The city of Kupiansk  in northeastern Ukraine has been closed off since the end of September; no one can enter or leave — not even aid workers. There are now Russian soldiers stationed there.

Some residents have remained even as Russian troops threaten to take full control. The longer they wait. the more dangerous it becomes to evacuate.

DW spoke with some of them. Read the story here. 

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told state news agency TASS that efforts by Russia and the United States to end the conflict in Ukraine were still ongoing.

This statement appears to contradict remarks made by a top Russian diplomat the previous day.

On Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the momentum from the Alaska summit between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump “has largely gone,” and accused Ukraine’s European allies of torpedoing peace efforts.

However, on Thursday Ushakov was quoted as saying: “Claims that the Anchorage momentum is fading, or that it has been exhausted, are completely incorrect. We continue to work with the Americans based on what was agreed upon between the presidents in Anchorage.”

The Trump-Putin Alaska summit failed to produce a breakthrough to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. In recent weeks, Trump has become increasingly critical of Putin.

Ukrainian local authorities ordered the evacuation of children and their guardians from towns and villages around the frontline city of Kramatorsk, as well as from some parts of the city.

They cited an uptick in Russian drone attacks in the region as the reason for the evacuation.

“Residents of these settlements, especially families with children who, unfortunately, still remain there, must immediately leave the area accompanied by representatives of the evacuation services,” the city council said on social media.

Kramatorsk, which had a prewar population of around 147,000, is located approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the front line in the Donetsk region. Kramatorsk is the region’s largest civilian hub and garrison city that is still under Ukrainian control.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities in the neighboring town of Sloviansk also urged residents to evacuate, citing an increase in Russian attacks on energy and heating facilities.

“I am addressing the residents of the city today, especially elderly people and families with children — it is time to evacuate. At least for the period of the heating season. Because we see that the enemy is targeting the energy system, specifically boiler facilities,” Mayor Vadym Lyakh said in a social media post.

Andrej Babis, the winner of the Czech election, said he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and expressed his support and hope for a quick end to the war with Russia.

“I am glad that he contacted me and described the current situation,” Babis said on X.

“We also agreed that if everything works out I will visit Ukraine next year,” he added.

Before the election, Babis had pledged to end a Czech program that sources ammunition for Ukraine. 

Polish investigators accuse a Warsaw registry office archive employee of copying the personal data of Polish citizens and foreigners between 2017 and 2022 and passing it on to Russian contacts.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the man was arrested in March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. He has been in custody ever since. The case has only now become public. 

The obtained data and documents enabled the Russians to create fake identities for so-called “illegals,” according to the statement. “Illegals” refers to Russian agents who live in a country for years or decades under false identities, gathering information and carrying out assignments.

Tomasz Siemoniak, the minister responsible for the secret services, said that the registrar’s case showed that places unrelated to national security that have access to data are of interest to Russia.

The United States has introduced sanctions against NIS, Serbia’s main oil supplier, which is majority-owned by Gazprom Neft, Russia’s state-owned oil company.

On Thursday, NIS announced it had failed to secure another postponement of the US sanctions, which could jeopardize its efforts to secure long-term oil and gas deliveries. The company added that it has sufficient supplies to maintain operations for customers in the short term.

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector on January 10 and gave Gazprom Neft a deadline to divest its ownership of NIS, which Gazprom Neft did not meet.

Serbia depends almost entirely on Russian gas and oil, which it mainly receives through pipelines in Croatia and other neighboring countries. Belgrade is formally seeking European Union membership but has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of attempting to create chaos in Ukraine by escalating attacks on the country’s energy grid and railway infrastructure. 

“Russia’s task is to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population through strikes on energy facilities and railways,” Zelenskyy told journalists in embargoed comments made in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to Zelenskyy, Russian attacks this year have already put Ukrainian gas infrastructure under “heavy pressure” and further strikes could force Ukraine to increase imports.

Ukraine has also recently increased its own drone and missile attacks on Russian territory. Zelenskyy stressed the campaign is showing “results” and has led to higher fuel prices in Russia.

“We believe they’ve lost up to 20% of their gasoline supply directly as a result of our strikes,” the Ukrainian president said.

Overnight, Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa, injuring five people and damaging port and energy infrastructure, according to the region’s governor.

According to local Governor Oleh Kiper’s post on Telegram, the attack cut power to 30,000 consumers and set containers with vegetable oil and wood pellets on fire in the port.

Both Russia and Ukraine have been increasingly targeting each other’s energy infrastructure in reciprocal drone attacks.

Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom, is preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, which cited Rosatom’s head, Alexey Likhachev.

However, later on Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov contradicted this statement, saying that there are currently no grounds to restart the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is the largest nuclear facility in Europe. It has six VVER-1000 V-320 reactors, which are Soviet-designed, water-cooled, and water-moderated. These reactors contain uranium-235. All reactors are currently shut down.

Russian forces occupied the Ukrainian power plant in the early days of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and it is still under Russian control.The plant has been disconnected from the power grid for over a week. It now relies on backup generators to power cooling systems and other safety mechanisms.

Fires broke out at fuel and energy facilities in Russia’s Volgograd region as a result of a drone attack, Governor Andrei Bocharov said. He added that firefighters are currently fighting the fires.

According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 19 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight, including nine over the Volgograd region.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military announced that it struck the Korobkovsky gas processing plant and oil transport infrastructure in Russia’s Volgograd region overnight.

DW brings you the latest headlines related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

As Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues, ahead of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom is preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The Ukrainian plant, which is the largest in Europe, has been occupied by Russian forces since the early days of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, both Ukraine and Russia continue their reciprocal drone attacks.

Stay tuned for the latest news and analysis.