The UK is considering sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine as part of any potential deal to end the conflict, it has been reported – as Sir Keir Starmer arrived in Kyiv to pledge more support.
The idea would see British and French soldiers deployed to the country and has been championed by French president Emmanuel Macron.
It comes after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he would discuss the plan with Keir Starmer during the British prime minister’s visit to Kyiv on Thursday.
Sir Keir is not fully signed up to the proposal, with the government considering “the threat that those troops may be under and whether that is escalatory,” according to The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Zelensky said the arrival of peacekeeping troops could align with Ukraine joining Nato. The alliance’s 32 member countries say that Ukraine will join one day, but not until after the war.
During Sir Keir’s visit to Ukraine, he announced a “100-Year partnership” between the UK and Ukraine as he pledged more support for the country.
Speaking to journalists while visiting a burns unit at a hospital in Kyiv, Sir Keir said it was vital Ukraine was placed ‘in the strongest possible position”.
Key points
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UK considering sending troops to Ukraine
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Putin’s troops launch massive drone attack
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Starmer arrives in Ukraine for security talks
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Russian missile attack forces Ukraine to shut down power grid
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Kyiv fires British Storm Shadow missiles in largest attack on Russia
UK considering sending troops to Ukraine
09:40 , Alexander Butler
The UK is considering sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine after any potential deal to end the conflict, it has been reported.
The idea would see British and French soldiers deployed to the country and has been championed by French president Emmanuel Macron.
It comes after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he would discuss the plan with Keir Starmer during the British prime minister’s visit to Kyiv on Thursday.
Sir Keir is not fully signed up to the proposal, with the government considering “the threat that those troops may be under and whether that is escalatory,” according to The Daily Telegraph.
Starmer speaks to journalist at hospital in Kyiv
09:39 , Alex Ross
Just hours after arriving in Kyiv on a surprise visit to Ukraine, Sir Keir Starmer has spoken to journalists while inside a burns unit at one of the capital’s hospitals.
“[This] is a grim reminder of the heavy price Ukraine is paying,” he said.
“So we must give the necessary support, and that’s what I’m discussing with President Zelensky today. We must never let up on that and we’ve been leading the way.”
Sir Keir has arrived to sign a 100-year partnership which will see further economic and military support for Ukraine.
He said: “So I’m here for both those purposes but the main one is to make sure Ukraine is in the strongest possible position during 2025.”
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war had been a failure, and “one of the consequences of this conflict has been to draw Nato more strongly together”.
“It’s bigger and stronger than it has been, and we must stand behind Ukraine for as long as it takes.
“But when we say Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position, that can’t be just words. And that’s why I’ve had such intense discussions with President Zelensky over the months that I’ve been Prime Minister and will again here in Ukraine.”
Analysis: Starmer’s last ditch attempt to shore up support for Ukraine pre-Trump
08:57 , Millie Cooke
Sir Keir Starmer has ramped up support for Ukraine, in a last-ditch attempt to show solidarity with the war-torn nation in the final days before Donald Trump takes office.
The agreement set to be signed between London and Kyiv has been in the works since the previous Conservative administration – but it speaks volumes that Sir Keir has travelled to Ukraine to get it over the line the week before Trump’s inauguration.
His first trip to Ukraine since entering Downing Street comes amid concerns over the president-elect’s commitment to Nato and indications that he would encourage Ukraine to make concessions as part of a deal with Russia – threats that made a marked contribution to No 10’s ramped up effort to put Ukraine in “the strongest possible position” this winter.
Putin’s troops launch massive drone attack
08:33 , Alexander Butler
Vladimir Putin’s troops have launched a massive overnight drone attack at Ukraine as UK prime minister Keir Starmer visited the country.
Russian forces launched 55 drones at Ukraine overnight, with Kyiv’s airforce able to down around 34 of them over 11 regions across the country.
It comes as Sir Keir slammed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as a “monumental failure” during a visit to Kyiv on Thursday.
Zelensky and Starmer to discuss foreign boots in Ukraine in meeting today
07:31 , Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has said he and British prime minister Keir Starmer will discuss a plan proposed by French president Emmanuel Macron that would see troops from France and other Western countries stationed in Ukraine to oversee a ceasefire agreement.
Mr Zelensky has said any such proposal should go alongside a timeline for Ukraine to join Nato.
The alliance’s 32 member countries say that Ukraine will join one day, but not until after the war. Donald Trump has appeared to sympathise with Russian president Putin’s position that Ukraine should not be part of Nato.
Photos: Keir Starmer heads to Ukraine today
07:01 , Arpan Rai
Prime minister Keir Starmer is on his way to Ukraine today as he boarded a train to reach the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Donning a black t-shirt, Sir Keir was seen being briefed by his military adviser ahead of the bilateral outreach to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
On a gray and frosty morning, the British prime minister was greeted at Kyiv railway station by the UK ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris and Ukraine’s envoy to London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
North Korea’s suicide soldiers pose a new risk on the Ukraine battlefield
07:00 , Jabed Ahmed
North Korea’s suicide soldiers pose a new risk on the Ukraine battlefield
Russian gunpowder factory attacked, says Ukraine
06:52 , Arpan Rai
A major Russian gunpowder factory in the Tambov region was attacked, a Ukrainian official said today, without directly claiming responsibility or specifying the consequences of the attack.
“The enterprise is one of the main suppliers of explosive materials for the army of the Russian Federation,” Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation, wrote on Telegram.
“With the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, production at the plant increased significantly,” he added.
What do we know about Britain’s 100-year pledge to Ukraine?
06:30 , Arpan Rai
British prime minister Keir Starmer is meeting president Volodymyr Zelensky to sign a “100-Year Partnership” treaty in Kyiv, covering areas including defence, science, energy and trade.
But what is behind the British pledge to the war-hit country?
Britain says the treaty is designed to offer a century of security assurances, and will help ensure Ukraine is “never again vulnerable to the kind of brutality inflicted on it by Russia”. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and began a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The deal commits the two sides to cooperate on defence – especially maritime security against Russian activity in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov – and on technology projects including drones, which have become vital weapons for both sides in the war.
The treaty also includes a system to help track stolen Ukrainian grain exported by Russia from occupied parts of the country.
Keir Starmer arrives in Ukraine for surprise visit to sign ‘100-year partnership’
06:18 , Arpan Rai
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has been a “monumental strategic failure”, Sir Keir Starmer said as he travelled to the country to sign a new long-term partnership deal with Volodymyr Zelensky.
The 100 Year Partnership includes defence and scientific collaboration but will also forge new community links between the UK and Ukraine.
The agreement will bolster military collaboration on maritime security and will bring together experts in areas including drone technology.
The prime minister, visiting Ukraine for the first time since entering No 10, said the deal showed Mr Putin’s attempts to pull Ukraine away from the West had backfired.
Keir Starmer arrives in Ukraine to sign ‘100-year partnership’ with Zelensky
Russian missile attack forces Ukraine to shut down power grid
06:00 , Jabed Ahmed
Russian missile attack forces Ukraine to shut down power grid
Starmer arrives in Ukraine for security talks with Zelensky
05:45 , Arpan Rai
Prime minister Keir Starmer arrived in Ukraine today with a pledge to help guarantee the country’s security for a century, days before Donald Trump is sworn in as US president.
The government says Mr Starmer and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will sign a “100-Year Partnership” treaty in Kyiv, covering areas including defence, science, energy and trade.
“Putin’s ambition to wrench Ukraine away from its closest partners has been a monumental strategic failure. Instead, we are closer than ever, and this partnership will take that friendship to the next level,” Mr Starmer said ahead of the visit.
“This is not just about the here and now, it is also about an investment in our two countries for the next century, bringing together technology development, scientific advances and cultural exchanges, and harnessing the phenomenal innovation shown by Ukraine in recent years for generations to come,” he said.
Mr Starmer’s unannounced visit is his first trip to Ukraine since he took office in July. He visited the country in 2023 when he was opposition leader, and has twice held talks with Mr Zelensky in 10 Downing Street since becoming prime minister.
US issues fresh round of sanctions against nearly 100 Russian entities
05:10 , Arpan Rai
The US imposed hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia, seeking to increase pressure on Moscow in the Biden administration’s final days and protect some sanctions previously imposed.
The Treasury in a statement said Washington was imposing fresh sanctions on almost 100 critical Russian entities – including Russian banks and companies operating in Russia’s energy sector – that were previously sanctioned by the US. It said the move increases secondary sanctions risk for them.
The new sanctions will be difficult to reverse by the incoming Trump administration as they are issued under an executive order that a senior Treasury official said requires Congress to be notified before any of the actions can be reversed.
The US State and Treasury departments imposed sanctions on over 250 targets, including some based in China, taking aim at Russia’s evasion of US sanctions and its military industrial base.
As part of the action, the Treasury imposed new curbs on almost 100 entities that were already under sanctions, potentially complicating any future efforts to remove the measures.
Photos: Russia-controlled Donetsk under shelling
04:47 , Arpan Rai
Polish PM accuses Russia of planning terror acts against airlines
04:10 , Arpan Rai
Russia has conducted acts of sabotage worldwide, including “acts of air terror” against airlines, the Polish prime minister has claimed.
Security officials have said that parcels that exploded at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States. The explosions occurred in depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July.
Speaking at a press conference in Warsaw alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Tusk said: “The latest information can confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of terrorism in the air not only against Poland.”
Moscow plotted terror attacks on airlines, Polish PM claims
US issues fresh round of sanctions against Russia
04:00 , Jabed Ahmed
The United States has taken fresh action against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, aiming efforts to circumvent US sanctions as Washington continues to increase pressure on Moscow in the final days of the Biden administration.
The US Treasury Department in a statement said Washington was imposing fresh sanctions on almost 100 targets – including Russian banks and companies operating in Russia’s energy sector – that were previously sanctioned by the United States in a move it said increases secondary sanctions risk for critical Russian entities.
The fresh sanctions are issued under an executive order a senior Treasury official said puts in place a Congressional review notification requirement before any of the measures issued under it are lifted.
The action comes in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration. President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Washington also took action against a sanctions evasion scheme established between actors in Russia and China as well as Keremet Bank, a Kyrgyzstan-based financial institution that coordinated with Russian officials and a bank designated by the United States to circumvent sanctions, according to the statement.
“Our goal in taking these actions today is to make clear to financial institutions, but companies as well, that doing business with Russia that supports its military industrialized complex exposes you to sanctions risk yourself,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters.
The State Department is also issuing sanctions against more than 150 entities and individuals, the Treasury said.
Trump’s secretary of state Marco Rubio calls for concessions on both sides to end war
03:24 , Arpan Rai
Senator Marco Rubio, president-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state, said an end to the war in Ukraine was essential with both sides having to make concessions.
Mr Rubio said it should be US policy that the war must end, and said reaching an agreement to stop the fighting would involve concessions from both Moscow and Kyiv, suggesting Ukraine would have to give up its goal of regaining all the territory Moscow has taken in the last decade.
“I think it’s important that the Ukrainians have leverage, but they also will have to make concessions to reach this agreement,” he said.
Falling Ukrainian drone debris sets Russian depot on fire
03:17 , Arpan Rai
Debris from falling Ukrainian drones triggered a fire at an oil storage facility in Russia’s southern Voronezh region late yesterday night, regional governor Alexander Gusev said.
Emergency services had been dispatched to the area, Mr Gusev wrote on Telegram. No casualties were reported.
Russia’s defence ministry said air defence units had destroyed, over a 10-minute period, four drones over Voronezh region and one over Belgorod region.
Trump advisers concede Ukraine peace deal is months away
03:00 , Jabed Ahmed
Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump now concede that the Ukraine war will take months or even longer to resolve, a sharp reality check on his biggest foreign policy promise – to strike a peace deal on his first day in the White House.
Two Trump associates, who have discussed the war in Ukraine with the president-elect, told Reuters they were looking at a timeline of months to resolve the conflict, describing the Day One promises as a combination of campaign bluster and a lack of appreciation of the intractability of the conflict and the time it takes to staff up a new administration.
Those assessments dovetail with remarks by Trump’s incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, who said in an interview with Fox News last week that he would like to have a “solution” to the war within 100 days, far beyond the president-elect’s original timeline.
Yet even Kellogg’s extended deadline was “way, way too optimistic,” said John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine who is now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.
“For this to work, Trump has to persuade (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that there’s a downside for being intransigent,” Herbst said.
Russia says infrastructure attacks in response to Ukraine using Western weapons
02:54 , Arpan Rai
Russian military strikes against energy infrastructure in western Ukraine were carried out in response to Ukrainian strikes using Western weaponry, the Russian defence ministry said early today.
Russia’s military had acted in response to Ukraine’s use of US ATACMS missiles and British-made Storm Shadow missiles, it said in a statement claiming a successful strike on a large gas storage facility in the western Ukrainian town of Stryi.
It also referred to an attempted Ukrainian attack in Russia’s Krasnodar region intended to halt gas supplies through the Turkstream pipeline network.
Full report: Russia open for talks with Trump after Putin’s diplomat praises his attack on Nato
02:00 , Jabed Ahmed
Russia open for talks with Trump after Putin’s diplomat praises his attack on Nato
Pictured: Kyiv residents take shelter in train station amid Russian strike
01:00 , Jabed Ahmed
What is ATACMS? The US missiles being used inside Russia
Wednesday 15 January 2025 23:59 , Jabed Ahmed
There are several variants of Army Tactical Missile Systems, a long-range missile system that often carries varying amounts of cluster bomblets.
Ukrainian forces used the US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time in October 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the weapons had “proven themselves.”
Ukraine likely has what are known as M39A1 Block IA ATACMS that are guided in part by Global Positioning System and have a range of 40 to 190 miles. They can carry a payload of 300 bomblets. The M39 Block IA were used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Army documents, and were added to the US arsenal in 1997.
Full report | Polish PM Donald Tusk accuses Russia of planning acts of terrorism against airlines around the world
Wednesday 15 January 2025 23:00 , Jabed Ahmed
Moscow plotted terror attacks on airlines, Polish PM claims
Watch | North Korean soldiers claim they didn’t know they we being sent to Ukraine in interrogation
Wednesday 15 January 2025 22:00 , Jabed Ahmed
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
Wednesday 15 January 2025 21:00 , Jabed Ahmed
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where Putin’s forces are making gains in eastern Ukraine
War in Ukraine: A snapshot of 2024 military warfare
Wednesday 15 January 2025 20:00 , Jabed Ahmed
Russian forces in 2024 advanced in Ukraine at the fastest rate since 2022, the war’s first year, and control about a fifth of the country. But the gains have come at the cost of heavy, though undisclosed, losses in men and equipment.
In 2024, Russia was invaded for the first time since the Second World War as Ukraine grabbed a slice of its western Kursk region in a surprise counter-attack on 6 August.
Russia has yet to eject Ukrainian forces from Kursk despite bringing in more than 10,000 troops from its ally North Korea, according to Ukrainian, South Korean and US assessments. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
“To sustain even the very slow advance in Ukraine, Russia has been forced to ignore the months-long occupation of part of its own territory by Ukrainian forces,” British security expert Ruth Deyermond said.
“Taking a ‘nothing to see here’ attitude to the loss of its own land is not what great powers do, particularly one so preoccupied with the idea of state sovereignty.”
Deyermond, in a long thread posted on X, suggested Putin’s efforts to portray Russia as a leading world power were also undermined by the toppling of its chief Middle East ally, former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and its increasing dependence on China.
Mr Putin, the longest-serving ruler of Russia since Josef Stalin, said on 19 December that under his leadership the country had moved back from “the edge of the abyss” and rebuffed threats to its sovereignty.
With hindsight, he said, he should not have waited until February 2022 before launching his “special military operation” in Ukraine, the term he still uses for the full-scale invasion of Russia’s neighbour.
Explained | Why does Russia want to capture strategic Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk?
Wednesday 15 January 2025 19:01 , Jabed Ahmed
Russian forces are closing in on the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of villages to its south, and Ukraine has halted production at its only coking coal mine nearby due to the advance.
Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. While most people have fled, Ukraine estimated last month that up to 11,000 still remain in the city.
It lies on a key road used by the Ukrainian military to supply other embattled eastern outposts including the towns of Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s only mine that produces coking coal – used in its once vast steel industry and vital for the country’s pre-war economy – is just a 20-minute drive to the west of Pokrovsk, and open source data shows Russian forces are less than 2 km (1.24 miles) from one of the mine shafts.
Moscow says it has annexed Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and sees taking control of Pokrovsk as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia. Kyiv and the West reject Russia’s territorial claims as illegal and accuse Moscow of prosecuting a war of colonial conquest.
Control of the city, which the Russian media call “the gateway to Donetsk”, would allow Moscow to severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines along the eastern front and boost its campaign to capture Chasiv Yar, which sits on higher ground offering potential control of a wider area.
Squeezing the Ukrainian military’s access to the road network in the vicinity would make it harder for Kyiv’s troops to hold pockets of territory either side of Pokrovsk, which could allow Russia to advance the front line.
Zelensky: foreign troops in Ukraine could only be part of security guarantees
Wednesday 15 January 2025 18:01 , Jabed Ahmed
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine could only be a part of security guarantees and would not be enough alone.
Zelenskiy told a news conference in Warsaw that he plans to discuss the issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
He added Ukraine has sharply raised its local arms production and is now producing about 33-34 per cent of all weapons domestically. The European Union supplied another 30 per cent, while 40 per cent was provided by the United States.
Zelensky says Kyiv brought home 25 people in prisoner swap with Russia
Wednesday 15 January 2025 17:14 , Jabed Ahmed
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv had brought home 25 people in a prisoner exchange with Russia.
Russia’s defence ministry earlier said that a 25-for-25 prisoner of war exchange had been conducted with mediation from the United Arab Emirates.
“We extend our gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for their assistance in making today’s event possible,” Zelensky wrote on X.
Russia and Ukraine need to make concessions to end war – Trump top diplomat pick Rubio says
Wednesday 15 January 2025 16:55 , Jabed Ahmed
Senator Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be US secretary of state, has said both Russia and Ukraine will need to make concessions to end the war in Ukraine.
“It’s going to be hard work,” Rubio said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said he hoped a ceasefire could be achieved in the conflict but both sides need to have leverage for that to occur.
Zelensky expects US will continue strengthening Ukraine after Trump inauguration
Wednesday 15 January 2025 16:31 , Jabed Ahmed
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he expected the United States would continue to strengthen Ukraine in the war against Russia after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine was seeking “strong” security guarantees and urged support to the Ukrainian armed forces as the war with Russia approaches its three-year mark.
Pictured | Residents check their damaged property following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike
Wednesday 15 January 2025 16:20 , Jabed Ahmed
Russia planned ‘acts of terrorism’ in the air, Polish PM says
Wednesday 15 January 2025 15:44 , Jabed Ahmed
Russia planned ‘acts of terrorism’ in the air against Poland and other countries, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Warsaw.
Security officials have said that parcels that exploded at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States. The explosions occurred in depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July. Russia has denied involvement in the incidents and Tusk did not mention them specifically.
“The latest information can confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of terrorism in the air not only against Poland,” Tusk told a news conference. He did not say what acts he was referring to or elaborate on the contents of the information.
Moscow has regularly denied any involvement in the courier depot explosions, as well as break-ins, arson and attacks on individuals which Western officials say were carried out by operatives paid by Russia. The Russian embassy in Warsaw has not immediately replied to an emailed request for comment on Tusk’s statement.
Polish leader vows to use EU presidency to push forward with Ukraine’s membership quest
Wednesday 15 January 2025 14:58 , Jabed Ahmed
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has vowed to use his country’s presidency of the European Union to push forward with Ukraine‘s membership quest.“We will break the standstill we have in this issue,” Tusk told reporters in Warsaw, as he stood alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We will accelerate the accession process.”Zelensky was in Poland on Wednesday after the two countries reached an agreement on the exhumation of Polish victims of World War II-era massacres by Ukrainian nationalists, a longstanding source of tensions between them.
Pictured: Kyiv residents take shelter in train station
Wednesday 15 January 2025 14:14 , Jabed Ahmed
Russia and Ukraine swap 25 POWs each in UAE-mediated exchange, Moscow says
Wednesday 15 January 2025 13:31 , Jabed Ahmed
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 25 prisoners of war after negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates, according to Russian officials.
The Russian POWs were currently in Belarus receiving medical and psychological support before being transported back to Russia for further care, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Russian oil tycoon says UK sanctions are arbitrary in landmark appeal
Wednesday 15 January 2025 12:45 , Jabed Ahmed
A billionaire oil tycoon has tried again to overturn British sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in the first case of its kind to reach the UK’s Supreme Court.
Eugene Shvidler was put under sanctions in March 2022. He says the decision was arbitrary, as other companies and executives involved in business which is strategically significant for Russia have not been targeted.
Shvidler was sanctioned on the grounds of his association with former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, who Britain says has benefited financially from supporting the Russian government.
Abramovich has previously said it is false to suggest he benefited by supporting the Russian government.
Shvidler is now asking the Supreme Court to overturn the sanctions, which Shvidler says have destroyed his business and disrupted his and his family’s lives.
The UK Foreign Office, which has overseen the sanctioning of more than 1,700 individuals or entities since Russia’s invasion, argues it was right to believe sanctioning Shvidler could secure Britain’s foreign policy aims.
Lawyers for the Foreign Office also cited Shvidler’s position as a director of London-listed Russian steel producer Evraz and role at Russian oil company Sibneft, sold by Abramovich in 2005, as evidence he had obtained a financial benefit from Abramovich.
Full report: Russia open for talks with Trump after Putin’s diplomat praises his attack on Nato
Wednesday 15 January 2025 12:01 , Jabed Ahmed
Russia open for talks with Trump after Putin’s diplomat praises his attack on Nato
Trump advisers concede Ukraine peace deal is months away
Wednesday 15 January 2025 11:30 , Jabed Ahmed
Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump now concede that the Ukraine war will take months or even longer to resolve, a sharp reality check on his biggest foreign policy promise – to strike a peace deal on his first day in the White House.
Two Trump associates, who have discussed the war in Ukraine with the president-elect, told Reuters they were looking at a timeline of months to resolve the conflict, describing the Day One promises as a combination of campaign bluster and a lack of appreciation of the intractability of the conflict and the time it takes to staff up a new administration.
Those assessments dovetail with remarks by Trump’s incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, who said in an interview with Fox News last week that he would like to have a “solution” to the war within 100 days, far beyond the president-elect’s original timeline.
Yet even Kellogg’s extended deadline was “way, way too optimistic,” said John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine who is now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.
“For this to work, Trump has to persuade (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that there’s a downside for being intransigent,” Herbst said.
Russia confirms attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities
Wednesday 15 January 2025 11:01 , Jabed Ahmed
Russian troops conducted strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, successfully hitting all designated targets, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
The ministry also said that Russian troops have taken control over the village of Ukrainka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Kremlin says nothing is ruled in possible response to US oil sanctions
Wednesday 15 January 2025 10:31 , Jabed Ahmed
The Kremlin has said that Russia’s focus on the new US sanctions on the oil sector was to minimise their impact but that nothing was ruled out in relation to a possible response from Moscow.
“We are carefully analysing the situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “The point is to take those measures that would minimise the consequences of these illegal measures and that would best serve the interests of our country, first of all, and our companies.”
When asked specifically about a possible Russian response to the US sanctions, Peskov said: “Nothing can be ruled out. Whatever is best in the interests of our country will be done.”
The US Treasury imposed wider sanctions on Russian oil on 10 January, targeting producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil.
Massive Russian missile attack forces Ukraine to introduce preventive power cuts
Wednesday 15 January 2025 09:59 , Jabed Ahmed
Russia launched a massive aerial attack against Ukraine on Wednesday, forcing the country to introduce preventive power cuts, the Ukrainian energy minister said.
“The enemy continues to terrorize Ukrainians,” Herman Halushchenko wrote on Facebook, urging residents to stay in shelters during the air raid alerts and follow official updates.
Moscow launched more than 40 missiles, and at least 30 were shot down, said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, adding about 70 strike drones were involved in the attack. It remains unclear how many were intercepted.
The state energy company Ukrenergo reported emergency power outages in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kirovohrad regions.
The attack comes a day after the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of firing multiple Western-made missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, claiming in an online statement that the attack “will not go unanswered.”
