Published by CFR's Wachenheim Center on Peace and Security
Latest News
War in Ukraine
Freeze on U.S. Funds to Ukraine Complicates Ukrainian Investigations of Alleged Russian War Crimes
- At least six projects held at the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine currently face funding cuts; forty-seven million dollars directly support the documentation of thousands of war crimes cases against Russia (Reuters)
- Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy told the Guardian he was willing to swap Ukrainian-held territory in Kursk for Russian-held territory in his country (Guardian)
- Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov reaffirmed that peace between Russia and Ukraine can only occur once all of President Vladimir Putin’s previously stated conditions are met; this includes Ukraine dropping NATO ambitions and withdrawing all troops from Russia-controlled territories in Ukraine (Guardian)
- Russia’s ambassador to North Korea stated that North Korean hospitals are providing rehabilitation services to Russian soldiers injured in Ukraine (Moscow Times)
Ukraine Receives New Batch of Fighter Jets From Netherlands and France
- Kyiv confirmed receipt of an undisclosed number of new Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France and F-16 jets from the Netherlands (Reuters)
U.S. and Russian Official Contact About the War in Ukraine Has “Intensified Recently”
- The comment by a Kremlin spokesperson was the first official Russian acknowledgement of such conversations occurring (WSJ)
- U.S. allies expect the Trump administration to present them a proposal for ending the war at next week’s Munich Security Conference, Bloomberg reported citing unnamed sources (Bloomberg)
Russia Rejects Zelenskyy’s Proposal for Four-way Peace Talks
- A Kremlin spokesperson said Zelenskyy “does not have the right to hold such talks” between the United States, the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine; Moscow has said the fact that Zelenskyy was not elected after his term expired last year amid martial law means he cannot legally sign a peace deal (Reuters)
- Separately, a UN mission reported an “alarming rise” in Russian executions of Ukrainian war prisoners in recent months (Politico)
- Also, Ukrainian drone strikes attacked an oil refinery and gas processing plant in Volgograd, triggering fires at the facilities (Reuters)
- Meanwhile, Russian state media denounced the death of Armen Sarkisyan as an “assassination” by Ukrainian Special Forces (Independent)
Zelenskyy Aide Criticizes US and Russian Calls for Ukraine to Hold Elections
- Kyiv warned that a ceasefire and election plan would not in itself guarantee Ukraine’s security in the future; this comes after President Trump’s leading Ukraine official Keith Kellog suggested that the country should hold elections by the end of this year as part of a possible truce with Russia (Reuters)
Russian Airstrikes on Residential Block Kill Fourteen in Poltava
- Zelenskyy condemned the airstrike as a “terrorist crime,” marking the deadliest of Russian attacks carried out over the weekend (CNN)
- Meanwhile, Kyiv and Moscow traded blame for an attack on a boarding school in Kursk, which killed four (The Guardian)
North Korean Troops Appear to Have Pulled Back From Russia Frontline
- Ukrainian troops have not seen North Korean fighters in Russia’s Kursk region for around three weeks, likely due to “heavy losses,” a Ukrainian official said (CNN)
- Ukrainian and Western intelligence reports said some twelve thousand North Koreans were sent to Russia (Forbes)
- Pyongyang and Moscow have not acknowledged them (RFA)
Ukraine to Receive $1.2 Billion Defense Package From Sweden
- Sweden’s defense ministry announced its largest contribution of military aid since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, including investment funds for drone and missile production and Swedish military technology and ammunition (Kyiv Independent)
- Meanwhile, Zelenskyy voiced concerns over the United States’ aid freeze as Ukrainian non-profit organizations risk closure (Reuters)
Russia Captures Donetsk Town of Velyka Novosilka
- Satellite images analyzed by conflict monitors showed that Russian troops now hold the town; it is smaller than other recently seized Ukrainian towns in the Donbas region, but marks continued Russian advances in eastern Ukraine (NYT)
Ukraine’s Anti-Graft Bureau Opens Investigating Defense Minister Rustem Umerov Over Alleged Abuse of Authority
Trump Threatens Tariffs, Sanctions on Russia If War Does Not End ‘Soon’
- U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his warnings against Moscow by threatening “high levels of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions” on Russia and other unspecified “participating countries” if a deal is not reached to end the war in Ukraine “soon;” Trump has repeatedly pledged to negotiate an end to the war, but until now has been vague about his methods (Reuters)
- A Kremlin spokesperson told Russian media that Moscow was still “waiting for signals that have not yet been received” from Washington (Politico)
- Trump’s advisors have pedaled back his proposed timeline for ending the war in recent weeks—acknowledging it could take months, rather than twenty-four hours—even as both Kyiv and Moscow have informally floated their demands for a truce (Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg)
- In the meantime, Russia’s economy has faced labor shortages and high inflation amid its record military spending, pushing some within the Russian elite to urge a negotiated end to the war (Reuters)
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Pitches Cease-Fire Vision for 200,000 European Peacekeepers
- A “minimum” of two hundred thousand European peacekeepers should be on the ground in Ukraine to guarantee its security in the case of a halt to the war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at Davos; he has rejected Russia’s demand that Ukraine shrink its army to a fifth of its current size (The Guardian)
- Separately, the leaders of France and Germany are meeting tomorrow to discuss their stance on the war in Ukraine (DW)
Ukraine, UK Sign Century-Long Partnership Deal
- The agreement commits the countries to defense cooperation and joint technology projects, including drones, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on a visit to Kyiv; the countries will also work together to track stolen Ukrainian grain that Russia is exporting (AP)
United States Widens Sanctions on Russian Military
- The Treasury Department is renewing sanctions on around one hundred entities in the country’s finance, defense, and energy sectors, and introducing them on fifteen more; the moves aim to block Russia from circumventing sanctions, a Treasury official said (The Hill)
Ukraine Launches Large-Scale Air Attack on Southwestern Russia
- The attacks used drones as well as long-range missiles and targeted oil and military facilities, marking some of Ukraine’s biggest recent pushes on Russian territory (NYT)
- Two unnamed associates of President-elect Trump, meanwhile, told Reuters that a deal to end the war is now months away at the earliest (Reuters)
New U.S. Sanctions on Russian Oil Ripple Through Global Sector
- The aggressive new sanctions are part of the outgoing Joe Biden administration’s efforts to put Ukraine in a strong negotiating position for potential talks on ending the war with Russia (Bloomberg)
- Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Ukraine said it had captured two North Koreans fighting alongside Russia; the country is ready to exchange them for its own detained fighters, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said (Reuters)
New U.S. Sanctions on Russian Oil Ripple Through Global Sector
- Big buyers of Russian oil such as China and India are looking to source supplies from elsewhere after a sweeping package of U.S. sanctions announced Friday (Reuters)
- Global crude oil prices rose both Friday and today following the new restrictions, which covered two major Russian oil producers and 183 ships used for trading (WSJ)
- The move goes beyond previous efforts to stymie Russia’s oil revenues after it invaded Ukraine, including a price cap on Russian oil imposed by Group of Seven countries in December 2022 (Bloomberg, Al Jazeera)
- The aggressive new sanctions are part of the outgoing Joe Biden administration’s efforts to put Ukraine in a strong negotiating position for potential talks on ending the war with Russia (CNN)
- Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Ukraine said it had captured two North Koreans fighting alongside Russia; Ukraine is ready to exchange them for its own detained fighters held by Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said (WaPo)
Ukraine’s Backers Pledge $2 Billion in Aid, Zelenskyy Says
Russia Bombs Zaporizhzhia in Deadliest Single Strike in Ukraine in Recent Weeks
- Thirteen people were killed and over sixty wounded, authorities said (NYT)
Ukraine Launches New Attack in Russia’s Kursk
- Ukrainian troops went on the offensive against Russian forces in Kursk, Ukrainian and Russian officials both said; Ukraine captured around 500 square miles of the Russian region last summer, and Russian forces have since driven Ukraine out of some, but not all, of the territory (NYT)
- Kyiv’s new push there comes as Moscow claims to have captured the Ukrainian town of Kurakhove; Ukraine’s Khortytsia military unit said that it was working to repel Russian fighters there (Reuters)
- More broadly, both Russia and Ukraine’s battlefield revivals come as the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump approaches on January 20; Trump has pledged to quickly end the war, without specifying how (WSJ)
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that holding Kursk—where the United States and Ukraine say North Korean soldiers are fighting—is an important bargaining chip in any negotiations (Euractiv)
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is due to participate in a meeting of Ukraine’s backers on Thursday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany (AP)
Russia Ends Exports of Natural Gas to Europe Via Ukraine
- Ukraine refused to renew a gas transit deal that expired at the turn of 2025, ending one of the last remaining gas links between Russia and the European Union (WSJ)
- Europe sourced over 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia before its 2022 invasion of Ukraine; by 2024, that number fell to around 15 percent, with Norway and the United States leading in gas supply to the bloc (NYT; Reuters)
Slovakia’s Fico Holds Surprise Meeting With Putin
- Fico has been at odds with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the approaching expiration of a contract in which Russian natural gas transits through Ukraine toward Slovakia (BBC)
- Ukraine reported attacks by 113 Russian drones over the weekend, while Russian authorities put two airports that were hundreds of miles away from Ukraine under flight restrictions following alleged Ukrainian strikes (ABC)
Zelenskyy Talks European Peacekeepers in Ukraine
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed stationing troops in Ukraine with European leaders as part of a potential cease-fire; he added that only North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership would be sufficient to guard against future Russian attacks (NYT)
- Some European leaders as well as President-elect Donald Trump have floated the peacekeeper idea, but it is still in early stages; Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday he is open to talks with Trump on ending the conflict (WaPo)
NATO Post in Germany for Ukraine Assistance Is Operational
- The command post in the city of Wiesbaden has begun its work, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief Mark Rutte said; it is taking over coordination from the United States on Western military aid to Ukraine (Reuters)
- In the latest sign of the war’s global reach, South Korea’s spy agency said today that at least one hundred North Korean fighters have been killed in the war (Yonhap)