Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Thursday, January 16, 2025, discover the latest news around this conflict.
Kyiv and London sign 100-year partnership agreement
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a partnership agreement on Thursday binding their countries for the next 100 years, particularly in terms of security, a few days before Donald Trump’s return to the White House. “We will work with you and all our allies on measures strong enough to guarantee Ukraine’s security,” Keir Starmer said at a joint press conference with Volodimir Zelensky. “We will fully play our role” in the perspective of a possible peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, which US President-elect Donald Trump claims he can obtain in the coming months.
Keir Starmer’s visit to Kyiv comes two days after that of German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, at a time when European leaders are considering what security guarantees they could provide to Ukraine after the end of the war. Volodymyr Zelensky specified during the press conference that he had discussed the question of the deployment of foreign troops with, in addition to Keir Starmer, the French, Polish and Baltic leaders. The return of Donald Trump to the White House raises fears that the United States will seek to force Ukraine to comply with most of the conditions set by Moscow to end the war, namely the renunciation by Kyiv of the territories occupied by Russian forces in the east of the country, or even to any future membership of NATO.
Volodymyr Zelensky hailed a “historic day” after signing with Keir Starmer, whose first visit to Ukraine since he became Prime Minister last July, the partnership “for the next hundred years” between the two countries .
The treaty, which will be submitted to the British Parliament in the coming weeks, aims to strengthen security and military cooperation between London and Kyiv, in particular to ensure security in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, in order to deter Russian aggression. The text also covers areas such as energy, critical minerals and “green” steel production, 10 Downing Street said. “Mr. (Vladimir) Putin’s ambition to distance Ukraine from its closest partners was a monumental strategic failure,” Keir Starmer said in a statement released before his trip to Kyiv.
However, the British Prime Minister recalled during the press conference that before looking ahead to the post-war period, Kyiv’s allies must “ensure that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position” to continue the fight against Russia in 2025. “The conflict is far from over. We must not relax our efforts,” he insisted. Britain has been one of the main supporters of Ukraine, providing 12.8 billion pounds (around 16 billion euros) in military or civilian aid since the start of the large-scale invasion. scale of the country by Russia in 2022. This sum, however, remains very far from the 63.5 billion dollars in security aid released by Washington since the invasion of Russia, which underlines the importance of the measures that Donald Trump to towards Ukraine.
Planning for “acts of terror” in air transport
Tusk made these statements in the presence of the president of neighboring Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who was traveling to Warsaw for a series of interviews, a few days before the inauguration of Donald Trump. Poland, a member of the EU and NATO, has been one of kyiv’s main allies against the Russian army since the start of the invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022.
“Without going into detail, I can confirm the validity of the fears that Russia has planned acts of terror in the air, not only against Poland, but also against airlines around the world,” Mr. . Tusk during a joint press briefing with his Ukrainian guest. According to him, “the acts of sabotage, the different versions of the war that Russia has declared on the entire civilized world, and not only on Ukraine, make joint action necessary.”
In November, Lithuania made arrests as part of a criminal investigation into the presence of incendiary devices on board planes bound for Western countries.
According to Polish and Lithuanian media, these devices, including electric massagers impregnated with a flammable substance, were sent from Lithuania to the United Kingdom in July and could be the cause of the fire in a truck in outside Warsaw.
Donald Tusk, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, promised to do everything to “break the deadlock” of “the last few months” in Ukraine’s EU integration process.
“We will work with Ukraine and our European partners, without preconditions, to accelerate the accession process as much as possible,” he stressed. “The sooner Ukraine is in the EU, the sooner Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, the more we act together, the sooner the whole of Europe will obtain the geopolitical certainty it needs,” he said. his side hammered Zelensky.
Ready to strengthen sanctions
Future US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that he was ready to strengthen sanctions against Russia, particularly against the oil sector, if “this is part of (the) strategy” of Donald Trump, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate.
“If I am confirmed and if President Trump requests it, if it is part of his strategy to end the war in Ukraine, I am fully prepared to strengthen sanctions, particularly against the Russian oil sector, to the levels necessary to bring Russia to the negotiating table,” Mr. Bessent told senators.
