More than 1,000 towns and villages lost power.

An area in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk province was hit by artillery fire on January 8.

CNN reported on January 9, citing information from Ukraine's Ukrenergo power company, that harsh winter weather has caused power outages in 1,025 towns and villages across nine provinces, amid attacks that have weakened the power grid.

Electricity consumption this week reached its highest level due to temperatures in many parts of Ukraine dropping to minus 15 degrees Celsius. "Consumption continues to increase due to the significant drop in temperature across the country," according to Ukrenergo.

Points of conflict: Ukraine lacks artillery shells, resorts to UAVs; Israel adds to US concerns.

Ukraine has to import electricity from Romania and Slovakia to meet demand, as electricity consumption on the morning of January 9th was 5.8% higher than the previous day.

Ukrenergo said that thermal power plants in Ukraine are still recovering from last winter's Russian attack, while solar power systems are unable to operate at full capacity due to cloud cover and bad weather.

According to The Kyiv Independent , citing information from the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, in addition to bad weather, attacks on energy infrastructure also caused power outages.

DTEK said its workers repaired damaged power lines and substations, restoring electricity to 194,000 people in Odessa province and 24,000 people in Dnipropetrovsk province.

Russia has not commented on these reports.

Russia strengthens its territorial defenses.

TASS reported on January 9th, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, that the Russian military will do everything possible to minimize and then eliminate the threat from Ukrainian artillery targeting Russian cities.

He accused Ukrainian armed forces of firing cluster munitions into the center of Belgorod. "Our army will continue to do everything to first minimize this threat and then eliminate it completely," he said.

Ukraine intensifies rocket and intelligence attack on Russian province;

The Russian side claims that Ukrainian forces fired two cluster rockets and one rocket manufactured in the Czech Republic on December 30, 2023, in central areas of Belgorod, a city of 340,000 people located about 40 km from the Russian-Ukrainian border.

According to the latest figures, the attack killed 25 people, including 5 children, and injured more than 100. Dozens of residential buildings and civilian facilities were damaged.

The following day, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced retaliatory attacks on military targets in Ukraine, particularly the city of Kharkiv.

Kyiv did not immediately comment on the information, but RBC-Ukraine, citing anonymous sources, reported that Ukrainian forces had directed fire on military targets in Belgorod in response to Russia's massive bombing of Ukrainian cities the previous day.

In another development, The Guardian reported on January 9th, citing Governor Andrei Klychkov of the Oryol region in Russia, that two "enemy" drones attacked a fuel facility in the city of Oryol in the region.

He said the fire in the area had been brought under control. Oryol is located 370 km south of Moscow and 220 km from the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine has not commented.

Ukraine needs to upgrade the armor on its M1 Abrams tanks.

Finland continues to be concerned about its borders.

According to TASS news agency on January 9, Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said that Finland will not open its border checkpoints with Russia after January 14.

Rantanen stated that there has been no change in the migration situation at the border with Russia, so "there is a risk that Russia will continue such activities if the border is opened," according to a report cited by MTV3 (Finland).

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo confirmed that Helsinki will not reopen its border crossings with Russia after January 14th.

Previously, the Finnish government decided to close all vehicle checkpoints on the border with Russia from November 30 to December 14, 2023.

The two border crossings were subsequently reopened, but the border was closed again between December 15, 2023, and January 14, 2024, due to a new wave of migration from third countries.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova previously stated that Finland's move to close border crossings was creating new dividing lines in Europe and that Moscow would respond to these actions after interdepartmental consultations.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/chien-su-ukraine-ngay-685-hon-1000-thi-tran-lang-mac-mat-dien-185240109233254123.htm