Here is the situation on Monday, January 27:
Fighting
- Kyiv’s regional military administrator Vadym Filashkin said Russian artillery fire on eastern Ukraine killed at least one woman in the city of Pokrovsk and injured four people in the neighbouring Kostiantynivka town. According to Ukrainian military analyst Andriy Ryzhchenko, Pokrovsk is an economic target for Russia.
- The Ukrainian army said Moscow’s units launched 38 attacks with artillery support at various points against the Ukrainian lines of defence.
- Ukraine said its armed forces, together with the country’s defence intelligence, repeatedly struck Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refining Company for a second time just two days after its initial overnight attack on the facility. Kyiv said the oil refinery is one of the four largest in the Russian Federation.
- Russian media reported Moscow’s Defence Ministry as saying its troops captured the settlements of Zelene and Velyka Novosilka in eastern Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for a third time in less than a year, replaced the commander of the Khortytsia operational strategic group responsible for defending Pokrovsk, which now risks falling into Russia’s hands. He named Major-General Mykhailo Drapatyi the new commander of ground forces.
Advertisement
Politics & Diplomacy
- Zelenskyy, in a news conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, said Kyiv was willing to supply coal to Transnistria at low prices or even for free if the separatist enclave would supply Ukraine with electricity in return. He also offered to send a team of specialists to help expand the enclave’s power plant electricity output.
- The Institute for the Study of War reported that members of the Kremlin-linked Telegram channel Rybar – including its founder Mikhail Zvinchuk – visited Iraq over the last week in efforts to cultivate Russian influence there. The team is said to have met with multiple Iraqi officials, including Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani.
- Polish President Andrzej Duda told Al Jazeera that NATO member countries should up their defence spending by at least 3 percent of their GDP to build a security zone against the “rebirth of Russian imperialism”.
- Exit polls showed Belarusian President Lukashenko, whose administration is a close ally of Russia, was on track to extend his time in power with 87.6 percent of the votes in the country’s presidential election. Lukashenko also said he has “no regrets” about letting Russia use Belarus’ territory to invade Ukraine in 2022.
British Caribbean News