Businessman's brother taken into custody, Russians mine ZNPP, and Fico planning meeting with Shmyhal: highlights

The Mazepa case

Businessman and owner of the investment company Concorde Capital, Ihor Mazepa, has been in the Lukyanivske pre-trial detention center since yesterday, January 19. He is in "acceptable conditions," the businessman's lawyer said.

The court also remanded Ihor Mazepa's brother Yuriy in custody with an alternative bail of 44,965,000 hryvnias ($1.2 million).

Meanwhile, prosecutor Yevhen Slyota said that the investigation into the case had not been conducted for 10 years, as the defense had claimed.

He explained that the criminal proceedings were merged with another one, which also concerns the theft of land within the Kyiv HPP. And the merged criminal proceedings were automatically assigned the number of the one in which the investigation was launched in 2014, the prosecutor explained.

Russians mined ZNPP

Representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found mines around the perimeter of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) - this is not the first time that Russians have mined this facility.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that the Russian administration had planted mines in the buffer zone between the inner and outer fences of the facility. In November, the IAEA team had already detected mines at this site. Then the dangerous objects were removed.

Fico to meet with Shmyhal

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico plans to come to Uzhhorod to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal.

He said he would oppose Ukraine's membership in NATO and would veto it. He also said that Ukraine would have to give up part of its territory to Russia.

"There must be some kind of compromise, which will be very painful for both sides. And what do they expect? That the Russians will leave Crimea, Donbas and Luhansk? This is unrealistic," Fico said.

Meanwhile, Slovakia's new Minister of Culture, Martina Šimkovičová, has authorized the ministry to cooperate with Russia and Belarus, the Slovak media outlet Pravda reports.

Another checkpoint on the border has been unblocked

Truck traffic at the Porubne checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Romanian border has been completely unblocked.

The State Border Guard Service announced that all categories of vehicles are cleared for entry and exit from Ukraine in accordance with the established procedure. The electronic queue for trucks continues to operate.

Exhibition about journalists in the war was vandalized

In Kyiv, stands of the photo exhibition about journalists in the war, The War Is Not Over Yet, were vandalized with pro-Russian inscriptions.

The Institute of Mass Information said that the main department of the National Police in Kyiv refused to open a criminal investigation into the vandalism.

The police explained that "there were no signs of a criminal offense," but added that if they disagreed, they could file a complaint and go directly to court.

Other news

• In Sumy Oblast, the mayor and the head of the district administration fought over flowerpots on the Alley of Glory of the fallen soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
• Ukrainian junior tennis player shook hands with a Russian opponent. The girl's father cited inexperience.
• Popular Ukrainian neobank monobank suffered a powerful DDoS attack.
• Intelligence officers struck a costly Russian Tor air defense system.
• In Kyiv, a car and a bus collided: a man standing at a bus stop was killed.
• In Khmelnytskyi Oblast, a court sentenced a man who was pulling a cow on the road with a tractor.
• A 3-year-old girl died in a fire in Vinnytsia Oblast, and two other children were hospitalized. They were left unattended.