These are the main developments since Day 1,421 of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Here’s what it looked like on Thursday, January 15th:

struggle

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s energy sector had declared a state of emergency after repeated Russian attacks destroyed power and thermal infrastructure.
• Zelensky said he asked the government to review curfew restrictions in “this extremely cold weather”.

• According to Ukrainian news agencies, 471 buildings in the Ukrainian capital remained without heating on Wednesday, with nighttime temperatures once again falling to -19 degrees Celsius (-2.2 degrees Fahrenheit), Kyiv City Military Administration spokesperson Katrina Pop said.
• Ukraine’s Ministry of Development announced the forced evacuation of children from five settlements in Ukraine’s frontline Zaporozhye region, the Ukrainian Interfax news agency reported.
• “With the continued threat of shelling, this is the only responsible step that can save lives, especially children,” Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said, according to the Interfax news agency.
• An 84-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man were injured in a Russian guided bomb attack in Tavriyske, Zaporozhye Region, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.
• According to Ukrainian battlefield monitoring website DeepState, Russian troops have advanced near Zalizniysk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Yablunivka in the Lviv region, and Stepnoshirsk in Zaporozhye.
• An attack in Ukraine left more than 3,000 people without power in the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye region, Yevhen Balitsky, a Russian-appointed local official, said on Telegram.
• According to Russia’s TASS news agency, Ukrainian drones attacked an electrical facility in the Russian-occupied area of ​​Ukraine’s Lugansk region, causing power outages in several settlements.

politics

• According to the Interfax news agency, President Zelenskyy nominated Denis Shmihal as Energy Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister. A few weeks later, the Ukrainian Parliament approved President Zelenskyy’s nomination and dismissed him from the post of Defense Minister, which he had held since July 17, 2025.
• The parliament also approved the nomination of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine’s new defense minister, Interfax reported. Fedorov is the fourth person to hold the position since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
• Fedorov was quick to outline his criticism of the Ukrainian defense forces, telling parliament: “I don’t want to be a populist, I want to be a realist”.
• According to the Interfax news agency, he said: “The Ministry of Defense has a negative amount of 300 billion in funds that fell into my hands, 2 million Ukrainians are wanted, and 200,000 people are absent without permission. Therefore, we need to make a decision and do our homework on the current problems so that we can move forward.”

diplomatic

• Russia summoned the British charge d’affaires in Moscow, but did not immediately say why, the TASS news agency reported on Wednesday.

black sea attack

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned a drone attack on an oil tanker near a terminal on the Black Sea coast and accused Ukraine of attacking commercial ships.

• “We strongly condemn yet another terrorist attack by the Kiev regime against commercial civilian vessels, which is in compliance with all norms of international law,” the foreign ministry said. Ukraine has not yet commented on Tuesday’s incident.

• Three oil tankers heading to the Caspian Sea Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal were targeted in drone attacks, Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, urging the United States and Europe to help ensure the safety of oil shipments.
• “The increasing frequency of such incidents highlights the growing risks to the operation of international energy infrastructure,” the ministry said.