New Kursk offensive and French-trained brigade scandal | Ukraine This Week

8:19 PM

Far-right Slovak delegation flies to Moscow for talks on Russian gas supplies.

Andrej Danko, co-leader of the delegation, claimed that Warsaw refused to allow their flight to enter Polish airspace and the plane had to be rerouted via Czechia and Germany.

7:28 PM

War update

Ukraine war latest: 'Irrefutable evidence of North Korea's involvement' — Ukraine says it captured 2 North Korean POWs in Kursk Oblast.

6:55 PM

Trump, Putin call expected in near future, incoming national security adviser says.

"I do expect a call, at least in the coming days and weeks, so that would be a step, and we'll take it from there," incoming U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said on Jan. 12 regarding upcoming talks between Trump and Putin.

5:37 PM

Military: Russian troops dress as civilians in Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast.

Aerial reconnaissance footage posted by the brigade on Facebook shows a couple of alleged Russian soldiers dressed in civilian clothes. The Kyiv Independent could not verify the images.

5:03 PM

Video

New Kursk offensive and French-trained brigade scandal | Ukraine This Week

This Sunday, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur covers the trending news of the week from developments on the front lines to the Ramstein meeting with top officials. And what happened with the new brigade trained in France?

4:00 PM

Russia launches double airstrike on nursing home in Kursk Oblast, military claims.

According to the military, around 2,000 people remain in areas under Ukrainian control. Over 70 people are currently staying in the nursing home that came under attack.

1:34 PM

Switzerland ready to host Trump-Putin meeting.

Switzerland has expressed its readiness to host a high-level meeting between U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Bideau, head of communications at the Swiss Foreign Ministry, told Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

12:37 PM

Over 130 people, including 12 children, evacuated from Donetsk Oblast on Jan 11.

According to Filashkin, Russian troops shelled the settlements of Donetsk Oblast 20 times over the past day, killing one person in the village of Hryshyne, not far from Pokrovsk.

10:27 AM

Ukraine downs 60 Russian drones overnight, Air Force reports.

Russia launched a total of 94 Shahed-type and decoy drones from bases in Millerovo, Oryol, Bryansk, and Kursk, according to the report.

9:44 AM

General Staff: Russia has lost 808,250 troops in Ukraine since Feb 24, 2022.

This number includes 1,750 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

6:40 AM

Transnistria eases blackouts amid gas shortage.

Authorities in Moldova's Russian-controlled region of Transnistria announced on Jan. 11 that energy-saving measures have allowed them to ease restrictions caused by a halt of Russian gas supplies.

3:46 AM

Russia condemns new US sanctions on energy sector, says it will continue oil and gas projects.

Russia's Foreign Ministry argued the U.S. sanctions represented "an attempt to inflict at least some damage to the Russian economy, even at the cost of the risk of destabilising world markets."

1:56 AM

EU to start drafting new sanctions against Russia next week, media reports.

The European Commission plans to begin drafting new sanctions against Russia next week, with the goal of approving the package on Feb. 24 — the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

11:11 PM

Ukrainian drone hits large oil refinery in Russia’s Tatarstan, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation confirms.

A drone strike reportedly hit the Taneko oil refinery in Tatarstan, Russian Telegram channel ASTRA reported on Jan. 11.

9:04 PM

Fico accuses Zelensky of 'begging' and 'blackmailing' European leaders for support.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico called Ukraine an unreliable partner and accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of blackmailing European leaders for support at a parliamentary meeting on Jan. 10.

8:18 PM

Taliban-led Afghanistan became leading purchaser of Russian flour in 2024.

Afghanistan became the largest importer of Russian flour in 2024, Russia's state agricultural export agency Agroexport reported on Jan. 10.

5:58 PM

41-year-old Latvian volunteer soldier killed in Luhansk Oblast on Christmas

Platonov was fighting in the areas near the village of Novoiehorivka in the largely Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast as part of the Ukrainian military's International Legion, composed of mostly foreign volunteers who came to fight, according to the Latvian Armed Forces.

5:46 PM

West must show Putin that 'Russia is no longer an empire,' Boris Johnson says.

Russian President Vladimir Putin must come to understand that Russia is no longer an empire, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an online interview with Delfi released on Jan. 10, calling the Russian leader a "f***ing idiot."

2:11 PM  (Updated:  January 11, 2025 4:42 pm)

'Irrefutable evidence of North Korea's involvement' — Ukraine says it captured 2 North Korean POWs in Kursk Oblast.

The two wounded soldiers received necessary medical care and are in custody in Kyiv, according to Zelensky.

3:59 PM

Ukraine mulls buying Italian air defenses with frozen Russian assets' proceeds.

Kyiv and Rome are discussing the possibility of purchasing Italian-made air defense systems and ammunition using profits from immobilized Russian assets, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Jan. 11.

2:01 PM

Putin to push for barring Ukraine's NATO accession in expected talks with Trump, FT reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's main goals in any peace negotiations include prohibiting Ukraine from ever entering NATO and reducing allied military presence in the eastern flank, the Financial Times reported on Jan. 10, citing a former Kremlin official and a source who discussed the matter with Putin.

1:30 PM

Germany towing disabled tanker from Russia's 'shadow fleet' in Baltic Sea.

"The towing convoy is moving eastwards to a position northeast of Cape Arkona (Rügen)," Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME) said, referring to the German island in the southwestern part of the Baltic Sea.

12:49 PM

Police dismantle almost 50 illegal border crossing schemes in massive crackdown.

Sixty suspects were charged in schemes that included crossing the borders outside of checkpoints, forging health documents, and entering falsified entries into an electronic information system, the police said.

11:12 AM

Ukraine's Legion in Poland has received 1,300 applications; first women join the unit.

The ministry announced on Jan. 10 that the second group of volunteers had already signed contracts in Lublin to join the unit. For the first time, the recruits included women who applied for medical and communications roles.

10:46 AM

Russia claims it downed 85 Ukrainian drones; 2 apartment buildings reportedly damaged.

In one of the regions that Moscow claimed it successfully countered a Ukrainian drone attack, the local authorities said that a drone crashed into two five-floor apartment buildings in the town of Kotovsk in western Russia.