Live blog: Hungary ready to provide Ukraine aid if outside EU budget

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

1606 GMT –– Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban expressed willingness to support Ukraine –– provided it is separate from the European Union's budget –– after vetoing $55 billion) in aid for Kiev in December.

The EU is due to hold talks at an extraordinary summit on February 1 in a bid to make progress on the stalled aid package for Ukraine.

Following Hungary's veto, Brussels has been scrambling to provide a financial lifeline to the war-torn country as US support for Ukraine has also been tied up due to a political dispute.

After meeting his ally Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, Orban said Budapest would be willing to contribute its fair share to a new aid package, provided it happens outside the bloc's budget.

"Hungary is ready to support Ukraine, it will do so from its own budget, it does not want to take out loans jointly with anyone, and it does not want this issue to be included in the [EU's] budget," Orban told a news conference.

"If we want to help Ukraine... we must do so without damaging the EU budget," he added.

"To give 50 billion euros from the EU budget for four years in advance is a violation of budgetary management and national interests.

We do not even know what will happen in a quarter of a year," Orban said.

Both leaders have been critical of sending aid to Ukraine, although Fico supported the package Orban blocked in December.

Speaking alongside Orban, Fico said Hungary's proposal is "rational and meaningful".

"If all 27 EU countries want to approve the budget revision and agree on aid to Ukraine, Hungary must be listened to, negotiated with and a joint solution with Hungary must be found," Fico said.

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Biden, Germany's Scholz speak about Ukraine, Middle East - White House

1759 GMT –– US President Joe Biden spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about Ukraine and the ongoing events in the Middle East, the White House said.

1645 GMT –– Poland eyes solution to Ukraine grain dispute similar to Romania, Bulgaria deals: source

Poland is eyeing a licensing deal for agricultural trade with Ukraine similar to one agreed with Kiev by Romania and Bulgaria, an official familiar with the matter said, to try to end a dispute with Kiev and halt protests at Ukraine's border.

Poland's new prime minister, Donald Tusk, has said he will visit Kiev as Warsaw pushes to repair ties with Ukraine - which aspires to join the EU and NATO as it fights against an Russia - strained under his nationalist predecessors.

Warsaw and Kiev have been at odds over cheap Ukrainian grain exports to Poland, and via Poland to the rest of the European Union, with Polish truck drivers and farmers blocking several border crossings for weeks.

1817 GMT –– North Korean minister lauds 'comradely' ties with Russia, meets Putin in Kremlin

North Korea's foreign minister lauded comradely ties with Russia and then held rare talks in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin, who has been invited by Kim Jong-un to visit the reclusive nuclear-armed country.

The Kremlin said on the Telegram messaging app that North Korea's Choe Son-hui and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had briefed Putin on the results of their talks earlier in the day. No further details were immediately available.

Putin has deepened ties with North Korea since the 2022 military campaign in Ukraine, and the United States and its allies have condemned what they say have been significant North Korean missile deliveries to Russia to help its war effort.

Both Russia and North Korea have repeatedly dismissed the criticism. Moscow says it will develop ties with whatever countries it wants and that its cooperation with Pyongyang does not contravene international agreements.

1620 GMT –– Ukraine's statehood at risk if pattern of war continues: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine's statehood could suffer an "irreparable blow" if the pattern of the war continued, and Russia would never be forced to abandon the gains it had made.

Putin made his televised comments a day after Switzerland agreed to host a global summit at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Putin dismissed "so-called peace formulas" being discussed in the West and Ukraine and what he called the "prohibitive demands" they entailed.

"Well, if they don't want (to negotiate), then don't!" he said.

"Now it is quite obvious, not only (Ukraine's) counter-offensive failed, but the initiative is completely in the hands of the Russian armed forces. If this continues, Ukrainian statehood may suffer an irreparable, very serious blow."

1556 GMT –– Ukraine says Polish protesters lift blockade of two border crossings

Ukraine's border authorities said that Polish truck drivers who had been blocking three crossings on the Polish-Ukrainian border lifted their blockade at two of them.

"Today, Polish strikers unblocked the Korczowa-Krakowiets checkpoint. As of this hour, about 300 trucks are queuing to enter Ukraine from the Polish side," the customs service said on the Telegram messaging app.

Later the border service said protesters had halt ed their blockade at the Rava-Ruska crossing.

"Registration and passage of freight vehicles across the border in both directions is going ahead in the usual manner," the service said.

It said that nearly 700 trucks were waiting to enter Ukraine at the two crossings.

1538 GMT –– Ukraine needs 'predictable financing' to defeat Russia: EU chief

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine's allies needed to guarantee stable backing for Kiev as questions swirl over future support from the United States and EU.

"Ukraine can prevail in this war. But we must continue to empower their resistance," the head of the European Union's executive arm told the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"Ukrainians need predictable financing throughout 2024 and beyond. They need a sufficient and sustained supply of weapons to defend Ukraine and regain its rightful territory."

EU leaders will hold a summit on February 1 to try to overcome Hungary's veto on providing 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in financial aid to Ukraine over the next four years.

1422 GMT –– Putin gathers re-election signatures in Russian-held Ukraine

Residents of the Russian-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine lined up to register their support for Vladimir Putin in a presidential vote where he is sure to win re-election.

Russia claimed Donetsk and three other Ukrainian regions as its own territory in September 2022 in a move that Ukraine and most countries at the United Nations condemned as illegal.

Conducting the March election in these areas is important for Moscow as a means of demonstrating that it has integrated them as "new territories", even though it does not fully control them militarily. Ukraine says the exercise is illegitimate and void.

Putin needs to gather 300,000 signatures by Jan. 31 in support of his candidacy because he has put his own name forward for re-election instead of being nominated by a political party.

1416 GMT –– 'Predator' Putin won't accept frozen conflict: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy told the Davos summit that Russian President Vladimir Putin would pursue his invasion of Ukraine even if fighting paused on the sprawling front.

"After 2014, there were attempts to freeze the war in Donbass," Zelenskyy said in reference to the industrial east of his country. "There were very influential guarantors –– the chancellor of Germany, the president of France."


"But Putin is a predator who is not satisfied with frozen products," he told the world's political elites.

Zelenskyy was referring to the Minsk negotiations between Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia, which aimed to bring an end to fighting between Ukraine's military and Kremlin-backed separatists, who had occupied swathes of east Ukraine in 2014.

He used the stage in Davos to claim the audience that the Russian leader had expansionist aims beyond even Ukraine's borders. "If anyone thinks this is only about us, this is only about Ukraine, they are fundamentally mistaken," he said.

"Possible directions and even timelines of new Russian aggression beyond Ukraine become more and more obvious," he alleged.

Zelenskyy said that for Kiev to defeat Moscow's forces in Ukraine, his forces needed help from the West to bolster its military capabilities in the air.

"We must gain air superiority for Ukraine," he stressed. "Partners know what is needed and in what quantity," he said, adding: "This will allow progress on the ground."

1130 GMT –– Blinken promises Zelensky US will sustain support for Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised sustained US support for Ukraine in a meeting with President Zelenskyy, despite a row in the US Congress on approving new funding.

"We are determined to sustain our support for Ukraine and we're working very closely with Congress in order to work to do that. I know our European colleagues will do the same thing," Blinken told Zelenskyy as they met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security advisor, joined the meeting and told Zelenskyy that the United States and its allies were determined "to ensure that Russia fails and Ukraine wins".

Zelenskyy thanked the Biden administration and the "bipartisan support" in the US Congress.

He pointed specifically to the US-made Patriot system that has helped Ukraine shoot down barrages of Russian missiles."It really helps people to survive this, in this large aggression from Russia," Zelenskyy said.

0947 GMT — Ukraine orders civilians to leave villages near northeast front

Authorities in Ukraine's northeast region of Kharkiv have urged residents of more than two dozen villages near the front line to evacuate, citing worsening Russian attacks in the area.

"Given the security situation, we are introducing mandatory evacuation of the population from the Kindrashivska and Kurylivska communities of the Kupyansk district," the Kharkiv regional governor announced on social media.

Governor Oleg Synegubov said the order would affect some 3,043 people in the settlements, including 279 children. He did not elaborate on the Russian threat.

1011 GMT — Ukrainian president, NATO chief discuss preparations for alliance’s summit in US

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have discussed preparations for the alliance's upcoming summit in Washington on July 9-11.

“We discussed the preparations for the NATO summit in Washington. I emphasised that Ukraine anticipates decisions that will bring it s membership in the Alliance closer,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on X, following the meeting which took place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Zelenskyy further said that he and Stoltenberg discussed the situation on the front line in Ukraine, during which he informed NATO’s chief of recent Russian on Ukrainian cities and emphasised the need to further strengthen the country’s air defence.

0944 GMT — Polish truckers reach deal with govt, will suspend protest: organiser

Polish truckers who have blockaded some border crossings with Ukraine since November have reached an agreement on "certain conditions" with the government and will suspend their protest on Wednesday at 1100 GMT, an organiser has said.

Polish drivers had been demanding that the EU reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers entering Ukraine.

"It won't be the end but there will be a suspension of the protest," said Tomasz Borkowski of the Committee to Protect Transporters and Transport Employers.

"We agreed certain conditions, we will give the government time to work as it is a new government."

0128 GMT — Ukraine foreign minister muses about 'punching' Russia's Lavrov

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in an interview made public on Monday, said there had been times when he had felt the urge to "punch in the face" his Russian opposite number Sergey Lavrov in talks during the early stage of Moscow's offensive.

Kuleba's brief remarks were part of an hour-long informal interview with a Ukrainian video blogger focusing on topics ranging from cooking to hobbies and Ukrainian soccer.

When asked, as part of a series of rapid-fire questions, about his most difficult set of negotiations, Kuleba said: "The most difficult talks are those in which you feel simply that you want to go and punch your opposite number in the nose, but you really can't do that.

"And I can say that this occurred two or three times. One occasion was with Lavrov in (the Turkish resort of) Antalya in the spring of 2022."

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met for several rounds of talks in the early weeks after the February 2022 military operation — first near Ukraine's border with Belarus and later in Türkiye.

0103 GMT — Russia declares state of emergency in Ukraine attacked region

The mayor of the southern Russian city of Voronezh declared a state of emergency after what officials said was a Ukraine-launched drone attack that damaged several buildings and wounded a child.

People from at least one apartment building were evacuated to a nearby school after drone debris sparked a small fire and blew out windows, Mayor Vadim Kstenin said on the Telegram messaging app.

Windows in other buildings were also shattered, he said, adding: "The introduced state of emergency in the city will ... allow for a prompt implementation of measures to replace them."

The governor of the region, Alexander Gusev, said on his Telegram channel that a girl was injured when drone debris fell onto her apartment building.

On its Telegram channel, the Russian defence ministry said it had destroyed five drones and intercepted three others overnight over the Voronezh region, which borders Ukraine. Voronezh city is the administrative centre of the region.

The ministry also said that it intercepted four drones in the nearby Russian Belgorod region.

Voronezh, a city of more than 1 million people, lies some 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

For our live updates from Monday, January 15, click here.