This is a key development 1,068 days into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Here’s what it looked like on Monday, January 27th:

struggle

• Russian artillery fire in eastern Ukraine killed at least one woman in the city of Pokrovsk and wounded four others in the neighboring town of Kostiantynivka, Kiev region military chief Vadym Filashkin said. According to Ukrainian military analyst Andriy Ryzhchenko, Pokrovsk is an economic target for Russia.
• The Ukrainian army said Moscow’s forces, supported by artillery, launched 38 attacks against various aspects of Ukraine’s defense lines.
• Ukraine said its armed forces, as well as the country’s defense intelligence, carried out a second attack on Russia’s Rhea oil refinery just two days after an initial overnight attack on the facility. Kyiv says the refineries are among the four largest in the Russian Federation.
• Russian media reported that Moscow’s Defense Ministry said its forces seized the settlements of Zelene and Velyka Novosilka in eastern Ukraine.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has replaced the commander of the Kotsia Operational Strategic Group responsible for defending Pokrovsk for the third time in less than a year and now has Could fall into Russian hands. He appointed a new ground force commander, Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi.

Politics and Diplomacy

• Zelenskyy told a news conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu that Kyiv was willing to supply coal to Transnistria at low prices, even if the separatist enclave returned to power Ukraine. He also offered to send a team of experts to help expand the enclave’s power plant power output.
• The Institute for War Studies reported that the Kremlin and members of the Telegram channel Rybar, including its founder Mikhail Zvinchuk, visited Iraq last week in an effort to cultivate Russian influence there. The team is said to have met with a number of Iraqi officials, including Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani.
• Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, told Al Jazeera that NATO members should increase their defense spending by at least 3% of GDP to create a safe zone against the “rebirth of Russian imperialism.”
• Belarusian President Lukashenko, whose government is a close ally of Russia, is on course to extend his term in the country’s presidential election with 87.6% of the vote, exit polls showed. Lukashenko also said he had “no regrets” about letting Russia use Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine in 2022.