Here's what it looked like on Friday, January 17th:
struggle
- A Ukrainian official said a major arms factory in Russia's Tambov region had been attacked. Russia has not commented on the reported attack.
- Ukraine's Hatiya Brigade said it had deployed unmanned vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns in combat for the first time ever. The brigade claimed that this was the first recorded use of unmanned combat vehicles in a ground attack during the war with Russia. Heavy Russian artillery fire hit the vehicle, the brigade said.
- Ukraine says it has sentenced a former official to 15 years in prison for treason for aiding Russian troops. The official is believed to have provided food and information about Ukraine's Sumy region to the Russian military.
regional security
- Pekka Turunen, head of Finland's military intelligence service, said planned Russian military reforms would increase Moscow's garrison capacity by 30%. He said it was a threat to NATO and that it should remain vigilant.
Russian oil and gas
- Transnistria and Moldova have accused each other of sabotaging a meeting scheduled for Friday to resolve the separatist enclave's current energy crisis. Moldova's Reintegration Agency said Transnistria rejected Chisinau's meeting proposal, while Transnistria's Foreign Ministry blamed Oleg Sereb, Moldova's deputy prime minister for reintegration. Ryan.
diplomatic
- Britain and Ukraine have signed a "historic" 100-year deal to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. The agreement recognizes Ukraine as a "future NATO ally" and covers defense, energy and trade.
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would play "full force" in ensuring Ukraine's security and pledged to provide a "mobile air defense system" suitable to Ukraine's needs. He also pledged to strengthen maritime cooperation with Ukraine through a new security framework in the Baltic, Black and Azov Seas.
- Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks on the search for missing residents of Russia's Kursk border region after Ukraine entered Russian territory last August. Ukraine says about 2,000 civilians remain in territory it controls, while Russia says about 1,000 people are missing.
humanitarian support
- The United Nations has launched a $3.32 billion appeal for 2025 to support 8.2 million people affected by the war in Ukraine, including refugees. Ukraine's humanitarian organizations also plan to support 6 million people with basic services this year.
- Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said the international community must firmly support humanitarian support plans with "the same determination as the people of Ukraine."
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi stressed the need to continue supporting the Ukrainian people, saying: "Now is not the time to forget the millions of displaced Ukrainians."
- Ukrainians who have lost loved ones as a result of Russia's war on Ukraine have submitted more than 13,000 applications to Ukraine's Register of Damage, which opened in The Hague in April, seeking compensation for more than $821 million in damages, losses and injuries. The register, created by the European Commission and the EU, will eventually calculate a financial sum for claims from Moscow for compensation caused by the war in Ukraine.