These are the key developments from day 1,413 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Published On 7 Jan 2026
Here is where things stand on Wednesday, January 7:
Ukrainian allies meeting in Paris
More than two dozen countries from the so-called “coalition of the willing”, along with Ukraine and the United States, issued a joint declaration, noting that “any settlement” to end Russia’s war on Ukraine “will have to be backed up by robust security guarantees for Ukraine”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a separate agreement, declaring their shared intent to deploy multinational forces to support Kyiv’s defence and reconstruction if a ceasefire with Russia is agreed on.
Describing the two agreements, Zelenskyy said they included “concrete content”, adding that the main sticking point remains “the territorial question”, referring to Russian demands that Kyiv give up the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
Macron said that “several thousand” French soldiers could be deployed to Ukraine to maintain peace, telling France 2 television that the forces will not be engaged in combat but will act as “a force of reassurance”.
Starmer told reporters after the meeting that, “following a ceasefire, the UK and France will establish “military hubs” across Ukraine… and build protected facilities for weapons and military equipment… to support Ukraine’s defensive needs”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said German forces could join to monitor a ceasefire, but based in a neighbouring country. “We will certainly have to make compromises”, he said in Paris, adding, “We will not achieve textbook diplomatic solutions”.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever also said that his country would provide support from its navy and air force, while noting that land forces would only be involved in training Ukrainian troops inside Ukraine, according to Belgium’s Belga news agency. De Wever said that the pledged deployment was made possible since a “US backstop” was “now on paper”, following Tuesday’s meeting in Paris.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said that US President Donald Trump “strongly stands behind security protocols” to “deter… any further attacks in Ukraine”, adding to what the Reuters news agency said was the first time the US had publicly backed Ukraine’s allies’ promise to provide the guarantees.
However, a promise that Washington would commit to “support” the European-led multinational force “in case of a new attack” by Russia, which was present in an earlier draft statement, was not in the communique released on Tuesday evening.
Witkoff, who was at the talks in Paris, also said that “a lot of progress” had been made, and added that “land options” will be the most “critical issue”, and “hopefully, we will be able to come up with certain compromises with regard to that”.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on X that his country “will not send troops” to Ukraine, but “will continue to provide other forms of assistance, particularly in [Ukraine’s] reconstruction and economic revitalisation”.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said his country would not send troops and would no longer provide funding for ammunition for Ukraine, although it will continue in the role of coordinator for the “ammunition initiative”.
Fighting
Russian forces fired guided bombs at the village of Yuliivka in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, killing a 42-year-old man and injuring a woman, Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
A 34-year-old man was also killed in an earlier attack on Zaporizhia, Fedorov wrote in a separate post on Tuesday, adding that the region had come under 856 attacks over the past day.
A Russian drone attack on a police vehicle in the Polohivskyi district of Zaporizhia injured three police officers, the regional military administration said on Telegram.
Russian forces killed a 61-year-old woman in an attack on the Myropyl community of Ukraine’s Sumy district, the regional prosecutor’s office wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces killed one person in attacks on Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Monday, Governor Vadym Filashkin wrote in a daily update on Facebook on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s Air Force said on Telegram that it shot down 53 of 61 Russian drones fired towards Ukraine on Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Ukrainian forces killed two people in attacks on Russia’s front-line Belgorod region, the regional operational headquarters reported on Telegram.
A Ukrainian drone attack caused several tanks to catch fire at an oil depot in Belgorod’s Stary Oskol district, the regional task force said, according to Russia’s state TASS news agency.
Russian forces shot down 129 Ukrainian drones overnight into Tuesday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said, according to TASS.
