Here is where things stand on Monday, January 12:
Fighting
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Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv overnight on Monday, sparking a fire in one of the city’s districts, according to the Ukrainian military. Ukrainian air defence units were trying to repel the attack, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration.
- More than 1,000 apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, are still without heating three days after a devastating Russian attack, according to Ukrainian authorities.
- Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a statement on Telegram that not a single day passed this week without Russian attacks on energy facilities and critical infrastructure, which have totalled at least 44.
- A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Voronezh killed a woman and wounded three other people on Sunday, the region’s governor, Alexander Gusev, said.
- The governor said that more than 10 apartment buildings, about 10 private houses, a secondary school and several administrative buildings were also damaged in the attack on Voronezh.
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Ukraine’s military said it had made “direct hits” on three drilling platforms in the Caspian Sea belonging to Russia’s Lukoil oil firm. The military said it hit the V Filanovsky, Yuri Korchagin and Valery Grayfer platforms.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed control of the village of Bilohirya in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region, according to the TASS state news agency.
- The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence’s main intelligence directorate said that Russia deployed the new jet-powered “Geran-5” strike drone against Ukraine this month, for the first time. The Geran is a Russian variant of the Iranian-designed Shahed. The drone can carry a 90kg (200-pound) warhead and has a range of nearly 1,000km (620 miles).
Military aid
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The United Kingdom announced that it will develop a new deep-strike ballistic missile for Ukraine to support the country’s war efforts against invading Russian forces. Under the project, named Nightfall, the UK seeks to develop missiles that could carry a 200kg (440 lbs) warhead over a range of more than 500km (310 miles).
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Sweden said it will spend 15 billion Swedish crowns ($1.6bn) on air defence, aimed at primarily protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, as the country continues to ramp up its forces in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- The European Union’s defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilus, said the bloc should consider setting up a combined military force that could eventually replace US troops in Europe. Kubilus, a former Lithuanian prime minister, said such a force, numbering up to 100,000, would be a possible option to better protect Europe.
Politics and diplomacy
- The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said it was now up to Russia to show it is interested in peace, after Kyiv and its allies agreed to implement a 20-point peace plan and security guarantees, which would take effect following a ceasefire.
- Von der Leyen said that, under the plan, Ukraine would rely first on its own armed forces, which she said were well-trained and battle-experienced. It would be the task of the Europeans to make sure the Ukrainian army is also well equipped, she said.
- Von der Leyen added that the second line of defence would be the so-called Coalition of the Willing – 35 states, including most EU countries as well as Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Turkiye.
