LIVE – War in Ukraine: Zelensky estimates that 200,000 troops are needed in the event of a truce

President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that at least 200,000 European troops should be deployed to guarantee Ukraine's security in the event of a truce with Russia and avoid a new invasion, according to a video released by kyiv on Wednesday.

“200,000 is a minimum. It's a minimum. Otherwise, it's nothing,” the Ukrainian president declared Tuesday during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), in an interview shared on the website of the presidency the next day.

This is the first time that a senior Ukrainian official has publicly mentioned the number of such a contingent, although this project has been discussed behind the scenes for several months between kyiv and its Western allies.

Finnish conservative President Alexander Stubb said Wednesday in Davos that he was “rather optimistic” about the outcome of possible peace negotiations on Ukraine initiated by American President Donald Trump, believing that the latter would emerge “a winner”.

“I'm actually quite optimistic, because Trump needs to come out a winner, and I believe he will,” Stubb said, when asked about the outcome of possible negotiations that the new US president would launch. , during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland).

Pro-Russian propaganda accounts claim Russia killed a Danish NATO instructor in a strike in Ukraine. False information based on images generated by artificial intelligence, a fake LinkedIn account, and a false testimony.

Volodymyr Zelensky met with the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. “Our country is grateful to Qatar, which mediated to bring home 53 Ukrainian children forcibly kidnapped by Russia,” the Ukrainian leader wrote in a message posted on X.

Izioum is a city which had been occupied by the Russians before being liberated in September 2022 by Vladimir Putin's troops. A place in ruins where, two years later, reconstruction is in its infancy. One of our teams went to the site.

The Russian army claimed Wednesday the capture of the village of Zapadne, in the Kharkiv region (north-east), a new advance on the western bank of the Oskil River and a sign of kyiv's difficulties in containing enemy troops.

“Units of the 'West' troop group liberated the town of Zapadne in the Kharkiv region,” said the Russian Defense Ministry, whose forces are advancing in several sectors of this area and the Eastern front.

American President Donald Trump “is right” to say that the European Union does not spend enough on defense, said Wednesday the head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas, adding that the United States was “the strongest ally ” of the EU and should remain so.

“We spend billions on our schools, our health systems and our social protection. But if we do not spend more on defense, all of this will be put at risk,” she warned.

“Last year, member states as a whole devoted on average 1.9% of their GDP to defense. Russia devotes 9% to it,” she insisted, saying she was convinced that the bloc could do more to help Ukraine face the Russian invasion.

Emmanuel Macron receives Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Élysée this Wednesday, one month before the German legislative elections, already with in mind the name of his probable successor in Berlin and the hope of a more promising relationship.

The two leaders will meet for lunch – preceded by declarations at 1:15 p.m. one of their last major bilateral meetings before the elections of February 23, of which the Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz is the favorite.

With Europe and Ukraine on the menu, two days after Donald Trump's return to the White House and a probable restructuring of the transatlantic relationship.

Here's what happened in the last 24 hours:

– American President Donald Trump for the first time called on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to find a peace “agreement” with Ukraine, otherwise Russia risked being “destroyed”. The latter also deemed new sanctions against Russia “likely” on Tuesday if Moscow does not negotiate an end to the war against Ukraine.

– Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday to participate in the World Economic Forum. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Europe for “unity” in matters of defense and security.

– The Ukrainian army said on Tuesday that it had struck an oil depot and an aeronautical factory in Russia in the night from Monday to Tuesday, in a new series of drone attacks which also led to the sheltering of the civilian population of two localities near Kazakhstan.

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