As the war enters its 704th day, here are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Monday, January 29, 2024.
Struggle
- The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched drone and missile attacks across the country, hitting both civilian and critical infrastructure. The air force said Moscow attacked the central Poltava region with two Iskander missiles. It also launched three S-300 surface-to-air missiles over the Donetsk region in the east. Air defense systems destroyed four of the eight drones launched by Russia overnight, the air force said. Three civilians were injured in the attacks.
- Ukraine said Russia must present evidence that an Ilyushin-76 military transport plane that crashed in the Belgorod region last week was carrying dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war, as Moscow claims. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's GUR military intelligence, said kyiv had no verifiable information about who was on the plane. Ukraine's Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said relatives of prisoners of war on a list of names provided by Moscow were unable to identify their loved ones in photographs of the crash site provided by Russian authorities.
Politics and diplomacy
- The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it had charged five people with corruption in the procurement of weapons. The SBU accuses the five of conspiring with Defense Ministry officials to embezzle nearly $40 million intended to purchase 100,000 mortar shells for the war. If convicted, the group faces up to 12 years in prison.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly declared his income for the first time, as part of his campaign to promote transparency and root out corruption. Zelenskyy said that in 2021, the year before Russia began its full-scale invasion, he and his family had an income of 10.8 million hryvnias ($286,168). In 2022, the family's income dropped to 3.7 million hryvnias ($98,535) as the war reduced the family's income from property rentals.
- Russian officials in Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow's forces said the Ukrainian language had been stripped of any official status, effectively banning it from public use.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its head Rafael Grossi will visit Ukraine, including its capital and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, next week.
Weapons
- Zelenskyy warned that a drop in US military aid to Ukraine would send a “bad signal” as right-wing Republicans in the US block additional support unless it is linked to changes in US border policy. “America's passivity or lack of support would be a bad sign,” Zelenskyy told German national broadcaster ARD.
- NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who began a visit to the United States on Sunday, said continued US military funding to Ukraine had a key deterrent message for China. US President Joe Biden has asked Congress to approve $61 billion in new aid to Ukraine. Stoltenberg said it was a “good deal,” noting that while the aid was a fraction of the Pentagon's total budget, it had allowed Ukrainian forces to “destroy and degrade” the Russian military. Stoltenberg will meet with members of Congress on Tuesday.
