Regional Overview
Europe & Central Asia
January 2023
Posted: 1 February 2023
Posted: 1 February 2023
Note: The map currently displays events occurring between 1 January and 27 January. Data covering 28-31 January will be added to the map when they are made available with next week’s data upload.
Russian forces continued coordinated missile and drone strikes across Ukraine in January, leading to increased civilian fatalities as a result of shelling, missile strikes, and airstrikes compared to the month prior. The deadliest incident took place on 14 January, when a Russian missile hit a residential building in Dnipro, reportedly killing over 40 civilians and injuring at least 80. Around a dozen more civilians were reportedly killed in explosions of landmines and remnants of war in the Kherson and Donetsk regions. Russia also continued to oppress the local population by forcibly displacing civilians and abducting aid workers from the occupied parts of the Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions. Meanwhile, Russian police detained over 30 Crimean Tatars during a protest in Simferopol, with some reportedly enduring torture while in detention.
Daily fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces continued, with Russian forces securing marginal territorial gains around Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Increased fighting was recorded in the areas of Huliaipole and Orikhiv in the Zaporizhia region, where Russia claimed to have captured several settlements on 20 January. Russian ground attacks in the area seem to have ceased since 26 January.
For more information, see ACLED’s Ukraine Crisis Hub
As the blockade of the Lachin corridor linking the Republic of Artsakh to Armenia continues, the de facto authorities of Artsakh introduced caps on the purchase of key food items. Shortages of medicines were also reported, with frequent electricity cuts and disruptions to internet connection due to damage to a power line in the area of the Lachin corridor. Additionally, Azerbaijan periodically cut gas supply to Artsakh throughout the month amid freezing temperatures. The blockade continued to cause protests in Armenia and Artsakh.
Despite the tensions around the blockade of the Lachin corridor, fighting reduced significantly along the Armenia-Artsakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact in January. An Armenian serviceman was wounded in cross-border fire in Yeraskh, Ararat region. Separately, an Azerbaijani civilian was reportedly killed by unexploded ammunition in the Khojavend region. Meanwhile, on 23 January, the European Union approved a two-year 100-strong civilian mission to Armenia tasked with monitoring the situation in its border areas.
Anarchists continued to engage in demonstrations and violent activity across Italy in opposition to the 41-bis prison regime under which an Informal Anarchist Federation leader, Alfredo Cospito, is currently being detained. Cospito has been on hunger strike for more than 100 days and was recently moved to a prison facility in Milan due to his deteriorating health. Suspected anarchists also targeted Italian government targets in Spain and Germany. In Barcelona, anarchists damaged the window of the Italian consulate and left graffiti on the building demanding the release of Cospito, while an Italian diplomat’s car was set on fire in front of the Italian embassy in Berlin.
Disruption in electricity and heating supply due to severe weather conditions led to protests in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan last month. In Kazakhstan, protests were staged mainly in the border regions, as weather conditions led to the lack of power, natural gas, and water supply. In Kyrgyzstan, people staged a protest in the Jalal-Abad region after the government was forced to ration the supply of electricity due to a sharp increase in consumption.1News.am, 14 January 2023 In Uzbekistan, similar demonstrations led to road blockades in the town of Chirchiq in the Tashkent region and Andijan. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev subsequently dismissed a number of top government officials and the mayor of Tashkent for failing to manage the energy supply emergency.2Intellinews, 16 January 2023 Amid the energy supply crisis, the Uzbek government decided to start importing gas from Russia for the first time in decades, as Russia attempts to reroute energy export from the EU to the Asian markets due to the armed conflict in Ukraine.3The Moscow Times, 26 January 2023
Olha Polishchuk is the Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia Research Manager at ACLED and has been with the organization since September 2018, originally hired as the Ukraine Researcher. Currently, she manages a team of researchers covering countries across Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia and oversees the dataset and analysis work for the region. Olha holds an LLM in Law of the Sea from the Arctic University of Norway, an LLM in Human Rights Law with International Law from the University of Kent, and a bachelor's degree from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. She has experience working in the private law sector, with Ukrainian government institutions, and human rights NGOs.
Giulia Bernardi is the Western Europe Research Manager at ACLED and has been with the organization since November 2019. She was originally hired as the Italy researcher. She currently coordinates the management of the Western Europe desk and the publishing of its data on a weekly basis. Giulia holds a double MA in Russian, Central and East European Studies from the University of Glasgow and a Master's in International Relations from KIMEP University, Almaty. Before joining ACLED, she had experience in the field of journalism and research in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Giulia is fluent in Italian, English and Russian.
Nichita Gurcov is the Europe & Central Asia Regional Specialist at ACLED. He has been with the organisation since January 2023. Nichita holds an MA in International Politics from the University of Manchester and a BA in Journalism from Moldova State University. He previously worked on conflicts in Moldova and Ukraine.
See the Codebook and the User Guide for an overview of ACLED’s core methodology. For additional documentation, check the Resource Library. Region-specific methodology briefs can be accessed below.
Links:
For additional resources and in-depth updates on the conflict in Ukraine, check our dedicated Ukraine Crisis Hub.