Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in conversation, Kyiv, January 16, 2025

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: Trump Ditches Ukraine — Can Europe Step Up?

EA on UK Outlets: Trump Chooses Putin Over Ukraine

Saturday’s Coverage: Trump Administration Threatens to Cut Starlink for Kyiv

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1540 GMT:

Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has echoed Trump’s — and the Kremlin’s — blame of Ukraine for starting Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Speaking to CNN, Witkoff said, “The war didn’t need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn’t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians.”

Going beyond his official portfolio, Witkoff has been brought into direct US-Russia talks as Trump’s Ukraine and Russia envoy Keith Kellogg was sidelined.

Witkoff predicted that Ukraine will agree to sending rare earth minerals to the Trump Administration (see 1522 GMT), and declared that Trump’s lies and insults of Zelensky contributed to the deal being signed.

Asked at a forum in Kyiv about the draft US agreement, Zelensky said, “We are making progress.”

He explained that Ukrainian and US officials had been in touch about the deal earlier in the day. “We are ready to share,” he said, but the Trump Administration first needs to ensure Vladimir Putin “ends this war”.

UPDATE 1537 GMT:

Speaking on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Volodymyr Zelensky has told a forum in Kyiv that Ukraine’s accession to NATO “is the cheapest option” for security and is “still on the table” despite direct US-Russia talks.

Zelensky said a deal made without Ukraine’s direct involvement in talks will not be recognized.

The President said he would be “happy” to give up office “if it is for the peace of Ukraine.”

He continued, “If you need me to leave this chair, I am ready to do that, and I also can exchange it for NATO membership for Ukraine.”

Zelensky said he wants to see Donald Trump as a partner of Ukraine and more than just a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow: “I really want it to be more than just mediation….That’s not enough.”

UPDATE 1522 GMT:

The negotiation of an agreement to send Ukraine rare earth minerals to the Trump Administration is in its final stages, says Ukrainian Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak.

Podolyak said on State TV, “The agreement is being discussed thoroughly at various levels, with working teams in place. Its signing is just a matter of time.”

The advisor emphasized that the deal must address a fair distribution of future project revenues and security guarantees.

The President is approaching this from the perspective of what benefits Ukraine.

Naturally, our partners — in this case, the United States — are looking out for their own interests. But we reiterate that any agreement on major investments in this sector, specifically in raw materials, must serve multiple objectives for Ukraine.

A Ukrainian official involved in negotiations had said on Saturday, “The draft on the table now needs more work. We see there many obligations of Ukraine and very weak things [offered] from the American side, so the draft, as for today, is not ready to be accepted on the President’s level.”

UPDATE 1302 GMT:

Elon Musk has denied the report from Reuters, based on multiple sources, that he has threatened to cut Ukraine’s access to Starlink satellite internet terminals if the Zelensky Government does not hand over rare earth minerals to the Trump Administration.

UPDATE 1254 GMT:

Meeting Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has emphaszied, “We must not allow Russia to defeat Ukraine.”

Duda explained to Trump about those “who will need to be negotiated with”: “Remember that Putin is a KGB officer.”

He said, “Without American support, Ukraine will not survive this war,” and played up to Trump by declaring the reality TV star’s desire to end bloodshed in Ukraine.

UPDATE 1226 GMT:

As it maneuvers with the Trump Administration, Russia has carried out the largest drone attack of its three-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Air defenses downed 138 of 267 UAVs luanched on 13 regions, while 119 were lost to electronic counter-warfare. Russia also fired three ballistic missiles.

Two people were killed in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and one slain and five injured in Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Three people were injured in the Odesa region after a fire was set in a residence. In the Zaporizhzhia region, a 53-year-old woman was injured by Russian shelling of residential areas.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted:

We must do everything possible to bring a lasting and just peace to Ukraine. This is achievable through the unity of all partners — we need the strength of all of Europe, the strength of America, the strength of everyone who seeks lasting peace.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha added, with reference to the Trump Administration blocking international resolutions referring to “Russian aggression”:

This demonstrates that avoiding calling Russia an aggressor does not change the fact that it is one. No one should trust Putin’s words. Look at his actions instead.

UPDATE 0657 GMT:

A 70-year-old woman has been killed and three other civilians injured by Russian guided bomb attacks on Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Seven apartment blocks and 14 other buildings were damaged.

One civilian was killed and five injured in Kryvyi Rih amid Russian missile and drone attacks, and buildings and cars were damaged in Kyiv.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Days before a meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said Ukraine must be “at the heart of any negotiations” to end Russia’s 3-year full-scale invasion.

Starmer will see Trump in the White House on Thursday, after French President Emmanuel Macron has a similar encounter on Monday.

The meetings will occur as the second set of direct US-Russia talks, excluding Ukraine and its European allies, take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Trump is lying and insulting Ukraine and the Zelensky Government, as he and his officials threaten to side with Vladimir Putin and cut all support for Kyiv.

However, Macron and Starmer will press the necessity of a security guarantee for Ukraine. They may set out the initiative of troops from NATO members in western Ukraine, bolstering air defenses and protecting energy infrastructure and facilities such as drone manufacturing plants.

Both France and the UK say the plan needs a US backstrop in airpower, probably based in Poland and Romania.

On Saturday, Starmer spoke by phone with Volodymyr Zelensky, telling the Ukrainian President that “safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereignty was essential to deter future aggression from Russia”.

Zelensky responded on social media about the “productive talk”, “We coordinated our military cooperation, joint steps, and engagements for the coming week, which will be very active. The UK and its people are among Ukraine’s biggest supporters, and we deeply appreciate this.”

He added in his nightly video address to the nation:

Security guarantees are what unite the vast majority — Europe, America, and all our global partners need a shared understanding of how to ensure that Putin can never deceive the world again, and that Russia can no longer bring death to other nations — from Ukraine and Europe to Syria, the Middle East, and Africa.

Starmer also spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, with the two agreeing that Europe must “step up” to ensure Ukraine’s security.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy added that the aim of Starmer’s trip is to limit Russia’s revenues and hamper Vladimir Putin’s “military machine”.

On the battlefield, we remain committed to providing £3bn of military support a year to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible, and being ready and willing to provide UK troops as part of peacekeeping forces if necessary.

Off the battlefield, we will work with the US and European partners to achieve a sustainable, just peace, and in doing so, remaining clear that there can be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.

This is also the time to turn the screws on Putin’s Russia.

Polls indicate ongoing support from the UK public for Ukraine’s resistance, with 62% in favor of Kyiv joining NATO.

Asked about the Trump Administration’s approach, 56% disapprove and only 17% approve.