Russian Psych Ops with drone/rocket attacks….
Freezing soliders….
Russia demanding Donbas….
Russia economy sinking further in the toilet…
Putin hoping Trump can beat down Zelensky….
Europe still supporting the Ukraine against Putin and Trump….
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Russia sent a delegation led by GRU military intelligence chief, Adm Igor Kostyukov, to day one of the peace talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US, in Abu Dhabi on Friday, indicating a focus on military rather than political negotiations. It has also repeated its demand that Ukraine leave Donbas before the talks start. The talks will resume on Saturday. The talks are the highest-level known summit between the three countries since the beginning of the war, and come as Ukraine faces a harsh winter with much of its civilian energy infrastructure damaged by Russia.
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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the three sides were meeting at “negotiator level” – in a format for the first time “in a long time”. The talks come after a seventh meeting between Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where the main topics of discussion were Russia’s demands for territory and Ukraine’s security guarantees. Witkoff was accompanied in Moscow by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Josh Gruenbaum, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service.
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Russian strikes killed one and injured at least 15 people in Kyiv and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv overnight . Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed in the capital and four injured, including three being treated in hospital. Klitschko said the strikes had triggered fires in districts on either side of the Dnipro River, which bisects the capital. He said heating and water supplies had been disrupted in parts of the city east of the river. Ukraine’s air force said both drones and missiles had been deployed in the assault on the capital. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, reported strikes in at least four districts. A medical facility was among the buildings damaged. The mayor of Kharkiv reported an attack by Iranian-made Shahed drones that wounded more than 11 people and damaged several residential buildings in two districts of the city near the Russian border.
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Ukraine’s energy situation “significantly” worsened on Friday after recent Russian air attacks, triggering emergency power outages in most regions, Kyiv’s grid operator said. Moscow has increased airstrikes in recent weeks, further damaging battered infrastructure and leaving large numbers of residents without power and heating during a subzero cold snap. CEO of Ukraine’s top private energy firm, Maxim Timchenko, said the situation was “close to a humanitarian catastrophe” and that any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine must include a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure.
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Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday she hoped Donald Trump would end the conflict in Ukraine so she could nominate him for the Nobel peace prize. “I trust that if he makes a difference … in achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, for Ukraine too … finally, we too could nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize,” she told a press conference. Italy has been invited to join Trump’s “board of peace” however, Italy’s constitutional rules do not allow the country to join an organisation led by a single foreign leader, according to media reports.
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Russia has begun using a new model of high-speed drone against Ukraineamid claims by Kyiv’s military intelligence directorate that key parts are sourced from western and Chinese companies. Wreckage recovered from a so-called Geran-5 long-range attack drone that was fired at Ukraine in early January points to a series of new capabilities that experts believe could pose a serious threat to Ukraine’s already struggling air defence if deployed widely. The increasing speed of Russian attack drones has been cited by members of Ukraine’s small-fire mobile air defence teams as an increasing challenge as the window of time to shoot them down gets smaller.
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Russia “deliberately” wants to deprive Ukrainians of energy to break their spirit, but “will fail”, according to EU commissioner for preparedness and crisis management Hadja Lahbib. The European Commission is deploying 447 emergency generators from EU reserves to Ukraine. “The EU will not let Russia freeze Ukraine into submission and will continue helping Ukrainians get through this winter,” said Lahbib…..
ISW…Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 24, 2026
- US, Ukrainian, and Russian delegations concluded a second day of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on January 24.
- Kremlin officials continue to respond to ongoing negotiations by reiterating Russia’s commitment to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s original maximalist war aims in Ukraine while attempting to rhetorically shift the blame for the Kremlin’s own reticence onto Ukraine.
- Russia launched another combined missile and drone strike overnight on January 23 to 24 primarily targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine, particularly Kyiv City.
- Russia’s intensified long-range strike campaign targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure throughout Fall 2025 and Winter 2025-2026 has significantly degraded Ukraine’s energy grid, disproportionately effecting Ukrainian civilians.
- Russia’s continued devastating strike campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure emphasizes Ukraine’s urgent need for additional air defense systems and munitions for a holistic and well-rounded air defense umbrella.
- Independent reporting continues to indicate that Russian forces and authorities continue systematically abusing Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Russian detention in violation of international law.
- Thousands of Ukrainians remain in Russian detention and are subject to this abuse.
- Russian milbloggers continue to highlight the inconsistency between the Russian military command’s claims of advances and the reality on the battlefield particularly in the Kupyansk direction.
- Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov appointed former Deputy Digital Transformation Minister Valeria Ionan as a Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MoD) advisor on international projects.
- Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area. Russian forces recently advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area and near Slovyansk….
Daily Kos grunt report for tonight…..
Ukraine will develop units of the Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) to carry out combat and asymmetric operations necessary to protect the country’s interests abroad.
This was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a speech on Foreign Intelligence Day.
During his speech, the president thanked the intelligence officers for their service, in particular for obtaining important information, in-depth analysis, as well as for the combat work and “deep strikes” carried out by the forces of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine….
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Payless paydays in Russia…
A telling example is Khakassia. There, education, medicine, and emergency services workers have been left without payments. At the end of 2025, the accounts of 30 schools and kindergartens were blocked due to debts, and the problem has still not been resolved.
In the intelligence service, they name the key reasons: a drop in prices for coal, oil, and metals, a reduction in export and small business income, an increase in social spending, and a lack of access to credit.
This is not an isolated case: similar problems are being recorded in at least 15 regions of Russia. In the Kemerovo region, 75% of coal companies are operating at a loss.
In the SZRU, they note that even subsidies from Moscow won’t save the situation — the tax base of the regions is rapidly shrinking, and there are almost no resources left to close the holes in the budgets…
Russia Psych Ops….
Last night, Russia conducted massive drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv, the county’s two largest cities, and then posted the following message in the morning:
“Kyiv residents, flee the city. Kyivans, get out of the city.
Neither district shelters nor bowls of soup on the streets will save you. There are far more of you than there are shelters and soups.
Tonight should have finally shown even the most foolish that the city is doomed to be shut down. It will be shut down.
A return to normal life will not begin until your defeat is acknowledged and recorded.
Your bosses, who have been using you for the past four years, do not want to admit defeat and will not do so as long as they are alive.
Therefore, everything that is happening in the city now is just the beginning. It will not get any better until the end of the war.
The faster the city empties, the faster all this will end. The faster you escape from it, the better you will be able to settle in a new place.
Do not expect things to be better in the city than they are now. Do not even hope that they will not get worse. Run.
Kharkiv and Dnipro residents, this also applies to you.” Source: АДЕКВАТ Z
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