Morning opening: All eyes on Ukraine
Jakub Krupa
After yesterday’s assembly on synthetic intelligence, the main target now swiftly strikes on to Ukraine.
Forward of the Munich Safety Convention beginning on Friday, European leaders appear to be more and more anxious about what’s subsequent for Ukraine forward of the third anniversary of full-scale aggression by Russia amid repeated strategies that the brand new US administration desires to finish the warfare as quickly as doable.
US president Donald Trump as soon as once more steered in a single day that some progress is being made by means of backchannel negotiations.
Commenting on the discharge of Marc Fogel, the American instructor free of a Russian jail, he hinted that his return may advance negotiations to finish the warfare. “We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war,” he mentioned.
As my colleague Pjotr Sauer notes, Russia’s newest engagement with the US will set off alarm bells in Kyiv, the place the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, should navigate the brand new actuality of a US administration that has opened dialogue with Moscow whereas at occasions displaying open hostility towards Ukraine.
In an interview with Fox Information broadcast on Monday, Trump steered that Ukraine “may be Russian some day”, simply days earlier than his vice-president JD Vance gears as much as meet Zelenskyy, later this week in Munich.
Talking to the Guardian, Zelenskyy warned that Europe can not assure Ukraine’s safety with out America as he sought to make a enterprise case for serving to Kyiv by suggesting alternatives for US corporations within the reconstruction of postwar Ukraine and within the extraction of Ukrainian pure sources.
Immediately, EU overseas ministers from France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Italy will meet in Paris to debate their plans and safety ensures for Kyiv forward of Munich. They are going to be joined by senior EU commissioners, Ukraine’s overseas minister Andrii Sybiha and UK’s David Lammy.
A separate high-level assembly will happen in Brussels within the so-called Rammstein format, attended by US defence secretary Pete Hegseth. Nato defence ministers are assembly tomorrow.
The scramble comes additionally after a brand new Danish intelligence report warned concerning the prospect of Russia launching a large-scale warfare towards European members of Nato inside 5 years, if the US now not gives its help. It’s two years earlier than it poses a reputable risk to a number of members within the Baltic sea area, it added.
In a single day, Ukraine was attacked by Russia, once more, with Zelenskyy posting on social media what can solely be learn on this context as a name for motion and unity:
This Russian terror towards Ukraine is not going to cease by itself.
Putin will not be making ready for peace – he continues to kill Ukrainians and destroy cities.
Solely sturdy actions and stress on Russia can put an finish to this terror. Proper now, we want the unity and help of all our companions within the combat for a simply finish to this warfare.
It’s Wednesday, 12 February 2025, and that is Europe stay. It’s Jakub Krupa right here.
Good morning.
Key occasions
Western Africa to Canary Islands stays most energetic route for irregular migration in Europe, EU’s exterior border company says
Lisa O’Carroll
in Dublin
Irregular migration from western Africa to the Canary Islands remained probably the most energetic route in Europe in January, new figures from the EU’s exterior border company, Frontex, present.
Regardless of a yr on yr decline of 34% in numbers almost 5,000 tried the perilous boat journey.
Nevertheless the Med nonetheless stays vital with greater than 3,200 (up 43%) making an attempt to cross to Italy whereas the Japanese Mediterranean was the second most energetic route with nearly 3,500 arrivals through Turkey.
On the Channel route, the variety of detections of individuals searching for to cross into the United Kingdom fell by greater than a fifth from a yr in the past to barely above 2,500.
US defence secretary Hegseth assembly with UK’s Healey
Within the opening, I discussed a Brussels assembly of the Ukraine Defence Help Group, chaired immediately by the UK.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has simply met together with his British counterpart, John Healey, firstly of their talks immediately.
Trump’s US merely a ‘needed companion,’ much less a real ally, Europeans say
Donald Trump’s return to the White Home has sparked a “remarkable shift” in Europeans’ view of the US, in line with a survey, with even probably the most America-friendly now not seeing Washington primarily as an ally.
The polling, of 11 EU member states plus Ukraine, Switzerland and the UK, discovered most individuals now regard the US as merely a “necessary partner” – even in nations resembling Poland and Denmark that barely 18 months in the past had thought of the US an ally.
A median of fifty% of Europeans throughout the member states surveyed view the US this manner, the examine revealed, with a median of solely 21% seeing it as an ally, main the report’s authors to induce a extra “realistic, transactional” EU strategy.
Jon Henley has the total story.
Morning opening: All eyes on Ukraine
Jakub Krupa
After yesterday’s assembly on synthetic intelligence, the main target now swiftly strikes on to Ukraine.
Forward of the Munich Safety Convention beginning on Friday, European leaders appear to be more and more anxious about what’s subsequent for Ukraine forward of the third anniversary of full-scale aggression by Russia amid repeated strategies that the brand new US administration desires to finish the warfare as quickly as doable.
US president Donald Trump as soon as once more steered in a single day that some progress is being made by means of backchannel negotiations.
Commenting on the discharge of Marc Fogel, the American instructor free of a Russian jail, he hinted that his return may advance negotiations to finish the warfare. “We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war,” he mentioned.
As my colleague Pjotr Sauer notes, Russia’s newest engagement with the US will set off alarm bells in Kyiv, the place the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, should navigate the brand new actuality of a US administration that has opened dialogue with Moscow whereas at occasions displaying open hostility towards Ukraine.
In an interview with Fox Information broadcast on Monday, Trump steered that Ukraine “may be Russian some day”, simply days earlier than his vice-president JD Vance gears as much as meet Zelenskyy, later this week in Munich.
Talking to the Guardian, Zelenskyy warned that Europe can not assure Ukraine’s safety with out America as he sought to make a enterprise case for serving to Kyiv by suggesting alternatives for US corporations within the reconstruction of postwar Ukraine and within the extraction of Ukrainian pure sources.
Immediately, EU overseas ministers from France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Italy will meet in Paris to debate their plans and safety ensures for Kyiv forward of Munich. They are going to be joined by senior EU commissioners, Ukraine’s overseas minister Andrii Sybiha and UK’s David Lammy.
A separate high-level assembly will happen in Brussels within the so-called Rammstein format, attended by US defence secretary Pete Hegseth. Nato defence ministers are assembly tomorrow.
The scramble comes additionally after a brand new Danish intelligence report warned concerning the prospect of Russia launching a large-scale warfare towards European members of Nato inside 5 years, if the US now not gives its help. It’s two years earlier than it poses a reputable risk to a number of members within the Baltic sea area, it added.
In a single day, Ukraine was attacked by Russia, once more, with Zelenskyy posting on social media what can solely be learn on this context as a name for motion and unity:
This Russian terror towards Ukraine is not going to cease by itself.
Putin will not be making ready for peace – he continues to kill Ukrainians and destroy cities.
Solely sturdy actions and stress on Russia can put an finish to this terror. Proper now, we want the unity and help of all our companions within the combat for a simply finish to this warfare.
It’s Wednesday, 12 February 2025, and that is Europe stay. It’s Jakub Krupa right here.
Good morning.
