Russian troops ‘capture village in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region’
Russian forces took control of the village of Bilohirya in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian state news agency reported on Sunday, citing the defence ministry.
Moscow’s troops carried out strikes targeting a Ukrainian military-industrial enterprise and energy facilities, TASS cited the ministry as saying.
The battlefield reports could not be independently confirmed.
Tara Cobham11 January 2026 09:39
Ukrainian negotiators ‘continue to communicate with US’, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side”.
Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with US partners on Saturday, he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian negotiators ‘continue to communicate with the American side’ (Getty Images)
Tara Cobham11 January 2026 09:00
Ukraine says Russia targeted it with 154 drones overnight
Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday.
It added that 125 were shot down.
Tara Cobham11 January 2026 08:35
How ready is the UK to send troops to Ukraine? Join The Independent Debate
Sir Richard Shirreff, former deputy commander of Nato, cautiously welcomed the pledge, but stressed that any UK deployment must “have the right numbers, the means, and there’s got to be proper capabilities.”
Should the UK follow through on its pledge to Ukraine, or are there limits to what its armed forces can realistically achieve?
We want to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comments and vote – the most compelling responses will be featured in the coming days.
Shahana Yasmin11 January 2026 08:00
Russia’s shadow war with us is just starting – be ready for trouble
Shortly before Christmas, the new chief of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, made her first public speech since taking charge. She chose as her subject the multifaceted threat posed by Russia, warning of the growing danger from Vladimir Putin’s regime. “We are operating in a space between peace and war,” she said.
The recently appointed “C” said “the front line is everywhere”, explaining that Putin is provoking a new “age of uncertainty” by busily rewriting the unwritten rules of conflict. “The export of chaos is a feature, not a bug, in the Russian approach to international engagement,” said Metreweli.
Shahana Yasmin11 January 2026 07:30
1 dead after after Ukrainian drone attack on Voronezh
One woman was killed and at least three other people injured in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Voronezh, according to regional governor Alexander Gusev.
Gusev said on Telegram that the strike damaged more than 10 apartment blocks, around 10 private homes, a secondary school, and several administrative buildings.
“Our city was subjected to one of the heaviest drone attacks since the start of the special military operation,” he wrote.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Voronezh lies several hundred kilometres from both Moscow and the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine has acknowledged carrying out strikes inside Russia, saying they are aimed at weakening Moscow’s war effort and responding to repeated missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Shahana Yasmin11 January 2026 07:10
‘If not power, then at least heat’: Kyiv residents endure freezing homes
Kyiv’s residents were left huddling in unheated apartments on Saturday as repairs continued after Russian strikes knocked out power, water, and heating across the city.
Galina Turchin, a 71-year-old pensioner living on Kyiv’s eastern bank, said she had not cooked for two days after utilities were cut again. A window in her flat was covered with plastic sheeting after drone debris damaged her building.
“We hope they will give us heat. If not power, then at least heat,” she told Reuters, standing wrapped in layers inside her kitchen as temperatures dropped well below freezing.
City authorities said outages were linked to damage from earlier strikes on the power grid. While some electricity and heating were gradually restored, officials warned the system remains under severe strain as the war enters its fourth winter.
Shahana Yasmin11 January 2026 06:50
Zelensky warns Russia is ‘betting on winter warfare’ as new attack loomsZelensky warns Russia is ‘betting on winter warfare’ as new attack looms
Shahana Yasmin11 January 2026 06:30
Extra defence spending is being lost on MoD’s overdraft, warns former RAF chief
The former head of the RAF has warned that increased defence spending in the UK is being “eaten up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD)’s overdraft” with the UK’s military footprint shrinking at a critical moment.
The intervention by retired Air Marshall Edward Stringer comes just days after Sir Keir Starmer committed sending UK troops to Ukraine as part of the coalition of the willing to protect any peace agreement from Russian aggression.
But it represents the third warning by a former member of the UK’s military top brass in less than a week over how the UK’s commitments to Ukraine and elsewhere are not matched by resources in the armed forces and manpower.
Shahana Yasmin11 January 2026 06:13
What you need to know about Russia’s hypersonic Oreshnik missile
The Russian military fired its hypersonic Oreshnik missile at Kyiv on Friday, killing at least four civilians and leaving 500,000 without power during severe winter conditions.
It is the second time that Russia has used the intermediate-range Oreshnik, a missile which President Vladimir Putin has boasted is impossible to intercept because of its reported velocity of more than 10 times the speed of sound.
Experts say the novel feature of the Oreshnik is that it can carry multiple warheads capable of simultaneously striking different targets – usually associated with longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
Like many Russian weapons systems, it is capable of carrying nuclear as well as conventional warheads, but there was no suggestion of any nuclear component to the overnight attack.
A fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region (Ukrainian Security Service)
Shahana Yasmin11 January 2026 05:49