The meeting of leaders of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris demonstrated the leading role of Paris and London; following its results, the key question is whether the United States will force Russia to come to the negotiating table and agree to the presence of a foreign military contingent in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian delegation in Paris discussed security guarantees and the prospect of a just peace with national security advisers and the US delegation.
On Wednesday, January 7, the Pentagon, together with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, seized the sanctioned shadow fleet tanker M/T Sophia in the Caribbean Sea.
Following the Coalition of the Willing summit, concrete wording of future security guarantees laid down in the joint declaration are seen as a positive shift but Russia will remain the obstacle hampering the peaceful resolution.
Since the beginning of the day, 140 combat engagements have taken place between the Defense Forces of Ukraine and Russian troops. Fighting is currently ongoing in eight sectors of the front, with the heaviest pressure on the Pokrovsk sector.
A court sentenced a Russian military intelligence (GRU) agent to 15 years in prison with property confiscation for directing Russian air strikes on Ukrainian airfields with combat helicopters in the Khmelnytskyi region.
Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin believes that the decisions taken by the participants of the Paris summit did not make a strong impression on Russia, and therefore Moscow will try to impose its own logic of actions on the United States.
The United States is conducting negotiations with Russia regarding the security of Ukraine's upcoming elections, but Russia has so far refused to agree to a ceasefire.
Even if Ukraine's partners in the Coalition of the Willing provide balanced, legally binding security guarantees, Ukraine must primarily rely on its own strength in the event of a renewed Russian attack.
U.S. President Donald Trump has currently taken a pause on the issue of potentially providing security guarantees for Ukraine for a period longer than 15 years.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Bahrain, Andrii Sybiha and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, discussed the path to a lasting peace, readiness for close cooperation, and opportunities for investment in Ukraine.