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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Firefighters extinguish a fire after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kryvyi Rih on Jan. 29, 2026. The attack killed one person and injured three others. (Ukraine’s State Emergency Service / Telegram)

Trump claims Putin agreed not to strike Kyiv, other Ukrainian cities ‘for a week.’ “I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week,” Trump said. “And he agreed to do that.”

Ukraine repatriates bodies of 1,000 fallen soldiers. Russia confirmed that it had handed over 1,000 bodies to Ukraine under the Istanbul agreement in exchange for 38 bodies of fallen Russian soldiers, Kremlin-controlled news agency TASS reported on Jan. 29.

‘Without power, without heat’ — EU allocates over $170 million for Ukraine amid Russian attacks on energy. The funds will support protection assistance, shelter, food, cash aid, psychosocial services, and access to water and healthcare for Ukrainians affected by the attacks.

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Ukraine’s central bank cuts interest rate in first change in 10 months. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) voted on Jan. 29 to cut its benchmark interest rate to 15%, the first change since March last year, as inflation cools and a new aid package from Europe eased pressure on the country’s finances.

Defense Ministry working with SpaceX to solve Russian use of Starlink on drones. Ukraine says it is working with SpaceX to stop Russian drones from using Starlink, after reports that satellite-connected UAVs are extending their range to strike deeper into Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine distributes boilers from Italy to support heating for up to 90,000 homes. Ukraine has distributed industrial boiler equipment delivered by Italy among communities in 10 regions as part of a broader support program aimed at strengthening the country’s heating infrastructure, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said on Jan. 29.

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‘They don’t consider their work heroic’ — 4 energy workers die amid Kyiv repairs following Russian attacks

As Kyiv’s repair crews scramble to keep the lights and heat on after repeated Russian strikes, the work has become punishing — and, in recent weeks, deadly.

Photo: Oleksandr Magula / AFP via Getty Images

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Ukraine war latest: ‘The enemy is likely preparing an offensive’ — Ukrainian forces report more aerial strikes in Pokrovsk sector

Russian troops have stepped up aerial bomb attacks in the Pokrovsk sector of Donetsk Oblast, which could signal preparations for an offensive, Yuliia Stepaniuk, head of communications for the 117th Separate Mechanized Brigade, told Suspilne on Jan. 29.

Photo: Marharyta Fal/Frontliner/Getty Images

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International response

Germany’s Merz says Ukraine joining EU in 2027 ‘not possible.’ The comments come after President Volodymyr Zelensky set 2027 as the target date for Ukraine’s entry into the bloc.

Estonia warns Russian veterans could flood Europe after Ukraine war, urges EU entry ban. “We have close to 1 million combatants in Russia. They’re mainly criminals; they are very dangerous people,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said. “We have information that most of them will come to Europe after the war.”

EU plans to impose 20th sanctions package against Russia on Feb. 24, Kallas says. The European Union aims to impose a 20th sanctions package against Russia on Feb. 24, the day marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters on Jan. 29.

China denies helping Russia produce Oreshnik missiles. The news comes after the Telegraph reported that China has sent Russia tools used to build Oreshnik warheads.

‘Repression cannot go unanswered’ — EU sanctions Iran over protest crackdown, Russia support. European foreign ministers also agreed to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, said Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat.

Lukoil agrees to sell most of its foreign assets to US investment group. The Carlyle deal does not include Lukoil’s assets in Kazakhstan and is still subject to approval by the U.S. Treasury Department, the Russian energy giant said.

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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]

Russia’s war against Ukraine

First responders work at the site of a Russian drone attack in Kyiv in the early hours of Jan. 5. (State Emergency Service / Telegram)

Russia targets capital and Kyiv Oblast, killing at least 2, damaging medical center. A privately owned medical center in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi district was damaged in the attack, and at least two people were injured, according to Tymur Tkachenko, who heads the Kyiv City Military Administration.

‘We don’t believe that happened’ — Trump dismisses Putin’s claim of Ukrainian attack on his residence. Russia had publicly accused Ukraine of launching 91 drones toward a residence used by Putin — a claim Putin personally conveyed to Trump during the phone call.

Russian missile parts factory in flames after Ukrainian drone attack, media report. The Energia factory in Lipetsk Oblast produces components for Russian missiles and drones, including batteries for the Iskander ballistic missile system and cruise missiles.

Ukrainian drones target Moscow, trigger airport closures, Russia says. Russian air defense systems shot down 132 Ukrainian drones overnight on Jan. 3-4, including 11 intercepted over Moscow Oblast, the Russian Defense Ministry has claimed.

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Ukraine prepared to continue fighting if diplomacy with Russia fails, Zelensky says. Kyiv is ready for “both options,” Zelensky said: the diplomatic track, or ongoing active defense against Russia. “Ukraine will never surrender,” he added.

Ukraine denies Russia’s claim of capturing town near Pokrovsk, maintains ‘control over key positions.’ “Control over key positions is maintained. The enemy is suffering significant losses in manpower and equipment,” Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces said.

Ukraine slaps sanctions on companies supplying Russia’s military industry. The new measures target 95 individuals and 70 entities, including manufacturers of communications, electronic warfare, and microelectronics for Russia’s military-industrial complex and security agencies.

Soldier injured in car explosion, classified as terror attack in Kyiv. The blast occurred as the soldier was opening the trunk of his car, the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office said.

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**Ukraine war latest: Ukraine denies Russia’s claim of capturing town near Pokrovsk, maintains ‘control over key positions’
**

Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces refuted on Jan. 4 Russia’s reports about the capture of the town of Rodynske in Donetsk Oblast. Ukrainian soldiers continue to hold the defense inside Rodynske and its outskirts, the military said.

Photo: Genya Savilov / AFP via Getty Images

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Human cost of Russia’s war

Russian missile attack on Kharkiv kills 6 people, including 3-year-old-child, injures at least 31. The death toll has risen as rescue workers uncover the remains of more victims buried beneath the rubble of a destroyed apartment building.

Russian attacks kill 4, injure 5 in Ukraine over past day. Ukrainian forces downed 39 out of the 52 drones, including Shahed-type attack drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Thirteen drones struck nine different locations, according to the statement.

General Staff: Russia has lost 1,211,530 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022.

The number includes 900 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day, the General Staff said.

Global sport reopens doors to Russia | Ukraine This Week

In other news

After US attack on Venezuela, Trump’s Greenland ambitions spark renewed alarm. “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Trump told the Atlantic in an interview on Jan. 4, saying the island is “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.”

Serbia’s Russian-owned oil refinery to resume operations in mid-January, Vucic says. NIS, one of the few remaining Russian energy assets operating in Europe, was sanctioned by Washington last January as part of broader efforts to restrict Russian energy exports.

Zelensky dismisses Deineko as head of State Border Guard, names First Deputy Vavryniuk interim chief. Deineko has been appointed as an adviser to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. A permanent replacement to lead the State Border Guard Service will be named shortly, Zelensky said.

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Fifteen best books first read in 2025

Listed below are the fifteen books enjoyed most during 2025. All were first read this year. As is usual, and as can be seen from the list, non-fiction is strongly preferred over fiction. Nearly a century of literature is represented below with Willa Cather’s 1927 novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop novel being the oldest. Seven (7) of the 15 books listed were written by or principally by women, including my top-rated book for 2025.

Peace and good reading to all!

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_{**All of the book images below were sourced through bookshop.org.**}

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1. The Brothers Vonnegut: Science and Fiction in the House of Magic (2015) by Ginger Strand

2. A Paradise of Small Houses: The Evolution, Devolution, and Rebirth of Urban Housing (2024) by Max Podemski

3. Lost In Austin: The Evolution of An American City (2024) by Alex Hanford

4. Chicago Homes: A Portrait of the City’s Everyday Architecture (2025) by Carla Bruni and Phil Thompson

5. Force of Nature: Three Women Tackle The John Muir Trail (2023) by Joan M. Griffin

6. Adventure North: 2,200 Miles By Canoe (2016) by Sean Bloomfield

7. Music City Musings: Old Nashville Knowledge for Newcomers (2024) by Michelle Stiva

8. Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA (2019) by Amaryllis Fox

9. Now Is the Time: A Van Life Road Trip (2025) by Andrew Singer

10. The Fire and the Darkness: Bombing of Dresden, 1945 (2020) by Sinclair McKay

11. The Crossing: El Paso, The Southwest, and America’s Forgotten Origin Story (2025) by Richard Parker

12. The Great Air Race: Glory, Tragedy, and the Dawn of American Aviation (2022) by John Lancaster

13. Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) – Willa Cather

14. Don’t Go: Stories of Segregation and How To Disrupt It (2025) – Tonika Johnson and Maria Krysten

15. How To Resist Amazon And Why (2022) by Danny Caine

#airRaces #amazon #canoeing #chicago #cia #cities #dresden #elPaso #environment #fun #geography #hiking #history #homes #houses #housing #kurtVonnegut #landUse #muirTrail #nashville #planning #religion #roadTrips #segregation #spies #technology #trails #travel

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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]

From Kyiv to New York — the Kyiv Independent brings stories from democracy’s front line

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Dark streets and residential buildings during a major blackout in Kyiv on November 8, 2025, following massive Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. (Maxym Marusenko / NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Commander charged with negligence after Russia hits military award ceremony in eastern Ukraine. The Russian strike killed 12 servicemen and seven civilians, while 36 others were injured, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Ukraine’s state-owned energy company says all of its power plants are down after Russia’s ‘largest-ever attack.’ The recent Russian attack destroyed all restored capacity, leaving the plants generating no power, the state-owned energy company Centrenergo said on Nov. 8.

Russian Ka-226 helicopter crashes in Dagestan, killing weapons plant employees. The Kizlyar Electromechanical Plant produces equipment for Russian Sukhoi and MiG aircraft and has been sanctioned for its role in the war against Ukraine.

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Kyiv faces over 12 hours of emergency power cuts following ‘one of the largest’ Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Russia launched yet another wide-ranging attack on Ukrainian cities overnight on Nov. 8, using a combination of drone and missiles to strike targets across the country.

Ukrainian attacks in Russia’s Belgorod, Kursk oblasts leave over 20,000 without power. A local power plant was reportedly damaged, causing widespread blackouts in the city of Belgorod and the surrounding region.

Russia targeted substations powering nuclear plants during large-scale overnight energy attacks, Sybiha says. Russian forces targeted energy substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants overnight on Nov. 7-8, amid its large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

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‘We had only a few seconds before it hit’ — Russian drones force journalists farther from Ukraine’s front lines

With incessant Russian drones flying all over areas near the front that once were safer, it has become increasingly difficult for journalists covering the war in Ukraine to keep doing their jobs. In October alone, three journalists were killed and five were wounded while working in eastern Donetsk Oblast. The Russian attacks happened relatively far from the front, sometimes more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.

Photo: Artem Stepanov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

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Human costs of war

General Staff: Russia has lost 1,150,100 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The number includes 1,190 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russian attacks kill at least 11, injure 44 in Ukraine over past day. Ukrainian forces downed 406 out of the 458 drones, including Shahed-type attack drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Russia also launched 45 cruise and ballistic missiles, nine of which were downed, the statement said.

Russia strikes residential building in Dnipro, killing 3, injuring 12. Russia carried out a drone attack on the city of Dnipro overnight on Nov. 8, killing at least three people and injuring 12 others, including two children, officials reported.

One night with interceptor drone squad hunting Russian Shaheds

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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]

From Kyiv to New York — the Kyiv Independent brings stories from democracy’s front line

GET TICKETS

Russia’s war against Ukraine

The aftermath of a Russian drone attack on a residential building in Dnipro overnight on Nov. 8, 2025. The attack killed one person and injured 11 others, including two children. (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Vladyslav Haivanenko/Telegram)

Russia launches ‘massive’ missile attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, drone attack sparks fires in Kyiv. Russia launched yet another wide-ranging attack on Ukrainian cities overnight on Nov. 8, using a combination of drone and missiles to strike targets across the country.

Drones hit key Russian petrochemical plant in Republic of Bashkortostan, Ukraine’s HUR says. HUR claims that the drone strike on Nov. 6 led to a fire in the workshop producing an additive known as agidol, used for aviation fuel.

Ukraine estimates its long-range weapon production at over $30 billion in 2026. In a closed-door briefing with journalists, Rustem Umerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, and Oleksandr Kamyshin, an advisor on Strategic Industries to the President’s Office, said that the current production capacity (for this year) of the Ukrainain defense industry is around $35 billion per year.

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Ukraine secures 300 million cubic meters of American LNG amid Russian attacks on gas production. Orlen will deliver three cargoes of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2026.

Kremlin denies Lavrov fell out of favor with Putin after canceled Trump summit. “I will give you a brief answer: there is nothing true in these reports,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

‘Full sanctions exemption‘ granted as Orban meets Trump in Washington to discuss Russian oil, war against Ukraine. The U.S. and Hungary are also planning to sign a “significant nuclear cooperation agreement,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

Zelensky blames ex-energy chief for grid’s failure to withstand Russian assaults amid talk of scapegoating. “He was the head of a large system, and this system was supposed to ensure the security of our energy sector. He was obliged to do this — and he did not,” the president told journalists on Nov. 7.

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Ukraine war latest: Special Forces drones hit oil depots, trains, logistic facilities in Russian-occupied Crimea

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) said on Nov. 7 that its long-range drones struck an oil depot and logistic facilities in the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea.

Photo: Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces/Telegram

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AI soldiers: How deepfakes are manipulating Ukraine’s mobilization narrative

Tears, panic, and young Ukrainian soldiers pleading for help — a new disinformation campaign using artificial intelligence (AI) to fabricate videos of Ukraine’s mobilization efforts is flooding social media platforms.

Photo: Screenshot of the account spreading AI-generated videos

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This investment fund is betting on Ukraine’s struggling farm sector

The Kyiv Independent spoke with Dan Yakub, founding partner at Diligent Capital Partners, to discuss why he and his partners launched the fund now, the opportunities they see in Ukraine’s agricultural sector amid the war, and their long-term vision for the country’s agrifood industry.

Photo: Nina Liashonok/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images

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Can the West win a сeasefire with Russia?

Since 2014, every ceasefire Russia has signed has ended the same way: with Russia in a stronger position, and the West scrambling to catch up when Russia decides to escalate again.

Photo: Contributor/Getty Images

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Human costs of war

Kyiv holds farewell for 28-year-old Ukrainian photographer, soldier Huzenko. A farewell ceremony was held in Kyiv on Nov. 7 for for Kostiantyn Huzenko, a photographer-turned-soldier, killed in a Russian strike on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on Nov. 1.

Russia strikes residential building in Dnipro, killing 1, injuring 11. Russia carried out a drone attack on the city of Dnipro overnight on Nov. 8, killing one person and injuring 11 others, including two children, officials reported.

International response

Gunvor withdraws bid for Russia’s Lukoil assets after US calls it ‘Kremlin’s puppet.’ Gunvor, which is registered in Cyprus and headquartered in Switzerland, was founded in 1997 by Gennady Timchenko, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Swedish billionaire Torbjörn Törnqvist.

Sweden has helped fund 400 drones for Ukraine’s strike campaign on Russian oil refineries. Denys Shmyhal’s announcement comes as Ukraine aims to strike deeper into Russian territory in an attempt to disrupt its logistics and grind down its war machine from a distance.

EU tightening visa rules for Russian nationals, citing security risks. The European Commission adopted stricter rules on issuing visas to Russian citizens, who will be largely banned from receiving multi-entry visas, the EU announced on Nov. 7.

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