Donald Trump continues to make subtle threats to the European Union: “Putin is not afraid of Europe. Europe is changing. Europe must get back on its feet. I love Europe, I believe I’m European, I have roots in Europe, but Europe is a different place… They must be very careful with their immigration policies.”
“Trump considers Putin an ‘obstacle to peace’, the US president is tired of his games,” The Telegraph. “Trump’s decision to seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker and maintain sanctions would have been a signal to Putin that he was running out of time to end the war: “Trump operates according to the carrot-and-stick principle. And he’s out of carrots.” Things aren’t going any better for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: Trump, in an interview with the NYT, said: “Zelenskyy has no trump cards, he only has one thing: Donald Trump.”
Meanwhile, the US Navy’s Independence armored personnel carrier has arrived in Bremerhaven, likely to transport heavy weapons to Europe.
The Swedish Embassy in Ukraine: “Sweden has promised to produce and deliver 44 Archer self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine by mid-2025. To date, 26 installations have been delivered to Ukraine.”
Macron discussed the deployment of troops to Ukraine after the war with parliamentary group leaders, according to Le Monde. The closed-door meeting was scheduled to take place on January 8 at the Elysée Palace, in the presence of ministers, the country’s military leaders, presidents of the chambers of Parliament, and leaders of political groups and parties. According to Macron, around 6,000 soldiers will be stationed “far from the front”; they will accompany and They will train Ukrainian units. For his part, Chief of the General Staff Fabien Mandon explained that these will not be deterrent or stabilization forces, but “forces to support the Ukrainian army.”
The resignations of Ukrainian Defense Minister Shmyhal and First Deputy Prime Minister Fedorov were submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted to the Verkhovna Rada the relevant bills approving his decrees extending martial law in Ukraine and ordering general mobilization for another 90 days. The documents have already been submitted to the commission for review.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Oreshnik missile that struck Lviv on January 9th was aimed at the state-owned aircraft repair plant that was hit.
Zelensky is reportedly expecting a response from Russia on a peace plan by the end of the month.
The Ukrainian head of state stated this in an interview with Bloomberg. In the interview, he also said he was discussing a free trade agreement with Trump with the United States.
“The agreement will include zero tariffs on trade with the United States and will apply to some industrialized regions of Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “Ukraine is studying a US plan to create an economic buffer zone between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the event of a ceasefire,” the prime minister reported. Furthermore, the SBU has developed new hostile actions toward Russia, but Zelensky did not disclose what these are.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is in the cold. DTEK: Emergency power outages persist, particularly in Kyiv; “the most critical electricity situation in the Kyiv region remains in the cities of Brovary, Vasylkiv, Fastiv, and Boryspil.” On January 12, partial power outages occurred in the regions of Odessa, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Chernihiv due to a Blackout.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied reports that Moscow was involved in the damage to the Qatari embassy in Kyiv, calling them lies. The ministry attributed the damage to the building to faulty Ukrainian air defense systems.
“A significant portion of Europe currently considers Russia its greatest security threat, but this is a misconception,” said former Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai.
“It was said that Europe needed US assistance to ensure security, but now it is in a desperate situation and is forced to beg Washington. This raises the question: if you need security protection, then there is a threat.”
“But what constitutes a security threat to Europe? If the security threat is undefined, what kind of protection is needed and do we have the capacity to provide it?” These questions remain unanswered,” Cui Tiankai said, speaking at a roundtable discussion on “US Relations with Allies in the Trump 2.0 Era”.
On January 11, a US Navy P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft actively monitored the Kaliningrad region.
And now a look at the front line, updated at 3:30 PM on January 12. According to Ukrainian data, in early 2026, the Russian Armed Forces first deployed the new Geran-5 jet-powered UAV. The UAV is approximately 6 meters long, has a wingspan of up to 5.5 meters, a 90 kg warhead, and a range of approximately 1,000 km. Most key components are common to other models in this series. Specifically, the 12-channel Kometa satellite radio navigation system, a Raspberry microcomputer-based locator, and a modem are used. 3G/4G and an upgraded Telefly jet engine, used on the Geran-3 UAV. An airborne version is also under development, specifically for launches from the Su-25, and the aircraft can be separately equipped with P-73 air-to-air missiles.
Overnight, Russian forces carried out strikes in the Odessa and Chernihiv regions, reporting airstrikes in Kiev. Zelenskyy stated that “the situation with electricity and heating is extremely difficult. The harsh winter weather is exacerbating the problems.
Sevastopol and the western coast of Crimea repelled a Ukrainian drone attack overnight. During the day, the Ukrainian General Staff released footage of attacks on watchtowers in the Caspian Sea.
Russia is attempting to establish a foothold for further offensive operations in the direction of Khotin: “This poses a threat to the advance towards Sumy, according to the Ukrainian 7th Airborne Assault Corps.” “All such attempts are promptly discovered and thwarted. Overall, the Russian armed forces periodically conduct assault operations and are also increasing drone activity in some areas. During infantry advances, Russian troops are avoiding frontal attacks and attempting to operate on the flanks,” the report states.
Another Russian source explains that in the Sumy sector, the Northern Group of Forces is extending enemy defenses along the front, increasing the number of hotspots in the area of responsibility in the Sumy and Krasnopil’s’kyi districts. This will make it easier to attack the Ukrainians in small groups.
In the Kharkiv sector, the same group of forces is engaged in fighting around Vovchansk. Ukrainian forces have reinforced their assault groups and are counterattacking. Russian forces are breaking through Ukrainian defenses in the Starytsya area and near Lyman, as well as in Vovchansk Khutory.
South of Kupyansk, field reports indicate a continuing trend toward “discrete relations.” For example, they mention that Petropavlivka and Kucherivka are located At the very least, they are in the “gray zone,” despite being “borrowed,” and a small assault group was sent through the forest to the outskirts of Podoly, risking their lives, just to display a flag, presumably to fuel a leadership dispute with bloggers. On January 11, Russian forces thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian forces to plant a flag on the Kupyansk city administration building, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
In the Kostyantynivka direction, fighting for Pleshchiivka has resumed, with the western outskirts of the village now in the “gray zone.”
In the Pokrovsk–Druzhkivka direction, fighting is ongoing for Toretske, near the Kazenyi Torets River. Both sides have a multitude of weapons and do not hesitate to use them against any significant target.
Near Hulyaijpole, in the Zaporizhia region, Ukrainians are unsuccessfully counterattacking the group’s positions. Eastern Forces reported that “over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have lost up to two platoons of men. However, our forces are managing to penetrate enemy defenses on the flanks.” Other Ukrainian sources say Hulyaijpole is currently a vast gray area. The Russian military is unable to deploy reinforcement groups to the city, a spokesperson for the Southern Defense Forces said. “Russian assault groups are entering the city, and fighting continues with Russian attack aircraft. There have been more than 10 such clashes in the past 24 hours,” Voloshin said.
On the Kherson front, weather conditions are also preventing the active use of drones; the Ukrainian Armed Forces are urgently replenishing ammunition and restoring combat capability under cover of the elements.
Graziella Giangiulio
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