Here are the main developments on the 1,055th day of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.

This is the situation on Tuesday, January 14:

Fighting

• The Defense Ministry in Moscow said that Ukrainian drones targeted a gas compression station for the TurkStream pipeline that pumps Russian gas to Europe via Türkiye.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of “energy terrorism” under the control of what he called “Ukraine’s friends across the ocean,” following the attack on the Russkaya pumping station in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia, about 320 kilometers (198 miles) from the Ukrainian-Russian front lines. . .
• Russian forces are bypassing the main stronghold and vital logistical center in Pokrovsk Eastern Ukraine Which they fought for months to seize. The Ukrainian army said that the forces were instead focusing on cutting off supply lines to the city by targeting the highway leading from there to the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine.

• Ukraine has halted production at the Pokrovsk coke mine, which feeds the country’s steel industry, due to the proximity of advancing Russian forces, Reuters news agency reported.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and they discussed the idea of ​​deploying Western “units” in Ukraine. Zelensky did not clarify whether he was talking about the West sending combat forces or peacekeeping forces.
• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Ukraine is not in a strong enough position to hold peace talks with Russia. “At this moment, it is clear that Ukraine is not there, because at this moment they cannot negotiate from a position of strength,” Rutte told EU lawmakers.

Military aid

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he opposed any increase in arms shipments to Ukraine if it would require cuts elsewhere in Germany’s budget.

Russian oil and gas

• Ten European Union countries have called on the 27-nation bloc to ban pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas imports from Russia, according to Reuters. The ten countries include the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia and Finland.
• The European Union is preparing a 16th package of sanctions targeting the Russian economy, ahead of the third anniversary of Moscow’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
• The prime minister of Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria said the sudden curtailment of Russian gas supplies – resulting from a halt to pipeline gas transportation in Ukraine – not only plunged his region into an energy crisis but also devastated its exports and imports.
• Ukrainian consultancy Expro said that the transport of Russian oil through Ukraine in 2024 fell by 16 percent to its lowest level since Kiev’s independence in 1991.
• US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that US President Joe Biden believes that oil prices will stabilize after Washington imposed the widest package of sanctions to date targeting Russian oil and gas revenues.
• At least 65 oil tankers have anchored in multiple locations around the world, including off the coasts of China and Russia, since the United States announced a new sanctions package against Russia on January 10, ship tracking data showed.

Regional security

• The crew of an oil tanker accused of sabotaging undersea power and communications cables in the Baltic Sea were about to cut other cables and pipelines when Finnish authorities boarded the ship last month, the head of the Finnish investigation said.
• European Commission Vice President Hina Virkkonen said that identifying suspected sabotage vessels and limiting their activities is the most effective way to protect critical undersea infrastructure.
• NATO countries bordering the Baltic Sea will look to beef up security when they meet in Helsinki today, following suspected sabotage of submarine cables widely blamed on Russia.
• The defense ministers of Poland, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom met in Warsaw and agreed on efforts to strengthen the Ukrainian arms industry in its fight against the Russian invasion.
• European Union leaders are scheduled to meet in Belgium on February 3 for an extraordinary defense “retreat” involving the UK Prime Minister and the Secretary-General of NATO.

policy

• The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his Iranian counterpart this week to sign a wide-ranging partnership agreement between Moscow and Tehran.
• Biden said that his administration of American foreign policy has made his country safer and more economically secure, saying that US President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a nation that is seen as stronger and more reliable than it was four years ago.
• Trump said he would meet Putin “very quickly” after taking office next week.
• Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico invited President Zelensky to visit Slovakia for talks after weeks of mutual accusations and threats. Fico said Slovakia has always supported its neighbor and suggested that Zelensky use the newly opened direct railway line from Kiev to Slovakia on his visit. Zelensky responded to Fico with a counter-call on Stage X, saying: “Okay. Come to Kyiv on Friday.”