Ukraine war latest updates: Putin hails military gains in Ukraine; Blinken warns of ‘real problem’ if Kyiv gets no extra funding

The chief of the European Union’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday said she was “confident” all 27 member states will find a solution to provide funds to Ukraine, an issue currently in gridlock over Hungary’s resistance.

Von der Leyen spoke to lawmakers in the EU parliament after EU leaders last month had agreed to start accession talks with Ukraine but failed to green-light a financial package worth 50 billion euros ($54 bln) to Kyiv over Hungary’s veto.

— Reuters

The Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Odesa were hit by Russian missiles and drones Tuesday evening, injuring civilians and damaging residential buildings, Ukrainian officials said.

Two Russian missiles damaged 19 residential buildings in Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram Wednesday morning.

“Seventeen townspeople are injured, 14 of them are in the hospital, one is in serious condition. 14 cars were crushed. All relevant services continue to work on site. All the necessary help is provided to everyone who needs it,” he said.

Terekhov described the attack on the city center as “exclusively terrorist in nature,” saying there was no military infrastructure in the area. Russia says it does not target civilians in its strikes, although at least 10,000 civilians have died in almost two years of war. Eleven people were injured in Kharkiv last week when a hotel was hit by two Russian missiles.

The southern port of Odesa and the wider region were also targets, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said, leaving three people injured. He said rescuers had evacuated 130 residents as a result of damaged housing infrastructure.

“The Russian military also attacked Kherson region, Dnipropetrovsk region and Sumy region,” Klymenko added. “Fortunately, there were no casualties. In total, 10 shellings on 8 settlements of the country were recorded that [Tuesday] night.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Polish President Andrzej Duda told CNBC Tuesday that Ukraine’s refusal to cede ground to Russia in any prospective peace talks was “perfectly understandable.”

Speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Duda restated his support for his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following peace formula talks last weekend.

“It’s no wonder that the Ukrainian authorities won’t speak to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin today because they were clear from the start,” Duda told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.

“To me, as the president of Poland, it’s perfectly understandable. It’s clear,” he said.

Duda’s comments were echoed by Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs. He told CNBC that “all those voices who are saying that we probably should have some kind of political process, talks or discussions, they somehow don’t hear what Mr. Putin is saying,” Rinkēvičs told CNBC on Tuesday.

A meeting of national security advisors was held in Davos last Sunday with a focus on Ukraine’s 10-point peace formula. Russia was not invited to the talks, however, and has previously described them as “absurd.”

When asked to comment on Sunday’s talks, the Kremlin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told CNBC, “We find these negotiations strange without our participation. They have no prospects for success.”

Read more on the story here: ‘Perfectly understandable’: Russia’s neighbors back Ukraine’s refusal to negotiate on peace talks

— Holly Ellyatt

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked to CNBC about his meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Davos on Tuesday.

“We need to make sure that with Congress, we get the supplemental funding that President Biden’s asked for, we’re working very hard on that,” he said.

Blinken said he believed there was bipartisan support for this in both Houses but explained that this would be an issue if the funds were not secured.

“Look there’s no magic pot of money — if we don’t get that money, it’s a real problem,” he said.

— Vicky McKeever

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday it was “impossible” to take away from Russia the military gains it had made in Ukraine.

Talking about possible peace talks, Putin also said in televised comments that ideas put forward by Ukraine were “prohibitive formulas for the peace process.”

-Reuters

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday decried the failure of Western allies to sanction Russia’s nuclear industry.

In a special address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy said President Vladimir Putin had shown himself a “terrorist” after Russian forces seized Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in 2022.

“It’s a clear weakness of the West that Russia’s nuclear industry is still not under global sanctions, even though Putin is the only terrorist in the world who took a nuclear power plant hostage,” Zelenskyy said.

Tensions around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have persisted throughout the war with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of endangering the safety and security of the plant during missile strikes around the facility.

Though the European Union has largely weaned itself off Russian fossil fuels, it has found it harder to shake ties with the country’s civil nuclear industry, which is a key energy source for several eastern European countries.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stolen years of peace and threatens not just Ukraine but the wider world, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the World Economic Forum Tuesday.

“One man has stolen at least 13 years of peace, replacing them with pain, pain, pain and crisis that impact the entire world,” Zelenskyy told delegates in a keynote speech in Davos.

Saying Putin “embodies war,” Zelenskyy said “he will not change.”

Ukraine’s relationship with Russia started to deteriorate following the election of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010. He was in office until 2014, when pro-European and anti-Russian protests swept across Ukraine, leading to his removal from power, a move that angered Moscow. Russia accused the West of orchestrating a coup in Ukraine, which it denied, and soon after invaded and annexed Crimea. Russia also supported pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine before it invaded the country in 2022.

Zelenskyy said that anyone who believed the war would be contained to Ukraine was mistaken, warning it could easily spread beyond the country’s borders.

The president met international investors in Davos earlier Tuesday, pressing Ukraine’s case for private investment. The forum is an opportunity for Zelenskyy to plead Ukraine’s case for continuing military and humanitarian aid in front of dozens of heads of state and government, as well as business leaders.

The forum comes at a time when ongoing support for Kyiv looks shaky, given increasing war fatigue and forthcoming elections in the European Parliament and U.S. that could change the dial on military aid.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with JPMorgan’s management and other international investors in Davos Tuesday.

“It is important for us to attract private capital to the reconstruction of Ukraine. We hope that JPMorgan will help attract a large number of global investors and corporations to the Ukrainian economy,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s presidential office released a statement saying that the president had “met with the largest financial funds in the world” Tuesday.

The meeting was also attended by the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, James Dimon, and other members of the management team, as well as U.S. Special Representative for Economic Recovery of Ukraine Penny Pritzker.

The Vice Chairman of BlackRock Philip Hildebrand also attended as well as the founder of Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio, the co-founder and co-chairman of the private investment company The Carlyle Group, David Rubinstein, founder and owner of Dell, Michael Dell, head of the investment company Blackstone Group, Stephen Schwartzman, Australian entrepreneur Andrew Forrest and the founder of ArcelorMittal, Lakshmi Mittal.

Zelenskyy discussed “the importance of attracting private capital to projects for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” the statement said.

He also emphasized the importance of developing and implementing “blended financing mechanisms that combine private and public capital.”

“This is where we see your direct role right now. I know that you are actively cooperating with our team. I look forward to a concrete result,” Zelenskyy told business leaders.

— Holly Ellyatt