Key developments on Jan. 4 - 5: * Ukraine launches new offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast, mixed reports surface on outcome * Russia launches over 300 drones, 20 missiles at Ukraine in first 3 days of new year, Zelensky says * Russian soldiers near Toretsk disguise as civilians to bypass Ukrainian positions, military
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi’s statements came following a media investigation claimed that soldiers of the unit, now deployed near Pokrovsk, have suffered losses and went AWOL (absent without leave) in large numbers due to poor command and organization on Ukraine's side.
Russian troops launched more than 630 attack drones, around 740 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 50 missiles of various types this week, targeting settlements across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
A total of 49% of the targets were struck by kamikaze drones, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
Ukrainian troops attacked Russian forces in several directions in Kursk Oblast, Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s counter-disinformation center, claimed on Jan. 5. Reports by Russian pro-war Telegram channels have echoed the statement, saying that a new Kyiv offensive is underway.
Ukrainian Kraken unit killed Sergei Melnikov, the chief of staff of Russia's Storm Ossetia battalion, and his driver in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in late December, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) reported on Jan. 5.
Ukrainian forces downed 61 out of 103 drones, including the Shahed-type ones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Another 42 drones were "lost," it added.
This number includes 1,730 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
"There are increasing indications that Chancellor Scholz will travel to Moscow and meet Putin before February 23," Roderich Kiesewetter, defense spokesperson for Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said on X.
Russia’s Izvestia newspaper reported on Jan. 4 that a Ukrainian "kamikaze" drone attack killed one of its freelance reporters, Alexander Martemyanov, while he was traveling on a highway in occupied eastern Ukraine.
"In battles yesterday and today near a single village, Makhnovka, in Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroops," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Jan. 4.
Russian forces carried out the strike using glide bombs that were dropped directly on the building and destroyed one of its blocks.
Last winter as Olena Morozova braced for a long and arduous trip to Ukrainian-controlled territory from her Russian-occupied home in Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast, her friends were traveling in the opposite direction. The friends — a family with two sons — came back to their house in Lysychansk because they couldn’t
The commander's statement comes after reports on Russian forces starting to move toward the town of Toretsk.
Most of the drones that attacked Leningrad Oblast were shot down over the terminal of Novotrans, a Russian transportation and logistics company.
President Volodymyr Zelensky added that the Russian army also strikes settlements close to the front line with guided aerial bombs every day.
Slovakia's state-controlled transmission system operator SEPS said it will continue supplying electricity to Ukraine as part of an emergency assistance contract.
Russia launched a large-scale drone attack on Kyiv Oblast early in the morning on Jan. 3. The attack killed one person and injured four others, including a 16-year-old teenager.
Russian forces launched 81 drones at Ukraine overnight from the Russian cities of Bryansk, Kursk, Orel, and Primosk-Akhtarsk, Ukraine's Air Force said.
This number includes 1,510 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
"We have reason to believe that China engaged Russia and said: 'Don't go there,'" outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Financial Times on Jan. 3.
Key developments on Jan. 3: * Over 50,000 Russians seek MIA through Ukraine’s project, representative says * 'Nothing interesting' — Russian envoy dismisses Trump’s reported peace deal proposals on Ukraine * Germany should not rule out peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, CDU lawmaker says * 'We would violate Ukrainian legislation on behalf of
"President (Vladimir) Putin last outlined our conditions for ending the conflict on Dec. 19. So far, nothing from the incoming U.S. administration suggests anything of interest to us," Russia's envoy to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya, said.
Ukraine, a global agricultural powerhouse, exported 78.3 million tons of products in 2024, including grains and sunflower seeds critical to markets across Africa and Asia.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin officially resigned on Dec. 31, 1999, anointing Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, as his successor. Partially due to his hardline stance against terrorism and the successful conduct of the Second Chechen War, Putin won the March 26, 2000 presidential elections. He has held on to power
Navy Commander Oleksii Neizhpapa said that 4,651 vessels arrived in Ukraine, while 4,410 departed for other ports, enabling the export of over 74.4 million tons of cargo, including agricultural products.
The attack targeted a residential area on the outskirts of Chernihiv, causing significant damage to multiple apartment buildings, Chernihiv Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Chaus said.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivilyova disclosed on Nov. 26 that her ministry received 48,000 DNA test applications from relatives seeking information about missing soldiers.
Germany should not rule out deploying Bundeswehr troops to Ukraine after the war ends, Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker from the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said on Jan. 3, Schwäbische Zeitung reported.
The protest follows a series of demonstrations by Polish farmers against Ukrainian agricultural imports after the EU lifted tariffs on goods from Ukraine in 2022.
The Danish model is a partnership that enables Kyiv to secure funding from allies specifically for its defense production.
Editor’s Note: This is issue 159 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from Dec. 15-22, 2024. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Corporate governance of SOEs Updated IMF Memorandum. On Dec. 20, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published an updated Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies
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