These are important developments since day 1,422 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Published January 16, 2026
Here’s what happened on Friday, January 16th.
finding
Two employees of a state-run pharmacy were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack while transporting medical supplies to Polokhi in the Russian-occupied region of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya region, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported. Three people were injured in Russia’s frontline Belgorod region in a Ukrainian drone attack, the regional task force reported, TASS reported. One person was killed and at least four others were injured when Russian forces dropped a guided bomb in Vilopilia, in the Sumy region of Ukraine, the local prosecutor’s office announced on the messaging app Telegram. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry announced new power outages are affecting customers in the Zhytomyr and Kharkov regions following an overnight Russian attack. The ministry added in a statement that network restrictions remain in place in the capital Kyiv, Kyiv region and Odessa region. Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said on Telegram that Russian forces had destroyed a large facility of “critical energy infrastructure,” but he did not specify what type of facility was attacked. Katerina Pop, a spokeswoman for Kyiv’s military bureau, said 287 residential buildings in Kyiv have been left without heating for more than a week as a major Russian attack damaged infrastructure and temperatures continued to drop to -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he will take over Kyiv’s energy responsibilities, saying the city has not responded quickly enough to the current crisis, according to news website Ukrinform. The Ukrainian military offensive left nearly 87,000 people without power in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, Russian-appointed official Yevhen Balitsky wrote on Telegram. According to the Ukrinform news agency, more than 500 people will need to be evacuated from two warring districts in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region by early February, Spokesman for the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Directorate Oleksandr Kovalenko said. More than 700 people, including 480 children, have already been evacuated since early January, he added.
politics and diplomacy
“Ukraine has never been and will never be an obstacle to peace,” President Zelensky said in a video address in the evening, appearing to contradict President Donald Trump’s remarks the day before. Zelenskiy added: “If Russia’s attacks are aimed at destroying our energy systems and our people, then it is Russia that must apply pressure.” Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was “ready to make a deal. I don’t think Ukraine is that far along in getting a deal.” International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters during a visit to Kiev that she plans to ask the fund’s board of directors to approve a new $8.1 billion loan program for Ukraine in the coming weeks.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a post on X that he spoke with Zelensky “about the energy situation in Ukraine, where Russian attacks have caused terrible human suffering, and about the continued efforts to end the war.”
“We are committed to ensuring that Ukraine receives the critical support it needs to defend itself today and ultimately secure lasting peace,” Rutte said. French President Emmanuel Macron said France now provides two-thirds of intelligence information to Ukraine, largely replacing the United States, which until last year provided most of the intelligence services.
oil and gas
Greece’s shipping ministry has warned ships in the Black Sea region to “take the highest possible security measures” following recent drone attacks that Russia has blamed on Ukraine, according to Reuters. Federal budget revenues from Russian oil and gas fell by 24% in 2025, the lowest level since 2020, due to lower oil prices and a stronger ruble, according to Ministry of Finance data.
