War in Ukraine: sanctions against Russia, attack on energy installations, need for 200,000 men… an update on the situation

Ukrainian President Calls for 200,000 European Troops for Country's Security. MAXPPP

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Wednesday, January 22, 2025, discover the latest news about this conflict.

Sanctions against Russia

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would likely impose sanctions on Russia if his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, refused to negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

Donald Trump did not provide details on the possible sanctions. The United States has already imposed significant sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The US president said his administration was reviewing the issue of arms shipments to Ukraine, adding that he believed the European Union should do more to support Kyiv.

“We are talking to (Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky), we will be talking to President (Vladimir) Putin very soon,” he said. Donald Trump said he urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to intervene to end the war in Ukraine when he spoke with him.

Energy Facilities

Russia has attacked Ukraine’s energy facilities 1,200 times since it began its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Wednesday.

Speaking in Davos, Svyrydenko said more than 800 attacks had targeted power substations and lines, more than 250 had targeted power plants, and more than 30 had targeted gas sites.

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200 00 troops

President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least 200,000 European troops should be deployed to ensure Ukraine’s security in the event of a truce with Russia and prevent a new invasion, according to a video released by Kiev on Wednesday.

“200,000 is a minimum. It’s a minimum. Otherwise, it’s nothing,”, the Ukrainian president said on Tuesday during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in an interview shared on the presidency’s website the following day. This is the first time that a senior Ukrainian official has publicly mentioned the number of such a contingent, while this project has been discussed behind the scenes for several months between kyiv and its Western allies.

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French President Emmanuel Macron had floated the idea of ​​stationing Western troops in Ukraine to oversee a possible ceasefire deal with Russia, which launched an invasion of its Ukrainian neighbor three years ago and now occupies about 20 percent of its eastern and southern territories. Speculation about possible talks to end the conflict has been growing for weeks, amid questions about the position that new U.S. President Donald Trump will take, given that the United States is the main provider of military and financial aid to kyiv. Trump on Tuesday said that new sanctions against Russia were “likely” if Moscow does not negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. He also indicated that the United States would “look” at continuing military aid to kyiv.

For his part, from Davos, Mr. Zelensky estimated that the American president could apply “total sanctions” against Russia, in particular its energy sector and “give Ukraine all the weapons it asks for” to threaten Vladimir Putin.

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“Very difficult” for Trump

“Except of course nuclear weapons, we are sane people”, added the Ukrainian president. Even before his inauguration on Monday, Donald Trump said he was preparing a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to “end” the conflict. “So I'm not surprised that the United States is having contact with Putin” but Ukraine must be “a priority“For the American president, Mr. Zelensky said. “Because we are allies of the United States. We are the victim. Putin is the occupier. And we didn’t start the war, he started it,” he argued.

Ending the war that has left tens of thousands dead on both sides and ravaged Ukraine “will be very difficult for President Trump,” Volodymyr Zelensky warned. “We all need to understand that Putin does not want to end the war” for want of having achieved “his essential target: the independence of Ukraine”, Mr. Zelensky said. “Destroying it is his dream.”

Read also: War in Ukraine: Fuel depot hit, Zelensky in Davos, work on a meeting with Trump… an update on the situation

Ukraine “will not recognize” the occupied territories as Russian, “even if all the allies unite” to demand it, he hammered home, while suggesting that it could concede them for a time in order to stop hostilities. “There will be no forgiveness, no legal recognition, but we must do everything to end the hot phase of the war”, Mr. Zelensky said.