![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769134155_282_021059e7440d45cba3c79e9ae03f3bbf_6.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 23 Jan 202623 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n
share2<\/p>\n
Here is where things stand on Friday, January 23:<\/p>\n
Fighting<\/p>\n
- \n
- Two volunteers delivering bread were killed in a Russian drone attack on their car in the border community of Derhachi in Ukraine\u2019s Kharkiv region, the head of the regional military administration, Vyacheslav Zadorenko, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.<\/li>\n
- Russian forces launched a drone attack on a high-rise residential building in Ukraine\u2019s Dnipro, injuring at least seven people, the city\u2019s Mayor Borys Filatov said.<\/li>\n
- One person was killed, and four were wounded in Russian glide bomb attacks on Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine\u2019s Zaporizhia region, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.<\/li>\n
- A Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih city, in Ukraine\u2019s Dnipropetrovsk region, injured 12 people, including four children, head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha, said.<\/li>\n
- Russian forces shot down 31 Ukrainian drones overnight and into the early hours of Thursday, Russia\u2019s Ministry of Defence said, according to a report by Russia\u2019s TASS state news agency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Sanctions<\/p>\n
- \n
- The French navy intercepted an oil tanker<\/a> in the Mediterranean Sea that officials said belongs to Russia\u2019s so-called \u201cshadow fleet\u201d, designed to evade international sanctions<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- French President Emmanuel Macron said the oil tanker was \u201ccoming from Russia, subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag\u201d. He added that the operation was \u201ccarried out in strict compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea\u201d and together with allies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Energy crisis<\/p>\n
- \n
- Ukraine\u2019s energy system on Thursday endured its most difficult day since a widespread blackout hit the network in November 2022, and the situation remains \u201cextremely difficult\u201d, the country\u2019s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said.<\/li>\n
- Conditions were most difficult in the capital Kyiv and the surrounding region and in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Shmyhal said, as nighttime temperatures fell to -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).<\/li>\n
- Kyiv\u2019s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 2,600 apartment buildings were still without heat two days after the latest overnight Russian attacks, while 600 buildings have had their heating restored.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Politics and diplomacy<\/p>\n
- \n
- \n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian negotiators are on their way to the United Arab Emirates for talks with Russian and United States negotiating teams.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\u201cOur team is now heading to the Emirates for meetings with both the American and Russian sides,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram after a day of talks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. \u201cWe are waiting to see how it goes and will decide on the next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
Russian President Vladimir Putin began a meeting with US envoys Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Josh Gruenbaum late on Thursday to discuss a plan to end the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
US President Donald Trump again said that both Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy would like to make a deal to end the nearly four-year-old war, after meeting with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the WEF in Davos.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday he \u201cobviously\u201d had concerns about Putin being on Trump\u2019s proposed \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d in an interview with Channel 4 News. \u201cHe is waging war on a European country. They\u2019re raining down bombs on Ukraine,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
The relationship between the US and the European Union has \u201ctaken a big blow\u201d in the past week, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in advance of an emergency meeting of the bloc\u2019s leaders on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\u201cDisagreements that allies have between them, like Europe and America, are just benefitting our adversaries who are looking and enjoying the view,\u201d Kallas told reporters.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova told reporters that two Russian soldiers whose bodies were returned as part of a prisoner exchange deal with Ukraine late last year had been alive, without injuries, at the time of their capture in May 2025. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the report.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Military aid<\/p>\n
- \n
- French President Emmanuel Macron said the oil tanker was \u201ccoming from Russia, subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag\u201d. He added that the operation was \u201ccarried out in strict compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea\u201d and together with allies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The French navy intercepted an oil tanker<\/a> in the Mediterranean Sea that officials said belongs to Russia\u2019s so-called \u201cshadow fleet\u201d, designed to evade international sanctions<\/a>.<\/li>\n