The Russo-Ukrainian War: List of major events, day 1050 | News of the war between Russia and Ukraine

Here are the main developments on the 1,050th day of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.

This is the situation on Thursday, January 9:

Fighting

• Russian bomb attack on the city of Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine At least 13 civilians were killed Governor Ivan Fedorov said in a statement on social media that the explosion injured about 30 others.
• Fedorov also said that a separate Russian raid killed two people in the village of Stepnogersk, south of Zaporizhya and close to the front line.
• Roman Posagrin, the governor of the Russian city of Saratov, said two firefighters died while fighting a fire that broke out after Ukrainian forces struck an oil depot in the region, which is located about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
• The United States has told the UN Security Council that North Korea is “benefiting significantly” from its forces fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine, and has gained experience that makes Pyongyang “more capable of waging war against its neighbours.”
• Nada Al-Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that she was “deeply concerned” by the significant increase in “credible allegations of executions” of detained Ukrainian troops by the Russian armed forces.

Military aid

• Two US officials said that the United States is ready to supply Ukraine with additional weapons worth $500 million to be quickly withdrawn from its current stockpiles, adding that this step is being taken by the administration of US President Joe Biden before Donald Trump takes office in the White House.
• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said US leadership on Ukraine is “critical” and continued aid to Kiev is key, a day before the expected announcement of a new military aid package.

Politics and diplomacy

• Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said NATO membership is the only “reliable” security guarantee Ukraine can have against any future Russian aggression.
• During a visit to Kiev, Valtonen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and visited the country’s largest children’s hospital in the capital, which was severely damaged by a Russian attack in July 2024.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that any future agreement to end the war in Ukraine would need to include “the necessary deterrence” to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine again.

• Zelensky will attend a defense meeting of Kiev allies hosted by the United States at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, he said in a video message on social media.
• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet French President Emmanuel Macron, where illegal immigration and support for Ukraine are likely to be among the topics up for discussion.
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended a memorial ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the Ukrainian Airlines flight shot down by Iran in 2020 that was carrying passengers from Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan and Iran.

Regional tension

• The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in the country Ready to replace Hungary In the European Union and NATO if Budapest prefers to join the Russian-led blocs after Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó criticized Ukraine’s refusal to renew a five-year transit period Gas deal with Russia.
• Finnish President Alexander Stubb will host a summit in Helsinki of NATO countries bordering the Baltic Sea with Estonian Prime Minister Kristin Michel next week.
• Lithuania said it would strengthen security measures for the main electricity cable linking it to neighboring Poland, citing the possibility of sabotage. The EU and NATO member state, along with its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia, are scheduled to disconnect from the Russian power grid next month, the culmination of decades-long efforts to reduce dependence on Moscow.

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country, no matter how powerful, and noted that US President-elect Trump’s expansionist comments regarding Greenland, Panama and Canada face a “lack of understanding” among European leaders.
• Zelensky played down concerns about Trump’s comments in which he said he understood why Russia did not want Ukraine to join NATO. “Do not draw conclusions about US policy immediately,” Zelensky said.
• Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he secured gas supplies to Slovakia during a visit to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month, before Ukraine stopped transporting gas from Russia at the beginning of 2025.
• Zelensky and Moldova’s President Maia Sandu discussed the use of Ukrainian coal to ease the energy crisis that has exposed Moldova’s breakaway region of Transdniestria to power outages and lack of heating. Pro-Russian Transdniestria depends on Russian gas supplies. But flows to the region through Ukraine stopped on January 1 after Ukraine refused to renew an agreement allowing gas to pass through its territory.