As the war enters its 705th day, here are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, January 30, 2024.
Struggle
- Russia claimed to have taken control of Tabaivka, a small frontline village in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region. Ukraine denied the claim and said fighting was continuing.
- Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-installed mayor of the occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk, blamed Ukraine for a rocket attack that killed at least three people and injured three more.
Politics and diplomacy
- Hungary signaled its readiness to reach an agreement on a proposed European Union aid package of 50 billion euros ($54 billion) for Ukraine. Balazs Orban, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Victor Orban, said Budapest had sent a proposal to Brussels on Saturday showing it was open to using the EU budget for the aid package and issuing common EU debt to finance it, provided that other “warnings” be made. aggregate. The EU will hold an emergency budget summit on Thursday.
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said they set the stage for a meeting of their leaders during talks in western Ukraine and also agreed to work together on the divisive issue of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that all progress in Ukraine would be “in jeopardy” if Congress did not approve new aid for kyiv. Republicans are blocking a $61 billion relief package and want it tied to stricter immigration policies.
- NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg met with senior US officials, including Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Stoltenberg is in Washington, D.C. to drum up support for a deal with Ukraine and is scheduled to meet Tuesday with members of Congress involved in the aid debate.
- UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron called on Moscow to reveal the whereabouts of Vladimir Kara-Murza, after his wife said he had been transferred from a Siberian penal colony to an unknown location. Kara-Murza, who has Russian and British citizenship, was sentenced to 25 years in prison last April for treason and spreading “false information” about the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- Members of Russian rock group Bi-2, who condemned the war in Ukraine, face deportation to Russia after being arrested in Thailand for working without a permit. Russian authorities labeled the band's lead singer, Igor Bortnick, a “foreign agent” after he criticized President Vladimir Putin online.
- A Russian court sentenced a 72-year-old woman to five and a half years in prison after she shared two online posts about Russian military casualties in Ukraine. Human rights groups said Yevgeniya Maiboroda, from the southern Rostov region, was accused of spreading “false information” about the armed forces.
Weapons
- Sales of U.S. military equipment to foreign governments rose 16 percent in 2023 to a record $238 billion, according to the U.S. State Department, as countries sought to replenish arsenals sent to Ukraine and prepare for major conflicts. . Sales during the year included National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) for Ukraine, as well as weapons for Poland and Germany.
