This week, intense battles continued to rage along the front lines. Russia launched more major drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, causing the situation with power cuts and heating disruptions to further deteriorate, notably in Kyiv.
The Kremlin used an affiliated former Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk to justify Russia’s rejection of peace efforts, the Institute for the Study of War said. The Khartia unit maintains control of the central part of Kupyansk, in Kharkiv region, and the city’s council building, Commander of Ukraine’s National Guard, Brigadier General Oleksandr Pivnenko said Monday.
A Russian drone and missile attack on Tuesday knocked out heating and water supply to nearly half of Kyiv’s apartment buildings. Nearly 60 per cent of the Ukrainian capital was without power on Wednesday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said. Some 1,940 buildings in Kyiv remained without heating as of Friday morning, the city’s mayor, Vitaliy Klychko said. This month 600,000 people have already fled the capital, home to more than 3 million, Klychko told The Times, according to an article published on Tuesday.
Russia carried out a drone and missile attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih that lasted all day on Thursday, injuring 13 people, including four children. A drone attack on Dnipro on Thursday morning hit an apartment building and injured seven people.
This week, all eyes were on the 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. At the gathering, EU leaders discussed with U.S. President Donald Trump Greenland instead of Ukraine. Despite having to change the initial agenda, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi met with Trump and delivered a speech at the forum on Thursday. In his address, he urged Europe to be more decisive.
“Everyone gave attention to Greenland, and it is clear most leaders are not sure what to do about it. It seems like everyone is just waiting for America to cool down on this topic, hoping it will pass away. But what if it [does] not: what then?” Zelenskyi said.
“Sending 30 or 40 soldiers to Greenland — what is that meant to achieve? What message does that send to Putin? To China? And perhaps, most importantly, what message does it send to Denmark, your close ally? You either declare that European bases will protect the region from Russia and China — and establish those bases — or you risk not being taken seriously because 30 or 40 soldiers won’t protect anything,” he continued.
During his speech, he suggested Ukraine could help defend Europe in the event of a Russian invasion of Greenland, saying: “We know what to do if Russian warships are sailing freely around Greenland, Ukraine can help — we have the expertise and weapons to ensure not one of those ships remains. They can sink near Greenland just as they do near Crimea. No problem — we have the tools, and we have people. For us, the sea is not the first line of defense, so we can take actions, and we know how to fight there. If we were asked, and if Ukraine were in NATO — but we are not — we would solve this problem with the Russian ships.”
France’s navy on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet.
Ukraine, Russia and U.S. to hold first trilateral talks in UAE, Zelenskyi says.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said trilateral talks on ending the war in Ukraine are to take place with Russia and the U.S. in the United Arab Emirates on Friday and Saturday.
“The American team will go to Moscow today. They waited for our meeting with President Trump and now they will go. My team will meet the American team and I think that it will be the first trilateral meeting in the Emirates. It will be tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. It will be two days of meetings in the Emirates. I hope that the Emirates knows about it. Sometimes we have such surprises from the American side,” Zelenskyi said.