This week, fighting continued to rage all along the front lines. The intensity of Russia’s offensive operations has slightly declined. Russian drone strikes have become a nightly occurrence in most of the country. They were occasionally supported by the use of missiles. Russia’s ballistic missile strike on the city of Izyum, in Kharkiv region, on Tuesday killed five civilians and wounded 55 others.
Ukraine’s deep strikes inside Russia are gaining momentum. Ukraine launched seven drone attacks on Russia’s oil refineries in January, marking the largest number in a single month in more than a year. Drones hit a major oil refinery in Russia’s Volgograd and a gas processing plant in Astrakhan on Monday. An overnight Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region on Wednesday. Ukraine also struck the Primorsko-Akhtarsk airfield in Russia’s Krasnodar region used to launch Shahed drones.
Ukraine has lost more than 45,000 soldiers killed and almost 390,000 wounded, Zelenskyi said.
Diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the war continue. Trump told reporters Sunday that his administration has “meetings and talks” set with Ukraine, Russia and “various parties.” Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia will travel to Ukraine in mid-February.
Ukraine has received a first batch of French Mirage 2000 fighter jets. The UK will chair the next meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, taking over the leadership of the gathering from the U.S.
Ukraine advances further into Russia in Kursk. Ukrainian forces launched a new series of battalion-sized mechanized assaults in Kursk Oblast and advanced up to five kilometers behind Russian lines southeast of Sudzha, Kursk Oblast on February 6, the Institute for the Study of War said.
This week marks the six-month anniversary of Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. “Today marks six months since the Kursk operation exposed Putin’s weakness,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on X on Thursday. “The Kursk operation taught the world two lessons: 1) don’t fear Putin; 2) believe in Ukraine’s ability to prevail,” he continued.
The Ukrainian General Staff said on Thursday that Russia had lost some 40,000 troops in Kursk, with more than 16,000 killed in action. “Ukraine’s defense forces began an operation in Russia’s Kursk region on August 6, 2024. It has been running for six months now. For the first time in the 11 years of war the fighting moved to the Russian territory. Our troops continue to hold hundreds of square kilometers in the ‘buffer zone’ in Russia,” the General Staff added.
Ukraine also said it had captured 909 Russian troops over the course of the operation. The Kursk incursion provided Ukraine with a significant replenishment of prisoners of war “exchange funds,” so that Ukraine was able to bring back home some of its service members held in Russian prisons, the General Staff said.