Here is the situation on Saturday, February 1:
Fighting
Russian forces have launched missiles at the centre of Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa, a UNESCO World Heritage site, seriously damaging historic buildings and injuring seven people, officials said. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack was “a deliberate strike”.
- Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said seven people were injured in the attack and emergency crews remained at the scene. The lobby of the Hotel Bristol, a luxury landmark built at the end of the 19th century, was reduced to rubble, while the Odesa Philharmonic concert hall was damaged.
- Firefighters have extinguished a blaze that had burned for two days at a petrochemicals plant in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region struck by Ukrainian drones, state news agency TASS reported, citing emergency services.
- Russia claims its forces took the village of Novovasylivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as it closes in on the critical Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk. The claim could not be independently confirmed.
Politics and diplomacy
US President Donald Trump has said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also said he thinks they will perhaps do something he described as “significant”. Trump said Washington was having “serious” discussions with Moscow.
Police in Norway say they released a Russian-crewed cargo ship seized over suspected involvement in damage to a fibre-optic cable in the Baltic Sea. They said they found no evidence linking it to alleged acts of sabotage against Western allies of Ukraine.
- Ukraine said it believes North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russia’s army on the Kursk front line have “withdrawn” after suffering heavy losses, a military spokesman told AFP news agency. It is believed that Pyongyang deployed more than 10,000 soldiers to support Russian forces fighting against Ukraine.
- Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said in an interview with The Associated Press news agency that any peace settlement in Ukraine must involve Kyiv. He also urged more defence spending by regional countries to deter future Russian aggression.
Finance
Russia’s Putin has authorised Armenian investment fund Balchug Capital’s purchase of Goldman Sachs’ unit in Russia, a government decree showed, potentially paving the way for the US bank to fully withdraw from Russia amid Western sanctions since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
