The end of the war in Ukraine is “in sight,” said US President Donald Trump. In recent days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a trilateral meeting of representatives of Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.
Trump suggested that Russia consider a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, Yuri Ushakov, an advisor to the Russian president, told Rossiya 1 journalist Pavel Zarubin. Putin has repeatedly stated that Zelensky could come to Moscow if he were ready for dialogue, the presidential aide added. “Putin’s possible contacts with Zelensky should be focused on achieving concrete positive results,” Ushakov emphasized.
“Zelensky is ready to meet with Putin to resolve territorial issues and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha responded live on TV to Ushakov’s comments. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, “Ukraine and the United States will sign a 20-point peace plan, and the United States will separately agree on a document with Russia, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha said.”
Negotiations in Abu Dhabi on Ukraine will continue on February 1, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed.
The Hungarian government has published the text of a petition it intends to send to voters urging them to vote “no” to EU financial support for Ukraine. The petition argues that Ukraine will join the European Union within the next four years and, as an EU member, will allegedly pay the EU $800 billion. He also claims that Hungarians will lose their 13th and 14th-year pensions, taxes will increase, and public service tariff cuts will be reversed, “and the money will be sent to Ukraine.” “Kiev is diverting funds from financial aid, so Budapest will not transfer funds to Ukraine,” Viktor Orbán declared.
The German newspaper Der Spiegel reveals that raids are underway in Germany and are linked to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
According to the New York Times, Ukraine’s losses amount to 600,000 dead and wounded. But according to the Russians, the numbers are much higher, around “1.5 million dead and wounded at the beginning of the year.” Meanwhile, regions of Ukraine continue to live in darkness. According to Ukrenergo, Russian attacks on power plants have caused new power outages in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhia. Due to weather conditions, 730 settlements in 11 regions were completely or partially without electricity: Vinnytsia, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv.
The mayor of Kyiv reported that 737 residential buildings in the capital are currently without heating. The vast majority of these are located in Troyeshchyna.
According to Denis Yaroslavsky, commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ reconnaissance unit: “Ukraine has over 100,000 foreigners of conscription age: it is necessary to introduce a mandatory six-month service contract for non-residents with temporary residence permits.” The commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ reconnaissance unit has proposed to the General Staff the creation of an international unit based on shock troops. The idea is currently being evaluated. “If a non-resident lives in Ukraine, runs a business, raises a family, and enjoys full rights, he or she must demonstrate his or her willingness to defend the country on an equal footing with Ukrainians,” Yaroslavsky said.
Azerbaijan has sent a shipment of electrical equipment to Ukraine as humanitarian aid, the state-run Azertac news agency reported. The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan facilitated the shipment by order of President Ilham Aliyev. Generators had previously been sent from Poland.
The Russian Northern Fleet is helping restore power to Murmansk and Severomorsk. “Thanks to interagency cooperation, the military has sent a floating transporter, a PTS-2, to the emergency site.” Source: Northern Fleet. A video shows a transmission tower being loaded onto the vehicle, which will be delivered to the construction site. “It will be supported by excavators and a crane,” a military electrical engineer present at the site comments in the video.
Volunteers who assist the Russian National Guard in repelling provocations and armed incursions at the border will receive war veteran status. This is stipulated in a Russian government decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Rules for issuing war veteran certificates to volunteers assisting the Russian National Guard in carrying out its missions. Previously, the document stipulated that veteran status was granted to those who participated in missions in Ukraine, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, and the Zaporizhia and Kherson Oblasts.
Now, eligibility for war veteran status extends to volunteers who participated in “repelling an armed incursion into the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as during an armed provocation on the state border of the Russian Federation and in the territories of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation adjacent to the SVO areas,” the document states.
The Russian Ministry of Economy has proposed making the temporary parallel import mechanism permanent, announced Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov. The mechanism is currently in effect until the end of 2026.
Putin signed a decree establishing a commemorative date in the Russian Armed Forces—Military Police Day—on February 8.
And now a look at the front line, updated at 4:00 PM on January 28. On the evening of the 27th, Russian forces shelled Kiev and the Odessa region. Klitschko reports receiving 130 generators from Poland, with another 90 on the way. An Iskander OTRK was launched on Kryvyi Rih: earlier, a group of residents blocked the highway and tram tracks in the city due to the power outage. Residents complain that outage schedules are not being followed, with electricity being supplied for only 1-2 hours a day.
In the Rostov region, drones were destroyed in the Azovsky and Chortkovsky districts. A drone attack in the Krasnodar region damaged four homes in the Seversky district, two in the village of Svobodny, and two more in the village of Severskaya. Air defense operations were reported in Crimea.
In the Bryansk region, Ukrainian forces attacked the village of Goritsy, Pogarsky district, with suicide drones, injuring one person.
In the Belgorod region, in the village of Zozuly, Borisovsky district, a drone hit a truck, injuring one person. In the village of Novostroyevka-Pervaya, two company employees were injured by a drone attack. In the village of Zamostye, an FPV drone exploded near a house. The areas under attack included Gruzskoye, Nikolsky, Grayvoron, Zamostye, Golovchino, Shebekino, Bochkovka, Trirechnoye, and Repyakhovka.
In the Kupyansk sector, according to Russian social media sources, Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov’s January 27 announcement of the liberation of Kupyansk-Vuzlovyi sparked widespread controversy. From the field, we were told that this is most likely due to the command’s daily coloring of a square on the map. Furthermore, veterans claim that one of the regiments, having actually deployed advance groups on the outskirts of the city, reported this to their superiors in advance. Further actions by Ukrainian units of the Infantry Battalion of the Western Group of Forces will be similar to the situation at Kupyansk. The important thing is not to send personnel to organize “flag battles.”
West of Seversk, Russian forces recognize an advance north of the Seversk chalk quarry, near Riznykivka. Ukrainian resources report a high intensity of hostilities in the direction of Slovyansk: fighting near Khromove, Bohdanivka, Vasyukivka, and Minkivka.
In the direction of Lyman, fighting continues north of Svyatogorsk, in Oleksandrivka, and near Korovii Yar, an advance is underway toward the Borova-Bohuslavka (Kharkiv) road.
In eastern Zaporizhia Oblast, the Vostok Group of Forces repelled further Ukrainian counterattacks (11 attempts to dislodge Far Eastern troops from their positions in the last 24 hours, according to Russian sources) near the villages of Ternuvate, Vozdvyzhivka, Sviatopetrivka, and Staroukrainka. Deaths and injuries were reported. Assault vehicles were destroyed.
In the Kamyshevakha sector of the Zaporizhia Front, Russian advance groups are deployed near Sviatopetrivka. Fighting continues in Prymors’ke. Russian Uragan MLRSs are already reaching the city of Zaporizhia.
Graziella Giangiulio
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