One killed as Russian attack on Kyiv hits medical facility
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said overnight Russian strikes set ablaze a medical facility in the Obolonskyi district in Kyiv’s northern sector where an inpatient ward was operating.
After the fire was extinguished, a body was found inside, the service said, adding that a woman was injured and 25 people were evacuated.
It released a night-time photo showing emergency responders carrying a body on a stretcher past an ambulance outside a building, with snow on the ground.
Russia also hit towns and villages across the Kyiv region, damaging homes and critical infrastructure, and killing a civilian in the Fastiv district, just southwest of the capital, the region’s governor Mykola Kalashnyk said on Telegram.
Small parts of the region were left without power, Kalashnyk added.
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 06:05
Zelensky says Ukraine hopes for leaders’ summit in US in January
Ukraine is hoping for a leaders’ summit in the United States by the end of January to discuss proposals on how to end the war with Russia.
Zelensky said that Ukraine and national security advisors from at least 18 countries discussed in Kyiv security guarantees, economic agreements, and sequencing plans. This week, the talks will continue during a European leaders’ meeting in Paris scheduled for today and then with US negotiators.
“And after that… we will be preparing for a meeting in the United States at the leadership level. We would like all of this to happen in January, by the end of January,” Zelensky said.
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 05:53
Watch: Trump denies attack on Putin residence after Moscow says Kyiv’s drone warfare escalatingTrump denies attack on Putin residence after Moscow says Kyiv’s drone warfare escalating
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 05:33
Ukrainian drone attack sparks fire at industrial zone in Russia’s Lipetsk
A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire in an industrial zone in the town of Yelets in Russia’s Lipetsk region, the regional governor reported this morning.
No immediate casualties have been reported so far.
Yelets is home to the Energiya battery plant, a major producer of batteries and accumulators for Russia’s defence industry, which Ukraine said it has hit in the past.
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 05:16
Who is Kyrylo Budanov? The new Ukraine chief of staff chosen by Zelensky
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed General Kyrylo Budanov, the country’s military intelligence chief, as his new chief of staff.
General Budanov replaces Andrii Yermak, president Zelensky’s long-standing aide, who resigned in November.
Yermak’s departure followed an anti-corruption raid on his apartment, investigating alleged graft in Ukraine’s energy sector.
The removal of such a powerful figure was considered a blow to the president, potentially jeopardising his negotiating strategy amidst US peace efforts.
Here’s what you need to know about Budanov:
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 05:06
A ceasefire in Ukraine would be fraught with danger for the whole of Europe
For Ukraine, there is little reason to think that 2026 will not continue the pattern set by 2025: the war will grind on, because the repeated promises that peace is near are based on little more than blind optimism and a desperate need to pander to Donald Trump’s fantasies.
Russia will continue to try to secure through diplomatic means what it has failed to conquer in 11 years of war, and its key tool for doing so will continue to be Donald Trump. Three times during 2025, Trump blindsided Europe’s leaders by attempting to coerce Ukraine into accepting Russia’s demands under the guise of a ceasefire agreement.
On each occasion, the worst danger was averted following a transatlantic diplomatic scramble, as European leaders dropped everything to try to roll back some of the damage. It may seem like a repetitive cycle, but on each occasion, Russia improves its position.
If a ceasefire is achieved in 2026, Keir Giles asks: at what cost?
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 04:53
Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow daily in new year, Russia says
Ukraine has targeted Moscow with drones every day of 2026 so far, Russia’s defence ministry has claimed.
By midnight on Sunday, Russian air defence systems had destroyed 57 drones over the Moscow region and 437 over the country in total, the ministry said, adding that the daily attacks marked an escalation from more sporadic attacks on the Russian capital.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported multiple interceptions since New Year’s Eve without giving further details.
Russia typically reports only how many drones its air defences downed, not how many Ukraine launched, and rarely discloses the full extent of damage unless civilians are killed or civilian sites hit.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Kyiv has increasingly used long-range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia. It says such attacks aim to disrupt military logistics and energy infrastructure, raise costs for Moscow’s war effort and respond to repeated Russian missile and drone attacks.
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 04:43
Did Ukraine launch 91-drone attack on Putin’s presidential residence – or is it a Russian show for Trump?
Russia’s claim that Ukraine launched a 91-drone strike on Vladimir Putin’s personal residence has threatened to derail months of talks over a peace deal to end Moscow’s invasion.
“I am sure they are simply preparing the ground for strikes, probably on the capital, probably on government buildings,” he said.
From a technical standpoint, Ukraine does have the weapons to launch an attack on Putin’s presidential residence using strike drones and missile systems, according to Oleksandr Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military and security analyst for the Information Resistance group.
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 04:27
Trump dismisses Kremlin claim Ukraine targeted Putin residence
President Donald Trump said US officials had determined that Ukraine did not target a residence belonging to Russian president Vladimir Putin in a drone attack last week, disputing a Kremlin claim that he had initially greeted with deep concern.
Trump said “something happened nearby” but Americans officials didn’t find the Russian president’s residence was targeted.
“I don’t believe that strike happened,” Trump told reporters. “We don’t believe that happened, now that we’ve been able to check.”
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that Ukraine had launched a wave of drones at Putin’s residence in the northwestern Novgorod region that the Russian defence systems were able to defeat.
Lavrov also criticised Kyiv for launching the attack at a moment of intensive negotiations to end the war.
The allegation came just a day after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with Trump in Florida on the US administration’s 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. Zelensky had quickly denied the allegation.
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 04:13
Ukraine military says Russian strike on Kyiv kills civilian
A Russian air attack on Kyiv killed one civilian, Ukraine’s military said this morning, in what appeared to be the first reported death in Russian strikes on the capital this year.
“One person has been killed so far as a result of the attack. The attack is continuing,” said Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration.
He said people were being evacuated from a building damaged in the attack in the Obolonskyi district, north of Kyiv’s centre.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defence forces were operating in the capital and urged residents to remain in shelters.
Russia has repeatedly attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones during the nearly four-year-old war, saying it strikes military targets, while Ukraine says civilians and civilian infrastructure are often hit.
Arpan Rai5 January 2026 03:57