This week, the Ukrainian Defense Forces captured two North Korean soldiers and struck a Russian oil terminal in Engels. Meanwhile, Russia shelled the Zaporizhzhia again, killing 13 people. And Ukraineʼs partners have allocated new military aid packages and imposed sanctions on Russia.
Babel has collected the main news of the week to keep you up to date.
Shelling of Zaporizhzhia
The Russians dropped guided bombs on the city on January 8. Thirteen people were killed and over 120 were injured.
Attack on Zaporizhia.
In Zaporizhzhia, January 9 was declared a day of mourning — the 3rd since the beginning of 2025.
Military aid and sanctions
The Contact Group on Ukraineʼs Defense (“Ramstein”) met this week, and participating countries announced their contributions. Canada will provide more than $300 million for ammunition, funding for drone production in Ukraine. Norway will allocate more than €2 billion to Ukraine, its largest aid in history. The United Kingdom and its allies will provide Ukraine with 30 000 drones, and Germany will provide IRIS-T air defense missiles and 180 000 Gepard air defense missiles. The United States announced a new $500 million aid package that will include missiles, air defense missiles, and air-to-surface missiles. This is the latest package from the Biden administration.
Ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft gun.
The United States also imposed sanctions on 400 Russian energy sector entities, including “Surgutnaftogaz”, “Gazprom Nafta”, “Ingosstrakh”, “Alfastrakhva”, and “Radcomflot”. The United Kingdom followed Washington in imposing restrictions on “Gazprom Nafta” and “Surgutnaftogaz”. The head of “Rostec” Vladimir Artyakov, the CEO of Russiaʼs largest diamond mining company, Alrosa Pavel Marinichev and 12 other people and 33 companies were hit by Japanʼs new sanctions.
Frozen assets of the Russian Federation
Ukraine has received the first tranche from the European Union, which is secured by revenues from Russian frozen assets. This is three billion euros. Kyiv will direct them to priority budget expenditures.
War
The Ukrainian Defense Forces in Kursk took two North Korean soldiers prisoner. They were wounded, but survived. They are currently in Kyiv and are communicating with the SBU investigators. Ukraine is ready to hand over the prisoners to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the condition that he organizes their exchange for Ukrainian fighters held captive in Russia.
Captured North Korean soldiers.
On the night of January 8, Ukraine struck a Russian oil depot in Engels. This depot supplied fuel to the Engels-2 military airfield, which is home to the Tu-160 and Tu-95MS long-range strategic bombers used by the Russians to attack Ukraine.
The consequences of the attack on the oil terminal in Engels.
The Volyn tragedy
Ukraine and Poland have identified places where the bodies of the victims of the Volyn tragedy will be searched for exhumation. Warsaw noted that this is an important first step. Before that, it became known about Ukraineʼs permission to exhume the bodies of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy. Earlier, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosińska-Kamyś stated that he would block Ukraineʼs accession to the EU until this historical issue is resolved.
Fires in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles County (California, USA), large-scale wildfires have been raging for several days, destroying 12 000 buildings. 16 deaths have been confirmed. The fires will be the most expensive in modern history in California and the United States as a whole. AccuWeather estimates the damage from the fires, which have been going on since Tuesday, at $135 billion to $150 billion.
Meanwhile, the EUʼs climate service confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record. Climate change has pushed annual global temperatures above the internationally agreed target of 1.5°C for the first time. The average temperature last year was 1.6°C above pre-industrial levels
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