Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given an extraordinary speech at Davos, criticising his European allies – after a meeting with Donald Trump. Both Zelenskyy and Trump suggested a peace deal could be close. Follow live below.
Thursday 22 January 2026 23:00, UK
Michael Clarke, our defence expert, will be answering your questions again tomorrow at 12pm – submit yours using the form above.
That’s it for our live coverage on the war in Ukraine.
Here are the day’s main headlines:
Our military historian and analyst Dr Victoria Taylor assessed the significance of the upcoming trilateral meeting…
Viktor Orban has aired his differences with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media, telling the Ukrainian president the pair “will not be able to come to an understanding”.
Hungary’s prime minister said on social media:
“I am a free man who serves the Hungarian people. You are a man in a desperate position who, for the fourth year now, has been unable or unwilling to bring a war to an end- despite the fact that the President of the United States has provided every possible assistance to do so. Therefore, no matter how much you flatter me, we cannot support your war efforts.”
Despite Zelenskyy’s “insults”, the Ukrainian people “can still count on” Hungary to continue supplying electricity and fuel, Orban said.
He added: “Life itself will settle the rest, and everyone will get what they deserve.”
For context: Orban and his government are widely seen as the most Kremlin-friendly of the EU member states, and have repeated sided against Ukraine’s bid for EU membership.
We’ve been getting pictures through of Vladimir Putin greeting Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow.
The US diplomats landed in Russia earlier this evening for talks ahead of a trilateral meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the US tomorrow.
The Russian state-owned Tass news agency reported the meeting had carried on for more than two hours and the conversation was cordial, after getting under way shortly before midnight local time.
It is the seventh time Witkoff has visited the Russian president in Moscow since Donald Trump returned to office last year.
By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor
Volodymyr Zelenskyy dropped a barrage of truth bombs on his European allies about their collective failure to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and be respected by his US counterpart, Donald Trump.
Invoking the spectacle of Bill Murray’s classic 1990s comedy, Groundhog Day, at a speech in Davos, the Ukrainian president said the UK and Europe are stuck in a doom loop, repeating rhetoric about what needs to be done, without taking the action necessary to effect change.
This, he said, meant they were left scrambling to respond to world events instead of standing united as a great power with the ability to shape their collective destiny.
Only from such a position of strength could Europe hope to influence supposed friends such as Mr Trump and foes like Mr Putin.
Russia’s defence ministry has said its long-range bombers and fighter jets conducted a patrol flight over the Baltic Sea.
Moscow’s Tu-22M3 strategic bomber planes were accompanied by Sukhoi Su-35S and Su-30SM jets in the scheduled flight over neutral waters, the ministry said on Telegram.
The patrol lasted for more than five hours.
Russian aircraft regularly fly over the neutral waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Baltic, and Black Seas, the ministry said.
A similar patrol flight by Russian long-range bombers was conducted over the sea in October.
The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad shares a coastline on the Baltic Sea with a number of EU member states, including Germany, Poland and Sweden.
By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
On the face of it, a trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi tomorrow would be a significant development. It would be the first time the Russians, Ukrainians and Americans are in the same room.
But we still don’t know what will be discussed, or at what level. And we still don’t know if it’ll even happen.
Here’s what we do know…
The talks were first mentioned by US envoy Steve Witkoff at an event in Davos this morning. He said that he and Jared Kushner would travel to the UAE directly from Moscow tonight for meetings with working groups from both sides on specific aspects of the peace plan, including “military to military” issues.
President Zelenskyy then mentioned the talks in his speech. He said they’d be at a “technical level”. But afterwards, Kyiv announced it’ll be sending its top team, including lead negotiator Rustem Umerov as well as Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov.
The attendance of such senior figures could indicate that the meeting has taken greater significance than originally planned. Perhaps something changed over the course of the day, maybe in the meeting with Zelenskyy and Trump.
On the other hand, it could just be signalling from Kyiv – an attempt to show the White House how willing they are to reach a settlement, while also trying to show up Vladimir Putin.
At the moment, there’s no response from Moscow, so it’s unclear if the Russians have agreed to the trilateral meeting.
Vladimir Putin doesn’t like to be bullied, though. He never responds to others’ demands. Everything is on his terms. So don’t expect any confirmation or otherwise from the Kremlin until after his meeting with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner later tonight.
Pulling out of the meeting at the 11th hour wouldn’t look good, though, especially after the US side has hyped it. So I expect the Russians will show up in Abu Dhabi, but it might not be their top team.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine clinched agreements on a new air defence package during meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“We are returning home with agreements on a new package of critically needed air defence for the protection of our people,” he wrote on social media.
Earlier this week, Zelenskyy criticised his air force’s defence against Russian drones, describing efforts as “unsatisfactory”:
“The performance of the air force against the Shaheds is unsatisfactory, we have interceptors, significant forces are engaged, mobile fire groups, F-16s are available – but the organisation of air force operations must be different.”
It marks a rare instance where Zelenskyy has been openly and directly critical of part of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Ukraine’s energy minister has provided an update on Kyiv’s severely crippled power infrastructure as harsh, wintry conditions continue to bite.
Denys Shmyhal said the country’s energy system endured its “most difficult day” since November 2022.
He said the current situation was “extremely difficult”.
The difficulties were caused by constant Russian shelling and damage to generating equipment and transformers, Shmyhal says.
Earlier this month, hundreds of thousands of Kyiv residents were left without power and faced widespread energy blackouts as temperatures dipped to as low as -15C in the capital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has started his meeting with Donald Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the Kremlin says.
The pair flew from Davos, Switzerland, to Moscow today after Trump met Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian negotiators are en route to the United Arab Emirates for talks with Russian and US teams.
“Right now, our team is heading to the Emirates for meetings with both the American and Russian sides,” he says.
“We’re waiting to see how it goes and will decide on the next steps.”
Zelenskyy had earlier said that negotiators from the three sides would hold a “trilateral meeting” in Abu Dhabi tomorrow and Saturday.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free