Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,423

Here is where things stand on Saturday, January 17 :

Fighting

• Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing two women and injuring six people, the head of the regional administration, Oleksandr Hanzha, wrote on Facebook.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that Russian forces seized five settlements in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region in the past week, including Zakotnoye and Zhovtnevoye in the past 24 hours, Russia’s TASS state news agency reports.
• Russia’s Defence Ministry acknowledged its forces attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure and military facilities seven times over the past week, including one operation described as a major strike against its neighbour.
• A Ukrainian drone strike killed a man in Russian-occupied Kherson, Moscow’s appointed official in the region, Volodymyr Saldo, said, according to TASS.
• Ukrainian attacks left 68,000 households without electricity in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, TASS also reported, citing local Russian-appointed official, Yevhen Balitsky.
• Russia and Ukraine on Friday agreed to a localised ceasefire to allow repairs on the last remaining backup power line at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
• Work on the power line, which was damaged and disconnected as a result of military activity on January 2, should start “in the coming days”, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a statement.
• ‍Russian Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev said that 422,704 people had signed ⁠contracts with the Russian ​Armed Forces last year, state ‍news agencies reported. The number of sign-ups is lower than in 2024, ‍when about 450,000 ⁠people signed contracts to join the Russian army.

Ukraine energy crisis

• Children across Ukraine risk hypothermia in freezing temperatures as emergency stocks of power generators run low following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, international aid agencies said on Friday.
• Almost the entire Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is currently occupied by Russian forces, was left without electricity following an explosion, Petro Andriushchenko, head of the Center for the Study of Occupation, said on the Telegram messaging app.
• Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 67 apartment buildings remain without heat in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, more than a week after a Russian attack left 6,000 apartments without heating, as temperatures continue to fall to -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit) overnight.
• Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said that “severe weather conditions and frost” are continuing to complicate efforts to restore heat and electricity following Russian attacks, in an update shared on Facebook.
• Svyrydenko said that 17 electrical substations are now being powered by generators, as repair work continues and that 1,300 tents have been deployed in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where many households still remain without heating.
• Curfew restrictions have been relaxed in places where the energy emergency is ongoing, so that people can access shelters with heating where needed, the prime minister said.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, responding to Svyrydenko’s updates, said that tens of thousands of people are working to restore electricity and heat across the country.
• Zelenskyy also said that he spoke with British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and thanked him for the United Kingdom’s decision to provide an “energy support package” for Ukraine.
• The UK announced o