Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Between the strong declarations, the advances on the front and the results of the fighting, here is the essential of this Tuesday, January 7, 2025, the 1,049th day of the war.
Fact of the day
Did the Russian army conquer the strategic mining town of Kurakhové, in Donbass, on Monday? This is what she announced in any case, going so far as to claim to have raised her flag there. Information confirmed by the military blog DeepState, close to the Ukrainian army, whose combat map shows the entirety of Kurakhové under Russian control. But not through kyiv.
On the contrary, since the Ukrainian army assured this Tuesday that it would continue to fight in the locality. The Khortytsia force group, which is deployed in the area, said that “Ukrainian troops are maintaining in the western part of the city, on the western outskirts of the city, including at the thermal power station.” The spokesperson for these forces, Viktor Tregoubov, however admitted on television a “very difficult” situation in this sector, stressing that “a large part of the city has been destroyed”. “There is simply no place for defense because there are no fortifications,” he said.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian army wrote in its daily report that it had repelled 26 Russian attacks over the past day, including in Kurakhové.
While awaiting confirmation for this city, other fierce fighting is underway, particularly in “the northern and western parts” of Toretsk, a town which had around 30,000 inhabitants before the war. The Russian army, which continues to advance slowly but surely in Donbass, also threatens the city of Pokrovsk, an important logistical node for Ukrainian forces.
Sentence of the day
« They should be 5%, not 2%. […] They can all afford it. » »
Two weeks before his inauguration, Donald Trump is no longer in the dark. This Tuesday, he urged NATO members to increase the share of their GDP devoted to defense spending. Without saying what consequences he would draw if his allies did not do so. But the elected president of the United States has already threatened in the past to leave the Atlantic Alliance.
The number of the day
52 %. The proportion of Ukrainians who say they still have confidence in their President Volodymyr Zelensky according to a survey by the kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). This membership rating is down sharply compared to the end of 2023 (77%), reflecting a waning of support for the Ukrainian president, after nearly three years of high-intensity war. Current support for the Ukrainian head of state, in office since 2019, is more marked in the West (60%) and the Center (52%), regions relatively untouched by the war, than in the East ( only 42%) and in the South (46%), where most of the fighting takes place.
This telephone survey was conducted among 2,000 people living in territory under Ukrainian control between December 2 and 17, approximately a month after Donald Trump’s victory in the American presidential election, heralding probable peace negotiations.
Today’s trend
Refusing to talk about a new offensive, which the Russians do not hesitate to do, the Ukrainian army is concentrating its assaults on the Russian region of Kursk, which it entered by surprise at the beginning of August. She announced this Tuesday that she was carrying out “combat operations” there and, above all, having struck “a Russian military command post”.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
“This strike is an integral part of the combat operations of the units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, which carry out combat operations on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army simply indicated in a statement. published in English on Telegram. And without specifying whether this “high precision” strike was carried out using American ATACMS or British Storm Shadow missiles. A “red line” set by Moscow for Westerners.
