We must prepare for war. That is the best way to avoid it,” Rutte said in an interview with Bild. According to him, Europe must “not show weakness” toward Russia. Rutte noted that the threat does not come from Russia alone,

Ukraine has repeatedly said it does not want a ceasefire without obtaining security guarantees that would stop Moscow from regenerating its forces and launching another invasion in the future.

President Trump warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine quickly, or else face “high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions.” Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that excluding his country from talks between the U.S. and Russia about the war in Ukraine would be “very dangerous" and asked for more discussions between Kyiv and Washington to develop a plan for a ceasefire.

Kyiv region. A Russian ballistic missile strike in Ukraine's capital on the morning of January 18 killed three people and wounded three others. Dnipropetrovsk region. On the morning of January 17, a Russian missile attack on the region's second-biggest city, home to more than 500,000 residents, killed four people and wounded 14 others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is afraid of direct negotiations with Ukraine. Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Associated Press Quote: "He [Putin – ed.