These are the major developments since the 1,422nd day of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Published on January 16, 2026
Here’s what happened on Friday, January 16:
fights
- A Ukrainian drone strike killed two workers at a state-owned pharmacy as they were carrying medicines to Polohi in the Russian-occupied region of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported.
- A Ukrainian drone strike injured three people in Russia’s front-line Belgorod region, the regional task force reported, according to TASS.
- Russian forces dropped a guided bomb on Bilopilya in Ukraine’s Sumy region, killing one person and injuring at least four others, the regional prosecutor’s office said on the Telegram messaging app.
- Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said new power outages were affecting customers in the Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions following an overnight Russian attack. Network restrictions remain in place in the capital Kyiv, Kyiv region and Odesa region, the ministry added in a statement.
- Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said on Telegram that Russian forces destroyed a large facility of “critical energy infrastructure,” without specifying what type of facility was hit.
- Kateryna Pop, a spokeswoman for the Kyiv City Military Administration, said 287 residential buildings in Kiev had been left without heating for more than a week as a major Russian offensive damaged infrastructure there, with temperatures dropping to -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit) overnight.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said the national government would take responsibility for Kiev’s energy because the city had not responded adequately to the current crisis, according to the Ukrainform news site.
- The Ukrainian offensive left about 87,000 people without electricity in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, Russian-appointed official Yevgen Balitsky wrote on Telegram.
- Oleksandr Kovalenko, a spokesman for the Zaporizhia regional military administration, said more than 500 people would have to be evacuated from two districts in Ukraine’s conflict-ridden Zaporizhia region by early February, according to Ukrainform. More than 700 people, including 480 children, have been evacuated since early January.
Politics and Diplomacy
- President Zelensky said in his nightly video address that “Ukraine has never stood up for peace and never will,” appearing to contradict comments made by United States President Donald Trump a day earlier.
- “When a Russian strike is aimed at disrupting our energy system and our people, Russia must be pressured,” Zelensky added.
- Trump told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was “ready to make a deal. I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal”.
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters news agency during a visit to Kiev that she expects to ask the fund’s executive board to approve a new $8.1bn loan program for Ukraine within weeks.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a post on X that he spoke with Zelenskiy about the energy situation in Ukraine, the terrible human suffering caused by Russia’s attacks, and ongoing efforts to end the war.
- “We are committed to ensuring that Ukraine continues to receive the critical support it needs to defend today and ultimately achieve a lasting peace,” Rutte said.
- French President Emmanuel Macron said France now provides two-thirds of the intelligence to Ukraine, largely replacing the US, which until last year delivered most of those services.
oil and gas
- Greece’s shipping ministry has warned its ships to take the “highest possible security measures” in the Black Sea region, following recent drone attacks on oil tankers blamed by Russia on Ukraine, according to Reuters.
- Russia’s federal budget revenue from oil and gas is set to fall 24 percent in 2025 to the lowest level since 2020, according to Finance Ministry data, as the ruble appreciated as oil prices fell.