Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Swipe for next article
Both Ukraine and Russia have been invited to join Trump’s ‘board of peace’
Removed from bookmarks
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Volodymyr Zelensky will reportedly not go to Davos following a large-scale strike on Kyiv, as he insists the US can do more to stop Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian president has prioritised staying in the capital over the World Economic Forum, saying that he will now only go to Davos if a bilateral meeting with US president Donald Trump is scheduled, according to Axios.
Zelensky told reporters “everything can change at any moment” as the priority remains “to end this war”.
He said Ukraine and the US were “almost finished” preparations for prosperity package but there was room for Trump to do more in making Putin stop the war. He added that Ukraine, as well as Russia, had been invited to join Trump’s “board of peace”, but felt it was hard to imagine how Kyiv and Moscow could be on the same board.
It comes as more than 335,000 residents in Kyiv were left without electricity after Russian airstrikes overnight. Ukraine’s air force reported that Moscow launched 339 drones and 33 missiles, targeting the capital.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha called the “Putin’s barbaric strike” a “wake up call to world leaders gathering in Davos.”
Organisers say a record of nearly 400 top political leaders, including more than 60 heads of state and government, and nearly 850 chairs and chief executives of many of the world’s leading companies.
Headlining the lineup is US president Donald Trump, who’s set to deliver a speech on Wednesday, and several Cabinet ministers and top advisers including secretary of state Marco Rubio, treasury secretary Scott Bessent and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, European commission president Ursula von der Leyen, president Ahmad al-Sharaa of Syria, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, president Felix Tshisekedi of Congo, and vice premier He Lifeng of China are among the who’s-who of top attendees.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will not be attending.
Additional reporting by AP.
Ukrainian peace negotiators met on Tuesday with national security advisers from France, Germany and Britain in Davos, Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said.
“Further meetings with partners on security guarantees, economic development, and Ukraine’s recovery are ahead,” Umerov said on the Telegram app.
It looks more and more unlikely that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will make an appearance at Davos as he’s said any journey to Switzerland is conditional on a bilateral meeting with Donald Trump.
Zelensky has prioritised staying in Kyiv, which was targeted by a major Russian bombardment overnight.
“Certainly, I chose Ukraine in this case, not the economic forum, but everything can change at any moment. Because it is very important for Ukrainians to end this war,” Zelensky told reporters answering questions in a WhatsApp media chat.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev began a series of planned business meetings in Davos on Tuesday, Russian state-run RIA news agency reported.
Dmitriev is a key figure in talks on ending the Ukraine war and exploring future commercial opportunities between Russia and the United States.
Here’s what we know about him:
Zelensky has issued a tribute to the defenders of Donetsk Airport.
He said: “Every year on this day, January 20, we remember the defenders of Donetsk Airport. People who held their position for 242 days, never surrendered, and endured encirclement and constant attacks.
“They were called Cyborgs, yet they were simply showing the very best of the Ukrainian character, the Ukrainian heart, and the Ukrainian spirit – not to give up, to fight the occupier, and to astonish the world with what Ukraine is capable of.
“These are exactly the people we must support. We are grateful to everyone standing with Ukraine. We thank everyone who is helping us.”
Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been connected to the country’s power grid following an overnight Russian air attack on Ukrainian energy facilities, and radiation levels are normal, Kyiv’s energy ministry said on Monday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency had earlier said the facility, the site of the world’s worst civil nuclear catastrophe, lost all off-site power after the attack.
A Moscow court dismissed on Tuesday a motion by prosecutors to seize the assets of US private equity fund NCH Capital in Russia, the Interfax news agency said, as Russian and US representatives were due to sit down for talks in the Swiss resort of Davos.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian authorities have confiscated or placed under state management assets worth some $50 billion belonging to foreign and Russian owners, with courts generally backing the state’s claims.
Prosecutors filed a lawsuit against NCH Capital and its founders, George Rohr, a US citizen, and Moris Tabacinic, an Austrian citizen, seeking to ban NCH’s activities in Russia on the grounds that the founders funded Ukraine’s military forces.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in