Russia appears poised to discuss Ukraine’s future with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump ahead of his swearing-in on Monday.
“This does not require any special conditions. What is needed is a mutual intention and political will to have a dialogue,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.
However, Russia expressed its parameters very quickly.
Nikolai Patrushev, a close aide to President Vladimir Putin, told Russian news agency KP that the United States and Russia should reach an agreement on the Ukraine issue without involving Ukraine or the European Union.
Asked if he would make any territorial concessions, he said, “This is not even up for debate.”
The Russian government appears confident that Mr. Trump’s worldview is similar to its own and will lead to an agreement that supports Europe.
Patrushev spoke out against Russia’s land grab from Ukraine and at a press conference on January 7, saying that the United States should absorb Greenland and resume control of Panama, and that “we need Greenland for our economic security.” He drew similarities with President Trump’s assertions.
President Trump also posted a map showing the United States and Canada as one country, claiming that their border is an “artificially drawn line” and that their alliance is “much better for our national security.” However, this is the same argument used by the Kremlin in waging war against Ukraine.
“Mr. Trump outlined his interests in Greenland, the Panama Canal, Mexico and Canada,” Patrushev said. “It is an American tradition to redraw the world map to suit our own interests and interfere in the affairs of countries on different continents.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said that the views of Russia and the next U.S. administration are the same. He advised President Trump to listen to the wishes of the people of Greenland, just as Russia annexed it in 2022.
“I believe that first and foremost we need to listen to the opinion of the Greenlandic people,” Foreign Minister Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday.
“This means that, as neighbors of other islands, peninsulas and territories, we listen to the voices of the residents of Crimea, Donbass and Novorossia and understand their position against the regimes that seized power through an illegal coup. It’s the same.”
Moscow maintains that the 2014 Maidan uprising that ousted then-President Viktor Yanukovych was a coup orchestrated by the United States.
Novorossia is a term used by Catherine the Great in the late 18th century to refer to the newly conquered territory that is now part of Ukraine. Moscow annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson in September 2022 after an unsupervised referendum.
The Russian government’s official position on the Ukraine conflict is first and foremost about Russia’s security, ignoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity and right to self-determination as irrelevant.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said the election of President Trump confirms the validity of Russia’s views.
“Everyone has understood this for a long time, but now they are starting to admit that it is not about Ukraine itself, but that Ukraine is being used as a tool to weaken Russia’s position in the European security framework. It’s about being there,” he said.
“Of course, threats along our western side and along our borders must be neutralized.”
Global support for a possible Putin-Trump deal
A new global opinion poll suggests that an agreement between President Putin and President Trump may at least have the support of certain influential countries.
A poll released Wednesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations found that majorities in India, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and Brazil believe Trump’s election would be good for their countries and for world peace.
Majorities in India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil see Russia as an ally or necessary partner for their respective countries, and Russia’s influence in world affairs is likely to increase rather than diminish. I believed there was.
The survey found that majorities in Ukraine, the UK and the EU held the opposite opinion.
With Russia, Europe, Ukraine, and much of the rest of the world on President Trump’s lips, the war in Ukraine continued to rage unabated.
Fighting intensified in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine rebelled against the invasion in August last year.
“Raids are being carried out continuously, day and night, every day,” Stanislav Krasnov, a platoon leader with Ukraine’s 95th Independent Airborne Assault Brigade, told Army Inform TV.
Ukraine captures North Korean troops
Ukrainian forces captured the first North Korean prisoner in Kursk on January 9, and a second on Saturday, leaving no doubt about the Russian military’s use of North Korean soldiers.
Ukraine released footage of the first capture by the Ukrainian 84th Tactical Group.
The 20-year-old rifleman was in possession of a Russian-issued ID card from the Russian Federation’s Republic of Tuva, further suggesting that Moscow was trying to conceal the North Korean’s use.
Ukrainian paratroopers arrested a second man, a 26-year-old reconnaissance sniper.
“It was not easy. Other North Korean soldiers and Russians continue to try to finish off the wounded South Koreans – especially to prevent them from being captured,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. made the claim in a speech Saturday night.
President Zelenskiy released a video of Ukraine’s interrogation of prisoners of war.
The rifleman appears to have said he was told he would be going for training. When asked if he would like to return to North Korea, he can be heard saying, “I want to live in Ukraine.”
President Zelensky has suggested that if he supports North Korea, he could be granted amnesty to live in Ukraine.
“For North Korean soldiers who do not want to return home, there may be other options, especially for South Koreans who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in the Korean language.” “There will be a lot of opportunities,” he said.
Major Anton Zakharchuk, commanding officer of Ukraine’s 95th Air Mobility Battalion in Kursk, claimed that the North Korean soldiers were clearly following unified orders to commit suicide to avoid capture.
“We are trying to identify them using aerial reconnaissance, but they are hiding in ditches and burrows and we hear explosions when we approach,” he said.
He also said the Russian military is using North Koreans as human shields and allowing them to deploy personnel in the first wave of attacks.
The 6th Ranger Regiment fighting in Kursk reported that in one instance, North Korean soldiers tried to draw them to their positions in the hopes of blowing them up along with themselves using grenades. .
The North Korean fighters deceived the soldiers and tried to “destruct themselves with grenades along with the soldiers,” the regiment wrote. As the rangers approached him, he added, “He blew himself up.”
Al Jazeera could not independently verify these claims.
President Zelensky said in a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron that 4,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded, about a third of the number originally sent on active duty in Kursk in mid-December. It is said to be equivalent.
Russia announces thousands of Ukrainian drones will be shot down in 2024
Meanwhile, Ukraine has stepped up its sweeping attacks on Russian infrastructure this week.
Russian state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday a large-scale drone aerial photography operation. Overnight, Russia reportedly shot down or disoriented 16 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Tula region, 14 in the Rostov region, 17 in the Orel region, and several in the Voronezh region.
Ukraine’s General Staff said the operation hit the Crystal oil storage complex in Engels, referring to the Jan. 8 attack, “where a fire that had been going on for five days since the previous attack had just been extinguished.” did.
The General Staff also reported a successful attack on the Bryansk chemical plant in the city of Seltso, which is considered a “strategic facility of the Russian military-industrial complex.” Artillery ammunition, multiple rocket systems, aviation ammunition, engineering ammunition, components for Kh, etc. -59 cruise missiles are manufactured here. A secondary explosion was observed within the factory premises and lasted for several hours. ”
Officials said the Saratov refinery and Kazanorg-Sintez factory were also damaged.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukraine used unmanned aircraft to attack the Russkaya compressor in the Krasnodar region, where the Turkstream pipeline passes, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported. Ukraine reportedly used nine unmanned aerial vehicles in the attack on the village of Gaikozor. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that all nine aircraft were shot down.
Nord Stream was sabotaged in 2022 and Turkish Stream heads from Russia to Europe after the Ukraine-wide Yamal pipeline was shut down on January 1 following the end of its contract with Russian energy company Gazprom. It is the only gas pipeline in operation.
Ukraine has made no secret that it wants Western countries to completely halt Russian energy imports.
Ukrainian presidential aide Vladislav Vlasiuk told EU ambassadors in Kyiv on Monday that Ukraine was upset by the estimated $7.3 billion worth of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports last year. “The time has come to cut off the flow of petrodollars fueling Russian aggression,” he said.
Ukraine is also increasing investment in its own weapons production, frustrated by slow or insufficient deliveries of long-range weapons that would enable it to fight on the Russian mainland.
Russia shot down 7,300 Ukrainian drones last year, according to a tally by TASS news agency. President Zelenskiy on Saturday called on manufacturers to “make this year a record year for all types of drones.”
A day earlier, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal told the Verkhovna Rada that spending on weapons would increase to a record $17.5 billion in 2025, and the country’s industrial capacity would reach $30 billion. It is expected to reach $7 billion by 2024.
Ukraine is also fighting over control of its airspace.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced that it shot down 400 air targets during the week from January 6 to 12, almost all of which were UAVs of different types. Zelenskiy said Russia launched 600 drones that week.
