Saturday, January 27

Russia’s war against Ukraine

The car of Yevhen Tkachov, a volunteer of the humanitarian mission “Proliska,” damaged by a Russian drone strike in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast, on Jan. 26, 2024. (Dmytro Larin/Ukrainska Pravda)

Media: Russian drone attacks volunteer car in Donetsk Oblast’s Chasiv Yar. A Russian FPV (first-person-view) drone struck a volunteer’s car in the front-line town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast on Jan. 26, destroying a part of humanitarian aid for locals, according to journalists of Ukrainska Pravda media outlet, who witnessed the event.

Border concerns take over after Trump’s primary victories, Ukraine aid in question. Former President Donald Trump’s commanding primary victories have brought the race to the brink of a rematch with President Joe Biden, and caused concern that aid for Ukraine is not a priority for Republicans.

Media: Ukrainian MPs work on bill allowing deferment of military service for monthly fee. The bill could significantly change the approach to deferment. In contrast to plans reportedly considered by the Office of the President in late 2023, the bill would allow deferment of different categories of employees, regardless of how much tax is paid on their salaries.

Bloomberg: Putin signals openness to peace talks, US is skeptical. Russian representatives relayed messages to senior U.S. officials last month, Bloomberg wrote. In a surprising concession, Putin allegedly withdrew his opposition to Ukraine joining NATO in exchange for control over the occupied Ukrainian territories, amounting to about 18% of Ukraine.

Moscow court again extends pre-trial detention of jailed US journalist Gershkovich. The court’s Jan. 26 decision means that Evan Gershkovich will have spent a year in pre-trial detention by the end of newly announced extension.

Ukraine’s railway company to hire veterans to protect infrastructure with drones. Ukraine’s state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said on Jan. 25 that it is creating a unit that will use drones to monitor and protect railroad infrastructure.

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Zelensky announces new platform for government communication with businesses. The Ukrainian government is creating “a new tool to communicate with entrepreneurs,” the Ukrainian Economic Platform, which will include representatives of small, medium, and large businesses from across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 26.

Official: Ukraine invites China to participate in Global Peace Summit. Ukraine has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to participate in the upcoming Global Peace Summit in Switzerland aimed at building support for the Ukrainian peace formula, Deputy Presidential Office head Ihor Zhovkva told Reuters in an interview.

Ukraine retrieves bodies of 77 fallen soldiers. The bodies of 77 fallen Ukrainian soldiers were returned to the Ukraine-controlled territory on Jan. 26, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of the Prisoners of War reported.

Jailed US journalist spends 100th day in pre-trial detention in Russia. Despite repeated requests from RFE/RL, the U.S. State Department has not yet officially designated Alsu Kurmasheva as “wrongfully detained,” as it has done with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, both of whom are U.S. citizens currently held in Russian jails.

Putin makes surprise visit to Kaliningrad, flies close to NATO territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Kaliningrad was viewed by some analysts as “a clear attempt to signal that the Baltic Sea is no Nato sea after Finland and Sweden applied to join Nato.”

Media: Russian convict recruits no longer receive pardons for fighting in Ukraine. Moscow has been recruiting convicts for its war since summer 2022, first under the auspices of the Wagner mercenary company and then directly under the Russian Defense Ministry.

Infrastructure ministry says new water pipeline 95% ready. A new water pipeline that should provide drinking water to residents of four Ukrainian oblasts following Russia’s destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam is 95% complete, the Infrastructure Ministry reported on Jan. 25.

SBU charges 2 former lawmakers in alleged theft of more than 30 ships from Ukraine’s merchant fleet. The two lawmakers previously belonged to the banned pro-Russian political party Opposition Platform — for Life, founded by controversial lawmaker Yurii Boiko and pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedvhuk.

Kharkiv renames Pushkinska Street following recent deadly attack by Russia. Kharkiv authorities have decided to rename Pushkinska Street, named after Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, during a city council session on Jan. 26.

Il-76 crash

Ukrainian officials meet relatives of POWs who Russia claims were in crashed Il-76, say no evidence to confirm that. Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on Jan. 26 that during the planned exchange of POWs two days earlier Moscow was to return to Ukraine 65 people from one of the lists Russian propagandists shared after the crash of Il-76 transport plane in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast.

Military intelligence: Russia currently refuses international commission to investigate Il-76 crash. An international commission is needed to establish the cause of the Russian Il-76 transport plane’s crash, but Moscow currently rejects this option, Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) spokesperson Andrii Yusov said on air on Jan. 26.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Russia blocks international commission from investigating Il-76 crash, Ukraine says

Russia has not passed on information about the Russian Il-76 transport plane crash to the International Committee of Red Cross yet for an international investigation, Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) spokesperson Andrii Yusov said on Jan. 26.

Photo: Paul Kane/Getty Images

‘I wanted to save lives.’ How pregnant medic kept working on front line amid heavy combat

In between rescue missions in eastern Ukraine, in the midst of heavy combat, Yuliia Romanenko got some elating news: she was expecting a child.

Romanenko continued evacuating the wounded weeks into her pregnancy and saving lives close to the front line until the eighth month. The military then transferred her to Kyiv, where she helped rehabilitate veterans.

Photo: Yuliia Romanenko’s personal archive

Human cost of war

​​Man injured by Russian Jan. 23 attack on Kyiv dies in hospital. Mykhailo Donskyi, a man injured in the Russian strike on the Lokomotyv sports complex in Kyiv on Jan. 23 died in hospital, the press service of the football club reported on Jan. 26.

Prosecutor’s Office: Russian shelling of Donetsk Oblast town kills woman. Russian troops shelled the town of Krasnohorivka in Donetsk Oblast on the afternoon of Jan. 26, killing a 60-year-old woman, the regional prosecutor’s office reported.

Russian attack on Kherson Oblast injures woman. The victim was hospitalized with a blast injury and provided all necessary assistance, the Kherson Oblast military administration said.

Russian attacks over past day kill 1, injure 7, including 2 children. Russian forces also attacked Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts, causing damage to buildings but no casualties.

Update: Death toll of Russian Jan. 23 strike on Kharkiv rises to 11. The death toll of a Russian missile attack against Kharkiv on Jan. 23 has risen to 11 as a 61-year-old woman died due to injuries in a hospital, the Prosecutor’s office in Kharkiv said on Jan. 26.

General Staff: Russia has lost 380,600 troops in Ukraine. Russia has lost 380,600 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Jan. 26. This number includes 990 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

International response

Bloomberg: Scholz, Biden to discuss Ukraine aid in Washington. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Washington in the first half of February for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden as the leaders aim to ensure continued Western assistance to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 26, citing unnamed sources.

Bloomberg: EU preparing to rule out Ukraine gas transit deal with Russia. The European Union is preparing to rule out a renewal of a deal between Kyiv and Moscow that has allowed Europe to receive Russian gas through Ukraine when it expires at the end of the year, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 26, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Kuleba: No delays expected in delivery of first F-16s from Denmark to Ukraine.

Preparations for transferring F-16 fighter jets from Denmark to Ukraine are proceeding as planned, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at a joint press conference with his Danish counterpart Lars Lokke Rasmussen in Mykolaiv on Jan. 26.

Denmark opens new embassy office in Mykolaiv. “In addition to the embassy in Kyiv, we are now also permanently present in Mykolaiv, for which Denmark has taken a special responsibility in reconstruction,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.

PM Shmyhal: All EU members appear to agree on approving 4-year aid package for Ukraine. All 27 members of the European Union appear to agree on approving a four-year 50 billion euro ($54 billion) aid package for Ukraine, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Jan. 26.

France has transferred 2 additional M270 LRU rocket launchers to Ukraine. The French Ministry of Defense has transferred two additional LRU, the French version of the American M270 multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) to Ukraine, the head of the “Artillery for Ukraine” coalition, Jean-Michel Guillon, said in the interview for the press service of the French Ministry of Defence, on Jan. 25.

EU ready to extend protection for Ukrainian refugees past March 2025. The EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive in March 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to Eurostat, over 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees are currently registered for temporary protections to legally access housing, find work, and receive social benefits in the EU states.

Politico: EU is considering stripping Hungary’s voting rights if it blocks Ukraine aid. “We are again getting into this game of what does (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban) want?” one diplomat told Politico. “We should be a bit more forceful.”

RFE/RL: Ukrainian surveillance cameras send data to Chinese manufacturers. Hundreds of thousands of surveillance cameras used in Ukraine transmit information to servers of their Chinese state-linked manufacturers, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) investigative project Schemes reported on Jan. 25.

Sweden has sent over 1,100 tons of aid to Ukraine’s energy sector. Stockholm has sent 93 shipments of aid, including generators, transformers, substations, and other equipment for repair works at energy facilities following Russian attacks, the Energy Ministry said after the “Restoration of the Ukrainian energy sector: the opportunities for Swedish business” webinar.

In other news

Ukrainian journalist Nikolov says men who allegedly threatened him weren’t detained. Last week, law enforcement in Kyiv identified the individuals who allegedly intimidated Nikolov. After searching their homes, the police “immediately released” the suspects, Nikolov said on Facebook, adding that the Kyiv Police explained it by the fact that nobody has been charged yet.

Ukraine’s Kichenok reaches Grand Slam doubles final for first time. Ukrainian tennis player Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko advanced on Jan. 26 to the Australian Open doubles final, defeating reigning U.S. Open champions Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Kateryna Hodunova, Martin Fornusek, Nate Ostiller, Vladyslav Kudryk, Mariia Tril, Kate Tsurkan, Toma Istomina, Dinara Khalilova, Tania Myronyshena, Katya Denisova, and Rachel Amran

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