Loud explosion heard in Kyiv

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.

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.

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.

The comments come after President Volodymyr Zelensky set 2027 as the target date for Ukraine's entry into the bloc.

Russian forces launched missile and drone attacks on several Ukrainian regions, including Kyiv and surrounding areas, overnight on Jan. 28, local authorities reported.

Colombians, many shaped by decades of armed conflict at home, have become one of the largest groups of foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. The Kyiv Independent's Jared Goyette speaks with a Colombian volunteer who spent two years fighting in Ukraine.

Kyiv is pushing to delay a new tax on self-employed entrepreneurs until after the war has ended, as well as raise the threshold at which entrepreneurs would start paying the levy, a person in the Ukrainian government familiar with the talks told the Kyiv Independent.

Three Russian Geran-2 drones struck the train on Jan. 27 at around 4:30 p.m. local time in the Barvinkove community.

The Kremlin has sought to strengthen ties with the new leadership in Damascus after the toppling of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, a Russian ally, in 2024.