Key event
The main developments today:
Ukraine pushed ahead with its peace formula to end nearly two years of war with Russia with a meeting of national security advisers from around the world in Davos on Sunday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is scheduled to address the World Economic Forum in Davos later in the week, was not in the opening morning session, which included 81 participants from countries and international organisations. He was represented by his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
China needs to be involved in efforts to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, Switzerland’s co-chair of the Davos meeting Ignazio Cassis told a news conference after a session.
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska said on Sunday in a Telegram post there was unlikely to be peace in Ukraine until at least May 2025, and constructive discussion at Davos on ending the conflict would not be possible because no Russian delegation would attend.
North Korea is forging closer ties with Moscow. Foreign minister Choe Son-hui will visit Russia from Monday to Wednesday at the invitation of her counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the North’s KCNA news agency said.
France’s newly appointed foreign minister, Stéphane Séjourné, met Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday on his first official visit abroad, vowing that Paris would maintain its support. “Despite the multiplying crises, Ukraine is and will remain France’s priority,” Séjourné told Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, at a joint news conference earlier.
Zelenskiy said he and Séjourné had discussed Ukraine’s defence needs including joint production of drones and artillery.
Ukrainians are being urged to create drones for the military at home as part of the “People’s Drone” project. Participants can take a free engineering course to teach themselves how to assemble a 7-inch FPV (first-person-view) drone at home.
Denmark will allocate a new $21m (£16.5m) aid package to Ukraine for the restoration of the southern Ukrainian city of Nikolaev. The assistance package, among other things, includes projects for demining agricultural land and reconstructing the dormitory of the Nikolaev State Agrarian University.
In its latest defence intelligence update, the UK Ministry of Defence said the impact of the war with Ukraine on healthcare in Russia was “highly likely” being felt by Russia’s civilian population as they struggled to access hospital services and experience shortages of medical products due to treatment of wounded personnel.
Ukraine suffered a massed Russian missile attack in the early hours of Saturday, its air force said, adding that Moscow had fired some of its most fearsome hypersonic missiles. Air defences shot down Russian missiles in at least five regions across Ukraine, according to local officials from those provinces.
Russian shelling of Kherson has injured at least six residents, according to reports by local and national officials. Russian forces fired 28 shells at Kherson on Saturday, hitting residential neighbourhoods and port infrastructure.
A prominent liberal priest faces expulsion from the Russian Orthodox church for refusing to read out a prayer asking God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine. In a verdict, a church court said Aleksiy Uminsky should be “expelled from holy orders” for violating his priestly oath.
The US president, Joe Biden, said during a press briefing on Saturday that Republicans would have “an awful lot to pay for” if they did not help pass military aid for Ukraine.
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Updated
There is unlikely to be peace in Ukraine until at least May 2025 and constructive discussion at Davos on ending the conflict will not be possible because no Russian delegation will attend, Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska said on Sunday.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, President Emmanuel Macron of France and several Middle East leaders are expected to attend next week’s World Economic Forum, where talks to end wars in Gaza and Ukraine are at the top of the agenda.
“It is a pity that a constructive talk about the situation in Ukraine will not happen – there will be no Russian delegation,” Deripaska said in a post on the Telegram app, according to Reuters. “Don’t await peace before May 2025.”
Deripaska, who is reported to have made his fortune by buying up stakes in aluminium factories, has been sanctioned by Britain for his alleged ties to Vladimir Putin. He has mounted a legal challenge against the sanctions.
Updated
