Key events
Kremlin repeats demand that Ukraine must pull out of Donbas for peace talks to progress
Meanwhile, the Kremlin repeated its demand that Kyiv must withdraw its forces from the eastern Donbas region for the war to end, showing it had not dropped its maximalist demands ahead of trilateral talks with the US and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, AFP reported.
“Russia’s position is well known on the fact that Ukraine, the Ukrainian armed forces, have to leave the territory of the Donbas. They must be withdrawn from there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding: “This is a very important condition.”
French foreign minister to travel to Greenland in coming weeks in show of support
French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot will travel to Greenland in the coming weeks to show France’s support for the territory amid interest from Donald Trump.
Speaking on BMF/RMC, he said the date is yet to be confirmed, but Le Figaro speculated the visit could coincide with the opening of the French consulate there on 6 February.
Barrot also repeated that France stands behind Denmark and Greenland and insists their sovereignty over the territory is “indivisible.”
Trump has been pushing for peace settlement for months, but sticking points remain – analysis
Jonathan Yerushalmy
The Trump administration has been pushing for a peace settlement, with its envoys shuttling between Kyiv and Moscow in a flurry of negotiations that some worry could force Ukraine into an unfavourable deal.
The US president, Donald Trump, said on Wednesday that Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be “stupid” if they failed to come together and get a deal done.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, US envoy Steve Witkoff said one major issue remained to be resolved in the negotiations, without saying what it was.
Zelenskyy said the future status of land currently occupied by Russia in the east of the country was unresolved but peace proposals were “nearly ready”. Both sides have previously highlighted the issue of territory as crucial. In particular, Putin has demanded that Ukraine surrender the 20% it still holds of the eastern region of Donetsk. Zelenskyy has refused to give up land that Ukraine has successfully defended since 2022 through grinding, costly attritional warfare.
Russia also demands that Ukraine renounce its ambition to join Nato, and rejects any presence of Nato troops on Ukrainian soil after a peace deal.
Speaking overnight, Trump repeated that both Putin and Zelenskyy wanted to reach a deal and that “everyone’s making concessions” to try to end the war.
He said the sticking points in talks had remained the same over the past six or seven months, noting “boundaries” were a key issue. “The main hold-up is the same things that’s been holding it up for the last year,” he said.
Nato’s Rutte meets with Denmark’s Frederiksen for talks over Greenland
Meanwhile, Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte met this morning with Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen to discuss the latest developments on Greenland, including Rutte’s meeting with US president Donald Trump in Davos, which seemingly led to him dropping his threats against European countries on tariffs.
Their talks took place just hours after the overnight emergency EU summit in Brussels, which also focused on the bloc’s response to the worsening EU-US relations as a result of Trump’s ambitions over Greenland.
Posting a snap from the meeting, Rutte said in a social media post that they are “working together to ensure that the whole of Nato is safe & secure and will build on our cooperation to enhance deterrence & defence in the Arctic.”
“Denmark continues to make robust contributions to our shared security and is ramping up investment to do even more,” he added.
For her part, Frederiksen said that “we agree that Nato must increase its engagement in the Arctic,” adding that “defence and security in the Arctic is a matter for the entire alliance.”
She is expected to travel from Brussels to Greenland to meet with Greenlandic prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, in a further show of support for the territory.
Meanwhile, Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that further discussions with the US on strengthening the Arctic could start “fairly quickly,” but without too much media attention, arguing it was needed to “take the drama out of it.”
Morning opening: Can Ukraine see breakthrough in talks with Russia this weekend?
Jakub Krupa
With a (temporary?) pause on the Greenland crisis, the attention shifts back to Ukraine after Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s talks with Donald Trump in Davos, and the US delegation’s late talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last night, which was described by Russian aide Yuri Ushakov as “useful in every aspect.”
Let’s see if they can lead to a genuine breakthrough.
Starting today, and over the weekend, the Ukrainian, US, and Russian delegations are now going to hold trilateral discussions in the United Arab Emirates on ending the war. They will be focusing on a few outstanding issues, including the thorny problem of territorial concessions demanded by Moscow in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian delegation will be headed by Gen Igor Kostyukov, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency. The Ukrainian team will by led by secretary of the National Security and Defence Council and former defence minister, Rustem Umerov.
This morning, Zelenskyy repeated that the much-awaited deal with the US on security guarantees is effectively ready to be signed and he is just waiting for Trump to set a date and place for signing the documents. He also said the pair discussed air defence and economic cooperation for postwar recovery.
But before Ukraine can truly focus on its postwar recovery, there is still the small matter of ending the war. Can the three sides meaningfully get really closer to that today, as Trump’s rhetoric in the last few days would suggest?
“Anytime we meet, it’s good. If you don’t meet, nothing’s going to happen,” he told reporters on board Air Force One overnight.
I will bring you all the latest updates here.
It’s Friday, 23 January 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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