responded to Putin and said the Kremlin leader feared strong leaders and engaging in negotiations to end the war. He also accused Putin of doing everything possible to prolong the war.
- The European Union proposed to add tariffs on additional farm products from Russia and Belarus while sparing agricultural goods bound for third countries. The implementation of these measures is subject to approval from EU member states and the bloc’s parliament.
