Ukraine war briefing: ‘Conflict will not end tomorrow or day after,’ says Macron as Trump takes office

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, warned that Russia’s war against Ukraine would not end “tomorrow or the day after” as Donald Trump, who pledged to quickly wind up the conflict, returned to the White House. Trump promised over the summer to end Russia’s war against Ukraine “in 24 hours”, although he did not explain how he planned to do that. “Let us not delude ourselves,” Macron said in his new year’s address to the French armed forces. “This conflict will not end tomorrow or the day after.” The third anniversary of Russia’s war against Ukraine approaches next month, and Trump’s administration has more recently been suggesting a timeline of several months to end it.

Macron also called on Europe to “wake up” and spend more on defence in order to reduce its reliance on the US. Macron said expected changes in Washington’s foreign policy, especially regarding the war in Ukraine, were an “opportunity for a European strategic wake-up call”. “What will we do in Europe tomorrow if our American ally withdraws its warships from the Mediterranean? If they send their fighter jets from the Atlantic to the Pacific?” he asked. “The answer will have to come from us.” Providing lasting support to Ukraine was key, and Ukraine must receive “guarantees” against any return of the war on its territory when hostilities cease, while Europe must “play its full role” in the process, Macron said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, has hailed the opportunity to achieve a just peace in Ukraine as he congratulated Trump on his inauguration as US president. “President Trump is always decisive, and the peace-through-strength policy he announced provides an opportunity to strengthen American leadership and achieve a long-term and just peace, which is the top priority,” Zelenskyy said. He was looking forward to active and “mutually beneficial” cooperation with the Trump administration. “We are stronger together, and we can provide greater security, stability, and economic growth to the world and our two nations.”

One of two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region has apparently told interrogators that Pyongyang’s troops fighting for Moscow are suffering serious losses, according to official video published by Ukraine on Monday. He said he was brought to Russia from North Korea in what he believed was a cargo vessel with around 100 others and they were then transported by sleeper train. The soldier said he was conscripted aged 17 and had been serving since then. He repeated a claim from a previous video that he had not known he was being sent to Russia to fight.

Ukraine’s state investigation bureau the DBR said it had detained two generals and a colonel suspected of negligence in failing to adequately defend against a Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region in 2024. The DBR said they were the former chief commander of the Kharkiv frontline, a former commander of a brigade and a former commander of an infantry battalion. Russia launched an assault across the border in May 2024 into Ukraine’s northern region of Kharkiv, advancing by several kilometres in the first few days. Ukraine’s military was eventually able to halt the Russian advance about 25km away from the edge of Kharkiv.

The Russian-backed leader of separatist Transnistria said his unofficial government was ready to buy gas from Moldova, the legitimate government, more than two weeks after Russian supplies halted when Ukraine refused to continue letting Moscow’s gas go through its territory. The Moldovan government said it was “reviewing Tiraspol’s [Transnistria’s] request to ensure it complies with national and international legal standards”.

Russia recorded a budget deficit of more than 3tn roubles for the third year running in 2024, the finance ministry said on Monday, with both spending and revenue rising sharply as Moscow ploughed economic resources into the war in Ukraine. The shortfall narrowed as a percentage of gross domestic product to 1.7% – from 1.9% in 2023 – the data showed, but was significantly wider than the ministry’s initial plans for a deficit at 0.9% of GDP. Excluding crucial revenues from oil and gas, however, the deficit widened to 7.3% of GDP, from 7% of GDP in 2023.