Ukraine emergency workers clear rubble from an apartment building hit by a Russian drone, January 30, 2025
Wednesday’s Coverage: Zelensky — Putin “Afraid of Negotiations”
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 2138 GMT:
The updated toll from Russia’s overnight drone strike on Sumy city in northern Ukraine is nine killed and 13 injured.
Search and rescue operations concluded on Thursday evening.
An Iran-type attack drone hit a multi-story building shortly after midnight. Two couples were killed in the attack: a 74-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife, and a 65-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman.
UPDATE 1536 GMT:
The toll from Russia’s drone attack on the Sumy region in northern Ukraine (see Original Entry) has been raised to six killed and nine injured.
UPDATE 1240 GMT:
The European Union is avoiding a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas because member states raised concerns about securing alternatives including from the US, say EU diplomats.
One explained, “First you have to have a deal because otherwise you will be left without gas from Russia and without the US.
Last June, the EU banned transshipments of Russian LNG. The measure prevented Moscow from using northern European ports in ship-to-ship transfers of LNG for onward journeys to Asia. However, more Russian LNG stayed in Europe, prompting some member states to push for tighter rules and an all-out ban.
The European Commission did not propose tougher measures in the latest sanctions package because other members of the 27-nation bloc objected. EU officials said cold winter weather, drawdown of gas stocks, and the national elections in Germany on Feburary 23 were further considerations.
The Financial Times reports that some European states, including Germany and Hungary, want to resume purchases of Russian pipeline gas.
Three officials said the German and Hungarian officials, with support from other countries, arguing that the resumption could give both Russia and Europe incentives to maintain a peace deal while stabilizing the energy market.
“There is pressure from some big member states on energy prices and this is one way to bring those down, of course,” said one official.
Sources said Ukraine’s leading allies within the EU and officials from some Eastern European states have pushed back.
“It’s madness,” said one official. “How stupid could we be to even think about that as an option?”
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, flows through pipelines accounted for around 40% of the EU’s total supplies, with Germany as the largest importer. Piped gas from Russia was about 10% of total supply in 2024, but has halved since the contract for transit across Ukraine was not extended by Kyiv on January 1.
The EU’s official target is to detach the bloc’s energy system from all Russian fossil fuels by 2027. EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen is schedule to present a plan in March.
UPDATE 1234 GMT:
At least 13 civilians have been wounded by Russian attacks on Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
The injured include an 8-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl.
Kramatorsk, a key district center, is around 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) west of the frontline amid Russia’s 16-month offensive in the region.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Four civilians have been killed and nine injured by Russian drone attacks on the Sumy region in northern Ukraine.
Among the wounded was a 7-year-old child.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the mass killing in a social media post, posting video and remarking:
This is a horrific tragedy, a heinous Russian crime. It is crucial that the world does not pause in putting pressure on Russia for this terror.
Last night, Russia launched a “Shahed” strike on Sumy, targeting an ordinary residential apartment building. Four people were killed. My condolences to their families and loved ones.
Nine others were wounded, including a child. Rescue operations are still ongoing, with rubble… pic.twitter.com/MLg7h9Zk36
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 30, 2025
The casualties were among at least eight civilians killed and at least 26 wounded, including a child and three medical workers, across Ukraine in 24 hours.
Three people were killed and 10 injured in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine. Three apartment buildings and 22 houses were damaged.
One person was slain and four injured in the Donetsk region in the east.
Three emergency workers were injured in the Kharkiv region in the northeast when a drone struck near their ambulance.
Air defenses downed 37 of 81 drone launched by the Russians on 10 regions. Another 39 were lost to electronic counter-measures.