Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Oct. 31 mass strikes on Ukraine were a partial response to an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet’s ships in occupied Sevastopol. “That’s not all we could do,” Putin said when asked if the attacks on Ukraine were related to the events in Crimea. Russia launched strikes against critical infrastructure in 10 Ukrainian regions on Oct. 31, causing power and water outages across the country.
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Thursday, January 8
The report follows an agreement reached in December 2025 by EU countries to ban Russian gas imports beginning Jan. 1, 2028, with LNG imports set to be prohibited at the start of 2027.
President Volodymyr Zelensky urged additional pressure from the United States on Jan. 7 to help achieve a peace deal in Ukraine in the coming months, jokingly evoking calls for Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to suffer the same fate as captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
U.S. President Donald Trump has approved moving forward with a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill, opening the door for a potential Senate vote as early as next week, according to Senator Lindsey Graham.
Thursday, January 8
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President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 7 that he believes Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine could be brought to an end in the first half of 2026.
Major power outages have been reported on Jan. 7 in the city of Dnipro and several other communities across Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, according to local media.
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) on Jan. 7 launched an online portal for applicants to submit projects to a U.S.-Ukraine reconstruction fund, saying the first investments could be made in the months ahead.
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Russia appealed to the U.S. to halt the pursuit and reportedly dispatched a submarine and other vessels to escort the tanker before it was boarded by U.S. forces.
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President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Cyprus to meet his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, and top EU officials, presidential spokesperson Serhii Nykyforov said on Jan. 7.
Rustem Umerov said the talks centered on the peace framework and "further contacts at the leaders' level involving Ukraine, European partners, and the United States."
Authorities in Russia's Kamchatka Krai announced on Jan. 7 that they had restricted mobile internet access, citing the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks — despite the region being located over 9,000 kilometers from Ukraine's border.
The Kyiv Independent’s Jared Goyette speaks with foreign policy analyst Ivan Fechko about Venezuela’s political crisis following the U.S. attack and kidnapping of dictator Nicolás Maduro — and why it marks a major strategic setback for Russia in Latin America and globally.
