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• Ukraine talks: After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, US President Donald Trump said there’s still “a ways to go” on ending Russia’s war. Zelensky noted that documents aimed at stopping the conflict are “nearly ready” and also called out Europe for inaction.
• Greenland deal progress: Trump said negotiations regarding Greenland currently give US “total access” for defense. While Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reached a verbal understanding about Greenland yesterday, no document has been produced yet memorializing a future deal, sources say.
• “Board of Peace”: Trump earlier unveiled his “Board of Peace,” which is tasked with rebuilding Gaza and resolving global conflicts, in a signing ceremony attended by fewer than 20 countries. He called Gaza a “beautiful piece of property” when talking about reconstruction of the war-torn strip.Allcatch upgreenlandukrainedavos
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Greenland’s prime minister says sovereignty is a “red line” in any deal
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Thursday that he wasn’t sure “what’s concrete” in US President Donald Trump’s announced “framework” for a “future deal” on Greenland.
“Nobody else than Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark have the mandate to make deals or agreements about Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark without us,” Nielsen told Xenix News Nic Robertson at a press conference in Nuuk.
Trump yesterday announced that he had achieved the new “framework” after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Nielsen said he understood that at that meeting, Rutte “delivered the message that we actually have delivered a couple of days ago with our representative from the government of Greenland.”
“I don’t know what’s concrete in that deal,” Nielsen said of Trump’s new framework, “but I know that we have now a high-level working group working on a solution for both parties.”
Greenland’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is a “red line,” Nielsen continued. Earlier in the press conference, he told reporters that Greenland’s position is clear.
“To summarize, we choose the Kingdom of Denmark,” Nielsen said. “We choose the EU, we choose NATO. This is not only a situation for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, it’s about the world order for all of us.”
Ukraine, US and Russia will hold trilateral meeting in UAE starting Friday, Zelensky says
Ukrainian, US and Russian officials are to hold a trilateral meeting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Thursday, in a sign that peace talks to end the war in Ukraine are intensifying.
The two-day meeting will take place on Friday and Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said as he delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Speaking to reporters later, Zelensky revealed that the Ukrainian delegation will include the head and deputy head of his presidential office, Kyrylo Budanov and Serhii Kyslytsia; the head of the parliamentary faction of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party and negotiator, David Arakhamia; and the Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov.
“I asked Hnatov to fly in from Kyiv; the military must be present,” Zelensky told the reporters.
“We are at the moment when, I think, if all the sides will work a lot, we will end this war, but if somebody will play the games, I don’t know who, but I’m just sharing with you. If someone will play games, the war will continue,” he said.
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Analysis: A strident Zelensky seeks to spur European allies into action
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. Markus Schreiber/AP
This was a very strident broadside by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky against European leaders he says have not done enough over the past year. They remain, he said, “in Greenland mode, maybe someone, somewhere will do something.”
Zelensky thanked France and the UK for offering troops in the event of a peace deal, but otherwise tried to stir European leaders – still reeling from US President Donald Trump’s whirlwind of noise around Greenland – into action to forge a new world order. “We need something to replace the old world order with, but where are the leaders to do that?” he said.
Zelensky revealed plans for US, Russian and Ukrainian leaders to meet in the United Arab Emirates in the coming days, for what would mark the first trilateral meeting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Trump had floated such an idea late last year – and Russia rejected it. That it is now likely happening might suggest some progress in peace talks, if only on the procedural front.
The speech’s tone – defiant against a part of Europe that has been Zelensky’s key support base – was designed to appeal to the White House. Parts of it would have pleased both US Vice-President JD Vance and Trump himself. But it was also designed to use the embarrassment and vertigo of the Greenland crisis to urge sedentary European leaders into real action.
Zelensky was complimentary about how Trump’s snatching of Venezuela’s former president Nicolas Maduro led to him facing trial in New York. But he reminded Europeans that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin did not face a similar fate, and that the people of Iran had been left to face the brutality of their security forces. He danced around the issue of US weapons supplies, saying he had discussed air defenses with Trump, but that he had been advised not to mention the US Tomahawk missiles Ukraine urgently wants.
Zelensky wanted to leave a mark on his European hosts that Trump would appreciate and convey the idea that the peace process has momentum, saying the documents were “almost ready.”
The answer to the key question of whether Putin will sign up to them likely leans towards the negative.
No written document has been produced on future deal framework for Greenland, sources say
US President Donald Trump, right, meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a meeting on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. Evan Vucci/AP
President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reached a verbal understanding about Greenland during their meeting yesterday, but no document has been produced yet memorializing a future deal, people familiar with their discussion told Xenix News.
Trump and Rutte agreed to further discussions about updating a 1951 agreement between the US, Denmark and Greenland that governs the US military’s presence on the island, the sources said. The deal framework also guarantees that Russia and China will be barred from any investments in Greenland and lays out an enhanced role for NATO in Greenland, they said.
Two sources said another element of a possible deal is increased US access to Greenland’s natural resources. Rutte on Thursday denied that he had discussed this issue with Trump directly.
One person familiar with the discussions said Rutte did not want any formal documents prepared during his meeting with Trump because he was concerned they could leak — or be posted by Trump himself on social media. Trump earlier this week posted a private message Rutte sent to him ahead of their talks.
The lack of any written documentation has caused some confusion among NATO allies about what was actually agreed upon.
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