United 24 Media:
🇵🇱 Poland supports Donald Trump’s call for NATO countries to allocate 5% of GDP to defense spending, even if achieving this goal takes a decade, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosińska-Kamiś told the Financial Times.
Kosińska-Kamiś stated that Poland could serve as a “transatlantic link” to bridge the gap between Trump’s challenge and its implementation in Europe. Poland is currently leading NATO in defense spending, allocating 4.7% of its GDP this year—the highest among member states. In contrast, only 23 of NATO’s 32 members have met the 2% GDP spending target, with Italy and Spain lagging significantly.
The minister described Trump’s proposed target as “an important wake-up call” for the Alliance, adding, “It will take another decade to achieve Trump’s goal, but he shouldn’t be criticized for setting an ambitious target. Without it, some countries will continue debating the necessity of increased spending.”
Poland doubled its defense budget after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, investing billions in weapons from the U.S. and South Korea due to its proximity to Russia.
In comparison, Italy has struggled to meet even the 2% target, citing its high debt and the need to control public spending. Rome’s request to exclude military expenses from deficit calculations has been rejected. Spain, meanwhile, spends only 1.28% of its GDP on defense, making it NATO’s lowest spender. Despite pledging to reach 2% by 2029, Spain’s progress appears doubtful.
Poland intends to leverage its six-month EU presidency, which began on January 1, to push for €100 billion in defense spending in the next EU budget. Negotiations for the 2028–2035 budget period will begin this year.
Last year, the European Commission proposed a €1.5 billion defense industry development program, which Kosińska-Kamiś dismissed as insufficient. He plans to present Poland’s more ambitious proposals during a meeting on Monday with representatives from Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
“If we could afford debt to recover from Covid, we must find the money to protect ourselves from war. Not everyone shares this view, but Poland does. We must also remember that some major European countries were wrong about Russia,” the minister emphasized.
🇸🇮 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of “walking around Europe, begging and blackmailing.”
Fico claimed two solutions were prepared for gas transit from Ukraine to Slovakia, allegedly agreed upon with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The first involved an agreement between Russia and Azerbaijan to supply Azerbaijani gas to Slovakia, which Fico said was disrupted by Zelenskyy. The second option proposed creating a subsidiary of SPP, Slovakia’s gas utility, at the Russian-Ukrainian border to transport Slovak gas through Ukraine.
Fico also stated that Russia had always been a reliable partner in energy supplies.
🔹 The Russian State Duma has claimed it could defeat Lithuania within 24 hours and declared that “the Baltics should belong to Russia.”
This statement came from Alexei Zhuravlev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, in response to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, who stated that the Kaliningrad Region historically belongs to Lithuania Minor.
“If we are revisiting the outcomes of World War II, then the entire Baltic region should belong to Russia, as it did before the revolution. That includes Vilna, now Vilnius, which was the capital of the Vilnius Governorate of the Russian Empire since 1795,” Zhuravlev told RIA Novosti.
He also mentioned that Russia “could benefit from the Suwałki Corridor” to ensure easier access to Kaliningrad.
In typical Russian “diplomatic” fashion, Zhuravlev urged Lithuania to “keep its mouth shut,” calling its army “one of the weakest in the world” and claiming Lithuania would not withstand a confrontation with Russia “even for 24 hours.”
🇸🇮 A group of far-right Slovak MPs, led by Deputy Speaker and Slovak National Party leader Andrej Danko, has traveled to Russia for several days to discuss the continuation of Russian gas supplies.
Danko claimed that Poland refused to allow their plane to fly over its territory.
He stated that his goal is to “bring information” about life in Russia and “show that people live there too, and that Germans, French, and Americans do business there.”
🔸 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared footage of North Korean soldiers being interrogated after being captured by Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region.
Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is ready to return the captured soldiers to Kim Jong Un if an exchange can be arranged for Ukrainian soldiers held captive in Russia.
🔹 Russia is facing difficulties preserving its military assets in Syria, according to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR).
The aggressor state continues to transfer weapons and equipment from Syria to Libya by air. Russian soldiers have reportedly been ordered to destroy all inoperable military vehicles requiring repair.
Additionally, Russia is struggling to evacuate military assets by sea, as the new Syrian administration has barred Russian ships from entering the port of Tartus. The dry cargo ship Sparta and two landing ships, Ivan Gren and Alexander Otrakovsky, remain stranded in the outer roadstead.
The Otrakovsky is reportedly experiencing technical issues, including a malfunctioning water desalination plant and fuel leaks from its second and third tanks.
On January 9, Russian Rear Admiral Valery Varfolomeyev attempted to negotiate a resolution but was denied participation in the talks.
🔸 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the offensive remarks made by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, emphasizing that Fico rejected Ukraine’s offer to help mitigate the impact of Russia’s suspension of gas supplies.
Zelenskyy called it a clear mistake on Fico’s part, suggesting that he was trying to “infinitely preserve the shadowy schemes” of cooperation with Russia.
🔹 Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced his intention to officially propose Serbia as the host country for the anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
“This is a country where President Trump has the highest approval rating in all of Europe. No other country can compare in this regard. At the same time, President Putin is also very, very popular here. So, I believe Serbia is the place on Earth that suits both of them very well,” Vučić stated.
🔸 In the second round of Croatia’s presidential election, the incumbent pro-Russian President Zoran Milanović secured victory with 74.58% of the vote.
His opponent, Dragan Primorac from the Croatian Democratic Union, garnered 25.42%. Voter turnout for the election was 44.15%.
🔹 South Korean intelligence has reported that at least 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and another 2,700 wounded while fighting in the war against Ukraine.
🔸 Forbes has reported that, for the first time in the full-scale war, Ukrainians hold a tank advantage over Russians in certain sections of the front, thanks to drones.
Russian tanks are now largely limited to firing from camouflaged positions far from the front line, effectively functioning as imprecise howitzers. This shift has been attributed to Ukraine's successful deployment of drones. These drones target Russian tanks well behind the contact line, preventing them from reaching attack positions.
Ukrainian tanks, in contrast, are operating more freely, able to engage Russian forces directly with cannons and machine guns. This is possible because of safer airspace created by Ukrainian drones, which have been deployed at scale and with refined tactics. Russian sources have expressed frustration over the impact of Ukraine's drone operations on their tank deployments.
However, in the Kursk region, where Russian forces are prioritizing their most advanced fiber-optic drones, Ukraine's advantage is less pronounced. These jamming-resistant drones have been instrumental in repelling Ukrainian advances, including targeting advanced tanks like the M1 Abrams and Leopard 2s. Yet, such drones are concentrated in priority sectors, leaving other Russian units reliant on less effective systems.
Despite Ukraine's growing armored advantage, Russian anti-tank missiles and a shortage of Ukrainian infantry continue to pose challenges, Forbes concluded.
🔹 Oil hits four-month high after US imposes sweeping anti-Russia sanctions — Bloomberg.
Brent crude rose above $81 a barrel after rising nearly 4% in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate was near $78.
The sweeping measures, adopted less than two weeks before Donald Trump takes office, have focused attention on key markets in India and China, where refiners will be forced to seek alternative sources of supply. India has become a major buyer of Russian oil after February 2022, while China is the world’s largest oil importer.
Oil prices have been rising in recent weeks, helped by a cold snap, a drawdown in US inventories and speculation that the Trump administration could tighten restrictions on supplies from Iran in the coming months.
The Biden administration’s sweeping sanctions package threatens to cause further disruption, potentially upending the market framework for OPEC+ as the alliance plans to begin easing output curbs later this year after a series of delays, the report said.
The price surge could also pose a challenge to central banks, including the Federal Reserve, if it leads to rising inflation.
However, it remains unclear how the restrictions will affect actual oil flows for producers, shippers, traders and users.
Citigroup Inc. said it could hit up to 30% of Russia’s so-called shadow tanker fleet. That would put up to 800,000 barrels per day at risk, although actual losses could be less than half that figure.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it had not changed its expectations for Russian supply as oil prices could fall further to encourage purchases.