Zelenskyy held another urgent meeting to address the energy crisis brought on by Russian attacks and harsh winter conditions. In the below statement, he places blame on city authorities – meaning Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, with whom he has butted heads for years over control of the Ukrainian capital – and signals the federal government will take more control.
"The situation in Kyiv is particularly difficult – time was lost by the city authorities, and what was not done at the city level will now be corrected at the Government level. A permanent operational headquarters has already been established for the capital, and its work will be overseen by the Government. I expect full cooperation and coordination from the local authorities."
Whether Ukraine can stabilize the manpower situation in its brigades holding the front is likely the most important single factor that will determine how far Russia will advance in 2026. Notably, this week Fedorov, Budanov, and Zelensky have all highlighted the needs for "systemic solutions" to address problems with AWOL and draft evasion, the quality of training, and corruption in mobilization offices.
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The number of draft age men who were detained by Ukraine's State Border Service for illegally trying to cross the border in 2025:
Belarus: 1,424
Poland: 511
Slovakia: 2,265
Romania: 10,066
Hungary: 1,841
Moldova: 4,937
There was a noticeable increase in the number of men trying to illegally cross the border in Belarus. According to a @Slidstvo_info investigation, Belarusian intelligence officers interrogate each Ukrainian who crosses and asks them for the location and movement of Ukrainian military units and equipment, posing a counterintelligence problem.
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Interesting political news and development in Kyiv: Yulia Tymoshenko, head of the Batkivshchyna party, former prime minister and one-time political firebrand who was a leader of the Orange Revolution, has been served with a notice of suspicion from the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), according to my sources. She's accused of corruption through bribing MPs in other parties to vote with hers in parliament. Her office was searched through the evening and night. More info to come soon.
For her part, Tymoshenko says the NABU probe is political and made this statement, sent by her press secretary:
During a speech at the parliament, Mykhailo Fedorov said that 2 million people are evading mobilization and there are 200,000 soldiers who are AWOL or have deserted. He emphasized that he will conduct an audit if/when he becomes Minister of Defense to address problems with mobilization offices and improving the quality of training.
https://t.co/6NWjZp80g3
Why Central Asia, squeezed as it is between Russia and China, is stable while Eastern Europe isn’t? A thought-provoking piece by Naman Habtom of Quincy Institute.
Yeah, really - why Mongolia is democratic and unthreatened despite bordering Russia and China only, while the only unstable country in the region, Afghanistan, is hell on earth after the US-led “democracy-building” project?
https://t.co/yoP7LkFkei
Daily Ukraine map thread for Thursday 8th January 2026
Highlights: The focus is on the Lyman direction, where the grey area no longer appears particularly grey. Some Russian infantry have been sighted in Sviatohirsk, moving openly along the road in snowy conditions. This strongly suggests that the clearing operations previously reported in Sosnove and Yarova during December have failed, and that the front in this sector remains broken.
I avoid using the term DRGs here, as this is not a case of highly trained infiltrators penetrating defended positions. Rather, it shows Ukraine's inability to sufficiently man the line to prevent enemy movement. The fact that Russian forces have not yet exploited these gaps at scale does not mean the front is sound - only that Russian capacity to capitalise remains limited.
A similar pattern is visible elsewhere. Russian flag raisings in Podoly, east of Kupiansk, occurred well inside what is mapped as Ukrainian-controlled territory, again pointing to a front under severe strain rather than isolated incursions.
Russian forces also raised a flag in Brat'ske, over the Haichur river in Dnipropetrovsk oblast, and advanced in north east Kharkiv to Dvorichanske
As 2026 begins, Ukraine continues to recruit well below the levels required to even stabilise the line with no sign of that changing. We've covered this before, and aren't going to beat a dead horse.