Here are the main developments on the 1,053rd day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Sunday, January 12:
Fighting
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence announced that its forces had taken control of the settlement of Shevchenko, located near the key logistical center of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine has not yet confirmed the loss of the town.
• The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that it successfully repelled 46 of 56 Russian attacks across multiple towns in the Pokrovsk sector, with several clashes still ongoing.
• A Ukrainian drone strike hit one of Russia’s largest oil refineries in Taneko, Tatarstan, as reported by the Russian Telegram channel ASTRA.
• Fuel oil leaking from damaged Russian tankers has spread into the Sea of Azov and reached the shores of Ukraine’s partially Russian-occupied Zaporizhia region, according to a Moscow-appointed official.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed on Saturday that Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirming the account on Sunday.
Shadow Fleet
• Germany is working to secure a heavily loaded tanker stranded off its northern coast, towing the vessel to prevent an oil spill. The ship, the 274-meter-long Eventin, carrying nearly 100,000 tonnes of oil, was reported to be adrift and “unable to manoeuvre” in the Baltic Sea. The tanker is said to be part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet.”
Sanctions
• Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned new US sanctions imposed on Saturday targeting Moscow’s energy sector, calling them an attempt to harm Russia’s economy while risking global market instability. Russia vowed to continue with its major oil and gas projects despite the sanctions.
Diplomacy
• Keith Kellogg, the incoming US envoy to Ukraine, stated at an Iranian opposition event in Paris that the world must return to a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran to promote democracy. This comes as relations between Russia and Iran have deepened since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
