Russia Russian troops advance in eastern Ukraine
In eastern Ukraine, Russian troops continue to attack incessantly and put pressure on the defenders. In its evening report, the Ukrainian General Staff recorded 125 Russian attacks on Thursday. The focus was once again on the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, where 51 battles were reported. The mining town, which had around 60,000 inhabitants before the war, has been fought over for months.
31.01.2025, 05:32
SDA
However, the Russians have decided not to take the city directly, but to advance south of it. According to maps by Ukrainian military observers, only the village of Udatschne is still unoccupied. Behind it begins the Ukrainian administrative region of Dnipropetrovsk, which Russian troops have not yet reached in the almost three years of their war of aggression.
The pro-army Russian military blog Rybar reported that Russian troops had taken control of further parts of the city of Chasiv Yar. However, Ukrainian sources have denied the complete loss of the city.
Russian and Ukrainian drones in the night sky
On Friday night, air alarms were triggered in one Ukrainian region after another, starting from the east, because Russian combat drones were detected in the sky. The Russian Ministry of Defense in Moscow, in turn, said that 17 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted over Russia before midnight.
On Thursday morning, a Russian drone hit a high-rise building in the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing at least 9 people and injuring 13. "Each of these Russian strikes needs a response from the world, terror must not go unpunished," said President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in a video address. At least 13 people were injured in Russian shelling on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
Billions in military aid from Sweden
Sweden, a new member of NATO, presented its 18th and largest military support package for Ukraine to date. According to government figures, it is worth 13.5 billion Swedish kronor (just under 1.2 billion euros). Among other things, this means a doubling of the 16 Stridsbåt 90 transport boats already donated, as well as 1,500 anti-tank missiles and 146 trucks. The package also includes investments to support the Ukrainian arms industry.
Czech Republic wants to organize ammunition purchases again
Following a purchase of artillery ammunition for Ukraine in 2024 organized by the Czech Republic, the government in Prague is seeking support from other EU states for a new ammunition initiative. "It's a question of political will, and if many EU member states join our initiative again, we can achieve a lot for Ukraine," Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). "We are currently examining how we can finance the new ammunition initiative and will then see how many rounds of ammunition we can get for the money." He did not want to commit to a specific amount of ammunition.
Last year, the Czech Republic met its declared target of 1.5 million rounds of ammunition for Ukraine. Around a third of this was 155 mm caliber. "This has played an important role in creating parity on the battlefield in Ukraine," said Lipavsky.
Nuclear inspectors at Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant hear battle noise
According to the IAEA, the international nuclear inspectors at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine hear the sound of fighting in the surrounding area almost every day. On Thursday, there were several explosions near the nuclear power plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced in Vienna. However, no damage to the plant was reported. The head of the authority, Rafael Grossi, linked his report on the work of the inspectors with the announcement that he would be visiting Kiev again on Tuesday (February 4).
IAEA observers are present at all active nuclear power plants in Ukraine as well as at the decommissioned Chernobyl plant. Every day they report air alarms or drones in the vicinity of their plants, said Grossi. The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, is located directly on the Dnipro River, which also forms the front line there. Russian and Ukrainian troops are fighting each other across the river with artillery and combat drones.
