As Russian attacks worsen Ukraine’s energy woes, Trump rebukes Kyiv

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Russian attacks deepened the vigor and humanitarian crises successful Ukraine during the 2nd week of the year, arsenic temperatures dropped beneath freezing.

On January 9, Russia pounded Kyiv and respective different cities with 242 kamikaze drones and 26 missiles, said Ukraine’s Air Force, which managed to sprout down each but 16 of the drones and 18 missiles.

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Even so, the drones and missiles that got done to Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Odesa, Dnipro, and Lviv killed 4 radical and wounded astir 30.

The strikes near 6,000 flat buildings and fractional a cardinal radical without power, vigor and h2o successful sub-freezing temperatures, with January winds howling into homes whose windows were shattered.

Approximately 1,000 flat buildings successful Kyiv were inactive without powerfulness 2 days later.

INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN UKRAINE-1768387920[Al Jazeera]

On January 13, Russia struck again, targeting powerfulness stations and energy substations, sidesplitting different 4 civilians.

Emergency powerfulness cuts were introduced successful Kyiv and Chernihiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and the Donetsk regions, the vigor ministry said.

“Over the weekend, my flat connected the near slope [of the Dnipro river] had the luxury of having 5 hours’ worthy of energy wrong a span of 72 hours,” wrote lawman exertion of the Kyiv Independent Oleksiy Sorokin.

“My flat technically has heating, but it’s precise weak,” wrote the newspaper’s caput of societal media, Liza Nechyporuk. “I bought respective blistery h2o bottles, and I usage them portion moving and portion sleeping.”

“The Russians are exploiting the upwind – the acold drawback – trying to deed arsenic galore of our vigor facilities arsenic possible,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN EASTERN UKRAINE copy-1768387911[Al Jazeera]

After the 2nd attack, Zelenskyy declared a authorities of exigency for Ukraine’s vigor assemblage and acceptable up a coordination office successful Kyiv for repair work.

Zelenskyy besides appointed erstwhile Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal arsenic the vigor curate with instructions to “increase energy import capacities utilizing each concern opportunities.”

He said the concern was hard successful the full Dnipro valley, including Odesa and Kryvyi Rih.

The Kyiv Independent said the latest strikes brought to 70 percent the proportionality of the vigor infrastructure deed by Russia this winter.

Even earlier Russia’s 2 strikes, Zelenskyy said the upwind unsocial was “causing superior problems connected the roads and with utilities,” calling it “an exigency concern for each services”.

Russian rocket diplomacy

The assaults came aft an statement was astir reached betwixt the United States and Ukraine connected January 8, connected the proviso of information guarantees pursuing a ceasefire.

INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN SOUTHERN UKRAINE-1768387915[Al Jazeera[

At the aforesaid time, Ukraine’s allies, the Coalition of the Willing, were finalising the details of a multinational unit that would beryllium sent to assistance support a ceasefire.

“The architecture of post-war information is practically already successful place,” Zelenskyy had said connected January 6 astatine a associated quality league with France’s President Emannuel Macron and US negotiator Steve Witkoff.

On January 9, the United Kingdom said it was accelerating funds of $268m to concern the UK contingent of the multinational force.

Russia lambasted the developments.

On January 8, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova called enactment for a multinational unit “militaristic declarations” from an “axis of war,” and repeated the Russian presumption that European forces successful Ukraine would beryllium considered “legitimate combat targets”.

To ram the constituent home, Russia included its newest ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, successful the barrage that fell connected Ukraine the pursuing day.

The rocket damaged an craft mill servicing F-16 and MiG-29 fighters successful Lviv, Russia’s defence ministry said, but its diplomatic import was that it would beryllium Russia’s limb of prime against European troops.

Russian National Security Council president Dmitry Medvedev posted video of the Oreshnik onslaught connected societal media, informing members of the coalition, “this is what you’ll get”.

“It’s been said a 1000 times: Russia won’t judge immoderate European oregon NATO troops successful Ukraine,” Medvedev wrote.

“Russia’s behaviour and rhetoric successful nary mode bespeak that they privation to extremity this war,” Zelenskyy said connected Monday.

Trump and Russia

Despite the information that Ukraine has engaged with the US to formulate precise ceasefire and post-war information agreements, US President Donald Trump told the Reuters quality bureau that Ukraine, not Russia, was holding up a bid deal.

“I deliberation he’s acceptable to marque a deal,” Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I deliberation Ukraine is little acceptable to marque a deal.”

Asked wherefore negotiations had not yet ended the war, Trump said, “Zelenskyy.”

Asked wherefore helium thought Zelenskyy was holding up a deal, Trump said, “I conscionable deliberation he’s, you know, having a hard clip getting there.”

“President Trump is wide that Zelenskyy is sabotaging and delaying peace,” agreed the caput of Russia’s sovereign wealthiness fund, Kiril Dimitriev, who has acted arsenic 1 of Putin’s main negotiators.

Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission successful Ukraine recovered that conflict-related unit killed 2,514 civilians and injured 12,142 successful 2025, a 31 percent emergence successful the fig of victims from 2024.

A pistillate   walks connected  debris wrong  a gym situated successful  a gathering  of Professional Lyceum of Construction and Architecture which was deed  by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's onslaught  connected  Ukraine, successful  Odesa, Ukraine January 13, 2026. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok TPX IMAGES OF THE DAYA pistillate walks connected debris wrong a gym situated successful a gathering of Pthe rofessional Lyceum of Construction and Architecture, which was deed by a Russian drone onslaught successful Odesa, Ukraine, connected January 13, 2026 [Nina Liashonok/Reuters]

Russian officials look to beryllium demonstrating that they spot dividends successful deepening the cleavage betwixt the US and Europe, present manifesting itself arsenic a existent situation implicit the fate of Greenland, a Danish-owned, self-governed territory.

Russian Ambassador to Copenhagen Vladimir Barbin told Izvestia that nether the Monroe Doctrine, “Greenland is considered wrong the sphere of US interests.”

“In this context,” helium said, “it volition beryllium hard to reconcile US ambitions, Greenland’s aspirations for independence, and Denmark’s sovereignty implicit this Arctic island.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov provided a reminder of Russia’s territorial ambitions successful Ukraine connected Wednesday.

The Trump administration, helium said, “understand perfectly good that without resolving the contented related to the destiny of radical surviving successful Crimea, Novorossiya, and Donbas, who categorically cull the [Kyiv] regime, having expressed their tendency to instrumentality to Russia, without resolving this contented thing volition work,” helium said during a sojourn to New Delhi.

Russia has annexed the Donbas and Crimea, arsenic good arsenic the regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson, which it mostly occupies. But Novorossiya is simply a notation to an further loop of regions adjoining these – Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Odesa. Annexing these would springiness Russia Ukraine’s full Black Sea seashore and ports.

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