Thursday’s Coverage: Baltic States to Disconnect from Russia and Synchronize with Western Europe

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1003 GMT:

At least three civilians have been killed and five injured by Russia attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Two people were slain in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine and one in the Kherson region in the south.

Air defenses downed 81 of 112 drones launched by Russia overnight across 13 Ukrainian regions.

The other 31 UAVs were lost to electronic counter-measures.

UPDATE 0953 GMT:

Russian singer-songwriter Vadim Stroykin, who criticized Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, died on Thursday as security officials were raiding his apartment, says the Russian human rights organization OVD-Info.

Stroykin reportedly fell out of a 10th-floor window while officers were pursuing a criminal investigation into his alleged donation to Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

Stroykin challenged the Russian invasion, criticizing Putin, on the social media website VKontakte in 2022.

UPDATE 0940 GMT:

Slovakia’s gas transit company SPP says it is now being supplied by Russia via Turkey, and plans to double deliveries by April.

The flow to Slovakia through Ukraine was halted on January 1 when Kyiv did not renew the transit contract with Russia’s State company Gazprom, citing Moscow’s 35-month invasion.

SPP spokesman Ondrej Sebesta said of the Russia supplies, “They are conducted by the southern route through TurkStream and via Hungary to Slovakia.”

TurkStream runs for 930km (580 miles) under the Black Sea from the Russian resort city of Anapa to Kiyikoy in northwestern Turkey. It connects to overground pipelines that run through the Balkans to Europe.

UPDATE 0740 GMT:

Donald Trump’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has ordered a halt to enforcement of sanctions against oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin.

In a directive on her first day in office, Bondi announced the end to Task Force KleptoCapture.

“This policy requires a fundamental change in mindset and approach,” Bondi said resources devoted to enforcing sanctions will be redirected to countering cartels.

Task Force KleptoCapture was initiated by the Biden Administration as part of the response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It sought to hinder the finances of Putin’s associates and to punish those evading sanctions and export controls.

The TaskForce brought indictments against the aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska — connected to Trump’s campaign manager in 2016, Paul Manafort — and TV tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev. It seized yachts belonging to the sanctioned oligarchs Suleiman Kerimov and Viktor Vekselberg.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Vladimir Putin has admitted a “very difficult” situation in the Kursk region in western Russia.

Meeting regional governors, Putin implicitly referred to reports of renewed Ukrainian assault, which one Russian military observer described as a “bolt from the blue”.

Ukraine seized around 1,300 square km (500 square miles) of Kursk after a cross-border incursion on August 6. Russia has reclaimed more than half, but is struggling to advance in the rest of the area.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine has deployed two mechanized battalions, tanks and armored vehicles southeast of Sudzha, claimed by Kyiv’s forces in the first days of the incursion.

Ukraine did not comment on the reports, but offered a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the region.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky praised troops in Kursk, as he issued several army units with state honours: “The occupier can and should be beaten on its territory. The Kursk operation clearly explains the meaning of the principle of ‘peace through strength’.”

Zelensky’s office spoke of Moscow’s “indifference” to its citizens.

We are ready to open a humanitarian corridor from Kursk region to the depths of Russia in response to an official request of the Russian Federation. Apparently, the Russians do not want such a humanitarian corridor, because we have not received a corresponding request from them.

Facing criticism from Kursk residents that they have been abandoned by Russian authorities, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted the Kremlin is doing “everything” it can.

Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine’s General Staff said Moscow has lost almost 40,000 personnel, with more than 16,000 killed, trying to regain territory. Ukrainian forces have reportedly captured 909 Russian soldiers during the six-month operation.