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What happened on 29 January 2026 in the war
Summary
A large exchange of bodies and a new EU money-laundering listing marked the day, following deadly strikes on Ukraine earlier that week.
What did 29 January 2026 bring in the war between Russia and Ukraine? It brought a swap of bodies, the first since November 2025, and a sanctions-related step by the European Union.
Under the exchange, Russia received the remains of 38 soldiers, while Ukraine received the remains of 1,000 soldiers. The imbalance in the numbers was stark, and the swap was the first of its kind in the months since November 2025.
On the same day, the European Union blacklisted Russia over a risk of money laundering. The move belongs to the wider body of international sanctions imposed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and to the broader state of relations between Russia and the EU.
The days before
The exchange came after several days of violence. On 27 January 2026, a Russian drone strike on a passenger train in Kharkiv Oblast killed at least five people and injured two others. Overnight into 28 January, Russian strikes on the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa oblasts killed three people and injured three more.
Taken together, the events of those days showed the war continuing on several tracks at once: attacks on civilian and regional targets, the handling of the dead, and economic pressure from Europe on Russia.
