The US has announced a $500m aid package for Ukraine, including air defence missiles and ammunition. Meanwhile, around 113 people are injured after a Russian bomb attack in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. Submit your questions for our correspondents in the box below.
Thursday 9 January 2025 17:26, UK
But we’ll be back tomorrow with more updates on the war in Ukraine.
Here are the key lines from today:
A nursery was damaged after Russian forces dropped guided aerial bombs on the city of Kherson today, its governor has said.
Posting on Telegram, Oleksandr Prokudin said six people were injured and that a house was destroyed, with damage to the nursery.
The victims included two women and four men who suffered blast injuries and shrapnel wounds. One victim was treated on the spot, and the rest were hospitalised, Prokudin said.
For context: Kherson sits on the frontline in the south of Ukraine, as shown in the map above.
The city was liberated by Ukrainian troops during a counteroffensive in late 2022.
Russian troops have been positioned east of the Dnipro River since, where they have put the liberated territories under regular fire.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine is negotiating with the US to obtain licences to manufacture air defence systems and missiles on its territory.
“This could become a significant part of our security guarantees. And it is absolutely possible to do it,” said Ukraine’s president.
He referred to yesterday’s Russian bomb attack on Zaporizhzhia, which killed 13 people and injured more than 100, and called for additional air defence systems for Ukraine.
“This is just one day, just one attack, just one air strike,” said Zelesnkyy. “We need to stop the Russian terror. And you can do it. We ask for immediate delivery of air defence systems.”
For context: Zelenskyy has said in the past that he has repeatedly asked the US to provide licences to produce Patriot systems in Ukraine but had not received permission.
Speaking to Le Parisien last month, he said that in the three years of war, Ukraine has not yet received the number of air defence systems it needs to defend itself against Russia.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she believes Donald Trump won’t disengage from Ukraine after he takes office this month.
Addressing a news conference, Meloni said she does not believe that Trump would stop supporting Ukraine and try to force it to accept unfavourable terms to end war with Russia.
“Trump has the ability to balance diplomacy and deterrence and I predict that this will be the case this time too,” she said, adding that she would support whatever Kyiv decided to do in its war with Russia.
On peace negotiations, Meloni said that Ukraine would need security guarantees to avoid another invasion from Moscow.
She also said that Russia was becoming “bogged down” in Ukraine.
Slovakia’s prime minister has threatened to cut emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine or reduce aid for its refugees in response to a dispute over Russian gas supplies.
Robert Fico has accused Kyiv of damaging Slovakia by not extending a transit deal for Russian gas via Ukraine that expired at the end of 2024.
The deal ended on New Year’s Day, with Kyiv refusing to renegotiate any deal that would feed revenue to Moscow, which could be used to fund its war in Ukraine.
Slovakia has continued receiving gas coming via Hungary since the halt of flows from Ukraine, according to Slovak gas transmission network operator Eustream.
But Fico said that the halt from Ukraine has cost his country €500m (£418m) in transit fees and €1bn (£838m) in higher gas prices.
Moscow’s troops are continuing to conduct assaults on positions in Ukraine’s south and east.
The map below shows the wider situation on the frontline, where Ukraine’s forces are trying to stop key cities and supply routes from falling under Russian control.
The northeastern town of Kupiansk now lies less than two miles away from the frontline, according to the head of the town’s military administration.
Russian forces are also continuing offensive operations in the direction of Chasiv Yar, in the north of the Donetsk region, and towards Pokrovsk, further south.
There’s also been an increased amount of activity in Russia’s Kursk region recently, where Ukraine first launched an offensive back in August.
Russian forces recently advanced in areas around Sudzha, according to geolocated footage seen by the Institute for the Study of War.
Here’s the latest territorial gains in the region:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Moldovan President Maia Sandu have discussed using Ukrainian coal to ease the energy crisis in Moldova’s separatist Transnistria region.
Pro-Russian Transnistria, which broke away from Moldova in the final days of Soviet rule, has been subjected to blackouts and a heating shortage.
The region has long relied on supplies of Russian gas, but flows to the area through Ukraine were halted on 1 January after Kyiv refused to renew a deal that allowed gas to move through its territory.
“We are ready to assist Moldova, including with coal supplies,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address after discussing the crisis with Sandu by telephone.
Sandu, in a statement issued on the presidential website, said the two leaders agreed on “common solutions to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian crisis”, including through the use of “alternative energy sources, such as coal”.
Ukrainian coal could be used to keep operating a thermal plant which provides electricity for the separatist region and also accounts for most of the power needs in government-controlled areas of Moldova.
New pictures from the frontline Ukrainian town of Orikhiv show the damage inflicted by Russian airstrikes.
The town sits in the southwestern Zaporizhzhia region, which has seen intense fighting since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Yesterday, a Russian glide bomb attack in Zaporizhzhia killed 13 people and injured over 100 others (see 10.53am post).
Outgoing US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has announced a $500m (£407m) aid package for Ukraine, including air defence missiles, ammunition and equipment for F-16 fighter jets.
It is expected to be the final US defence tranche provided by the Biden administration before Donald Trump takes office on 20 January.
This latest package leaves about $3.85bn (£3.13bn) in presidential drawdown funding to provide future arms shipments to Ukraine.
Speaking in Germany today, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Austin warned that a cessation in US military support for Ukraine “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war”.
“We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defence coalitions we’ve created,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump, who will take office on 20 January, has previously threatened to cut the aid being sent to Ukraine and has opposed Kyiv’s desire to join NATO.
Joe Biden has cancelled the final planned overseas trip of his presidency – just hours before he was set to depart – as wildfires burn in Los Angeles.
The president was set to leave for Rome and the Vatican hours after speaking at Jimmy Carter’s funeral in Washington this afternoon, but will now stay in Washington to monitor the response to raging blazes.
He was set for talks with the Pope, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and a final face-to-face meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
We’re covering the wildfires in Los Angels live as five blazes burn across the city engulfing homes and killing at least five, with 130,000 forced to flee. Follow the latest developments on our live page here.
For context: Biden’s cancelled trip will come as a blow for Zelenskyy, with uncertainty lingering over how much support Ukraine will receive when president-elect Donald Trump takes office on 20 January.
The Biden administration has led global efforts to provide Ukraine with military aid, revealing another $500m (£407m) package today in Germany – more on that shortly.
Trump has previously threatened to cut the aid being sent to Ukraine and has opposed Kyiv’s desire to join NATO.
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