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Morning Headlines

BBC: The US has declared a stark policy shift towards three West African countries which are battling Islamist insurgents and whose military governments have broken defence ties with France and turned towards Russia.

Reuters: South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor did not exercise a buyback option for its former manufacturing plant in Russia, the company said on Monday, amid the continuing war in Ukraine.

ISW: The Kremlin continues to use issues unrelated to its war in Ukraine to push the Trump administration to give in to Russia’s demands regarding Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent: Explosions were reported overnight Feb. 2 in Russia's Belgorod region, where officials said an alleged Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire in the city of Stary Oskol.

01.02.2026

Reuters: At least 12 people were killed and seven wounded after a Russian drone struck a bus carrying miners in Ukraine's southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, energy firm DTEK and government officials said on Sunday.

The Kyiv Independent: Russian troops launched two attacks on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Feb. 1, injuring at least nine people, including a child, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.

ABC News: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that the next round of trilateral U.S.-Ukraine-Russia peace talks will be held in the United Arab Emirates on Feb. 4 and 5.

Reuters: Tens of thousands of Czechs rallied on Sunday in support of President Peter Pavel after he refused to approve the nomination of a minister to the new eurosceptic coalition government who performed a Nazi salute and posted Nazi memorabilia.

United24 Media: According to Bloomberg, the Russian government is preparing for a possible breach of its planned budget deficit in 2026, driven by soaring defense expenditures and declining oil and gas revenues.

France 24: Elon Musk said on Saturday that measures taken by his company SpaceX have stopped Russia from using its Starlink internet system. Ukraine previously said that it found Russia had used Starlink to guide long-range drones used in attacks on its territory.

Reuters: Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Moscow continues to support Beijing over Taiwan, state news agency TASS reported on Sunday.

31.01.2026

Yle: Satellite images obtained by Yle reveal for the first time that Russia has begun to renovate a Soviet-era garrison area in Petrozavodsk, which has been mostly empty since the 1990s.

United 24 Media: Russia has set up at least nine launch sites for its Iskander short-range missile systems near the Ukrainian border, including in occupied Crimea, according to satellite imagery.

Ukrainska Pravda: Russian forces have been increasing the size of their grouping in Sumy Oblast each month since at least autumn 2025 and are moving towards a large dense forest northwest of the city of Sumy.

Reuters: Parts of Ukraine and Moldova, including the neighbouring countries' capitals, were plunged into blackouts on Saturday caused by a malfunction of high-voltage power lines, officials said. Power was restored later in the day.

United24 Media: Russia has fallen significantly behind in the global race for artificial intelligence, largely due to Putin’s personal aversion to modern technology, The Times reported on January 31.

RBC-Ukraine: Ukrainian forces carried out a series of strikes on enemy military targets in temporarily occupied territories and inside Russia. A Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system, drone command posts, supply depots, and concentrations of enemy troops were hit, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Kyiv Post: The Defense Appropriations Act rejects Trump’s proposals to eliminate funding for Ukraine and the Baltic Security Initiative, instead locking in $400 million for Ukraine and $200 million for security cooperation with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The Kyiv Independent: Ali Larijani, Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary, traveled to Russia on Jan. 30 for a meeting with Putin, according to a Kremlin statement.

30.01.2026

Reuters: The United States, which threatened to impose tariffs on India last year for buying Venezuelan oil, has told Delhi it can resume those purchases soon to help replace imports of Russian oil.

Reuters: U.S. private equity firm Carlyle has begun exploratory talks with UAE investors to ‌bring in partners should its initial agreement to buy Russian firm Lukoil's international assets proceed.

The Kyiv Independent: The EU is considering replacing the price cap on Russian oil with a full ban on maritime services in its upcoming sanctions package, a person familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent on Jan. 30.

Reuters: Russia's domestic spy agency was likely responsible for cyberattacks late last month on 30 Polish renewable energy facilities, a manufacturing firm and a plant supplying heat for nearly 500,000 customers, Polish officials said on Friday.

LRT: Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has asked prosecutors at the International Criminal Court to look into whether Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector and civilian infrastructure amount to genocide.

The Moscow Times: Canadian visa processing centers in Russia have stopped accepting applications as of Wednesday, though it was not immediately clear why services were discontinued or for how long.

Reuters: Traders are increasingly using tankers to store Russia's Urals crude as demand weakens and customers weigh growing sanctions risks, Reuters calculations based on LSEG and trade data show.

RFI: Incoming Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten on Friday ruled out talks with Russia over the war in Ukraine, as he unveiled a new government programme including firm support for Ukraine.

NV: Ukrainian forces carried out a series of strikes on Russian positions in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast over the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Jan. 30. A Russian Osa air defense system and several military logistics facilities were successfully targeted.

Reuters: U.S. and European officials are growing increasingly worried as hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. energy assistance promised to Ukraine remain unreleased, even as a bone-cold winter pushes the nation's war‑damaged power grid to the brink.

OC Media: A leaked confidential report produced for a new soft-power unit within the Russian Presidential Administration has outlined the Kremlin’s priorities for working with the Russian diaspora, referred to as ‘compatriots’, including in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

Reuters: Chinese state oil firm CNPC plans to restart a unit at its refinery in the northeastern city of Dalian, months after closing it, as it pursues big margins from processing discounted Russian oil.

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