This week, Ukrainian troops have been engaged in difficult battles in key sections of the front line where the situation is generally tense. Ukraine is developing its own air defense and anti-missile systems capable of intercepting Russian missiles, the country’s army chief, General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in an interview on Sunday. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has approved the domestic Poseidon drone for deployment in the Ukrainian military. Russia does not have a potential for a major breakthrough in Ukraine, a top NATO commander said.
Russia continued to strike Ukrainian cities and towns far behind the front lines with missiles and drones. A drone and missile attack on Zaporizhzhia overnight on Thursday killed one and injured more than 50 others, including a two-month-old infant, causing extensive damage to the city’s energy and civilian infrastructure. Three people were killed in a drone strike on Kyiv region overnight on Friday.
Trump’s inauguration tops this week’s events on the diplomatic scene. Trump was right in saying that EU members don’t spend enough on defense, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said during a speech at the annual conference of the European Defence Agency on Wednesday. The Financial Times has described a scenario in which foreign troops deploy to Ukraine. In an interview with Bloomberg at Davos on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi confirmed that Russia withdrawing to pre-invasion positions is the minimum prerequisite for peace talks.
Trump to seek oil price cuts, saying that could help end Russia’s war in Ukraine. U.S. President Donald Trump said he will demand Saudi Arabia and OPEC bring down the cost of oil. He made his statement during a remote address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
“You got to bring it down, which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election. (…) If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately. Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue,” Trump said.
“They should have done it long ago,” he added. “They’re very responsible, actually, to a certain extent, for what’s taking place — millions of lives are being lost,” Trump said of the Saudis and OPEC.
Russia is one of the largest oil exporters in the world and the revenues from those sales support its war even with Western sanctions in place. Trump earlier warned he will impose high tariffs and further sanctions on Russia if Putin fails to end the war in Ukraine.