Summary of the day
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told The Associated press that “winter as a whole is a new phase of war” and acknowledged that “we did not achieve the desired results” with the summer counteroffensive.
The Ukrainian leader also said that “we already can see the consequences of the international community shifting (attention) because of the tragedy in the Middle East”.
The situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border remained tense, with Ukrainian truckers stuck on the border saying they plan to launch a hunger strike if their demands are not met. Polish and Ukrainian officials agreed on measures designed to help ease the situation at border crossings blocked by Polish truckers, but did not address the protesting Polish truckers’ main demands.
Slovak truckers said they would start blocking a border crossing with Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military shot down 18 out of 25 attack drones launched by Russia in its latest overnight strike, authorities said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow saw no signs that Kyiv was ready to move towards a political resolution and that there was no reason for Russia to change the goals of its “special military operation”.
Russian investigators said a dual Russian-Italian national had been detained for planting bombs on railway tracks as part of a sabotage campaign orchestrated by Ukrainian military intelligence.
A court in Russia has extended the detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until February 5.
Russia’s navy destroyed an uncrewed Ukrainian navy vessel heading towards Crimea, the defence ministry said.
Heavy snowfall and blizzards across eastern European countries this week have resulted in a number of deaths and left thousands of towns and villages without electricity, after the first major cold snap of the season.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said he opposes even putting the issue of opening EU accession talks with Ukraine on the agenda. The matter is set to be discussed at a major summit of European leaders later this month.
Here are photos from Kyiv today.
