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Morning Headlines
Politico: Keir Starmer’s government has a crunch decision to make: Whether to keep heating much of the British state via a firm linked to Russian fossil fuels.
Reuters: Russian fuel oil exports to Asia slowed in early 2026 as rising scrutiny due to tighter Western sanctions hampered trade while Ukrainian drone attacks on refining facilities in Russia reduced output, according to shipping data and industry sources.
BBC: Thousands of files provided by a whistleblower at Interpol expose for the first time the extent of Russia's apparent abuse of the international policing agency to target its critics abroad.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in the town of Slovyansk-na-Kuban in Russia's Krasnodar Krai overnight on Jan. 26, Russian Telegram media channels reported.
ISW: Russia continues to intensify recruitment efforts for the Russian Unmanned Systems Forces that may also staff the conventional Russian ground forces.
25.01.2026
Reuters: A U.S. document on security guarantees for Ukraine is completely ready and Kyiv is waiting for a time and place for it to be signed, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, indicating that weekend talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi made some progress.
The Ukrainian Review: German journalists uncovered a large-scale smuggling network that delivers sanctioned goods from the European Union directly to Moscow. Former employees of a Russian Post subsidiary created this illegal scheme to bypass trade restrictions.
BBC: French officials have taken the Indian captain of a suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker into custody days after the oil tanker was seized.
United24 Media: Russia possesses only three to four units of its new medium-range ballistic missile system Oreshnik, but intends to begin serial production in 2026, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky met Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in Vilnius, Zelensky said on Jan. 25. His discussion with Nauseda focused on support for Ukraine's energy system and the country's air defense. He added that Lithuania planned to provide Ukrainian cities and communities with nearly 100 generators.
Kyiv Post: Ukraine struck a thermal power plant in Russia’s Belgorod region overnight on Sunday as Kyiv and Moscow go tit-for-tat in energy strikes in subzero temperatures.
Reuters: More than 1,300 apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were still without heating following a Russian missile and drone attack earlier this week, Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said on Sunday.
24.01.2026
Reuters: Ukraine and Russia ended a second day of U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Saturday without a deal but with more talks expected next weekend, even as overnight Russian airstrikes knocked out power for over a million Ukrainians amid subzero winter cold.
Ukrainska Pravda: NATO has planned to create an unmanned robotic zone along its border with Russia and Belarus over the next two years and to pre-position significantly more weapons there.
The Council of Europe and the European Union have signed an agreement on the financing of an advance team to establish the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, within the framework of the Council of Europe.
BBC: The US will offer "more limited" support to allies, according to the Pentagon's new National Defense Strategy. In a significant shift to its security priorities, the US Department of Defense now considers security of the US homeland and Western Hemisphere - not China - as its primary concern.
The Insider: In Russia’s border regions, where thousands of troops have been concentrated since the start of the war in Ukraine, women are increasingly facing violence and hostility from soldiers. Many of the troops are former convicts; others simply feel a sense of impunity, knowing that instead of being sent to prison for their actions, they will merely be sent back to the front.
Ukrainska Pravda: International partners have agreed on measures to support Ukraine in response to Russia's intensified attacks on the country's energy system during the energy-focused meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.
ISW: The Kremlin is trying to push Trump to abandon the negotiation process with Ukraine and Europe that he has been leading and to concede to the demands Russia made at the August 2025 US-Russia summit in Alaska.
23.01.2026
Reuters: The French navy has diverted the Grinch oil tanker it detained on Thursday towards the port of Marseille-Fos for further investigation, a source close to the investigation told Reuters on Friday. The navy had intercepted the tanker, which had left the Russian port of Murmansk in early January, on suspicion of operating under a false flag and belonging to the "shadow fleet".
The Kyiv Independent: Russia spent over 10.2 billion rubles ($131 million) on the Jan. 20 air attack that racked Kyiv's electrical and heating grids in the dead of winter, Ukraine's military intelligence said on Jan. 23.
Defence Blog: Russia has used export-version surface-to-air missiles intended for foreign customers to strike ground targets in Ukraine, according to an investigation published Friday by Defense Express.
Politico: Germany and Italy on Friday backed an organization dedicated to fighting hybrid threats and disinformation, weeks after the United States exited it and called it “wasteful.”
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine struck an oil depot in Russia's Penza Oblast and several other Russian military facilities on Jan. 23, Ukraine's General Staff confirmed.
Reuters: Ukraine is nearing a "humanitarian catastrophe" after months of Russian airstrikes on energy systems and any future peace deal must include a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, the head of Ukraine’s largest private power producer said.
The New Arab: Russian forces have reinforced their military presence at the airport of the city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, in an area controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) amid an uneasy four-day ceasefire in northern Syria between government troops and the SDF.
The Moscow Times: Russia has postponed the launch of the first batch of low-orbit broadband internet satellites under a project meant to rival SpaceX’s Starlink, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday.
The Guardian: Russia has begun using a new model of high-speed drone against Ukraine amid claims by Kyiv’s military intelligence directorate that key parts are sourced from western and Chinese companies.
Reuters: The European Union is deploying emergency generators to Ukraine, saying Russian bombings have left a million people without power and heating, while France plans to hold a call to rally international help for Ukrainians exposed to extreme cold.
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