
The United States has suspended the U4U program for refugees from Ukraine. “In response to the January 20, 2025 Executive Order, ‘Securing Our Borders,’ USCIS is suspending the acceptance of Form I-134A, the online support application, and the declaration of financial support,” the USCIS said.
US sources say that in recent days the US military has transferred about 90 Patriot anti-aircraft missiles from Israel to Poland, in preparation for their transfer to Ukraine. The move comes amid growing US support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia. A Luxembourg A400M military transport plane has landed in Rzeszow with a cargo of ammunition and weapons from Belgium.
The European Union will add 35 people and 19 companies to the sanctions list as part of the 16th package of anti-Russian restrictions, Polskie Radio reported. The register will include citizens of the Russian Federation, North Korea and China, employees of the military-industrial complex, entrepreneurs in the energy sector and authorities of the new regions of the Russian Federation, as well as people accused by the EU of “propaganda and disinformation.” According to RMF24, the 16th package may include prohibitive duties on nitrogen fertilizers from Russia and Belarus and on some agri-food products.
Conflicting statements are coming from Ukraine as every day. Volodymyr Zelensky: “Now there is an opportunity to achieve real peace, but Putin is doing everything to prolong the war.” “Every step and all his cynical tricks are aimed at making the war endless. Real peace is possible if we force Russia to do this,” he noted. And then he added always in the context of achieving peace: “We should not have given up nuclear weapons.”
Ukrainian MP Venislavsky, presidential representative in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: “I, as a person who has a little more information from closed sources, have no reason to hope that the war will end in the coming months. The war will definitely not end in a few months. The mobilization is going as planned and there will be no easing in these matters. Initiatives to attract young people aged 18 to 25 into the army only confirm that we need supplies in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sibiga has been invited to an expanded meeting of the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, the EU and the United States, a source in diplomatic circles said. He notes that the meeting is scheduled to take place on February 12 in Paris. This will be the first official contact with the new American administration.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has confirmed the registration of the case against Defense Minister Rustem Umerov under the article on abuse of power or official position, Interfax-Ukraine reports. According to Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the punishment is three to six years of imprisonment. A preliminary investigation has been launched. According to the CCP, Umerov refused to comply with the decision of the supervisory board of the Defense Procurement Agency to extend the contract with the agency’s director Marina Bezrukova for one year. In addition, the minister dismissed two members of the supervisory board, Taras Chmut and Yuri Dzhigir, who supported this decision.
Nearly 10 thousand residents of new regions of Russia have signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces in just 10 months of 2024, the Center for National Resistance, close to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, reports. And while the war between Ukraine and Russia is currently not seeing constructive signs of peace agreements, the Russian Federation is implementing its relations in Africa.
“The positions of the Russian Federation and Algeria are close on most points of the international and regional agenda,” said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev during negotiations with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the press service of the Deputy Prime Minister reported. The negotiations were held as part of the Deputy Prime Minister’s working trip to Algeria. The parties discussed cooperation in the fields of finance, industry, energy and agriculture. Patrushev stressed the strategic nature of relations between Russia and Algeria and expressed readiness for further close coordination and cooperation between the two countries.
About 11 million jobs will have to be filled in Russia over the next five years, said the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation Dmitry Platygin.
And now a look at the front line as of 17:00 on January 29.
At night, a massive attack by airborne UAVs on Russian regions by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 26 drones were destroyed in the Bryansk region, including 3 jets. Civilian objects in the Smolensk region were subjected to a massive drone attack; one UAV was shot down during an attempted attack on a nuclear facility (there is a nuclear power plant in the region). In the Toropetsk district of the Tver region, the forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense repelled the attack of 20 drones. In the Nizhny Novgorod region, in Kstovo, after a UAV strike, a fire broke out at an oil refinery, the governor said that “debris from a drone fell”. In the Rostov region, electronic warfare suppressed a UAV in the Myasnikovsky district.
In the Kursk region, the “North” group of troops is fighting fierce battles near Sverdlikovo and reports advances in the forests west of Plekhovo. Interesting information is about the transfer to the Sudzhanskij border area of more than 470 people from the border detachments of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, who previously caught tax evaders on the border with Romania.
In the Kharkiv region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that as a result of decisive actions by units of the “West” group of troops, the village was taken. Dvorichna, Kharkiv region, located on the right bank of the Oskil River north of Kupyansk. Russian troops have already gained a foothold on two bridgeheads west of this river.
In the south of the Pokrovs’k direction, Russian forces continue to advance westward, advancing in the areas of the settlement of Petropavlivka, Slov’yanka, Novoandriivka, Novojelyzavetivka, Nadiivka. Southwest of Pokrovs’k, fighting is reported in Udachne. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are constantly introducing new reserves into battle. In the late afternoon, an update said: “Russian forces are moving towards the Dnipropetrovsk region.” According to Come and See, the Russian military continues to successfully develop its offensive in the direction of the Dnipropetrovsk region. “Russian troops have gained a foothold in the center of Udachne and are advancing,” the channel’s source said. Earlier, Russian forces took the village of Nadiivka. Ukrainian forces are trying to slow down the advance of the Russian army with the help of drones.
West of Kurachove, our troops are trying to cover the settlement of Dachne.
In Zaporizhia, Russian drone operators are hitting supply routes in the nearby Ukrainian rear in the Preobrazhenka area and north of Orichiv.
In the Belgorod region, Ukrainian forces struck an apartment building in the city of Grayvoron at night. The village of Grafovka, Krasnoyaruzhsky district, was subjected to artillery shelling and attacks by 2 FPV drones, and power lines were damaged. The village of Tishanka, Volokonovsky district, was targeted. In Grayvoronsky district, in the village of Novostroevka-Pervaya, as a result of attacks by 2 kamikaze drones, the gates of a private house were damaged. In the city of Grayvoron, a drone exploded near an administrative building.
Graziella Giangiulio
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