Kyiv Post Morning Memo – Everything You Need to Know on Monday, Feb. 6

Good morning from Kyiv. While the energy situation in the capital remains relatively stable, a fire at a substation in the coastal city of Odesa has left half a million people without electricity.

 Officials have said repairs could take months and Turkey has been asked to provide help.

 What’s happening today?

 Here in Kyiv, there were some major political developments overnight, with a senior lawmaker saying Ukraine's defense minister is to be replaced.

 Oleksiy Reznikov will be appointed Minister for Strategic Industries and Kyrylo Budanov will replace him after days of rumors about Reznikov’s political future.

 You can read more about this story here.

 What was in President Zelensky’s latest message?

 President Zelensky highlighted steps taken by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to sanction Russia’s nuclear industry to “bolster the efforts of our diplomats to extend global sanctions to this part of the Russian aggression machine.”

 He added: “Russia is the only country in the world that allows its military to shell nuclear power plants and use [these plants] as a cover for shelling. Russian missiles have repeatedly followed trajectories over Ukraine's nuclear facilities.

 “The terrorist state uses the nuclear industry as one of the elements of foreign expansion; to put pressure on other states [and] to create respective threats to the sovereignty of other states.

Other Topics of Interest

Zelensky Meets CIA Director William Burns in Ukraine

Zelensky said he had met Burns on multiple occasions throughout the war, but their meetings had been undisclosed.

 “All of these are sufficient reasons for Russia's nuclear industry to be subject to global sanctions. And we are working on this with our partners.”

 What’s the latest military situation?

 The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) update on Feb. 6 focuses on an announcement from Moscow that regional elections will take place in the newly annexed areas of Ukraine on Sep. 10, 2023.

 The MoD writes: “Incorporating the elections into same day of voting which is scheduled across Russia highlights the leadership’s ambition to present the areas as integral parts of the Federation.

 “This follows continued efforts to ‘Russify’ the occupied areas, which includes revision of the education, communication, and transport systems.

 “While meaningful democratic choices are no longer available to voters at even regional level elections in Russia, leaders will likely make the self-vindicating argument that new elections further justify the occupation.”

 The Institute for the Study of War’s Feb. 5 daily assessment is a special report focusing on “Putin’s cautious approach to risk-taking after having thrown the dice on launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”

 It notes:

·       Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decisions regarding Ukraine since his initial flawed invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, indicate a likely disconnect between his maximalist objectives and his willingness to take the likely high-risk decisions necessary to achieve them;

·       Putin has consistently ignored, delayed, or only partially implemented several likely necessary pragmatic decisions concerning his invasion;

·       ISW assesses the Kremlin and Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) is belatedly implementing large-scale-military reforms and treating Ukraine as a protracted and major war—yet Putin is continuing a similar pattern of reserved decision-making.

 And that’s it for today’s Morning Memo.

 Kyiv Post will bring you the latest news throughout the day and we’ll be back with another edition tomorrow.