Rescue workers put out a fire at a residential building damaged by a Russian strike, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 9, 2026 (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Friday’s Coverage: Russia Murders 4+, Injures 19 in Kyiv

UPDATE 0701 GMT:

Ukrainian officials say Russia struck two cargo ships in the Black Sea on Friday, killing a Syrian crew member.

One of the ships was en route to load grain at the port of Chornomorsk, while the other was hit near the port of Odesa while transporting soya beans.

UPDATE 0656 GMT:

Enforcing its blockade of Venezuela, the US Coast Guard has boarded and seized another vessel linked to the Russian “shadow fleet” circumventing sanctions on transport of Moscow’s oil.

The Olina, formerly known as Minerva M, is sanctioned by the US, European Union, and UK. Intercepted in the Caribbean, it is the fifth tanker taken by the Americans as the Trump Administration pursues “regime coercion” in Venezuela.

Earlier this week the US seized the Bella 1, renamed the Marinera and reflagged by Russia, 120 miles south of Iceland after a two-week chase across the North Atlantic.

See also EA on RTE: Venezuela — US Seizes Russian-Flagged Tanker in North Atlantic

UPDATE 0647 GMT:

Ukrainian drones have set afire an oil depot in the Volgograd region in western Russia.

Emergency services, firefighters, and municipal officials have been deployed to the scene. A temporary evacuation center was prepared at a nearby school; however, there were no casualties.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a “system of collective defense” after Russia’s latest missile and drone attacks, including Moscow’s second use of the hypersonic Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile, on civilian sites and energy infrastructure.

The Oreshnik was fired on Lviv in western Ukraine, not far from the border with NATO member Poland.

In Kyiv, at least four civilians were murdered, including a paramedic. Another 25 people were injured, including four emergency personnel.

The Qatari Embassy and 20 residential buildings were hit. Amid freezing temperatures, power was cut to around 500,000 people.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky noted that Russia was exploiting cold weather “to try to completely shut cities down”. He continued:

Oreshnik was used again – this time against the Lviv region. Once again, it was pointedly close to the borders of the European Union. In terms of using medium-range ballistic missiles, this poses the same challenge for all: Warsaw, Bucharest, Budapest, and for many other capitals as well.

Everyone needs to see this in the same way and with the same seriousness: if the Russians aren’t even bothering to come up with a plausible excuse for using such weapons, then no personal connections and no rhetoric will protect anyone from this.

What is needed is a system of joint action, a system of collective defense – one that truly works. Does such a system exist now? That’s an open question, because across Europe there is the same doubt – whether their capital would be defended if Putin suddenly lost it.