A Russian envoy to the United Nations on Wednesday gave a cautious response to Donald Trump’s call for a deal with Vladimir Putin and an end to the war in Ukraine. “This is not just a question of ending the war. This is the first and most important question of solving the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis,” said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations. “So we have to see what President Trump understands ‘deal’ to mean.” As Pjotr Sauer reports, Trump has threatened Russia with taxes, tariffs and sanctions if no deal is reached soon to end the war in Ukraine. Trump said Russia’s economy was failing and that his Russian counterpart “must resolve now and stop this ridiculous war”.
Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of political analysis firm R.Politik, said that despite Trump’s efforts to force Putin to negotiate, Russian leaders appeared convinced they had the resources to defeat Ukraine.. “A peace deal on Russian terms would save significant resources, but in the absence of such a deal, Putin is prepared to fight as long as it takes.” Russia’s current economic situation was unlikely to compel Putin to negotiate with Ukraine. “If the Kremlin concludes that a favorable deal with Trump is not coming, they will likely focus on prolonging the conflict.”
Russia claimed on Wednesday that it had taken control of the village of Zapdne in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Russia has this year managed to establish a bridgehead on the west bank and the Zapadne Oskil is located about 4km (2.5 miles) west of the river, providing a significant advantage. According to the governor of Ukraine, Oleg Senigobov, the Kharkiv region is under constant shelling and two people were killed in the village of Goptivka a day ago. Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday that air defenses had shot down 65 Russian drones in 10 regions, including Kharkiv.
The Russian advance was claimed as its troops approached Pokrosk in the Donetsk region. “In the East, we have a difficult situation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted on Tuesday. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the Russians continued to focus its main efforts on poker.
Financier-turned-activist Bill Browder is pushing for all $300bn (£243bn) in frozen Russian assets to be spent on financing Kiev’s military. Graeme Verdon and John Collingridge write that Browder, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, warned that if U.S. military support for Ukraine were to end and alternative funding was not found, Russian territorial gains would be replicated by millions of Ukrainians. Will be forced to move. A refugee problem like we have never seen before. Browder has been a leading campaigner against Vladimir Putin’s regime since his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was arrested and died in custody 15 years ago.
Yenter, a Russian “spy ship”, was closely tracked by the Royal Navy this week. After entering UK waters on Monday and passing through the Channel at a time of heightened concern about the safety of undersea cables, writes Dan Sabbagh. Defense Secretary John Haley said: “We see you. We know what you’re doing,” as he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of endangering European security by targeting undersea infrastructure. Trying to put Healey told MPs that Yenter was “mapping the UK’s underwater infrastructure” as it passed through British waters for the second time in less than three months.
Residents of Russia’s Kursk region have made coordinated posts on social media appealing for help in finding relatives. Following the start of Ukraine’s border operation last August, Russian media reported on Wednesday. People in the Russian region have accused authorities for months of not doing enough to protect their loved ones, and of keeping them in the dark about the scale of the fighting. Ukraine says it has housed thousands of its own citizens in Moscow-held and occupied territories since the start of its invasion in February 2022 and is providing safe passage to Russians in the Kursk region. A French official told Agence France-Presse that French military resources had also been mobilized to monitor the Yenter but that the ship had “no proven hostile intent”.
A Russian military court on Wednesday upheld a life sentence for Alexander Permyakov, who was convicted of blowing up his car in 2023 and seriously injuring pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin.. Permyakov, who holds both Russian and Ukrainian citizenship, told the court that Ukraine’s SBU security service had promised him $20,000 to kill Prilepin. At the appeal hearing, Permyakov’s defense team said he had given investigators information about hidden weapons and the location of an unexploded device. Ukraine has not formally claimed responsibility for the attack on Prilep’in, but Ukrainian SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk called the Russian author a “real war criminal” and said the victim’s back and legs were badly injured in the attack. Have happened and regret it. was left without genitalia.” Prilepin denied the latter claim.
