Without unanimous support from all 27 EU countries, EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas issued her own statement, declaring that the January 26 election in Belarus was "neither free nor fair."
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has reportedly secured 86.82% of the vote, according to preliminary results announced by the country’s Central Election Commission.
While the specifics of a potential agreement under U.S. President Donald Trump remain unclear, Zelensky emphasized that Vladimir Putin has no interest in ending the war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized that Azerbaijan has significant export capacity, with the ability to send up to 25 billion cubic meters of gas, and that Ukraine can provide the necessary infrastructure to transport it.
Senior diplomats in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs requested a full waiver to exclude U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) operations in Ukraine from a 90-day foreign aid freeze, the Financial Times reports.
"Bratislava is not Moscow, Slovakia is Europe," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X on Jan. 25, voicing support for protests against Slovakia's government.
The majority of these losses—15,051 units—were destroyed, while 852 were reported as damaged. Russian troops abandoned 1,113 units, and over 3,000 were captured by Ukrainian forces, according to an analysis by the Oryx project.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s warning came after Putin expressed willingness to engage in talks with Donald Trump on Jan. 24 and praised the U.S. leader.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Jan. 24 new guidance that halts spending on most foreign aid grants for 90 days. This directive, which took State Department officials by surprise, appears to include funding for military assistance to Ukraine, according to Politico.
The State Department described arms sales and transfers as "important U.S. foreign policy tools with potential long-term implications for regional and global security."
Speaking at a European Defense Agency meeting on Jan. 22, EU's chief diplomat Kaja Kallas stressed that the bloc must act decisively to counter Russia's growing militarization. "We are running out of time. The Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom and ours. They are buying us time."
"It can’t be without the United States," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Bloomberg on Jan. 22. "Even if some European friends think it can be, no it can’t be. Nobody will risk without the United States."
The European Union will provide 35 billion euros ($36 billion) in financial assistance to Ukraine in 2025 through the G7 ERA credit initiative and the Ukraine Facility program, European Commission's vice-president and trade commissioner announced on Jan. 22.
"It is essential to provide Ukraine with the means to endure and to negotiate from a position of strength in the future," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Jan. 20.
Gas deliveries from Russia to Europe persist despite the EU's efforts, and Brussels is determined to halt this, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the EU’s spokesperson for energy and housing, said on Jan. 20.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that a united NATO, bolstered by strong U.S. leadership, is essential to counter Putin's ambitions and safeguard Ukraine's sovereignty, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Russia criticized a newly announced 100-year partnership agreement between Ukraine and the U.K., rejecting any cooperation between the two nations in the Azov Sea.
President-elect Donald Trump has expressed interest in visiting China shortly after assuming office, potentially within his first 100 days, sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.
A Russian missile strike on Kyiv early on Jan. 18 damaged Ukraine's oldest McDonald’s, located near the Lukianivska metro station in the city's Shevchenkivskyi district. Open since 1997, this is the first McDonald's restaurant in the country.
Sanctions imposed by the outgoing U.S. administration against Antal Rogan, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's cabinet chief and overseer of the secret service, have only strengthened Rogan's position, Orban said during a state radio interview on Jan. 17.
Russia launched an attack on Kyiv early in the morning on Jan. 18, killing three people and injuring three others, Kyiv city military administration head Tymur Tkachenko reported.
Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest nuclear station in Europe, since March 2022, and have been using the site in ways that increase the risk of a nuclear disaster.
Ukraine’s Azov Brigade captured 23 Russian soldiers during combat operations in the Toretsk area of Donetsk Oblast, the National Guard of Ukraine reported on Jan. 15.
An oil depot in Russia's Voronezh region caught fire following multiple drone strikes, regional governor Alexander Gusev said on Jan. 15.
A drone attack overnight on Jan. 14 caused damage to an industrial facility in the city of Engels, located in Russia's Saratov region. Engels lies around 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the front lines in Ukraine.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Baltic Sea region has faced numerous disruptions to power cables, telecom links, and gas pipelines.
Authorities in Moldova's Russian-controlled region of Transnistria announced on Jan. 11 that energy-saving measures have allowed them to ease restrictions caused by a halt of Russian gas supplies.
Russia's Foreign Ministry argued the U.S. sanctions represented "an attempt to inflict at least some damage to the Russian economy, even at the cost of the risk of destabilising world markets."
The European Commission plans to begin drafting new sanctions against Russia next week, with the goal of approving the package on Feb. 24 — the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has endured over 700,000 casualties since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022—more than in all of Moscow’s conflicts since World War II combined, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Jan. 9.
The announcement includes $138 million (CAD $200 million) allocated to Czechia’s initiative for procuring and delivering large-calibre ammunition to Ukraine.
"The whole [Trump] team is obsessed with strength and looking strong, so they’re recalibrating the Ukraine approach," one European official told the Financial Times.
