Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events – day 1,066

Here is the situation on Saturday, January 25:

Fighting

• After a months-long conflict, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its troops had fought their way into Velyka Novosilka, a strategically important town in eastern Ukraine.
• Moscow said it intercepted 121 Ukrainian drones, including 37 in Russia’s Bryansk, 20 in Ryazan and 17 in the Kursk and Saratov regions of the country.
• Russian forces in Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region are failing to outflank their forces, according to the Ukrainian military, as Russia attempts to obliterate supply routes there for Ukrainian defenders. The area has been a significant logistics hub for Ukrainian forces there.
• According to an analysis by the Oryx Project, Russia has lost 20, 000 military installations since February 2022, with 852 of those directly damaged and 15, 051 of which were directly destroyed in the conflict with Ukraine.
• Since the BBC’s most recent update in mid-January, Mediazona and independent outlet Mediazona have added 90, 019 Russian soldiers to their list, adding 1, 964 more names.
• In an effort to bolster the nation’s fighting force, Ukraine is in the final stages of developing recruitment reforms that will allow those between the ages of 18 and 25 to join the military.
• According to Ukrainian military officials, the reforms are necessary because the country currently employs Soviet-era recruitment methods.

Politics &amp, Diplomacy

• Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, suggested holding a personal meeting with Donald Trump to discuss ending the Ukrainian conflict.
• Putin defended his claim that he was the real winner of the 2020 US election by claiming that he had a “pragmatic and trusting” relationship with Trump throughout the campaign.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has accused the president of trying to sway Trump into agreeing to put an end to the conflict with Moscow.

Military aid

• In a comprehensive executive order, the US stopped all foreign aid for 90 days, including billions of dollars in weapons, and also put an end to development and military assistance to Ukraine.
• As countries restock supplies sent to Ukraine and prepare for other conflicts, US military equipment sales increased 29 percent to a record $ 318.7 billion in 2024, according to the State Department.

Regional developments

• In a central square in the Slovak capital, tens of thousands of protesters gathered to protest Russian-led Prime Minister Robert Fico’s policy change. Similar rallies were held in 20 other cities in 2018 that nearly drew Fico out of office.
• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, pardoned 15 prisoners two days before an election, which is expected to extend his more than 30 years in power.
• Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, threatened to halt the EU’s continued sanctions against Russia.

Regional Security

• Despite Donald Trump and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen making a heated phone call in early January, the US President declared that he wanted Greenland, Denmark has agreed to talk about Arctic security with the US.

Economy

• Trump once more demanded that oil prices be lowered by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to hurt Russia’s finances and put an end to the Ukrainian War.
• The leader of Moldova’s separatist Transdniestria region, gripped by gas and heating cuts, said on Friday that the country’s remaining gas reserves would be empty within days after Moscow’s Gazprom ended shipments.