Here is the situation on Monday, January 20:
Fighting
- Russia said it opened criminal investigations into the alleged “cannibalistic massacre” of at least seven civilians in the western Russian village of Russkoe Porechnoye, which Ukraine has occupied since last August. Bodies were reportedly found by Russian soldiers inside the basement of a residential building.
- The Ukrainian Army’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, said his military is suffering from a shortage of mechanised brigades. He also said military mobilisation capacity is “not sufficient” to cover the military’s needs, and gaps are being filled “within reasonable” limits by deploying personnel with other expertise.
- The Ukrainian General Staff accused Russian forces of using ammunition equipped with banned chemicals 434 times in Ukraine during December 2024, bringing the total to 5,389 of such documented cases since February 2023.
- Ukraine’s Air Force says it shot down 43 out of 61 Russian drone attacks in an overnight raid targeting nine regions across Ukraine. No major damage or casualties were immediately reported.
- The Interfax news agency said Russian forces had captured the Vozdvyzhenka village in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, citing Russia’s Ministry of Defence.
- The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Russian forces recently advanced in the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces have taken some territory, and the Ukrainian regions of Kupyansk, Lyman, Chasiv Yar, Torestsk, Kurakhove and Velyka Novosilka. Ukrainian forces have since recaptured lost positions in Chasiv Yar and Toretsk, ISW said.
- The ISW also said that Russian volunteer military detachments are continuing to boost the Russian Army’s manpower by recruiting women to join the war.
Military aid
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed again for “the strong support” from Ukraine’s allies and for more United States-made Patriot air defence systems. This follows a week of more than 1,000 Russian air offences.
