These are the major developments since the 1,423rd day of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Published on January 17, 2026
Here’s what’s happening on Saturday, January 17:
fights
- Russian troops attacked In the Ukrainian city of Nikopol, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, two women were killed and six people were injured, Oleksandr Hanza, head of the regional administration, wrote on Facebook.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces captured five settlements in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region last week, including Zakotnoye and Zovtnevoye in the past 24 hours, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged that its forces carried out the attack Ukrainian energy infrastructure and military facilities seven times in the past week, including one operation described as a major strike against its neighbor.
- A Ukrainian drone strike killed one man in Russian-occupied Kherson, Volodymyr Saldo, Moscow’s designated official in the region, said, according to TASS.
- The Ukrainian attacks left 68,000 homes without electricity in the Russian-occupied region of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, TASS reported, citing local Russian-appointed official Yevgen Balitsky.
- Russia and Ukraine agreed on Friday to a local ceasefire to allow repairs on the last remaining backup power line at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
- The United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a statement that work on the power line, which was damaged and severed by military operations on January 2, should resume “in the coming days.”
- Russian Security Council Vice President Dmitry Medvedev said 422,704 people signed contracts with the Russian armed forces last year, state news agencies reported. The number of sign-ups is down from 2024, when about 450,000 people signed contracts to join the Russian military.
Ukraine energy crisis
- Children across Ukraine Emergency stockpiles of power generators are running low following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, threatening hypothermia in freezing temperatures, international aid agencies said on Friday.
- Almost the entire Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is currently occupied by Russian forces Left without electricity After the explosion, Petro Andryushchenko, head of the Center for the Study of Occupation, said on the Telegram messaging app.
- Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 67 apartment buildings remained without heat in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, more than a week after the Russian offensive left 6,000 apartments without heat, as overnight temperatures plunged to -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit).
- In an update shared on Facebook, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said “severe weather and frost” were complicating efforts to restore heat and electricity after the Russian attacks.
- Svyrydenko said 17 electrical substations are now powered by generators, as repairs continue, and 1,300 tents have been deployed in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where many homes still remain without heating.
- Curfew restrictions have been relaxed in places where the energy emergency is ongoing, so that people can access shelters with heating where needed, the Prime Minister said.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, responding to Sviridenko’s updates, said thousands of people were working to restore electricity and heat across the country.
- Zelensky also said that he spoke with British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and thanked him for the United Kingdom’s decision to provide an “energy support package” for Ukraine.
- The UK announced on Friday that it would provide 20 million British pounds ($26.7m) of “new support … to repair critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine as Russia’s barbaric attacks on innocent civilians intensify”.
Talk of peace
- A Ukrainian delegation is heading to the United States for talks with Washington on security guarantees and a post-war recovery package, Zelensky said on Friday, adding that documents could be signed next week during the World Economic Forum in Davos.
- During the talks, the Kiev team hopes to get clarity from the US on the Russian role in US-backed diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-year war, Zelensky said at a news conference in Kiev alongside Czech President Petr Pavel.
- The European Commission is considering ways to allow Ukraine to join the European Union immediately as part of a peace deal with Russia, but without giving Kiev full membership rights, which would be “earned” after a transition period, EU officials told Reuters news agency.
military aid
- President Zelensky said on Friday that allied supplies of air defense systems and missiles were insufficient and warned that Russia was preparing new major attacks. He said it was important that allies pay attention to Ukraine’s request for additional supplies.
- The Czech Republic will soon supply Ukraine with fighter jets capable of shooting down incoming drones, President Pavel told Zelensky in Kiev on Friday. Pavel did not elaborate, but said two years ago that Czech-made subsonic L-159 fighter jets could be transferred to Ukraine.
Regional security
- Five men have been charged in Poland with taking part in a Russian-led sabotage plot to send explosive parcels to the UK, US, Canada and other destinations and face life in prison if convicted, prosecutors said Friday.
- Four Ukrainian nationals and one Russian are accused of “acting … on behalf of the intelligence services of the Russian Federation”, the Polish National Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
- Lithuanian lawyer Six foreign nationals accused of planning an arson attack on a company manufacturing military equipment for Ukraine in 2024 are believed to have been ordered by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU.
- The accused include citizens of Spain, Colombia, Cuba, Russia and Belarus, as well as dual Spanish-Colombian citizens. The company manufactures mobile radio-frequency analysis centers for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Politics and Diplomacy
- After French and Italian leaders called for re-engagement with Moscow on Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Friday that some European states viewed calls to resume dialogue with Russia as “positive”.
- Since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, dialogue between the European Union and Russia has virtually frozen, with the bloc imposing heavy sanctions and travel restrictions on Russia.
- Released by the court in Kyiv Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko She was on bail Friday pending a trial to determine whether she paid members of Ukraine’s parliament to vote. The 65-year-old veteran of Ukrainian politics, who has denied the charges and called the case politically motivated, served as prime minister twice since 2005.