While the Russian offensive is due to enter its fourth year at the end of February, both camps have worked recently to cement their positions in view of the return to power of American President Donald Trump. Invested on Monday, the latter assured Wednesday that he would have “no other choice but to impose high levels of taxes, customs duties and sanctions on everything that Russia sells to the United States and to other countries” if Moscow does not reach an agreement with Ukraine “now”. The United States has already imposed several rounds of sanctions and embargoes on imports from Russia, which have fallen significantly, from 4.3 billion dollars from January to November 2023, to 2.9 billion over the same period. last year.
Information to remember
⇒ The Kremlin sees nothing “new” in Donald Trump’s latest remarks
⇒ The American president threatened Russia with new sanctions
⇒ A Russian strike in Zaporizhia left one dead and 31 injured
The Kremlin sees nothing ‘new’ in Donald Trump’s comments on Ukraine
The Kremlin indicated this Thursday that it saw “nothing particularly new” in the recent remarks of American President Donald Trump on the conflict in Ukraine and his threats of new sanctions against Russia, but assured that it was open to dialogue.
“We do not see anything particularly new,” responded the spokesperson for the Russian presidency to journalists questioning him about the statements of Donald Trump, who notably threatened Russia on Wednesday with new sanctions for lack of rapid agreement with the ‘Ukraine. “We remain ready for dialogue, for dialogue on an equal footing and with mutual respect,” added Dmitri Peskov. “During his first presidency, there was such a dialogue between Putin and him,” said the Russian spokesperson, who said that the Kremlin is still waiting for “signals” in this direction from the White House.
One dead and 31 injured in Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia
A Russian strike in the town of Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, left one dead and 31 injured during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, according to a new report from the Ukrainian authorities. “A Russian missile attack on Zaporizhia killed one person,” a 47-year-old man, Ivan Fedorov, governor of the eponymous region, wrote on Telegram on Thursday. He first reported 14 injured, including a two-month-old girl, before revising this figure upwards. “31 people requested medical help,” of which 22 were hospitalized, added Ivan Fedorov, publishing images of gutted residential buildings. He specified that the region had been the target of 361 strikes on 10 localities in 24 hours, including four with missiles on the town of Zaporizhia and 188 with drones.
The regional prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened a preliminary investigation for war crimes. The Russian army has intensified its attacks on southern Ukraine in recent months and increased its strikes on Zaporizhia, a city which had 700,000 inhabitants before the war. Since November, Ukraine has feared an offensive towards this city, which is around 35 kilometers from Russian positions and 50 kilometers from the nuclear power plant of the same name, occupied by Russia since 2022.
NATO members must pay their ‘fair share’ before expanding, US official says
NATO countries must pay their “fair share” before considering expanding the organization, a senior American official said Thursday in Davos (Switzerland), after a speech by the secretary general of the political organization. -transatlantic military official Mark Rutte, affirming that “full membership in NATO is the easiest outcome” for Ukraine if a “lasting” peace is found. “We cannot ask the American people to expand the NATO umbrella when current members are not paying their fair share,” said Richard Grenell, who has just been named presidential envoy for special missions by the American leader Donald Trump.
“We have to make sure that these leaders are spending the right amount. We have to be able to avoid war. And that requires a credible threat from NATO,” he said, criticizing the fact. that Donald Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, had stopped talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Americans are very frustrated that we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars and our leaders are not talking to each other to try to solve the problems,” he said.
Ukraine: more than 1,000 searches in an arms trafficking investigation
Ukrainian police announced Thursday that they were carrying out more than 1,000 searches as part of an investigation into illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition, the circulation of which has been on the rise since the start of the Russian invasion. “The main objective is to close the sales and storage circuits, as well as to seize weapons” taken from Russian soldiers on the battlefield, and “munitions and explosives resulting from illicit trafficking,” he said. she said on Telegram.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the circulation of weapons has increased in the country, including equipment taken from Russian soldiers, escaping regulatory controls and raising fears of an increase in arms trafficking international.
Video shared by law enforcement shows officers breaking down a door, seizing ammunition and cash. The statement said the suspects face up to seven years in prison.