Ukraine warns West
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said that Ukrainians will not pay in blood again for the West's failure to respond quickly to the Russian Federation in case of a new invasion of Ukraine.
According to Kuleba, the mistakes of 2014 have no right to be repeated.
"Our position is that Russia is capable of acting non-linearly, but the mistakes of 2014 have no right to be repeated. Therefore, we will not accept any attempts, if any, to explain to Ukraine that it is not necessary to do something to deter Russia's invasion because there is not enough of an invasion or not enough evidence that it is Russian soldiers," the foreign minister said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted, for his part: "We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power."
Security situation
The secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, has told LIGA.net that for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia would need to muster over a million soldiers.
Now, according to Danilov's estimates, the total number of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine is about 127,000.
"Certain troop movements are observed, but so far it is not critical," he added.
Call for sanctions on Russia
In an interview with the BBC, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has called on the West to impose sanctions against Russian oligarchs from Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle. In his opinion, this could prevent a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The defence minister expressed confidence that the USA, the UK and European partners could do more to protect Ukraine from a Russian invasion.
US sanctions on Ukrainians
The US Department of the Treasury has expanded the specially designated nationals list to include Taras Kozak, Volodymyr Oliynyk, Volodymyr Sivkovych and Oleh Voloshyn, who are "engaged in Russian government-directed influence activities to destabilize Ukraine".
Donbas
Russia-backed militants have violated the ceasefire four times since midnight, the Joint Forces Operation HQ has said. They fired with 120-mm mortars in the direction of Opytne, anti-tank grenade launchers on Katerynivka and 82-mm mortars on Zolote-4.
A drone of Orlan-10 type crossed the line of contact into Luhansk Region.
UK MPs visit Donbas
A delegation of the British Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee has visited the area of the Joint Forces Operation, the JFO HQ said.
"The deputy commander of the Joint Forces, Anatoliy Shevchenko, briefed the foreign guests on the current situation in the JFO area. Also, the British MPs saw with their own eyes the consequences of Russian armed aggression: destroyed civilian houses and damaged civilian infrastructure in the city of Avdiyivvka", the report said.
The international delegation visited the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and talked to Ukrainian defenders.
Kyiv city council
The Kyiv city council has called on the Ukrainian parliament, the president and the Prosecutor-General's Office to prevent political pressure on opposition politicians and local self-governance. Political persecution is splitting the country, increasing instability and threatening Ukraine's independence, the appeal adopted at the Kyiv city council session on 20 January reads.
Key policy rate increased
The Board of the National Bank of Ukraine has decided to raise the key policy rate to 10% per annum, the NBU said. As many of the pro-inflationary risks have materialized, tighter monetary policy is needed in order to improve inflation expectations and ensure steady disinflation toward the target of 5%.
Economy
Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyy district court has partly unblocked the accounts of ArcelorMittal Kryvyy Rih from which wages and taxes are paid, the company has said in a corporate newspaper. Other accounts are still frozen.
Coronavirus
The increase in the Covid-19 incidence rate to 18,400 new cases in the past 24 hours indicates the beginning of a new outbreak with the epicenter in the western regions, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said at a briefing.
"The most complicated epidemic situation is in Ivano-Frankivsk Region. Negative trends are already observed in Chernivtsi, Lviv and Ternopil regions," he added.
Crime
A 50-year-old Russian crime boss, who was on the sanction list of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, has been detained in Kyiv, police have said. Efforts are being taken to deport him to Russia and ban him from re-entering Ukraine.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has identified 13 leaders of the so-called "Luhansk district of the Don Cossacks" who had fought against the Ukrainian government forces as part of pro-Russian illegal armed groups.
It was established that previously they had been members of a public organization of the same name registered before 2014. Subsequently, it was banned and forcibly disbanded.
Social media
Instagram has surpassed Facebook by the number of users in Ukraine for the first time, the January study by the plusone social impact communication agency has found out.
During the last six months, the Ukrainian audience of Facebook has increased by 800,000 users to 16.8 million, while Instagram has added 2.3 million users up to 17.3 million.
Among Ukrainians aged 18-35, more than 70% use Facebook and more than 90% use Instagram.
At the same time, Facebook remains second after YouTube among all adults over 18. Instagram is third, followed by TikTok.