Ukraine-Russia latest: Moscow responds to Trump ultimatum as 1,000 North Koreans killed in Kursk

Ukraine’s central bank is committed to take further steps this year to liberalise the foreign exchange market and ease wartime capital controls, Reuters has quoted a deputy bank governor as saying.

Ukraine has praised Donald Trump for threatening to impose tariffs and sanctions on Russia if it refuses to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine and said the comment sent a “strong signal” to Vladimir Putin.

“We do really welcome such strong messages from President Trump and we believe that he will be the winner. And we believe that we have an additional chance to get new dynamic in diplomatic efforts to end this war,” Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said at a panel in Davos.

Ukrainian officials welcomed Donald Trump’s threat to intensify sanctions against Russia, suggesting punitive measures against Russian oil and gas could run down Vladimir Putin’s war machinery.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, sanctions commissioner for president Volodymyr Zelensky, told The Independent there were at least 10 areas Mr Trump can look at to sanction Russia in the coming months.

“These can be Russia’s fintech sector, companies involved in the development of e-ruble, central bank digital currency used as an alternative to the SWIFT international payment system Russia is already cut off from, and cryptocurrency payment systems,” he said.

German will send Eurofighter jets to Poland this summer, defence secretary Boris Pistorius has said, as Warsaw’s allies step up protection of a hub for humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine.

In December, Norway also deployed F-35 fighter jets and NASAMS air defence systems to Poland to help safeguard the hub at Jasionka, saying that it was critical for the delivery of military supplies to Ukraine which the country desperately needed.

Germany previously deployed 300 troops along with three Patriot units to Poland from January to November 2023.

They were based in the town of Zamosc, around 30 miles from the Ukrainian border, to protect the southern town and its crucial railway link to Ukraine.

Two German Patriot air defence units deployed to Poland to protect a major hub for military and humanitarian supplies to Ukraine will be fully operational by Monday, Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius has said.

Germany began deploying Patriot units to Poland in January 2023, after a stray Ukrainian missile struck the Polish village of Przewodow the previous November in an incident that raised fears of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border. Another surface-to-air missile landed in northern Poland in April 2023.

The two German Patriot units will remain close to the Polish-Ukrainian border for six months to protect the airspace in the region, Mr Pistorius told reporters during a visit to the Polish military airport Jasionka near Rzeszow.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Thursday warned Nato countries against sending any troops to Ukraine.

Such a move would be totally unacceptable to Russia and would escalate the conflict uncontrollably, Ms Zakharova claimed.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that at least 200,000 European peacekeepers would be needed to prevent a new Russian attack after any ceasefire deal, and the matter has been discussed by European leaders in recent weeks.

Slovakia’s prime minister has alleged that Slovakian experts had been involved in organising pro-democracy protests in Ukraine and Georgia, as he expressed fears of plots to escalate demonstrations in a bid to overthrow his government.

Protests in Slovakia have grown since Robert Fico and his leftist-nationalist government returned to power in 2023 amid fears over a weakening of democratic norms and a shift towards Russia.

Vowing to plan measures intended to curb the protests, Mr Fico claimed that opposition groups planned to intensify demonstrations by occupying government buildings. And citing unseen intelligence, Mr Fico claimed a group of unidentified experts in Slovakia had helped in protests in Ukraine and Georgia.

“The situation is serious,” Fico told a televised briefing after a meeting of the State Security Council. “We see a structure that it trying to attack the constitutional setup of the Slovak Republic.”

The main opposition party Progressive Slovakia has called Mr Fico’s claims delusions meant to silence his opponenents and also cover cracks within his three-party coalition and its failures to address the country’s economic and social problems.

Here is a recent report from our world affairs editor Sam Kiley, who hears from protesters at Kyiv’s Maidan Square:

North Korea is expected to send reinforcements to Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief has said, amid claims that Pyongyang has already lost around a third of the fighting force that it sent to Vladimir Putin’s aid.

In an interview with defence outlet The War Zone, Kyrylo Budanov said he expects Pyongyang’s reinforcements mostly to consist of missile and artillery troops who will also train Russian forces on how to use their weapons systems.

“We don’t expect to see many new ground combat troops,” Mr Budanov was quoted as saying, while claiming that around 4,000 of the estimated 12,000 North Koreans sent to Kursk have been killed within just three months of fighting.

It comes a day after the New York Times reported that more North Korean troops were expected to arrive in Kursk within the next two months, without giving more details.

A Zaporizhzhia resident has described the described the six-hour missile and drone attacks which have left one person dead and wounded 31 others in the region

“I flew off the couch to get dressed, and, running to the cabinet, I was covered in debris, after which I climbed out and heard my wife screaming,” 35-year-old Serhiy told Reuters as he searched the gutted remains of his apartment.

Zaporizhzhia, a strategic industrial city near front-line fighting, has come under frequent attack by Russian forces.