Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 01-22-2025

With humanity facing never-before seen challenges on a planetary scale, now is the time for us to end imperial wars of aggression such as that faced by Ukraine.

It is difficult to write an article, especially in the new year, imploring humanity to stop war without giving the impression of being an unrealistic idealist. But calling for an essential rationality on a planetary scale has become crucial for our survival.

During Russia’s attack on Ukraine, we have seen the rebirth of distant memories (or memories that we hoped were confined to history) replayed on the European mainland. The razing of cities and towns, the language of genocide, the displacement and kidnap of children, the raw brutality of imperial aggression, the tussle between appeasers and the hard-nosed.

The nationalist leader, one of US President Donald Trump’s and Moscow’s closest partners in the European Union, blasted Kyiv for its decision to halt Russian gas transit to Central Europe.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned Ukraine on Tuesday against making “hostile and aggressive” statements, threatening unspecified responses if Kyiv doesn’t change course.

The nationalist leader, one of US President Donald Trump’s and Moscow’s closest partners in the European Union, blasted Kyiv for its decision to halt Russian gas transit to Central Europe.

Ukrainian intelligence intercepted a call where a Russian soldier threatens others with “meat” assaults for desertion, showcasing brutality within Russian ranks.

A Russian serviceman threatens fellow soldiers with being sent on a “meat” assault as punishment for desertion in a reported intercepted phone call released by Ukrainian Military Intelligence (HUR) on Monday, Jan. 20.

“You f**k around too much, Dimon. You just don’t understand. They’ll catch you, f**king hell, and the commander will just say ― f**k it – [Go] on the assault! That’ll be fun, right?” the Russian soldier says.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian forces conducted a series of drone strikes against Russian defense industrial enterprises and oil refineries in Russia on the night of January 20 to 21 as part of an ongoing strike series aimed at degrading Russian military capacity.
• The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces also continue to conduct strikes against Russian command posts in the Russian rear.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin and People’s Republic of China (PRC) President Xi Jinping held a phone call on January 21 and emphasized deepening cooperation.
• Acting Kursk Oblast Governor Alexander Khinshtein’s recent appointment has thus far failed to solve or distract from Russia’s failure to adequately respond to Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk Oblast.
• Russian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast and near Chasiv Yar, Pokrovsk, and Kurakhove. Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions near Pokrovsk.
• Russian ultranationalist milbloggers renewed complaints against the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) for failing to hold the Russian military command accountable for military failures.

US companies are skirting sanctions meant to cripple Russia’s economy. Despite stringent laws, enforcement struggles persist, leaving gaps for evasion that enable Moscow to wage war in Ukraine.

Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment in Kyiv Post’s Sanctions Busting series, an investigative collection of articles on how Russia continues to evade economic sanctions to wage war in Ukraine.

In a decisive move earlier this month, the administration of former President Joe Biden imposed fresh sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector and its so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers.

While would-be insurrectionists rejoiced at the sentence commutations and outright pardons, police and politicians called the clemency a “betrayal” and an “outrageous insult to our judicial system.”

US President Donald Trump offered more than 1,500 pardons on Tuesday to rioters who stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, on his behalf in an attempt to stop the certification of the presidential elections that Trump lost to Joe Biden by about seven million votes.

On that day, about 2,000 Trump loyalists, many of them armed, smashed through the windows and doors of the Capitol and overpowered police, killing one of them on the spot and injuring 174 others. Between heart attacks, succumbing to injuries, and even some ensuing suicides, the attacks left eight dead overall.