As the war enters its 701st day, here are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Thursday, January 25, 2024.
Struggle
- A Russian military transport plane carrying 74 people crashed in the Belgorod region of southern Russia, not far from the border with Ukraine. Russia said there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board who were part of a planned prisoner exchange and accused Ukraine of shooting down the plane.
- Ukraine did not confirm that it had shot down the plane or that the Ukrainian prisoners of war were passengers. The Ukrainian military said it would continue to attack military transport planes it believed were carrying missiles for Russia's war against Ukraine, and air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk accused Russia of trying to discredit Ukraine over the plane crash. “Ukraine has the right to defend itself and destroy the air attack means of the aggressors,” he said.
- Ukraine's military intelligence service said Kiev had not been asked to ensure the security of airspace on Wednesday around the Belgorod area, as had been the case during previous prisoner-of-war exchanges with Moscow. He said he had no reliable information about who was aboard the crashed plane.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for complete clarity on the circumstances of the accident and accused Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war.” News outlet RBC Ukraine said he canceled a planned regional trip as well as events related to his birthday to deal with the accident.
- Two people were killed and eight wounded in the town of Hirnyk, near the front line in the east, after a Russian missile attack hit a residential area, Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said. Hirnyk is located northwest of Maryinka, a city still in Ukrainian hands but virtually destroyed after many months of fighting with Russian forces.
- Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said one person was injured in a Russian drone strike in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa, which hit residential homes and started a fire.
- Avdiivka Mayor Vitaliy Barabash said Russian forces first entered the war-torn city but were repulsed. “Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups entered the southern part of the city of Avdiivka, but were dislodged,” Barabash told the AFP news agency, but declined to say when the Russians entered the city or how long they were there. . About 32,000 people lived in Avdiivka before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Politics and diplomacy
- Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said he was concerned that the war in Ukraine had been forgotten amid crises elsewhere in the world. At the end of a week-long visit to Kiev, Grandi told the Associated Press news agency that it was important to remind the international community that Ukrainians were still living through a brutal war and that he was concerned that humanitarian aid was being delayed by political disputes.
- Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, where he reaffirmed his support for Ukraine's bid to join the European Union, but said they persisted political differences on issues such as NATO membership. Fico, elected after taking advantage of pro-Russian sentiments, said he did not believe there was a military solution to the war and welcomed a peace plan proposed by Ukraine's president, although he called it unrealistic.
- In the first of three mandatory readings, Russia's State Duma approved a bill to confiscate the property, money and valuables of anyone convicted of spreading criticism of the Russian military.
- A United States Senate committee approved the “Rebuilding Prosperity and Economic Opportunity” project by 20 to 1. [REPO)] Act for Ukrainians,” which would help pave the way for the United States to seize Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine for postwar reconstruction. The bill has broad bipartisan support, but must be approved by both houses of Congress before it can be signed by the president and become law. The EU, the United States, Japan and Canada froze some $300 billion of Russian central bank assets in 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion almost two years ago.
- Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska became the first female qualifier to reach the Australian Open semifinals in 45 years. After her latest victory, and dressed in blue and yellow to match the Ukrainian flag, she said she was “proud” of those who fight for her country.
Weapons
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said European nations had to “do more” to provide Ukraine with the weapons needed to defend itself against Russia's attack. “The contributions that European nations have so far allocated for 2024 are not large enough,” Scholz told the weekly Die Zeit in an interview.
