The London Summit brought together the leaders of Ukraine, the UK, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, and Sweden, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave a highly public show of support for Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. UK Minister Starmer embraced Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on the steps of No. 10 Downing Street in London during a meeting.
Ukraine and the UK signed an Emergency Loan Agreement of £2.26 billion for the purchase of defence materials. The funds are part of the G7 $50 billion Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine (ERA) mechanism. The loan will be serviced and repaid from future...
The UN adopted Ukraine’s resolution condemning “the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine”. The resolution was supported by 93 votes in favour, 18 against, including the US, Russia, Belarus, Hungary, Israel, North Korea, the Central African Republic.
United States spy planes typically focused on Russian activity in Ukraine or hunting Russian or Chinese submarines have been redeployed to monitor the United States-Mexico border.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Vladimir Putin is not preparing for negotiations, but rather for the continuation of the war, and not only against Ukraine – particularly as the Kremlin is bolstering its military by more than 100,000 troops.
Roman Shvartsman, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor from Odesa, delivered a speech in the Bundestag, expressing gratitude to Germany for its support of Ukraine against Russian aggression and urging for increased assistance, speaking in Ukrainian during a special session.
The Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC) submarine fibre optic cable in the Baltic Sea was damaged early Sunday morning.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska spoke at the Folk och Försvar Annual National Conference in Sweden about the threat Russia plays to NATO as a whole. “Russia is preparing for a long-term confrontation with us. They say this openly, and they act accordingly. Just this year, Russia’s total military spending will be 7 or 8 % of GDP, if not more. Russia’s defense industry is scaling up, with the help of China, Iran, and North Korea; together, they’re aiming to destabilize the global order, to weaken Europe and North America, and to undermine our freedoms.”
The Russian state has been pursuing a 2-track strategy to cover its mounting war costs, supplementing its highly scrutinized defense budget expenditures with funding from an off-budget defense financing scheme that is similar in scale but has been overlooked by analysts. Unlike its federal defense budget expenditures, which remain at sustainable levels, Russia’s off-budget funding scheme is proving much more problematic to sustain. This now poses a funding dilemma for Moscow that could weigh on its war calculus while providing Ukraine and its allies valuable, new negotiating leverage.
For many years, Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) paid various groups in Afghanistan to launch terrorist attacks against US and coalition troops, including up to $200,000 for every American killed. To transfer money to Taliban militants and other groups, Russian intelligence services maintained a network of Afghan couriers disguised as a company that traded in precious stones. Having completed their mission, the couriers received Russian documents and asylum.
In a New Year address, President Vladimir Putin told Russians that the country would move forward with confidence in 2025, though he offered no specific promises on the economy or the war in Ukraine. At a time when many ordinary people are worried about rising prices and the central bank’s 21% interest rate is squeezing businesses and homebuyers, Putin reassured Russians that their well-being was his top priority.
