Volodymyr
Zelensky is not "completely sure" that Russian President Vladimir Putin is still alive
and that he is the one making the decisions in Russia.
The Ukrainian leader said it during his video link speech at the Davos Economic Forum.
"I'm not sure who to talk to and about what. I'm not sure if the Russian president, who sometimes appears against the chroma key, is really him," Zelensky replied to a question about the possibility of peace talks.
The Kremlin replied immediately: "Russia and Putin exist and will exist" and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky should realize this as soon as possible for the good of his country, said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has announced that
Sweden will supply Archer long-range artillery systems to Kiev
, on the day in which the air raid
alarm went off throughout Ukraine in the morning,
according to reports from the head of the military administration of Lviv, Maksym Kozytskyi.
Sweden's announcement provoked a reaction from Moscow.
Western supplies of new weaponry to Ukraine may take the conflict to a new level,
warned iPeskov quoted by Tass.
UK to send 600 Brimstone missiles to Ukraine.
This was announced by British Defense Minister Ben Wallace during his visit to Estonia.
"Today I can say that we will also send another 600 Brimstone missiles to the theatre, which will be incredibly important in helping Ukraine dominate the battlefield," he told reporters at the Estonian military base in Tapa. missiles reiterated that the commitment of London, and of the other NATO countries, alongside Kiev is "long-term".
"We are here today and we will be in Ramstein tomorrow to make it very clear to President Vladimir Putin that we will continue to donate, we will continue to train and we will continue to support Ukraine," Wallace said from the
Estonia referring to tomorrow's meeting of the contact group of countries supporting Kiev at the US military base of Ramstein in Germany.
"We will plan for this year, next year, the following year and beyond - added the minister - we are committed to the long term".
And he further stated that in 2023 the initiative of the Kiev forces in repelling the Russian invasion must be transformed into territorial conquests with the aim of driving Moscow's troops out of Ukraine and restoring its sovereignty.
The president of the European Council Charles Michel arrived in Kiev
"to discuss all aspects of cooperation", as he announced on twitter, posting a photo of an embrace with Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European integration and the euro -Atlantic Ukraine.
"May 2023 be the year of victory and peace," wrote Michel.
"
True leadership consists in setting an example, not in admiring others. There are no taboos. From Washington to London, from Paris to Warsaw, they say one thing: Ukraine needs tanks.
Tanks: the key to ending the war properly. It's time to stop shaking in front of Putin and take the final step."
.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak writes on Twitter.
"Ukraine is the EU and the EU is Ukraine. And we must spare no effort to turn this promise into reality as quickly as possible. I dream that one day, hopefully soon, a Ukrainian will fill my post as President of the European Council, or of the President of the European Parliament, or of the Commission".
This was stated by the president of the EU Council, Charles Michel, speaking to the Ukrainian Rada in Kiev.
“The next few weeks and months will be decisive. You need more. More air defense systems, more long-range missiles and ammunition, and above all you need tanks.
Right away.
And we also support you internationally, beyond the borders of Ukraine." Said Prime Minister Charles Michel speaking to the Ukrainian Rada in Kiev. "We are doing everything to isolate Russia.
The European Union has adopted nine packages of very tough sanctions and it doesn't stop there.
We are also working hard to garner the widest international support for your country.
In Africa, Asia, China and Latin America, in every meeting with foreign leaders, support for your country is the first issue we raise," Michel stressed in the Ukrainian Parliament.
#Kyiv to discuss all strands of cooperation.
May 2023 be the year of victory and peace.
pic.twitter.com/zgjdwv2sid
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) January 19, 2023
Zelensky in connection with Davos also explained that there are
'several' theories on the causes of the tragedy of the Ukrainian Emergency Service helicopter
which fell yesterday at the gates of Kiev causing the death of 14 people are under investigation.
"Several theories are being evaluated" in the investigation into the helicopter crash near Kiev that yesterday killed Ukraine's interior minister and 13 other people, Zelensky said.
"The investigation is ongoing. Different theories are under investigation and I am not authorized to speak about the different hypotheses until the investigations are completed," added the Ukrainian president.
Yesterday Zelensky said referring to the tragedy, again at the Davos forum, that "this is not an accident because it is due to war and war has many dimensions not only on the battlefield. In war there are no accidents, these are all results Of the war".
Zelensky reiterated in his speech at the Economic Forum that he intends to recapture Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, asking Western partners to supply more weapons.
"Our goal is to liberate all our territories," he said via video conference during a breakfast on the sidelines of the Forum.
"Crimea is our land, our territory, our sea and our mountains. Give us your weapons and we will get our land back," he added.
Il presidente ucraino ha criticato l'esitazione della Germania nel fornire i suoi moderni carri armati Leopard a Kiev, affermando che questa non è la "strategia giusta". "Ci sono momenti in cui non bisogna esitare o confrontarsi. Quando qualcuno dice ''darò i carri armati se anche qualcun altro li condividerà'", ha detto Zelensky intervenendo al Forum economico di Davos in videocollegamento: "Non credo che questa sia la strategia giusta da seguire", ha aggiunto. Il leader ucraino si riferiva a indiscrezioni dei media secondo cui Berlino consegnerà i carri armati Leopard solo se gli Stati Uniti invieranno i loro carri armati Abrams.
Four civilians were injured during yesterday's Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine: the governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, made it known, as reported by the Kyiv Independent.
The wounded, Kyrylenko specified, were reported in Avdiivka, Khromovo, Ivanivskoye and Chasiv Yar.
It is not possible at the moment to determine the number of those injured or killed in Russian-occupied Mariupol and Volnovakha, he added.
The deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council and a close ally of Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, once again evokes the specter of nuclear war in Ukraine on the eve of the meeting of the contact group at the Ramstein military base in Germany.
"Tomorrow, in the NATO base in Ramstein, the great military leaders will discuss new tactics and strategies, as well as the supply of new heavy weapons and attack systems to Ukraine", writes the former Russian president and prime minister on Telegram.
"And this right after the Davos forum, where patrons of underdeveloped political parties repeated like a mantra: 'To gain peace, Russia must lose.' And none of them occurs to draw the following elementary conclusion:
the defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war," Medvedev underlines. "Nuclear powers have not lost major conflicts on which their fate depends.
But this should be obvious to anyone.
Even to a Western politician who has retained at least a trace of intelligence".
The new US mega package of military aid to Ukraine will have a total value of about 2.5 billion dollars: CNN reports it, citing two well-informed sources.
It is one of the largest packages announced by Washington since the beginning of the war last February.
The package, which has not yet been finalized, will include Stryker combat vehicles for the first time.
The new aid, writes the American broadcaster on its website, could be finalized by the end of the week.