These are the key developments from day 1,426 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Published On 20 Jan 2026
Here is where things stand on Tuesday, January 20:
Fighting
- Explosions have been reported in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, amid warnings from the country’s air force that Russia had launched ballistic missiles early on Tuesday morning.
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Russia launched a barrage of drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, cutting off power in five regions across the country amid freezing temperatures, Ukrainian officials said.
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The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia’s military had launched 145 drones at targets in Ukraine and that 126 were successfully intercepted.
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In an attack on the southern Odesa region, energy and gas infrastructure were damaged, the regional governor said, adding that one person was hurt.
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DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said its facility in Odesa was “substantially” damaged, knocking out power to 30,800 households.
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Russia also hit Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv with missiles on Monday, significantly damaging a critical infrastructure facility, the city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said on the Telegram messaging app. Terekhov did not provide details about the type of facility that was struck.
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Russian forces have taken control of the settlements of Pavlivka, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, and Novopavlivka, in the Donetsk region, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said. The ministry’s claims could not be independently verified.
- Ukraine’s armed forces are introducing a new approach to air defence, involving small groups of interceptor drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
- The Kyiv Independent media outlet reported that Ukraine’s SBU secret service captured a Russian soldier suspected of executing nine Ukrainian prisoners of war in 2024.
Military aid
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The Czech Republic will not sell or donate to Ukraine light combat planes that could shoot down incoming Russian drones, the country’s prime minister, Andrej Babis, said, rejecting a plan outlined by President Petr Pavel. Pavel earlier said that Ukraine had offered to buy some of the country’s subsonic L-159 jets.
Peace talks
- Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, said Moscow is showing no signs of interest in talks leading to a peace deal with Kyiv. It is instead boosting arms production, including a target of 1,000 drones per day, he added.
- Kyiv has held “substantive” talks on security and economic issues with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and envoy Steve Witkoff, with more discussions expected at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week, Ukraine’s security chief and top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said.
- Zelenskyy said he hopes to sign documents with the US on post-war security guarantees for Ukraine at Davos this week, adding that his team of negotiators