WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Biden administration has slapped sanctions on two of Russia’s largest oil producers, a major liquefied natural gas project, and more than 100 tankers in its “shadow fleet” in what U.S. officials say are the most significant economic measures yet against the country.

The sanctions, announced by the White House on January 10, days before Biden leaves office, aim to further squeeze Russia’s ability to finance its invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year. Oil is Russia’s most important source of revenue, accounting for more than a third of the federal budget.

The new measures target Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, Russia’s second- and fourth-largest oil producers, as well as 183 vessels transporting Russian oil and oil products to foreign markets. The Biden administration also sanctioned “opaque” traders of Russian oil, more than 30 Russia-based oilfield service providers, and more than a dozen leading Russian energy officials and executives.

The United States and Europe imposed sweeping financial and technological sanctions on Russia in the days following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, but took a cautious approach to penalizing the country’s energy sector amid concern about the impact on global energy prices.

Oil and natural gas prices initially spiked over fears of market disruptions but returned to prewar levels within months. In an attempt to keep Russian oil flowing while trimming Moscow’s revenue, the United States and Europe imposed a price cap of $60 a barrel on Russian oil starting in December 2022, threatening to sanction any shipping company that did not comply.

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In an attempt to get around the price cap, which was weakly enforced, Russia scooped up hundreds of oil tankers on international markets that are now commonly referred to as a “shadow fleet.”

Russia has continued to reap hundreds of billions of dollars in energy revenue despite the sanctions, prompting Ukraine backers to urge the Biden administration to impose greater measures and tougher enforcement.

During a call with reporters before the sanctions were formally announced, senior administration officials explained their decision to move ahead with additional energy sanctions now, just 10 days before they leave office, saying oil supply and demand dynamics are more favorable.

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The latest measures will “substantially” increase the sanctions risks associated with buying and reselling Russian oil, the senior administration officials said.

Some experts have said that Biden was holding back on greater sanctions against Russia until after the November 5 U.S. presidential election lest they hurt his party's chances. High inflation, including high energy prices, was a major issue during the campaign. Biden’s Democratic Party lost the presidency and both chambers of Congress.

LNG Project Targeted

The sanctions announced on January 10 also target a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Russia’s Arctic, those involved in Russia's metals and mining sectors, and senior officials from Rosatom, the state-owned builder of civilian nuclear power plants.

“These sanctions target both Russian oil and LNG, and we expect our actions to cost Russia upwards of billions of dollars per month,” a senior administrative official said on the call. The official said the measures “will build on recent actions that have escalated pressure on the Russian economy and forced hard choices for the Kremlin.”

They added that the new sanctions are intended to strengthen Ukraine’s hand in any negotiations that take place to end the war.

The sanctions are being announced before the inauguration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who wants negotiations with Russia on ending the war to begin soon after he returns to the White House but has given no specifics on when they would take place.

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The officials who briefed reporters on the call said they could not speak for the new administration but said a number of Republican members of Congress have called on the Treasury Department to impose the type of sanctions included in the January 10 announcement.

One of the officials on the call said the measures, combined with previous sanctions “provide the next administration a considerable boost to their and Ukraine's leverage in brokering a just and doable peace.”

In late November, the Biden administration designated Gazprombank, one of Russia’s largest lenders, and more than 50 other financial institutions, triggering a sharp decline in the ruble. The currency weakness could accelerate inflation and push up interest rates, increasing pressure on the economy.

Thousands of Romanians rallied in from of parliament to demand the reinstatement of the second round of a presidential election, which was canceled by the Constitutional Court as the country lurches through a constitutional crisis after a Moscow-friendly, far-right candidate won the first round.

The protest, organized by pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu, blocked traffic in central Bucharest on January 10, demanding the reversal of a court decision last month that annulled the entire presidential election -- even as a runoff vote was under way. He was to face pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi.

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The runoff had been seen as a referendum on the NATO and EU member's future course amid accusations of Russian meddling that brought thousands of Romanians on to the streets in support of the country's place in the Euro-Atlantic community.

"We want democracy and freedom in Romania, we want a functional state, true justice, competent people, and a functional state," Gabriela Iordachita, a university professor, told RFE/RL.

The court ruling came after the Supreme Defense Council declassified documents allegedly proving Georgescu's presidential bid had been aided by a campaign led by an unnamed "state actor" with the help of the Chinese-owned TikTok social media platform.

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In its ruling, the Constitutional Court said the electoral process for the vote "will be resumed in its entirety, with the government to establish a new date for the election of the president of Romania, as well as a new calendar program for carrying out the necessary actions."

"I came for freedom to vote, to be free to vote however I want," Marian Zamfir, who works as an administrator at a company in Bucharest, told RFE/RL at the protest.

The protest was organized by the EPACE platform, which said it has almost 57,000 signatures supporting Georgescu's call for the second round of the election to proceed.

A new coalition government was sworn in on December 23 after parliamentary elections three weeks earlier.

One of the government's first tasks will be to set a date for the new presidential election.

Lebanese lawmakers have elected army chief Joseph Aoun as the country’s new president, ending a two-year gridlock in a clear sign of the weakening of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed political party and military force that had scuttled past efforts to name a president.

Lawmakers from Hezbollah, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist group, and its ally Amal had for two years obstructed attempts to elect a president by walking out of the parliament, preventing it from reaching a quorum.

This time, however, they voted for Aoun in the second round on January 9 after their preferred candidate dropped out.

In the end, Aoun secured a commanding second-round victory, winning 99 out of 128 votes after falling short of the two-thirds majority required for victory in the first round.

Hezbollah’s devastating war with Israel late last year caused significant damage in Lebanon, particularly in the capital Beirut, and weakened the Shi’ite group militarily, socially, and, it seems, politically.

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Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said the election of the U.S-backed Aoun indicates that Hezbollah has “come to terms with the new political realities” in Lebanon.

He said that, by backing Aoun’s election, Hezbollah sought to avoid being blamed for prolonging Lebanon’s political gridlock while also ensuring that more staunchly anti-Hezbollah figures such as Samir Geagea did not become president.

“[Hezbollah’s] focus remains on survival while working toward a more stable situation in the country, which they hope to use over time to regain strength and rehabilitate their position,” Azizi added.

Aoun’s election was backed by the United States, France, and Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia, indicating that Riyadh’s influence in Lebanon will likely grow at Tehran’s expense.

“It is quite evident that, as Hezbollah’s role diminishes in Lebanon’s political and military affairs, Iranian influence is also waning,” Azizi argued.

Losing influence in Lebanon caps off a catastrophic few months for Iran, which has witnessed the battering of its sprawling network of regional proxies and the fall of longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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Still, Tehran appears supportive of Hezbollah’s strategy of maintaining a lower profile and focusing on rebuilding its strength, according to Azizi.

Even Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian has welcomed Aoun's election, saying it was a "reinforcement of stability and unity" in the country.

Iranian state-affiliated media, meanwhile, have avoided criticizing Aoun, with one news agency even describing him as an “impartial” and “relatively popular” figure.

In his victory speech, Aoun vowed that only the Lebanese state would have a "monopoly" on weapons in a comment seen as a pledge to disarm Hezbollah, which has long been considered a more powerful force than the Lebanese military.

Azizi said disarming Hezbollah is a longer-term goal which is “easier said than done” and that for “clear-eyed” Aoun, the immediate priority is establishing stability in Lebanon.

Of more immediate concern, analysts say, is the implementation of an Israeli-Hezbollah cease-fire while also seeking funding to rebuild Lebanon, especially in areas in the south and east that were hit hard by the fighting.

"Aoun has interlocking objectives. He has to address Hezbollah's weapons through some sort of dialogue forum. Yet he can only do so if he secures funding to rebuild mainly Shi'a areas. And for this he must engage in economic reform, because the Gulf states now demand it," said Michael Young of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Russia accused Ukraine of conducting a deadly missile strike on a supermarket in the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine after a wave of Russian drones attacked several Ukrainian regions, including the capital, Kyiv.

The state RIA news agency said Russian investigators were looking into the attack early on January 10, claiming a U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile hit the supermarket, killing two people.

Video on social media, which has been verified by RFE/RL, appears to show a massive explosion in an area where a small market is located.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on the Russian accusation.

The Ukrainian Air Force, meanwhile, said Russia attacked Ukraine with 72 Shahed-type strike drones in the Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhyzha, Khmelnytskiy, Vinnytsya and Kherson regions.

In Kyiv, bright flashes and explosions were seen as defense systems intercepted several drones in the sky. No deaths were reported, though some damage from debris was seen at a high-rise residential building, military officials said.

As intense attacks and fighting on the front lines continue, diplomatic efforts to stop the conflict appear to be picking up momentum.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on January 10 that it expects Kyiv to have high-level talks with the White House once President-elect Donald Trump takes office in 10 days.

"We are waiting for a meeting between our presidents because for us the main thing is to work together with America... we are preparing for contacts at the highest and high levels immediately after the inauguration," ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhiy said.

The Kremlin said it remains willing to meet with Trump and that there has been progress in setting up a meeting after the new president is inaugurated on January 20.

"No conditions are required for this, just a mutual desire and political will to conduct a dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue is required," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow a day after Trump said a meeting was being set up between him and President Vladimir Putin, though he laid out no timeline.

"We see that Mr. Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue, we welcome this," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in Rome on January 10 to meet Italian officials a day after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) in Ramstein, Germany. The UDCG is made up of about 50 partner nations that the U.S. Defense Secretary brought together to coordinate weapons support months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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Ukraine Allies Pledge Final Military Aid Package Before Trump's Return

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Hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid was pledged during the Ramstein meeting -- including $500 million from Washington as part of the outgoing Biden administration's goal of sending as much support as possible before Trump returns to office.

Members of the contact group have said that the January 9 meeting could be the last one as its fate remains unclear under Trump, whose advisers have floated multiple proposals to end the war that would effectively cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future.

A Russian court is set to sentence three lawyers who worked for opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and were charged in 2023 with "extremism" charges.

The sentencing hearing for lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin is scheduled to begin on January 10 at 10:00 a.m. local time in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.

They are accused of participating in an "extremist" organization, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of six years in jail. Prosecutors are demanding jail terms of at least five years for each of the lawyers. They are expected to be found guilty as acquittals are practically unheard of in Russian courts, especially in political cases.

Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and Navalny’s other groups were labeled as extremist and banned in Russia in 2021.

The trial of Kobzev, Sergunin, and Liptser began in September and was held behind closed doors, however the sentencing is to be open to the media.

Investigators said the lawyers used their “status" to pass messages between Navalny and his associates, helping him to “conduct extremist activities from behind bars." Two other former lawyers for Navalny, Aleksandra Fedulova and Olga Mikhailova, fled Russia last year.

Before his death, Navalny condemned the arrest of the lawyers as "outrageous," saying it was part of a campaign to further isolate him in jail.

The Kremlin critic died in suspicious circumstances in an Arctic prison colony in February 2024. His associates have said he was killed, most likely on the Kremlin's command, which the Kremlin has vehemently denied.

Navalny was able to communicate from his jail cell, with his criticism of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and sarcastic comments, often about the conditions he was held in, appearing on social media.

Kobzev was the most high-profile member of Navalny's legal team defending him in court. He also released statements on Navalny's health in prison.

With reporting by AFP

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- NATO defense ministers meeting in Germany on January 9 expressed skepticism about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's suggestion that members of the alliance should increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.

During a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the ministers said that the ability of NATO members to fulfill defense tasks is more important than spending relative to GDP.

"All the numbers and percentages don't help us at all at the moment. Two percent of a strong GDP can be a lot, and three and a half percent of a weak GDP can be very little," said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, 5 percent of GDP would be around 40 percent of the federal budget.

"I don't know which country could afford that. So it's not a question of percentages. It is about the question that the capability goals of NATO should be fulfilled," Pistorius said.

Trump put forth the 5 percent spending proposal during a press conference on January 7, raising his long-standing claim that European allies are underpaying for U.S. protection.

"They can all afford it, but they should be at 5 percent not 2 percent," said Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20.

"Europe is in for a tiny fraction of the money that we're in," Trump said. "We have a thing called the ocean in between us, right? Why are we in for billions and billions of dollars more money than Europe?"

The United States spends 3.38 percent of GDP on defense. Given the size of the U.S. economy, that accounts for more than 60 percent of NATO's total.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told RFE/RL that the United States should demonstrate its readiness to raise its defense spending to 5 percent. He said this would increase it to $1.5 trillion.

But Latvia, which is already one of the few NATO countries spending more than 3 percent of GDP on defense, plans to increase spending further.

"This year, the contribution is 3.4 percent of our GDP. Next year it will be 3.7 percent. And recently political leadership announced that we are willing to move forward with 4 percent," Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds told RFE/RL.

The level of spending demonstrates an understanding of the threats facing the world, he said.

"During the Cold War years…it was around 4 percent on average. So that's why certainly 2 percent [as] we discussed previously [is] not enough," Spruds said.

Adopting a new defense spending target would require agreement from all 32 NATO member states. As of July, 23 countries in the alliance had reached the 2 percent of GDP defense spending target.

It was the first time that several large European economies -- namely Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Turkey -- achieved the target.

Former soldiers, students, and representatives of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s rescue services and police departments marched on January 9 in Banja Luka to mark Republika Srpska Day despite the the country's Constitutional Court declaring it unconstitutional three times.

The marchers carried flags, including the national flag of Serbia and the flag of Republika Srpska, and banners of Republika Srpska military units as the procession passed before a government officials and military officers standing on a dais.

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, who is recovering from surgery, was not present, but Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, who has been blacklisted by the United States, attended the event.

Dodik is under U.S. and U.K. sanctions for actions that Western governments say are aimed at the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia. Dodik has denied that the Serbian entity of Bosnia has ever pursued a policy of secession.

January 9 marks the anniversary of the region's 1992 declaration of independence. Bosniaks and Croats did not participate in the adoption of the declaration and view January 9 as the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian War. In years past, the banned holiday has been marked in Banja Luka by parades and marches by armed police.

This year's event took place despite warnings from the international envoy for Bosnia, the EU delegation to Bosnia, and the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo.

International envoy Christian Schmidt warned that disobeying the decisions of the Constitutional Court may constitute a criminal offense and said Bosnia’s law enforcement agencies are obliged to investigate.

The U.S. Embassy noted that the Constitutional Court had ruled on multiple occasions that celebrating the Republika Srpska Day on January 9 is unconstitutional.

“This ruling stands regardless of who participates in the celebration. The issue is not simply commemorating a holiday, but specifically choosing January 9, which coincides with an Orthodox religious holiday and violates several provisions of the [Bosnian] Constitution that prohibit discrimination,” the embassy said on January 8 on X.

The embassy said under the Dayton agreement that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian War all entities in Bosnia are obligated to fully comply with the decisions of Bosnian institutions, including the binding and final rulings of the Constitutional Court.

“Failure to adhere to these rulings constitutes a criminal offense under the [Bosnian] Criminal Code,” the embassy said, adding that the United States expects law enforcement and judicial authorities to investigate.

The Prosecutor-General's Office of Bosnia did not respond to RFE/RL's inquiry about whether an investigation had been launched into this year's commemoration or whether anything had been done about it last year after the Prosecutor-General’s office said it monitored activities on January 9.

The U.S. Treasury Department last year imposed sanctions against three individuals for their work in helping to organize the Republika Srpska Day parade.

The three were members of the organizing committee and participated in a meeting when the event plan was approved. Dodik appointed the committee and demanded it plan the celebration, which included events taking place over three days beginning on January 8.

The Bosnian Serb nationalist leader is on trial for failing to comply with Schmidt’s decisions.

Republika Srpska Interior Minister Sinisa Karan said that after the end of the proceedings against Dodik "it will be known whether the Dayton peace agreement and Bosnia will survive."

A Swiss national who was accused of spying by Tehran was found dead in prison in what officials say was a suicide.

The Mizan news website, which is affiliated with Iran's judiciary, said the Swiss citizen had been "arrested by security agencies for espionage and his case was under investigation" when he took his own life at the prison in the eastern city of Semnan on January 9.

The Swiss foreign minister confirmed in an e-mail to RFE/RL's Radio Farda that Switzerland had been informed of the situation and is seeking further details.

"The FDFA (Swiss Foreign Ministry) confirms the death of a Swiss citizen in Iran. The Swiss Embassy in Tehran is in contact with the local authorities to clarify the circumstances of the death in an Iranian prison," said ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger.

"The FDFA is providing consular protection to the relatives. At this stage, the FDFA cannot provide any further information."

Mizan quoted Mohammad Sadeq Akbari, the chief justice of Semnan Province, as saying the individual was being held in a cell with another prisoner and took his life when the cellmate was not present.

Akbari did not name the Swiss citizen or provide further details, saying an investigation is being conducted and so far "suicide is certain" as the cause of death.

No details of the charges against the Swiss citizen were revealed.

Several European countries and the United States have characterized the Islamic republic's arrest of Western citizens as "hostage diplomacy," claiming Tehran uses such detentions as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West.

Three years earlier a Swiss diplomat died under mysterious circumstances.

Iranian media said the person died from a fall from a high-rise building just outside of Tehran. Swiss authorities did not identify the victim, nor did they give details on the incident.

In December, the Swiss Attorney General's Office said the case of the diplomat's death had been closed and that an investigation had not proven any "criminal interference by a third party."

The investigation reportedly was complicated by the absence of organs in the victim after an initial autopsy was performed in Iran.

Switzerland has represented the United States diplomatically in Iran since Washington and Tehran cut ties in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced a new $500 million package of military aid as part of the outgoing Biden administration's goal of sending as much support as possible before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.

The package includes "additional missiles for Ukrainian air defense, more ammunition, more air-to-ground munitions, and other equipment to support Ukraine's F-16s," Austin said.

Austin spoke at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which is made up of about 50 partner nations that the U.S. Defense Secretary brought together to coordinate weapons support months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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"It's important to look at this as a comprehensive effort by the international community to support Ukraine," U.S. General Patrick Ryder told RFE/RL at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is also attending the meeting, called on Europe to coalesce around Kyiv if U.S. support wanes under the incoming White House administration.

"It's clear that a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world -- just 11 days from now, a time when we have to cooperate even more, rely on one another even more, and achieve even greater results together. I see this as a time of opportunities," he said.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, also in Ramstein, said he expects leaders of the defense coalitions to approve "road maps" for strategic goals and key needs for military assistance until at least the end of 2027.

"These documents, developed and agreed upon jointly by Ukraine and partners, will become the basis for support and allocation of assistance in areas such as air defense, artillery, armored vehicles, drones, air force, maritime security, and other important areas. There is a lot of work ahead," he added after a meeting with Austin.

The Ramstein gathering comes a day after Ukraine suffered one of its worst single losses of life in weeks -- an attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhya that killed 13 people.

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Deadly Russian Strike On Zaporizhzhya Causes Dozens Of Casualties

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Authorities believe Russia carried out the attack using glide bombs aimed at an industrial site.

Ukraine claimed earlier on January 8 that its forces hit an oil depot inside Russia that served as a strategic air base in the southern Saratov region. The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said the strike created serious logistical problems for Russian aviation and significantly reduced its ability to strike Ukrainian cities and civilian objects.

Members of the contact group have said the January 9 meeting could be the last one as its fate remains unclear under Trump.

"The most important format is to have a strong-willed determination for finding specific funding and equipment and training possibilities for Ukrainians," Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds told RFE/RL at the meeting, adding that bilateral commitments and willingness to support Ukraine are a "backbone of support."

The outgoing U.S. administration has been working to get as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump takes office on January 20 to improve Kyiv's negotiating position. Trump -- who has repeatedly criticized U.S. assistance to Kyiv -- has claimed he could quickly negotiate an end to the war after he returns to office.

This has raised fears in Ukraine that any hastily arranged negotiations would be used by Russia to hold on to Ukrainian territory it occupies and allow its troops to rest and rearm.

Austin has said it is important for the contact group to continue providing military aid, while German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has also warned against the West slacking off on support for Ukraine.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s designated envoy for Ukraine and Russia said Trump will take Ukraine’s interests into account when he starts working on a settlement to end the war in Ukraine and will aim to make sure the solution is equitable.

“People need to understand he’s not trying to give something to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or the Russians,” said Keith Kellogg, the retired lieutenant-general whom Trump has designated as his envoy and tasked with leading negotiations to end the war.

“He’s actually trying to save Ukraine and save their sovereignty,” Kellogg said in the interview with Fox News on January 8. “He’s going to make sure it’s equitable and it’s fair and he’s said that repeatedly,” including to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Trump said during last year’s election campaign he could end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. He now says he hopes to end the fighting within six months.

"I hope long before six months," Trump said at a news conference on January 7 when asked if he could solve the war within half a year.

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Kellogg said he would prefer to set an even shorter time span of 100 days from Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

“I’m on the clock. He’s on the clock as well because he wants to end [the war] as quickly as he can,” Kellogg said. “He knows it’s tough one…but he’s committed to it.”

Kellogg declined to divulge the content of any of his conversations with Trump on the war, saying Trump “speaks for himself” and more information would be forthcoming after the inauguration.

He indicated that the groundwork is being laid for Trump and Putin to talk.

“We’ll set the conditions…and he will eventually get to the position where he’ll be talking with Putin and also President Zelenskiy as well, and I think they are going to come to a…solution in the near term,” Kellogg said.

He was not asked about the postponement of a trip that he was expected to make this month to Kyiv and other European capitals. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha announced on January 7 that the trip would be rescheduled.

The envoy-designate in the interview criticized President Joe Biden for not talking with Putin, saying it has been more than two years since they spoke. Trump on the other hand speaks with America’s adversaries and allies alike, he said.

“He actually knows that you need to talk to people to get to an end state and that is what we are going to do,” Kellogg said.

With reporting by Fox News

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is scheduled to meet on January 9 with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, and is expected to announce another large package of military aid as part of the outgoing Biden administration's goal to send as much support as possible before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.

An announcement of an additional $500 million in weapons to Ukraine is expected to be made during the meeting, according to news reports on January 8 quoting unidentified officials.

“Our focus will be on maintaining momentum, delivering results, and sending a clear message: The international community stands resolute in its support for Ukraine,” Austin told reporters traveling with him to Germany.

Austin will meet with the contact group, which is made up of about 50 partner nations that Austin brought together to coordinate weapons support months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A senior defense official who briefed reporters traveling with Austin said the weapons in the new package will be drawn from U.S. stockpiles and the goal is to get them into Ukraine before the end of the month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on January 8 that he would attend the meeting and said Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was already in Ramstein.

"The key task for Ukraine is to strengthen our air defense to at least enable Ukraine to keep the Russian air force away from our cities and borders," he said.

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At Least 13 Killed, Dozens Injured In Russian Strike On Zaporizhzhya

The meeting comes a day after Ukraine suffered one of its worst single losses of life in weeks -- an attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhya that killed 13 people. Authorities believe Russian carried out the attack using glide bombs aimed at an industrial site.

Ukraine claimed earlier on January 8 that its forces hit an oil depot inside Russia that served a strategic air base in the southern Saratov region. The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said the strike created serious logistical problems for Russian aviation and significantly reduced its ability to strike Ukrainian cities and civilian objects.

Members of the contact group have said the January 9 meeting could be the last one as its fate remains unclear under Trump.

The outgoing U.S. administration has been working to get as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump takes office on January 20 to improve Kyiv’s negotiating position. Trump -- who has repeatedly criticized U.S. assistance to Kyiv -- has claimed he could quickly negotiate and end to the war after he returns to office.

This has raised fears in Ukraine that any hastily arranged negotiations would be used by Russia to hold on to Ukrainian territory it occupies and allow its troops to rest and rearm.

Austin said it is important for the contact group to continue providing military aid. He told AFP after landing at Ramstein that he hopes it will “because it's not over."

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also warned against the West slacking off on support for Ukraine.

"If we do that tomorrow, it would be the end of Ukraine, a free, sovereign, democratic country, the day after tomorrow. And who comes next?" Pistorius said on January 8 at an election campaign event in the central German city of Marburg.

He said he was very much in favor of "always leaving the doors open for negotiations." It must be possible to talk about peace at any time, but not on the terms that Russian President Vladimir Putin has set," Pistorius added.

Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa

U.S. lawmakers are reportedly poised to introduce a bill prohibiting the recognition of a Georgian Dream government less than two weeks after the party's Russia-friendly billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, was sanctioned for undermining Georgia's democracy for the "benefit of the Russian Federation."

Fox News reported on January 8 that the bill, which has bipartisan support, would be introduced in the House of Representatives during the day.

Fox said it exclusively obtained the bill, which bars the recognition or normalization of relations "with any Government of Georgia that is led by Bidzina Ivanishvili or any proxies due to the Ivanishvili regime's ongoing crimes against the Georgian people."

"No federal official or employee may take any action, and no Federal funds may be made available, to recognize or otherwise imply, in any manner, United States recognition of Bidzina Ivanishvili or any government in Georgia," Fox quoted the bill as saying.

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The move comes after the State Department on December 27 sanctioned Ivanishvili "for undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia."

Georgia, once a closer U.S. ally, has angered Washington and the European Union with its perceived tilt toward Russia and its violent crackdown on dissent in the Caucasus nation.

The sanctions come at a crucial time as Georgia's fate hangs in the balance -- whether it will intensify its tilt toward Moscow, return to the pro-Europe path or remain in an environment of unrest and uncertainty.

Police in Tbilisi have clashed with pro-West protesters over the past several weeks, detaining dozens and injuring scores of people who were angered by a government decision in November to halt negotiations on joining the European Union until 2028.

The political crisis erupted after Georgian Dream claimed victory in October parliamentary elections that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said was marred by instances of vote-buying, double-voting, physical violence, and intimidation.

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Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023, but ties with Brussels have been tense in recent months following the adoption in May of a controversial "foreign agent" law pushed through parliament by Georgian Dream, which has been in power since 2012.

Georgian Dream pushed through its candidate, Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former soccer player and right-wing populist, as the country's new leader on December 29.

Salome Zurabishvili, his predecessor, continues to call herself Georgia's "only legitimate president."

She and the tens of thousands of Georgians demonstrating in the streets have pushed for new parliamentary elections as the only way out of the current crisis.

Earlier on January 8, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, who is chairman of the Helsinki Commission and a sponsor of the new bill, released a letter signed by 43 American and European politicians calling for fresh elections.

"Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream party has chosen to ignore the legitimate concerns of the opposition and international monitors about the recent elections, seated a one-party legislature, and unilaterally elected a new president," the letter reads.

"They have responded with brutality to nightly protests of hundreds of thousands of protesters. The Georgian people demand free and fair elections and we must stand with them."

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was held by Tehran police for almost three weeks for her "journalistic activities," has been released and is headed home.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced in a post on X that Sala, who was detained on December 19, was on a plane to Italy on January 8.

"Thanks to intense work on diplomatic and intelligence channels, our compatriot has been released by the Iranian authorities and is returning to Italy," Meloni said.

The 29-year-old, who has a podcast called Stories that covers life in places around the world, was held for over a week before Iranian authorities confirmed her detention.

No details of the charges were made public, but they came after Sala posted a podcast from Tehran on December 17 about patriarchy in the Iranian capital.

Three days before Sala's detention, Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian-Swiss businessman who is wanted by the United States for his alleged involvement in a deadly drone attack on an American base in Jordan, was arrested in Milan, Italy.

Iran called Abedini's arrest "illegal" and subsequently summoned the Italian ambassador to Tehran over the issue.

The United States called Sala's detention "retaliatory," while media watchdogs Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists described her arrest as "arbitrary" and aimed at "extortion."

Iran is routinely accused of arresting dual nationals and Western citizens on false charges to use them to pressure Western countries.

Reza Valizadeh, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen and former journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Farda, was handed a 10-year sentence by Tehran's Revolutionary Court in December on charges of "collaborating with a hostile government."

Valizadeh resigned from Radio Farda in November 2022 after a decade of work. He returned to Iran in early 2024 to visit his family but was arrested on September 22.

His two court sessions, held on November 20 and December 7, reportedly lacked a prosecution representative, with the judge assuming that role.

Sources close to the journalist claim he fell into a "security trap" despite receiving unofficial assurances from Iranian security officials that he would not face legal troubles upon returning to Iran.

Iran is among the most repressive countries in terms of freedom of the press. Reporters Without Borders ranked Iran 176th out of 180 countries in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

The Paris-based media watchdog says Iran is now also one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists.

Ukrainian officials said at least 13 people were killed and dozens injured in a Russian air strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhya, the latest in a series of Russian attacks causing widespread civilian casualties.

The January 8 strike hit an industrial district of the city around midafternoon, said Ivan Fedorov, head of the regional administration.

According to reports, debris hit a tram and a minibus with passengers, damaging cars parked nearby.

Video released by emergency services showed bodies mangled and bloodied on sidewalks as firefighters rushed to put out car fires and extinguish a blaze in a nearby administrative building.

"There is nothing more cruel than air strikes on a city, with the knowledge that ordinary civilians will suffer," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Telegram post that included graphic footage of the blast's aftermath.

It's unclear what weapon was used, though the scope of the damage and casualties suggested a larger weapon.

Ukrainian authorities, who earlier sounded air-raid sirens, warned of the possibility of a missile launch or a possible glide bomb -- an air-dropped guided weapon that Russia has used to devastating effect on Ukrainian defenses.

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"The number of injured and dead is constantly increasing. Police, rescuers, medics, and other specialized services are continuously working to eliminate the consequences of the enemy attack," Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.

"They are clearing the rubble, searching for people, providing assistance to the victims.... In particular, police paramedics saved five people."

There was no immediate comment on the attack from Russian officials.

Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure since the start of the war. It has also been accused by Kyiv of targeting residential buildings, which Moscow denies despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

Ukraine has also been accused by Moscow of targeting civilian infrastructure, but to a far less decgree.

Earlier, Ukraine claimed to have hit an oil depot inside Russia that served a strategic air base in the southern Saratov region.

The January 8 strike "creates serious logistical problems for the strategic aviation of the Russian occupiers and significantly reduces their ability to strike at peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian objects," Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces claimed on social media.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, added that "long-range capabilities" were deployed in the strike, while he also used the hashtag #MadeInUkraine, implying locally made weapons, not arms supplied by the West, were used.

"Numerous explosions were recorded in the area of the target, a large-scale fire broke out. It should be noted that this oil depot supplied fuel to the Engels-2 military airfield, where the enemy's strategic aviation is based," the General Staff of the Armed Forces said.

Since the beginning of 2024, Russian refineries have been regularly targeted by Ukrainian drones. At some, primary oil-processing units have failed and required repairs. Russia has said it has partially restored capacity at some key oil refineries.

The strike comes as Ukrainian forces resume their offensive operations in several directions within the Kursk region, which analysts told Current Time gives Kyiv a bargaining chip in any possible cease-fire or peace talks with Moscow.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on January 7 that he is eager to see negotiations with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine begin soon after he returns to the White House later this month, but gave no specifics on when they would take place.

Trump said he wants to see negotiations soon because “Russia is losing a lot of young people and so is Ukraine.”

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Trump, who spoke with reporters at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, didn’t say whether or how soon he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin but said such a meeting would not be appropriate until after he is inaugurated on January 20.

"I can't tell you that, but I know Putin would like to meet," Trump said.

At the end of December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no preconditions for a meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents.

SEE ALSO:

Will The War In Ukraine End In 2025?

Dmytro Levus, a political analyst at the United Ukraine think tank, told Current Time on January 8 that Trump has limited levers to use against Russia if it does not agree to any peace deal.

"It's possible to put pressure on Russia in the oil sector," he said.

The president-elect said during his election campaign he could end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office.

At the news conference on January 7, Trump said he hoped to end the fighting within six months.

SEE ALSO:

What A Ukraine Peace Plan Could Look Like

Trump’s return to the White House brings with it uncertainty on what impact it will have on Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is nearly three years old, and whether negotiations can take place. But Trump told the news conference he is determined to get it "straightened out," adding that it is "a tough one."

Ukrainian officials are concerned that any hastily arranged negotiations could allow Russia to hold on to Ukrainian territory it has seized and would also give Russian forces time to rest and reorganize.

The Ukrainians also want to encourage Trump to continue U.S. military support for their country.

With reporting by RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak

Finland says a tanker alleged to be part of Russia's “shadow fleet” that was detained over the damaging of Baltic Sea cables has "serious deficiencies," putting it under detention amid reports NATO is due to begin patrolling near key underwater cables.

"The deficiencies detected are of a nature that operating the ship is forbidden until the deficiencies have been rectified," Sanna Sonninen, director-general of the Maritime Sector at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), said in a statement on January 8.

"Rectifying the deficiencies will require external assistance for repairs and will take time,” it added.

Finland is currently conducting a criminal investigation into the oil tanker Eagle S. It is suspected of sabotaging the EstLink-2 power cable -- which sends electricity between Finland and Estonia -- on December 25.

Several other incidents have taken place in recent months in the Baltic Sea, including damage to an Internet cable linking Finland and Germany and another linking Finland and Sweden.

In response to the threat of further incidents, Finnish state broadcaster YLE reported that NATO ships will begin patrolling the areas in the Baltic where cables run. The move is intended to act as a deterrent and reduce the risk of further sabotage that is believed to have been carried out by Russia's "shadow fleet."

YLE reported that up to 10 ships will take part in the security patrols and will remain until at least April.

SEE ALSO:

Germany Says Baltic Cable Damage A 'Wake-Up Call' As Report Describes 'Spy Ship'

The “shadow fleet” consists of a number of old, uninsured oil vessels used to bypass Western sanctions on Russia and maintain a source of revenue for the Kremlin. The ships carry Russian crude oil and petroleum products that have been barred following Moscow's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Finnish police said on January 7 that an anchor had been recovered from the bottom of the Baltic Sea as part of investigations into the cable-damaging incidents.

Authorities have said they suspect the damage to the EstLink-2 cable was caused by a ship dragging its anchor and said the Eagle S was missing one of its anchors.

SEE ALSO:

NATO Vows To Bolster Baltic Presence Amid Suspected Undersea Sabotage

The Swedish Navy said earlier on January 7 that it had recovered the anchor after sending a submarine to assist Finland in the investigation. A spokesman for the navy told the AFP news agency that the anchor had been handed over to Finnish authorities.

Investigators said earlier that they found a track on the seabed dozens of kilometers long indicating that the ship dragged its anchor. However, they had not yet located the missing anchor at that time.

“The location where the anchor was found is along the route of the Eagle S toward the western end of the drag trace found on the seabed," Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said in a statement.

SEE ALSO:

Authorities Find Anchor Believed To Be Linked To Damaged Cables In Baltic Sea

The captain and another crew member of the seized oil tanker are Georgian nationals, Georgia's Maritime Transport Agency told RFE/RL on January 6. The agency said a representative of the Georgian Embassy had been informed of the two crew members' detention.

Moscow has said it has no connection to the Eagle S and that Finland's seizure of the vessel is not a matter that concerns Russia. It has regularly denied that it is involved in any of the other incidents involving infrastructure assets in the Baltic Sea region.

SEE ALSO:

Ship Suspected Of Damaging Cables Off Finland Part Of Russia's 'Shadow Fleet,' EU Says

Britain said on January 6 that it was leading a new initiative using artificial intelligence to "track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and monitor the Russian shadow fleet."

"Specific vessels identified as being part of Russia's shadow fleet have been registered into the system so they can be closely monitored when approaching key areas of interest," the Defense Ministry in London said.

It added that if a "potential risk is assessed, the system will monitor the suspicious vessel in real time and immediately send out a warning" shared with nations of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and NATO.

The 10-nation JEF also includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Netherlands, and Sweden.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service and YLE

Iran executed at least 901 people in 2024 -- including 31 women, some of whom were convicted of killing their husbands while fighting off a rape or other cases of domestic violence -- a nine-year high that has sparked outrage at the United Nations.

About 40 of the total executions came in the last week of December alone, the UN high commissioner for human rights said in a report published on January 7.

"The increase in the number of people executed in Iran over the past year is very worrying," High Commissioner Volker Turk said, adding that the total had climbed from 853 in 2023.

“It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions,” he added.

The UN said that most of the executions were for drug-related offenses, but it added that dissidents and people connected to protests in 2022 were also executed.

Protests erupted across Iran in 2022, triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law, while in police custody.

During the protests, women and girls removed and burned their head scarves.

The authorities waged a brutal crackdown on protesters, killing hundreds and arresting thousands.

In the latest report, Turk called on Tehran to halt all future executions.

“It is incompatible with the fundamental right to life and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people. And, to be clear, it can never be imposed for conduct that is protected under international human rights law,” Turk said.

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UN spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva that the number of women executed in Iran was the highest figure in at least the past 15 years.

"The majority of cases involved charges of murder. A significant number of the women were victims of domestic violence, child marriage, or forced marriage," she said.

Throssell told Reuters that one of the women executed for murder had killed her husband to prevent him from raping her daughter.

The conservative Islamic state has a long history of violating the rights of citizens, especially women and girls.

Masud Pezeshkian, who many labeled as a reformist, won Iran’s presidential election in July, vowing to better protect the rights of women and minorities, but many rights activists and international observers remain skeptical pending substantive actions.

With reporting by Reuters

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said again that he is eager to see negotiations with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine begin soon after he returns to the White House but gave no specifics on when they would take place.

Trump said he wants to see negotiations soon because “Russia is losing a lot of young people and so is Ukraine.”

Trump, who spoke with reporters at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, didn’t say whether or how soon he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin but said such a meeting would not be appropriate until after he is inaugurated on January 20.

"I can't tell you that, but I know Putin would like to meet," Trump said.

At the end of December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no preconditions for a meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents.

The president-elect said during his election campaign he could end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. At the news conference Trump said he hoped to end the fighting within six months.

"I hope long before six months," Trump said, when asked if he could solve the war within half a year.

Trump’s return to the White House brings with it uncertainty on what impact it will have on the nearly three-year-old conflict and whether negotiations can take place. But Trump told the news conference he is determined to get it "straightened out," adding that it is "a tough one."

Ukrainian officials are concerned that any hastily arranged negotiations could allow Russia to hold on to Ukrainian territory it has seized and would also give Russian forces time to rest and reorganize.

The Ukrainians also want to encourage Trump to continue U.S. military support for their country. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha announced on January 7 that a trip to Ukraine by Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia had been canceled and would have to be rescheduled.

The envoy, Keith Kellogg, has been tasked with leading negotiations to end the war. Kellogg has said that potential cease-fire talks could begin once Trump takes office and, in a December interview with Fox News, said the war could "be resolved in the next few months."

The planned meetings between Kellogg and Ukrainian officials are “extremely important,” Sybiha said during a news conference with his visiting Icelandic counterpart.

“I am confident that this meeting will take place in due course,” he told reporters in Kyiv. “We are in contact to clearly define the timeline for its organization and to ensure that the meeting is as meaningful as possible.”

Ramstein Meeting

Trump was not asked about a report that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is set to announce a massive final military aid package for Ukraine as part of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Germany on January 9.

Austin is scheduled to meet with representatives of about 50 partner nations in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at an air base in Ramstein, Germany.

The package is expected to be “substantial," according to two officials who briefed reporters on Austin’s trip. The officials did not provide an exact dollar amount.

Austin's trip will be his final meeting with the contact group, which he organized after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Together those nations have provided more than $126 billion in weapons, military training, and assistance since the war started. The U.S. portion of the total is $66 billion.

The package to be announced later this week will draw from existing U.S. stockpiles with a goal of getting most of the weapons to Ukraine by the time Trump is sworn in, one of the officials said.

Trump also urged NATO members to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, up from the current 2 percent target, reinforcing his long-held claim that they are not paying enough for U.S. protection.

The United States has announced sanctions on a senior Hungarian official with a critical role in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government for his alleged involvement in corruption.

The sanctions are being imposed on Antal Rogan, who “has used his role to enrich himself and those loyal to his party,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a news release on January 7.

Rogan “orchestrated schemes designed to control several strategic sectors of the Hungarian economy” and skim the proceeds from the sectors for himself and loyalists to Orban’s Fidesz party, the department said.

Under Orban's right-wing government, Hungary has been accused, at home and abroad, of democratic backsliding.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto blasted the U.S. action, calling it a “personal vendetta” of the U.S. ambassador.

“How good it is that in a few days' time the United States will be led by people who see our country as a friend and not an enemy,” he added, referring to the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has often praised Orban.

The U.S. statement noted that, in his role as minister in charge of Orban’s cabinet office, Rogan controls many government entities, including the National Communications Office, the Digital Government Agency, and the Hungarian Tourism Agency. Rogan also has been a member of parliament in Hungary since 1998.

“Throughout his tenure as a government official, Rogan has orchestrated Hungary’s system for distributing public contracts and resources to cronies loyal to himself and the Fidesz political party,” the department said.

He is being designated under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuses and corruption around the world.

SEE ALSO:

Hungarians Rally As Whistle-Blower Exposes Alleged Corruption In Orban's Government

“Corruption undermines a country’s governing institutions and limits its economic development, providing short-sighted gain to a select few while depriving future generations of longer-term benefit,” said acting Treasury Undersecretary Bradley T. Smith.

The department said public sector corruption in Hungary has been worsening for more than a decade, leading to Hungary receiving the lowest score of any European Union (EU) member state on Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index for the second consecutive year.

It also said whistleblowers in Hungary have criticized the government for operating a kleptocracy with a notable lack of transparency and equity in public and private expenditure deals made between administrators such as Rogan and loyalist business leaders.

"Hungary’s failure to address transparency issues in its public procurement mechanisms has most recently led to a loss of over 1 billion Euros in future funding from the European Union, disadvantaging Hungarian citizens,” the department noted.

The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world. The sanctions freeze any property Rogan holds within U.S. jurisdiction and bar any dealings with him by a U.S. person.

Finnish police say an anchor has been recovered from the bottom of the Baltic Sea as part of an investigation into an incident last week in which undersea power and telecommunications cables were damaged.

Authorities have said they suspect the damage was caused by a ship dragging its anchor and have detained a tanker carrying Russian oil, the Eagle S, that was missing one of its anchors. Investigators said earlier that they found a track on the seabed dozens of kilometers long indicating the ship dragged its anchor, but until now they had not found the missing anchor.

"The location where the anchor was found is along the route of the Eagle S...toward the western end of the drag trace found on the seabed," Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said in a statement.

The Swedish Navy said earlier on January 7 it had recovered the anchor after sending a submarine to assist Finland in the investigation. A spokesman for the navy told AFP that the anchor had been handed over to Finnish authorities.

Finnish customs have said they suspected the tanker is part of Russia's "shadow fleet" -- ships that carry Russian crude oil and petroleum products that are embargoed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The Estlink 2 electricity interconnector cable between Finland and Estonia was suddenly disconnected from the grid on December 25 along with four telecommunications lines. The Cook Islands-flagged Eagle S was detained by Finnish authorities shortly afterward and is being held in Finnish waters in the Baltic Sea.

The captain and another crew member of the seized oil tanker are Georgian nationals, Georgia's Maritime Transport Agency told RFE/RL on January 6. The agency said a representative of the Georgian Embassy had been informed of the two crew members' detention.

The incident, one of several since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has raised concerns across Europe that energy and communications infrastructure are being targeted as part of what experts and politicians call Russia's hybrid war with Western countries.

Moscow has said it has no connection to the Eagle S and Finland's seizure of the vessel is not a matter for Russia. It has regularly denied that it is involved in any of the other incidents involving Baltic Sea region infrastructure assets.

NATO announced it will strengthen its military presence in the Baltic Sea following the damage caused to the Estlink 2 and similar incidents since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Two of the damaged telecommunications cables have been repaired, according to their operators, but it remained unclear when the Estlink 2 power cable would be fixed.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka did not apologize to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the days following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a spokeswoman for the authoritarian leader said, disputing recent comments made by Zelenskiy.

"No apologies were made by the Belarusian president to Zelenskiy for the simple reason that we have nothing to apologize for," spokeswoman Natalia Eismont told Russian media on January 6 while confirming that a phone call did take place.

She was responding to comments made by Zelenskiy during an interview with U.S. podcaster Lex Fridman published a day earlier.

The Ukrainian leader said that in the first days following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Lukashenka apologized for the missiles that were fired from Belarusian territory.

"He said that 'it was not me. Missiles were launched from my territory and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was the one launching them,'" Zelenskiy related.

Zelenskiy said Lukashenka told him: "Volodymyr, this is not me. I'm not in charge.... I’m not in charge. These are just missiles. This is Putin."

SEE ALSO:

More Pardons In Belarus As Lukashenka Prepares To Extend His Rule

"I told him, 'You are a murderer, too, I’m just saying.' He told me, 'You must understand, you can't fight the Russians.'"

The Belarus spokeswoman claimed that during the call, Lukashenka "primarily said the conflict broke out on the territory of Ukraine, on Zelenskiy's territory, and it is he who will eventually have to be responsible for the loss of life more than anyone else."

While Belarus has not sent forces to join Russia's war in Ukraine, it has allowed Moscow to use its territory as a staging ground for the full-scale invasion it launched in February 2022.

Moscow and Minsk in 2023 signed documents allowing for the placement of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus -- the first relocation of such warheads outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The announcement sparked immediate criticism from governments around the world, while NATO called it "dangerous and irresponsible."

Lukashenka has waged a relentless clampdown on dissent with the support of Putin since unprecedented street protests erupted in the former Soviet republic after he declared victory in a fraught election for a sixth presidential term in 2020.

A presidential election is scheduled for January 26, one in which Lukashenka is certain to be declared the winner.

With reporting by Ukrinform

The Ukrainian military continued its drive in Russia's Kursk region late on January 7, claiming it hit a key Russian command post, while Washington is reportedly set to announce a "substantial" final weapons package under the current administration.

AP, citing two senior defense officials, reported that President Joe Biden's administration will announce the aid package during Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Ramstein, Germany, on January 9 for the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, a summit of some 50 partner nations.

The officials did not discuss the amount or nature of the package other than to say it would be "substantial," as Biden looks to shore up Ukraine's defenses before he leaves office on January 20.

SEE ALSO:

Ukraine Live Briefing: New Aid Package Announced At Ramstein Meeting

One of the officials said Biden's defense team has been in contact with President-elect Donald Trump's transition leaders regarding "all the issues that we believe are important” regarding Ukraine.

In his nightly video address on January 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his team is "thoroughly preparing" for the crucial Ramstein meeting, without elaborating.

On the battlefield, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said it hit the Russian command post with a "high-precision strike," adding that "a series of recent operations...were coordinated with the Ukrainian Ground Forces who are currently commencing new offensive operations."

It said Russia's 810th Separate Marine Brigade in the village of Bila in the Kursk region was targeted, although it did not disclose the results of the attack.

Dozens of clashes had been reported earlier in the Kursk region. The General Staff said at least 94 battles had taken place in over the previous 24 hours in an operation it said was aimed at "preventing an enemy offensive in the Sumy region" on the Ukrainian side of the border with Kursk.

A spokesman for Ukraine's National Guard said Russia has been forced to transfer units to the Kursk region to reinforce troops there.

"What we are seeing now has an effect not only on the north of the Kharkiv region -- on the enemy's activity along the border with the Sumy region -- but also on other directions of the front," Ruslan Muzychuk said on Ukrainian television.

Ukraine's army also rejected Russia's claim that it had taken the strategic town of Kurakhove, saying it was still repelling attacks near the town despite being outmanned.

Battlefield claims by either side could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian forces resumed offensive operations in several directions within the Kursk region in recent days, which analysts told Current Time gives Kyiv a bargaining chip in any possible cease-fire or peace talks with Moscow.

"It is important for Ukraine to have a bridgehead in the Kursk region as an instrument of pressure in the negotiations and as an opportunity to negotiate a territorial exchange," Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told Current Time on January 7.

"Ukraine doesn't need any territory in Russia. Ukraine can negotiate to withdraw from the Kursk region, but in exchange, for example, for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kharkiv region. Such an option is possible."

Ukrainian troops first pushed into in a surprise incursion on August 6. They have since resisted Russian attempts to fully expel them.

According to Russian pro-war accounts on Telegram that closely follow and document frontline developments, the attack is being carried out with armored vehicles, mine-clearing vehicles, and electronic warfare systems, which are said to be successfully countering Russian drones.

Russia's Defense Ministry had claimed its troops had taken the Ukrainian town of Kurakhove some 30 kilometers south of Pokrovsk -- the strategic logistics hub that has been the target of Russian forces over the past several months.

The situation there remains unclear as of late January 7.

If Russian forces were to take Pokrovsk, it would represent a major gain for the Kremlin after fighting that has left the city mostly in ruins, with most of its 64,000 prewar population having fled.

Russian advances around Kurakhove and Kyiv's offensive in Kursk come ahead of the inauguration Trump, who has previously said that ending the war in Ukraine would be a priority for his first day in office.

Fesenko said both sides are trying to strengthen their pre-negotiation positions and also "to show their strength, their power to the new U.S. administration in order to put it under military pressure."

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The scale of the current offensive and whether it will lead to changes along the front line remains unclear, but U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on January 6 that Ukraine's positioning in Kursk indeed is critical to possible future peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Videos online purported to show columns of Ukrainian military vehicles speeding across snow-covered land in the Kursk region.

The MIG Rossyy channel claimed the Ukrainian military has had "local successes," saying, "These are not sluggish maneuvers of small sabotage groups, but a full-scale attempt to attack.”

Russian forces, supported by the introduction of thousands of North Korean soldiers, have advanced but failed to eject Ukrainian troops entirely from Kursk.

The offensive was reportedly launched from the district center of Sudzha, which has been under Ukrainian control since August, in the direction of Bolshoye Soldatskoye, which lies some 70 kilometers from Kursk city, the region's administrative center.

Zelenskiy said late on January 6 that Russia had suffered heavy losses in five months of fighting Ukrainian forces in Kursk, with nearly 15,000 killed. He did not present evidence to back up the claim.

Ukraine's General Staff said on January 6 that Russian forces have lost 1,550 soldiers over the past 24 hours. It did not elaborate.

Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said on January 7 that it had inflicted several defeats on Ukrainian units in Kursk.

About half of the land seized in Ukraine's initial offensive has been recaptured since August, but Kyiv still holds Sudzha and about 500 square kilometers of Russian territory.

In November, Ukraine reported its forces had engaged in combat with North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region and Ukrainian officials have claimed that North Korean forces are suffering heavy losses.

The introduction of North Korean troops followed Ukraine's cross-border offensive, which Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned as a "major provocation."

The Moldovan government on January 6 said it would provide natural gas to 14 localities in the Moscow-backed Transdniester breakaway region as residents there suffer through the brutal winter after Russian supplies were cut off on New Year's Day.

The settlements are those that are already connected to Moldovan networks. Moldova's Premier Energy Distribution firm said it would supply electricity to two localities that are technically connected to the western -- or government-controlled -- bank of the Dniester River.

The cutoff was the result of Ukraine’s refusal to extend a transit contract with Russian state gas giant Gazprom as Kyiv and its Western partners look to deny Moscow revenue used to fund its war in Ukraine.

Even before the January 1 cutoff, Gazprom said it was ceasing deliveries to Moldova because of a debt dispute. Russia says Moldova owes it more than more than $700 million. Chisinau puts the figure at $9 million.

Transdniester, the breakaway territory on the eastern bank of the Dniester, has Russian troops on its soil and has governed its own affairs -- with Moscow’s backing --- since a war that erupted as the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s.

Moldovan authorities on January 6 announced the summoning of a Russian diplomat following accusations over the worsening situation in Transdniester amid fears of a complete electricity blackout in the region.

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The Foreign Ministry in Chisinau said it “strongly refutes the dangerous disinformation spread by the embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova, which seeks to deflect responsibility for a crisis that Moscow itself has created.”

“We firmly condemn these false statements, which are aimed at dividing Moldovan society and obscuring the true origins of the energy crisis [in Transdniester],” it said on its website.

Tens of thousands already are without gas for heating in the separatist enclave, which is experiencing freezing temperatures. People have been forced to burn wood or rely on plug-in electric heaters for warmth.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

A lab run by Brazil's air force has sent data from the flight recorders recovered from the Brazilian-made Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed last month to the Kazakhstan authority investigating the crash.

The lab said in a statement on January 6 that it had completed the extraction of the data from the cockpit recorders of the Embraer plane and turned the material over to the investigators.

Kazakh authorities announced on December 29 that the recorders were being sent to Brazil amid accusations by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that Russia was trying to "cover up" the cause of the tragedy.

The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to Grozny in Russia's Chechnya region on December 25 when it was diverted and crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.

The Kazakh Transport Ministry said the commission in charge of the probe had sent the flight recorders to the Center for the Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents in Brazil amid evidence that the jet was hit by a Russian air-defense missile before it went down near Aqtau in western Kazakhstan.

Aliyev said on December 29 that the plane was mistakenly shot at while approaching Grozny. He also said Russia had not admitted guilt or apologized to Azerbaijan but instead had presented “absurd theories" about a bird strike or an explosion of a gas cylinder on the plane.

Those theories, Aliyev said, showed "that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue."

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliyev but did not accept blame for the plane crash.

In a phone call with Aliyev on December 28, Putin said Russian air defenses were repelling an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on Grozny when the plane was trying to land at the airport there, a Kremlin statement said.

Russia's Investigative Committee has opened a criminal investigation into the possible violation of flight safety rules, the statement said.

With reporting by Reuters