Ukraine's Zelenskyy criticizes European inaction in impassioned Davos speech
President says Ukraine, Russia and U.S. will hold 2 days of talks beginning Friday in U.A.E.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Europe's response to the Greenland dispute with the U.S., saying the continent needed to show more courage and describing it as a "fragmented kaleidoscope" of small and middle powers.
"Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide, especially when America's focus shifts elsewhere, Europe looks lost trying to convince the U.S. president to change," Zelenskyy said in a fiery speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
Zelenskyy called on Europe to confiscate Russian tankers transporting "oil that funds the war against Ukraine," drawing a contrast to the U.S. in recent weeks controversially seizing ships carrying oil from Venezuela.
"Europe loves to discuss the future but avoids taking action today, action that defines what kind of future we will have," he said. "Why can President [Donald] Trump stop tankers from the shadow fleet and seize oil, but Europe doesn't?"
As he was winding down his speech, reports emerged that France's navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that travelled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet.
The operation "was conducted in full compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X.
"The activities of the shadow fleet contribute to financing [Russia's] war of aggression against Ukraine," he added.
French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, called the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag. The French navy is escorting the ship to port for more checks, it said in a statement.
Zelenskyy praised it as "exactly the kind of resolve needed" on social media after his speech.
Russia must compromise, Zelenskyy says
In a short question-and-answer session after his speech, Zelenskyy said there will be two days of trilateral meetings starting Friday between Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
"Russians have to be ready for compromises because, you know, everybody has to be ready, not only Ukraine," he said.
Zelenskyy on social media said he discussed the peace talks and air defence supplies at a "productive" meeting with Trump on the sidelines as the White House has led a push to end the nearly four-year war.
"Our previous meeting with President Trump helped strengthen the protection of our skies, and I hope that this time we will reinforce it further as well," Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Trump, also in Davos, praised "good" talks with Zelenskyy and said his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin was that the war in Ukraine has to end.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials have spent weeks in frenetic shuttle diplomacy as Kyiv faces pressure from Trump to secure peace, despite few signs Moscow wants to stop fighting.
U.S. envoys meet with Putin
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from Davos, Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy went well, adding that the Ukrainian president told him he wants to make a deal to end the war.
"I had a good meeting, but I've had numerous good meetings with President Zelenskyy and it doesn't seem to happen," he said. Trump said both Putin and Zelenskyy want to reach a deal and "everyone's making concessions" to try to end the war.
He said the sticking points remain the same as they've been during talks held over the past six or seven months, noting "boundaries" was a key issue.
Trump said he and Zelenskyy talked about how Ukrainians were surviving the cold winter without heat.
"It's really tough for the people of Ukraine," Trump said, noting it was "amazing" how residents have been able to persevere through the winter facing relentless Russian strikes. "It's no way to live," he said.
Witkoff and fellow U.S. envoy Jared Kushner — Trump's son-in-law — flew into Moscow late Thursday for talks with Putin. The talks lasted more than three and a half hours, according to the Kremlin.
"Most importantly, during these talks between our president and the Americans, it was reiterated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, there is no hope of achieving a long-term settlement," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, referring to last year's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
Ushakov said Putin underlined that Russia was "sincerely interested" in a diplomatic solution.
However, he said that, "Until this is achieved, Russia will continue to consistently pursue the objectives of the special military operation. This is especially true on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces hold the strategic initiative."
Russia has been cool on the U.S.-led peace push. It is believed the major sticking point, according to the Kremlin, is Putin's claim to all of Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk. Ukrainian forces still hold about 20 per cent, or 5,000 square kilometres of it, despite Russian advances on the battlefield.
Moscow wants Ukrainian forces to withdraw from Donetsk, something Kyiv refuses to do.
Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow said in 2022 it was annexing after referendums rejected by Kyiv and Western nations as a sham.
Most countries recognize Donetsk as part of Ukraine. Putin says Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk — which together form the Donbas region — are part of Russia's "historical lands."
Putin said late on Wednesday that they would discuss a settlement on Ukraine and the possibility of using frozen Russian assets for reconstruction of Russian-occupied land, as well as Trump's proposal for a "Board of Peace" tasked with promoting peace around the world.
Critics of the proposal have said it would rival or undermine the United Nations.
Attacks take out power in dead of winter
Zelenskyy has been saddled with an energy crisis at home, with Russian airstrikes leaving swaths of the capital and other regions without power and heating.
Russian hit several parts of Ukraine again on Thursday.
In the southern region of Odesa, a 17-year-old was killed when a drone struck an apartment building, the regional governor said.
Eleven people were also wounded in the central city of Kryvyi Rih when a ballistic missile slammed into a residential building, officials said.
In Kyiv, nearly 3,000 high-rises across the city remained without heating on Thursday after Russian attacks earlier this week.
With files from CBC News and The Associated Press