European countries appear to be taking tough measures against oil tankers linked to the shadow fleets of Russia and its allies.
The Ukrainian army continues its advance in Kupyansk and Pokrovsk.
On January 17, American and Ukrainian officials held another round of peace talks in Miami, Florida.
This was summarized by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
NATO aircraft took off in response to another flight of a Russian military aircraft near NATO airspace.
NATO Air Command reported that Italian Eurofighter Typhoon fighters based in Estonia intercepted a Russian multi-role amphibious aircraft Be-200, which was approaching the Baltic Sea during the day on January 16.
The January 16 interception is part of a broader trend of Russian flights near and violations of NATO airspace, likely to gauge NATO's response to Russian aggression.
ISW continues to assess that Russia is intensifying its "Phase Zero" campaign to destabilize Europe, undermine NATO cohesion, and create the political, informational, and psychological conditions for a potential future Russian war against NATO.
On January 17, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kirill Budanov, the secretary of the Ukrainian Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, and the leader of the Ukrainian "Servant of the People" party arrived in the United States. David Arahamia to discuss the details of the peace agreement with US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, former senior adviser to US President Jared Kushner and US Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll.
As of this writing, the outcome of the negotiations is unclear, and ISW will continue to monitor reports of US-Ukraine peace talks in the coming days.
European countries appear to be cracking down on oil tankers linked to the shadowy fleets of Russia and its allies.
Bloomberg reported on January 16 that an unregistered oil tanker posing as the Arcusat had diverted from a course between Denmark and Sweden to German waters to sail north to the Russian Arctic coast.
Reputable shipping organizations have not found a vessel associated with the tanker's alleged registration, and that the Arcusat was manufactured in China. shipyard and disappeared from the records in April 2025.
The data shows that Arcusat has sailed under various flags, including those of Tanzania and Cameroon.
The German Federal Police recently denied Tavian, Arcusat's other name, access to German territorial waters - the first time a European country has denied a tanker from the shadowy fleet access to its territorial waters.
The German Federal Police said that they had recently denied several Russian ships passage through German territorial waters.
The Italian Guardia di Finanza and the Brindisi customs agency seized a Tuvalu-flagged ship on January 17 that was illegally carrying 33,000 tons of Russian ferrous metals after it sailed from Russian territorial waters into the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian defense publication Militaryi reported that the data monitoring services indicate that the detained ship is likely the Turkish bulk carrier Hizer Reis.
Data from commercially available marine tracking systems indicate that the ship docked at the port of Novorossiysk between November 13 and 16, and monitoring services indicate that the ship has sailed frequently between Turkish and Russian ports.
European countries appear to be cracking down increasingly hard on ships linked to Russia and its allies, whose shadow fleets are often mixed.
Dozens of tankers from the shadow fleet off the coast of Venezuela have been reflagged to Russia in recent months, and many ships from the shadow fleet linked to Russia have been sanctioned for carrying cargo in support of the Iranian regime.