Russia's special envoy to the United Nations on Wednesday gave a measured response to President Donald Trump's demands for President Vladimir Putin to strike a deal and end the war in Ukraine. “It's not just a matter of ending the war. It's first and foremost a matter of addressing the root causes of the Ukraine crisis,” said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations. “So we need to find out what 'deal' means in President Trump's understanding.” As Piotr Sauer reports, President Trump has no plans to conclude a deal that would quickly end the war in Ukraine. If it doesn't, it threatens Russia with taxes, tariffs and sanctions. President Trump said Russia's economy is in ruins and the Russians “must make peace now and stop this stupid war.”
Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of political analysis firm R.Politic, said that despite President Trump's efforts to force Putin to negotiate, The Russian leader seems convinced that he has more resources than Ukraine.. “A peace agreement on Russia's terms would save considerable resources, but in the absence of such an agreement, President Putin is prepared to fight as long as necessary.” Considering this, it is unlikely that President Putin will be forced to negotiate with Ukraine. “If the Kremlin concludes that it cannot reach a favorable agreement with President Trump, it will likely focus on prolonging the conflict.”
Russia claimed on Wednesday that it had captured the village of Zapadne in northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region. Russia has successfully established a beachhead on the west bank this year, with Zapadne, located about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) west of the Oskil River, marking significant advances. Ukraine's Governor Oleg Sinegubov said the Kharkiv region was under constant shelling, and two men were killed the day before in the village of Goptyvka. Ukraine's air force announced on Wednesday that its air defense forces shot down 65 Russian drones in 10 regions, including Kharkiv.
It is claimed that Russian troops advanced as they approached Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. “We are in a difficult situation in the east,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged on Tuesday. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said the following on the Russian side: continued to concentrate the main efforts on Pokrovsk.
Investor-turned-activist Bill Browder is calling for all $300bn (£243bn) of Russia's frozen assets to be used to finance the Kiev army. Graham Wearden and John Collingridge, speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, said that if US military aid to Ukraine dries up and replacement funding is not found, Russia's territorial gains could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. He wrote that he warned that as many as 10,000 Ukrainians would be forced to flee. “A refugee problem like we've never seen before.'' Browder has been at the forefront of the anti-government movement against Vladimir Putin's government since lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was arrested and died in custody 15 years ago.
Russian 'spy ship' Yantar was closely pursued by the Royal Navy this week It entered British waters on Monday, after transiting the English Channel at a time of heightened concern over the safety of undersea cables, writes Dan Sabbagh. Secretary of Defense John Healey said: We know what you are doing,” he said, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to threaten European security by targeting undersea infrastructure. Mr Healy told MPs that when the Yantar passed through British waters for the second time in less than three months, it was “mapping Britain's critical underwater infrastructure”.
Residents of Russia's Kursk region issued a joint social media post appealing for help finding relatives. Russian media reported on Wednesday after the Ukrainian border offensive was launched in August last year. For months, people in the Russian region have accused authorities of not doing enough to ensure the safety of their loved ones and of keeping the population in the dark about the scale of the fighting. Ukraine has held thousands of its civilians in Russian-occupied and occupied areas since the Russian military offensive began in February 2022, and has given Russians no safe option in the Kursk region. He said he was providing a passageway. French officials told Agence France-Presse that French military resources were also mobilized to keep an eye on Yantar, but that there was “no evidence of hostility” on the ship.
A Russian military court on Wednesday upheld a life sentence for Alexander Permyakov, who was convicted of blowing up the car of pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin in 2023, seriously injuring him.. Permyakov, who has both Russian and Ukrainian citizenship, told the court that Ukraine's SBU Security Service had promised him $20,000 for Prilepin's murder. On appeal, Permyakov's lawyers said he provided investigators with information about hidden weapons and told them the location of unexploded ordnance. Although Ukraine has not officially claimed the attack on Prilepin, the head of the Ukrainian SBU, Vasyl Mariuk, called the Russian writer a “true war criminal” and said the attack left the victim with “severe injuries to the pelvis and legs.” I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” She was left without genitals. ” Prilepin denied the latter claim.
