Ukraine

The extension of EU sanctions shouldn’t be automatic, the Hungarian government has said, in remarks that threaten to unravel the bloc’s collective reaction to Russia’s war on Ukraine

NATO chief Mark Rutte supported Trump’s push for higher defence budgets and warned that a Russian victory in Ukraine would damage NATO’s credibility and increase costs.

No one wants to end the war in Ukraine more than Ukrainians do, but it needs to result in just peace, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration told Euronews in Davos after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the delegates calling on Europe to wake up.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s close ally and minister Antal Rogán was sanctioned by the US Treasury last week for alleged corruption.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity in the run-up to Donald Trump’s inauguration next Monday, which is expected to bring a departure from the outgoing US administration’s pledge to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived in Ukraine’s capital on Thursday with a pledge to help guarantee the country’s security for a century, days before Donald Trump is sworn in as U.S. president.

The surprise visit comes a day after Pistorius met with his counterparts from France, the UK, Italy and Poland to discuss coordinating their defence plans and assistance for Ukraine.

The leaders of Ukraine and Slovakia are locked in a spiralling dispute over supplies of Russian gas, and can’t even agree on a location to hold further talks.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested returning the soldiers to North Korea in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners held by Russia.

The massacre of around 100,000 Polish civilians by a Ukrainian paramilitary force had long soured diplomatic relations between the otherwise close allies.