As the war enters its 699th day, these are the main events.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.
Struggle
- Russia said it would take all “necessary measures” to defend its citizens and key infrastructure from Ukrainian attacks. On Sunday, two suspected Ukrainian drones attacked a major Baltic Sea terminal, causing a fire. Towns near the border, including Belgorod, have also been targeted and at least 21 people were killed in an attack late last year.
- kyiv said it shot down eight Russian attack drones launched against the country's southern and central regions.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov clashed with the United States and Ukraine at a United Nations Security Council meeting where Moscow ruled out any peace plan backed by Kiev and its Western allies, and China warned of further chaos. global could impact the slowdown of the global economy. Lavrov dismissed kyiv's peace plan as a “road to nowhere.”
- On a visit to kyiv, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed to continue supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion, which he described as a battle between “good and evil.” He also said he wanted to resolve differences over grain shipments and road transportation that had recently soured relations between the neighbors.
- The website of Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, who has criticized the invasion of Ukraine as a “fatal mistake”, said he had so far gathered about 85,000 signatures backing him as a candidate in the March presidential election. Under Russian election law, Nadezhdin needs 100,000 signatures before the end of January to run.
- The Russian parliament has begun considering a bill that would allow the state to confiscate the property of those convicted of defaming security forces, including for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Ukrainians abroad for their support during the Russian invasion and proposed changing the constitution to allow dual citizenship.
Weapons
- The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a leading think tank, said the war in Ukraine had undermined Russia's confidence in its conventional forces and increased the importance of non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNW) as a means of deterrence. and defeat NATO in any possible future conflict. NSNW includes all nuclear weapons with a range of up to 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles). IISS said the logic of using such weapons would be to escalate a conflict in a controlled manner, “either to prevent the United States and NATO from engaging, or to force them to end the war on Russian terms.”
