Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,424

Here is where things stand on Sunday, January 18:

Fighting

• The General Staff of the Ukrainian military has estimated that Russian forces have lost about 1,225,590 personnel since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
• The office also reported that Russia has lost an estimated 11,569 tanks, 23,914 armoured fighting vehicles, 74,601 vehicles and fuel tanks, 36,261 artillery systems, 1,615 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,278 air defence systems, 434 aeroplanes, 347 helicopters, 108,605 drones, 28 ships and boats, and two submarines. Casualty figures for both sides since the beginning of the war have been difficult to independently verify.
• The Russian TASS news agency reported that Russian forces have captured the settlement of Pryvillya in the Donetsk region and Pryluky
  in the Zaporizhia region, citing the Ministry of Defence in Moscow.
• The ministry said that Ukrainian forces lost about 1,305 personnel in the last 24 hours, and that Russian air defences shot down 214 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones and two long-range Neptune missiles.
• Russia’s Defence Ministry also said that it carried out attacks on Ukrainian energy and transportation infrastructure across 167 locations over the past 24 hours, along with deployment areas for Ukrainian forces and “ammunition depots, assembly workshops, storage sites, pre-flight preparation and launch sites for long-range unmanned aerial vehicles”.

Energy strikes

• Russian forces continued their campaign of strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over Saturday night, carrying out attacks in the Kyiv and Odesa regions, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy. Ukrainian authorities have characterised the Russian attacks as an effort to weaponise the current cold weather, degrading the country’s energy system.
• Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said in a post on the messaging app Telegram that more than 20 settlements in the Kyiv area were left without power as a result of the strikes.
• The mayor of the city of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said that constant Russian attacks were straining the energy system of Ukraine’s second-largest city, stating the system that provides residents with essentials, such as heating and electricity, was “constantly operating at its limits”. He said that three people were injured in overnight strikes.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an energy coordination meeting that the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia are facing the most acute energy challenges. He added that the country must increase energy imports and seek additional equipment from allies.
• The Ukrainian news outlet Kyiv Independent reported that foreign embassies plan to stay in Kyiv despite the power outages, infrastructure issues, and predictions of extreme cold, with weather forecasts predicting temperatures as low as –20 degrees Celsius (–4 degrees Fahrenheit) later this month. The outlet reported that about 80 foreign diplomatic missions are based in Kyiv.
• Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence body has said that Moscow is planning attacks meant to disconnect Ukraine from three nuclear power plants in the coming days. The intelligence agency said those efforts seek to degrade the country’s energy infrastructure and “force Ukraine to accept unacceptable capitulation demands to end the war”.

Peace talks

• A Ukrainian delegation arrived in the United States for peace talks, with Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, saying he was set to meet with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Secretary of the US Army Dan Driscoll.
• Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Davyd Arakhamia will also take part in the talks in Miami, Florida, on Sunday.
• Zelenskyy said on Friday that the weekend talks would focus on finalising proposals for a future peace agreement on issues such as post-war security guarantees and economic rebuilding.
• Zelenskyy said the delegation would also emphasise the destructive role of continued Russian strikes on Ukraine, adding that the attacks are “constantly worsening” the already strained possibilities of reaching a peaceful settlement to end the war.
• If the Trump administration reaches an agreement with Ukraine on a proposal, the two countries could sign a document at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week. Any such proposal would also have to gain Russian support.

Diplomacy

• The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the Trump administration’s threats to seize control of Greenland and slap tariffs on European allies that defy him should not be allowed to undermine the focus on bringing an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which she called the bloc’s “core task”.
• Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev ridiculed European leaders for deploying military members to Greenland as Trump continues to threaten the self-governing Danish territory and NATO member, saying in a social media post targeted at EU chief Ursula von der Leyen that European countries should not “provoke the daddy”.
• French President Emmanuel Macron expressed support for Denmark and Greenland, saying that the concept of sovereignty motivates France’s support for Ukraine and that Europe must take steps to ensure that the continent’s “sovereignty is upheld”.
• Zelenskyy announced Ukrainian sanctions targeting individuals and organisations tied to Russian athletics ahead of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, saying that Moscow uses “sports venues to spread anti-Ukrainian narratives and Russian propaganda”. The Russian national team is banned from competing, but Russian athletes may participate as “neutral athletes”.