19.01.2025

The Kyiv Independent: Russia's ammunition use has been cut nearly in half amid the long-term impacts of Ukrainian strikes on Russian military targets, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in an interview with the Ukrainian news outlet TSN on Jan. 19.

The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces suffered their heaviest losses last year since the start of the full-scale war, with total military losses reaching 434,000 soldiers, including approximately 150,000 killed in combat during 2024, Syrskyi added.

The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree imposing new sanctions on pro-Russian propagandists, he announced on Jan. 19.

United24 Media: The Dutch open-source intelligence project Oryx has documented over 20,000 pieces of Russian military equipment lost since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's State Emergency Service announced that it received three specialized demining vehicles from Slovenia. The vehicles, Cossack PM-L specialized off-road trucks, can be used for demining and for transporting equipment and explosive objects.

ISW: The Russian Central Grouping of Forces appears to have assembled a strike group comprised of units of the 2nd and 41st combined arms armies south of Pokrovsk, likely as part of ongoing Russian efforts to intensify offensive operations south and southwest of the town.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces launched an aerial attack against a Russian-occupied refractory plant in the embattled city of Chasiv Yar, Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Zaporozhets, spokesperson for the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk, said on Jan. 18. The attack confirms earlier reports that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the plant.

18.01.2025

The Moscow Times: Germany's defence minister said he was open to sending German soldiers to Ukraine to help secure a demilitarised zone there if a ceasefire were agreed with Russia, in remarks published Saturday.

The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces used chemical weapons on the battlefield 434 times in December 2024, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Jan. 18.

Reuters: Ukraine on Saturday claimed a pair of attacks on oil depots in western Russia, the latest salvo in Kyiv's air campaign against strategic targets on Russian soil.

CNN: While Russian ally Bashar al-Assad was being toppled by rebels in Syria, another friend of Moscow, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, was being chaperoned by Kremlin-backed mercenaries in the conflict-ridden Central African Republic.

The Kyiv Independent: Russia launched an attack on Kyiv early in the morning on Jan. 18, killing three people and injuring three others, Kyiv city military administration head Tymur Tkachenko reported.

ISW: The Russia-Iran Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement lacks a mutual defense clause, indicating that Russia likely lacks the bandwidth to support significant operations outside of Ukraine and is prioritizing its manpower needs through its mutual defense treaty with North Korea.

17.01.2025

FT: Oilfield services giant SLB is resisting rising pressure to exit Russia, telling investors that its operations do not breach sweeping new sanctions targeting the country’s oil sector (archive).

Bloomberg: Fresh US sanctions on tankers carrying Russian oil have led to some vessels turning away from Russian ports in recent days without the cargoes they were due to collect (archive).

The Kyiv Independent: U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has declassified previously undisclosed efforts to support Ukraine's drone industry, including $1.5 billion funding sent in September 2024, The New York Times reported on Jan. 17.

Reuters: The Group of Seven on Friday said the Kremlin had funded and directed covert efforts by state entities to undermine elected governments around the world by using global disinformation and influence campaigns.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's Special Operations Forces reported on Jan. 17 that they had located and targeted Russian soldiers responsible for executing two Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Romania’s national airspace was breached during an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine and the likely impact zone of a drone was found near the border in the south-eastern county of Tulcea.

Reuters: A French maritime patrol aircraft was the target of Russian intimidation on Wednesday over the Baltic Sea, France's Defence Minister said on Friday. The plane was patrolling in international airspace when it was locked onto by the radar of an S400 ground-to-air defence system, Sebastien Lecornu said.

The Kyiv Independent: Russia launched a missile attack on Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, on Jan. 17, killling four people and leaving 14 others injured, Governor Serhii Lysak reported.

Reuters: Russian seaborne oil product exports fell by almost 10% in 2024 after Ukrainian drone attacks damaged major refineries and as higher funding costs and a government gasoline export ban added to pressure from Western sanctions, industry sources said.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces struck radar equipment of the advanced S-400 air defense system in Russia's Belgorod Oblast, Ukraine's General Staff reported on Jan. 17.

Politico: Europe is buying Russian gas at an unprecedented rate in 2025, spending billions of dollars the Kremlin can use to fund its war in Ukraine just weeks after the end of a major transit agreement raised hopes the continent may break its dependency on Moscow.

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