Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,420

Here is where things stand on Wednesday, January 14:

Fighting

• A Russian missile and drone attack on a postal company terminal in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed four people and wounded six, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
• Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that a Russian long-range drone also struck a medical facility for children, causing a fire.
• Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Energy Mykola Kolisnyk said that continued Russian shelling on Tuesday caused an “even greater shortage” of electricity in Kyiv and that “almost 500 high-rise buildings are still without heat”.
• The Ministry of Defence in Moscow said Russian forces had launched a “massive strike against energy facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces”, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
• The ministry also reported that Russian forces shot down 207 Ukrainian drones and 11 guided missiles in a 24-hour period, according to TASS.

• TASS also said that some supermarkets were closed in Kyiv due to the power outages. However, Kolisnyk said these reports were false.
• Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said Ukrainian Navy forces struck a Russian drone factory in Taganrog, in Russia’s Rostov region, causing a fire and “a series of loud explosions”.
• Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar wrote on Telegram that a woman’s body was found in a building after it was shelled by Ukrainian forces in Taganrog.
• A Ukrainian drone attack killed a man in Shebekino city in Russia’s Belgorod region, the regional civil task force reported on Telegram.
• Another Ukrainian drone attack killed a 45-year-old woman in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk, the Russian-installed regional government reported on Telegram.
• Ukraine’s DeepState military blog said that Russian forces advanced near Lozova in Kharkiv and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhia region.

Black Sea attacks

• Drones struck two oil tankers in the Black Sea on Tuesday, including one chartered by US oil giant Chevron, the companies involved said, as they sailed towards a terminal on the Russian coast.
• “All crew are safe, and the vessel remains stable. It is proceeding to a safe port, and we are coordinating with the ship operator and relevant authorities,” Chevron said of the damaged chartered tanker.
• Reuters reported that both ships were en route to Russia’s Yuzhnaya Ozereyevka terminal, a loading point for about 80 percent of Kazakh oil destined for international markets, as well as some Russian crude oil, according to multiple unnamed sources.
• Кazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy had said earlier on Tuesday that it reduced oil shipments through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) marine terminal in December because of drone attacks and adverse Black Sea weather conditions.

Politics and Diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has nominated Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s first vice prime minister, for the post of defence minister, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak wrote on Telegram.
• Ukrainian lawmakers on Tuesday voted against naming outgoing Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal as energy minister after Zelenskyy proposed him for the position.

Regional Security

• Germany indicted two Ukrainians linked to an alleged plot, on behalf of Russian spy services, to detonate packages while they were being transported across Europe, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
• Russia said it had summoned Poland’s ambassador to protest over the detention of a Russian archaeologist and demand that he be immediately released instead of extradited to Ukraine.