Two close allies of Trump told Reuters: “The end of the war in Ukraine will take months, perhaps longer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects the United States to continue to strengthen Ukraine even after Trump takes office”. While according to the newly elected Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: “Trump will seek to resolve the conflict in Ukraine in the way most advantageous to Kiev”. The US president’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in an interview with the New York Times, said that arms supplies to Kiev do not give Washington the right to dictate the terms of a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
According to insiders, most of the advisers of US President-elect Donald Trump support the creation of a demilitarized zone in Ukraine as part of the plan to resolve the conflict. They told Reuters. According to them, the buffer zone should be patrolled by European troops. At the same time, Trump’s advisers now recognize that the process of resolving the war in Ukraine will take months or more, the British agency said in a statement.
The 16th package of EU sanctions against Russia could also include a ban on aluminum imports. Reuters reports that the European Commission will soon present to EU member states a draft of the sanctions package, which includes an embargo on the supply of Russian primary aluminum. The EC plans to adopt a package of restrictions by the third anniversary of the conflict, on February 24.
The issue of stationing foreign troops in Ukraine was not discussed, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said: “We have not discussed it today because it is not the time. If we did, we would not talk about it publicly, because we are talking about negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and other countries. It would be unwise to talk about our positions in advance. We are considering all the settings, but we are not talking about it,” the German Defense Minister said during a visit to Kiev.
Poland scrambled fighter jets due to a missile attack on Ukraine, the country’s Armed Forces Operations Command said. They noted that combat pairs were on duty and that ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems had been brought to maximum readiness.
Volodymyr Zelensky commented on US demands to lower the conscription age in Ukraine to 18: “Our partners were unable to provide military equipment to the 100 brigades already existing on the battlefield.” However, social media sources in Ukraine reported that: “due to the acute shortage of personnel, the Ukrainian army has transferred aviation technicians to the assault units.”
In addition, Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga said, “is not changing its position on direct negotiations with Russian President Putin.” In the context of possible initiatives by US President-elect Donald Trump to end the war and the likelihood of raising the issue of direct negotiations with the Kremlin, Sibiga stressed that “Kiev’s position remains tough.” “The ban on direct negotiations with Russia for Ukraine remains in force,” said Ukrainian Foreign Ministry chief Sibiga. The minister added that Kiev will not make concessions on the issue of the right to join NATO.
On January 15, Zelensky flew to Warsaw.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Galushchenko warned against preventive blackouts due to the Russian attack on the night of January 14.
“Crimea and Sevastopol are of strategic importance for the entire country,” Putin said at a meeting on the socio-economic development of these regions. According to Putin, in 10 years in Crimea and Sevastopol the volume of regional GDP has increased several times and the pace of investments has grown dynamically.
The FSB says that ‘Ukrainian military intelligence promised Russian military personnel $1 million if they left their positions in Horlivka in the DPR, “counterintelligence thwarted these plans,” the FSB said.
The signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between Moscow and Tehran is just a few days away, but it does not imply the creation of a military alliance, the head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry said. The date of the signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between Moscow and Tehran has nothing to do with the date of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, which will take place on January 20, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a commentary to the Iranian news agency IRNA.
“A lot of speculation about the date of signing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty between Iran and Russia on the eve of Trump’s arrival in power only raises a smile. Let the conspiracy theorists have fun,” Peskov said.
The main goals of the Iran-Russia comprehensive agreement are economics, technology and humanitarian ties, Iranian Foreign Minister told RIA Novosti. The document is scheduled to be signed on January 17, during Iranian President Pezeshkian’s visit to Russia.
On January 15, Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners according to the formula 25 to 25, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
And now a look at the front line updated at 16:00 on January 15.
Russia responded to Ukrainian strikes and the use of long-range weapons against Russian settlements. Russian missiles reached several regions of Ukraine at 05:15 the social sphere indicated missile launches across Ukraine by Tu-95MS strategic bombers, seven Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and MiG-31I/K. Attacks recorded in: Sumy, Kharkiv. Kalibr missiles were launched from the Black Sea. Eight Tu-22M3s flew in the regions of Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kiev and Cherkasy. Other sources said that launches “in quantities of more than three units” are already flying towards Bashtanka,/Kazanka, probably further in the Kropyvnytskyi region. Explosions recorded in Kryvyi Rih
More Kh-101 missiles with Tu-95MS flew at the junction of the Sumy and Chernihiv regions in the direction of the Poltava region, counted up to 10 missiles.
In the early hours of the morning, the Ukrenergo company reported: “the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhia, Dnepropetrovsk, Kropyvnytskyi are subject to emergency power outages”.
A power substation caught fire on Khreshchatyk, the main street of the city, in Kiev, the city administration reports. According to preliminary data, gas storage facilities were hit by a missile in the Lviv region. “Russia has attacked the energy infrastructure of the Lviv region,” the Mayor of Lviv Sadovy said. “Emergency closures have been introduced in six regions, but Lviv is not yet on this list,” the mayor of the city clarified. The head of the Lviv OVA Maksym Kozitsky said that two critical infrastructures were damaged in the Drohobych and Stryi districts. During OSINT monitoring, at least 4-5 cruise missiles entered the Lviv Oblast (2 Kalibr and 3 Kh-101), although it is possible that one of these missiles (a Kh-10) hit the Ivano Frankivsk Oblast.
In the Kursk region, the Sever group of troops reported that the Ukrainians are trying to prevent the encirclement of their group in the Sudzhansky region by transferring a group of special forces to the state border, whose forces launched an unsuccessful counterattack on Russian positions. Fighting continues in the vicinity of Makhnovka and Nikolaevka.
In Toretsk, heavy fighting continues in the northern part of the city. To the west, Russian forces are advancing in the area of Shcherbinovka, and are maintaining the initiative.
The Russian military has taken control of Ukraïnka in the DPR, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. And yet Russian forces have now reportedly completed the capture of the first road in Uspenivka, gaining a firm foothold in the village. Russian forces have now reportedly completed the capture of the first road in Uspenivka, gaining a firm foothold in the village.
According to reports in the Russian social sphere, Russian forces have advanced in the direction of Andriivka, capturing most of a forested area and three lines of trees. This contradicts reports of a Ukrainian counterattack in the northwestern outskirts of Shevchenko.
Ukraine is significantly increasing its HIMARS strikes on the city of Donetsk and the nearby town of Makiivka, as long-range artillery continues to be pushed out of range. HIMARS rockets are the only main option left for Ukraine.
A Ukrainian source reported that Russian forces entered the ruins of the first houses of Dachne, having advanced in small groups of 2-3 soldiers. Russian sources also reported that the nearby tree line was captured. On the eastern flank of Pokrovs’k, Russian forces reportedly reached the “settlement” of 1 house of Baranivka, capturing the forest south of Baranivka.
Graziella Giangiulio
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