Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

U.S. President Joe Biden said at the Quad meeting on Tuesday that the Ukraine crisis in Ukraine was a global issue which heightened the importance of maintaining international order, territorial integrity and sovereignty. read more

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy urges allies to pressure Moscow on prisoner swap

Diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Davos World Economic Forum that sanctions must be stepped up against Russia to deter other countries from using “brute force” to achieve their aims.

• The European Union will likely agree on an embargo on Russian oil imports “within days”, its biggest member Germany has said, while Moscow said its economic ties with China would grow amid its isolation by the West.

• Zelenskiy said Kyiv was ready for an exchange of prisoners with Russia “even tomorrow”. read more

• The Russia-appointed administration of Ukraine’s Kherson region will ask Moscow to set up a military base on its territory, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.

Fighting

• Zelenskiy revealed Ukraine’s worst military losses from a single attack of the war, saying 87 people died last week when Russian forces struck a barracks in the north.

• Four people were killed when a residential building was shelled in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said. The Ukrainian military remains in control of the city, he added.

• A Ukrainian court sentenced a young Russian soldier to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia’s invasion.

Economy

• Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia and Estonia will call for the confiscation of Russian assets frozen by the EU to fund the rebuilding of Ukraine.

• Ukraine’s grain exports could reach 1.5 million tonnes in May versus around 1 million tonnes in April, Roman Slaston, Director General of the Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club Association, said on Monday.

• Poland decided to terminate an intergovernmental agreement with Russia on the Yamal gas pipeline, Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said. read more

• Starbucks Corp will exit the Russian market after nearly 15 years. read more

• Russia would normally have its own ‘house’ at the Davos forum, but this year the space has been transformed by Ukrainian artists into a “Russian War Crimes House”. Russia has denied allegations of war crimes in the conflict.

Quote

• “History is at a turning point … This is really the moment when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world,” said Ukrainian President Zelenskiy.