World
Ukraine faces ‘difficult choice’ as Trump demands acceptance of peace plan
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned on Friday that Ukraine risked losing its dignity and freedom — or Washington’s backing — over a U.S. peace plan that endorses key Russian demands, a proposal Donald Trump said Kyiv should accept within a week.
The U.S. president told Fox News Radio he believed Thursday was an appropriate deadline for Kyiv to accept the plan, confirming what two sources told Reuters.
Trump later told reporters that time was short given the approaching winter and need to end the bloodshed and that Zelenskiy would have to approve the plan.
“He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess,” he said.
“At some point he’s going to have to accept something he hasn’t accepted,” Trump said.
Recalling their fractious February meeting with Zelenskiy, Trump added: “You remember right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said, ‘You don’t have the cards.'”
Washington’s 28-point plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO. It also contains some proposals Moscow may object to and requires its forces to pull back from some areas they have captured, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said late on Friday that any plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine should preserve Ukrainian sovereignty and be acceptable to both countries but that it was a “fantasy” to think Ukraine could win if the U.S. were to give Kyiv more money or weapons or impose more sanctions on Moscow.
“There is a fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions, victory is at hand,” Vance wrote on X.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who has refused to budge on Russia’s key territorial and security demands, said on Friday the U.S. plan could be the basis of a final resolution of the nearly four-year-old conflict. He said Kyiv was against the plan but neither it nor its European allies understood the reality of Russian advances in Ukraine.
‘DIGNITY AND FREEDOM OF UKRAINIANS’
Zelenskiy, who has rejected the plan’s terms in the past as capitulation, appealed to Ukrainians for unity and said he would never betray Ukraine.
“Now, Ukraine can face a very difficult choice — either losing dignity or risk losing a major partner,” he said in a speech to the nation, adding: “I will fight 24/7 to ensure that at least two points in the plan are not overlooked – the dignity and freedom of Ukrainians.”
Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said on Friday the U.S. plan was aimed at preventing more Ukrainian deaths and loss of territory.
Several sources have told Reuters that the plan was the result of back-channel conversations between Dmitriev and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy.
“Because of warmongers’ propaganda, many people miss that Trump’s Peace Plan is designed to save Ukraine from losing even more land and lives,” Dmitriev wrote in English on the X social media platform.
Two sources told Reuters Washington had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons supplies to Ukraine if it does not accept the deal. A senior U.S. official later said it was not accurate to say the U.S. threatened to withhold intelligence.
In public, Zelenskiy, who spoke on Friday with the leaders of Britain, Germany and France as well as with Vance, has appeared careful not to reject the U.S. plan or offend the Americans.
“We value the efforts of the United States, President Trump, and his team aimed at ending this war,” Zelenskiy said. “This must be a plan that ensures a real and dignified peace.”
A poor deal for Ukraine could test the stability of its society after nearly four years of relentless warfare.
“Russia gets everything it wants and Ukraine gets not very much,” said Tim Ash of Britain’s Chatham House think tank. “If Zelenskiy accepts this, I anticipate huge political, social and economic instability in Ukraine.”
The plan is expected to dominate discussions on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg that European leaders are attending this weekend despite a boycott by Trump.
‘A VERY DANGEROUS MOMENT’
Three sources told Reuters that Ukraine was working on a counter-proposal to the 28-point plan with Britain, France and Germany. The Europeans have not been consulted on the U.S. plan and have expressed strong support for Kyiv.
“We all want this war to end, but how it ends matters. Russia has no legal right whatsoever to any concessions from the country it invaded,” said the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. “This is a very dangerous moment for all.”
U.S. officials have said their plan was drafted after consultations with Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, a close Zelenskiy ally who served as defence minister until July.
Umerov “agreed to the majority of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to President Zelenskiy,” a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
However, Umerov denied agreeing to any of the plan’s terms and said he had played only a technical role organising talks.
RUSSIA’S DEMANDS SPELLED OUT, KYIV’S LEFT VAGUE
The plan would require Ukraine to withdraw from territory it still controls in eastern provinces that Russia claims to have annexed, while Russia would give up smaller amounts of land it holds in other regions.
Ukraine would be permanently barred from joining the NATO military alliance, and its armed forces would be capped at 600,000 troops. NATO would agree never to station troops there.
Sanctions against Russia would be gradually lifted, Moscow would be invited back into the G8 group of industrialised countries, and frozen Russian assets would be pooled in an investment fund, with Washington given some of the profits.
One of Ukraine’s main demands, for enforceable guarantees equivalent to NATO’s mutual defence clause to deter Russia from attacking again, is dealt with in a single line with no details: “Ukraine will receive robust security guarantees”.
World
Israeli attacks kill 31 Palestinians in Gaza, including children
At least 31 Palestinians, including six children, were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City and Khan Younis since early Saturday, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.
The strikes came a day before Israel is scheduled to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, marking the first reopening of the border crossing since May 2024.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said that more than 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since a United States-brokered ceasefire came into effect on October 10.
According to local health authorities, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 71,769 Palestinians and wounded 171,483 others since it began in October 2023. In Israel, at least 1,139 people were killed during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, with approximately 250 people taken captive.
World
Guterres warns of UN’s ‘imminent financial collapse’
In his letter, Guterres said “decisions not to honour assessed contributions that finance a significant share of the approved regular budget have now been formally announced.”
The U.N. chief has told member states the organisation is at risk of “imminent financial collapse,” citing unpaid fees and a budget rule that forces the global body to return unspent money, a letter seen by Reuters on Friday showed.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly spoken about the organisation’s worsening liquidity crisis but this is his starkest warning yet, and it comes as its main contributor the U.S. is retreating from multilateralism on numerous fronts.
“The crisis is deepening, threatening programme delivery and risking financial collapse. And the situation will deteriorate further in the near future,” Guterres wrote in a letter to ambassadors dated January 28.
The U.S. has slashed voluntary funding to U.N. agencies and refused to make mandatory payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.
U.S. President Donald Trump has described the U.N. as having “great potential” but said it is not fulfilling that, and he has launched a Board of Peace which some fear could undermine the older international body.
Founded in 1945, the U.N. has 193 member states and works to maintain international peace and security, promote human rights, foster social and economic development, and coordinate humanitarian aid.
In his letter, Guterres said “decisions not to honour assessed contributions that finance a significant share of the approved regular budget have now been formally announced.”
He did not say which state or states he was referring to, and a U.N. spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Under U.N. rules, contributions depend on the size of the economy of each member state. The U.S. accounts for 22% of the core budget followed by China with 20%.
But by the end of 2025 there was a record $1.57 billion in outstanding dues, Guterres said, without naming the nations that owed them.
“Either all Member States honour their obligations to pay in full and on time – or Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse,” he said.
U.N. officials say the U.S. currently owes $2.19 billion to the regular U.N. budget, another $1.88 billion for active peace-keeping missions and $528 million for past peace-keeping missions.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Guterres letter.
Guterres launched a reform task force last year, known as UN80, which seeks to cut costs and improve efficiency. To that end, states agreed to cut the 2026 budget by around 7% to $3.45 billion.
Still, Guterres warned in the letter that the organisation could run out of cash by July.
One of the problems is a rule now seen as antiquated whereby the global body has to credit back hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent dues to states each year.
“In other words, we are trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle expected to give back cash that does not exist,” said Guterres, referring to author Franz Kafka who wrote about oppressive bureaucratic processes.
World
Man sprays U.S. lawmaker Ilhan Omar with liquid, disrupting Minnesota event
Police arrested a man who sprayed Democratic U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar with a foul-smelling liquid in Minneapolis on Tuesday as she condemned the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Minnesota.
Omar, the frequent target of political insults from President Donald Trump, was uninjured. A security guard immediately grabbed the man and took him to the ground, according to a Reuters witness and video of the town hall event, Reuters reported.
Police said they arrested the man for third-degree assault.
In her remarks, Omar was criticizing ICE and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, demanding that Noem resign after the recent shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during Trump’s immigration enforcement surge.
“ICE cannot be reformed, it cannot be rehabilitated, we must abolish ICE for good, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment,” Omar said, to applause.
Moments later, a man seated in a front row stepped toward her and sprayed her with the contents of what police described as a syringe, telling Omar, “You must resign.”
Omar defiantly took a few steps toward him, with her hand raised, before he was subdued.
She continued her remarks after a short break, resisting associates’ urging to seek medical attention, saying she just needed a napkin. Her office later issued a statement saying she was OK.
Forensic scientists were gathering evidence at the scene, Minneapolis police said in a statement.
A Reuters witness said the liquid smelled of ammonia and caused minor throat irritation.
“I learned at a young age, you don’t give in to threats,” Omar told the audience, after refusing to suspend the event. “You look them in the face and you stand strong.”
Trump has repeatedly targeted Omar in public remarks and social media posts, also taking aim at her Somali nationality.
“Ilhan Omar is garbage,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting in December. “She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.”
Omar, 43, came to the United States as a 12-year-old girl and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
On Tuesday, U.S. Capitol Police said its threat assessment cases rose in 2025 for the third year in a row, spiking nearly 58% from 2024.
In 2025, it investigated 14,938 instances of statements, behavior, and communications directed against members of Congress, their families, staff, and the Capitol complex, it added, up from 9,474 in 2024.
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