As we enter the 698th day of the war, these are the most important developments.

Here is the situation as of Monday, January 22, 2024.

Battle

• 27 people were killed and 25 injured Shelling hit a market on the outskirts of the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk, according to Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-appointed head of the Donetsk region. Pushilin blamed Ukraine for the attack on the suburb of Tekstilshchik and said Monday would be a day of mourning. Ukrainian forces in Tavria, the southern zone, said in a Facebook post that their soldiers were not responsible. “Donetsk is Ukraine!” it said. “Russia must answer for the killing of Ukrainians.” Donetsk is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed in 2022.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not address the attack in his video on Sunday evening, but said that Russia had shelled more than 100 towns and villages in nine regions of Ukraine in a single day and that the attacks in Donetsk were “particularly serious.” be. . At least two people were killed in Ukrainian-controlled villages west of Donetsk, Ukrainian officials said.
• The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had taken control of the village of Krochmalne in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Volodymyr Fityo, spokesman for the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command, told reporters that Kiev had withdrawn its soldiers and that Russia’s capture of the village of “five houses” had “no strategic significance.” Fito said Ukrainian forces were still holding the front line.
• A fire has broken out at a chemical transport terminal in the Russian port of Ust-Luga after two explosions, regional officials said. Local media reported that the Baltic Sea port, 165 kilometers (about 100 miles) southwest of St. Petersburg, was attacked by Ukrainian drones, causing a gas tank to explode. No casualties were reported.

Politics and diplomacy

• Choe Son Hui, North Korea’s top diplomat, said her country was “ready to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin,” according to state media. Choe was in Moscow last week, where she met the Russian president. Putin expressed “his willingness to visit the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea soon,” the statement said, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name. Putin last traveled to Pyongyang in 2000.
• Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk said it was important for the country’s players to continue winning at the Australian Open to remind people of the ongoing conflict. The 21-year-old defeated Russian qualifier Maria Timofeeva 6-2, 6-1 and refused to shake her hand afterwards. Kostyuk will face US Open winner Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals.
• Sunday marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, whose body is still on display in his mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square. Shortly before launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin publicly rebuked Lenin for his alleged role in dividing the Russian Empire into nation-states like Ukraine.