What the last week of January 2024 showed about the war

What did the days leading up to 29 January 2024 reveal about the pressures on Ukraine? The reports from 23 to 25 January point to four strands: attacks on civilians, a disputed incident involving prisoners of war, foreign military aid and efforts to choke off Russia's supply of drones.

Strikes on cities

On 23 January, Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv killed six civilians and injured at least 77 others. Ukraine said it had shot down 21 of the 41 missiles. The figures show both the scale of the attack and the limits of air defence: just over half of the missiles were reported intercepted.

A contested account

On 24 January, a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane reportedly crashed in Russia's Korochansky District, near the Ukrainian border. It was said to have been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, six crew members and three guards, and everyone on board was said to have died. These claims were not independently verified, and that caveat matters for any assessment of the incident.

Aid and sanctions

On 23 January, Germany announced that it would donate six SH-3 Sea King helicopters to the Ukrainian Air Force to help it patrol the Black Sea. The next day's reporting on the crash and this pledge show how the war was fought on several fronts at once.

On 25 January, the US Department of Commerce issued a $15 million bounty for information on Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, an Iranian businessman accused of procuring parts for drones assembled by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and later sold to Russia. The move targeted the supply chain behind the weapons used against Ukraine.

Taken together

The reports describe a war in which civilians remained exposed to missile fire, while partners worked on equipment and enforcement. Whether those efforts could keep pace with the attacks was not settled by anything reported in these days.