The Federation Council, the Russian parliament's upper house, on Oct. 4 unanimously rubber-stamped the illegal annexation following its approval by the Constitutional Court and the State Duma, the parliament's lower house. To become Russian law, the annexation bill must be signed by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. On Sept. 30, Putin signed treaties to illegally annex Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts after staging sham referendums in the areas. The United Nations, the U.S., and other Western countries have opposed the annexation of the Ukrainian territories by Russia.
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Thursday, January 8
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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.
"The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation's sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
"This will allow us to build the 'Dream Military' that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us safe and secure, regardless of foe," Donald Trump said on Truth Social.
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More than 1 million people in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast remained without water and heating as of the morning of Jan. 8, Communities and Territories Development Minister Oleksii Kuleba said.
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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.
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.
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.
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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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.
