Officials in Ukraine say Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack Friday killing at least two civilians, wounding several others and damaging commercial and residential buildings.

The interior ministry said two victims were killed by drone debris in the central Kyiv region. It said a multistory residential building and commercial buildings were among the infrastructure that sustained damage during the attack.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted and destroyed some 120 drones over a dozen regions, including Moscow, overnight Friday, launched by Ukraine.

No casualties were reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he would talk soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to push the Russian leader to end his nearly three-year war on neighboring Ukraine.

“Millions of young lives are being wasted. That war is horrible,” Trump, via video link from Washington, told global business leaders meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

He said that “Ukraine is ready to make a deal,” although no peace negotiations have been announced. “This is a war that never should’ve started.”

Trump, three days into his second term in the White House, said he would ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to cut global oil prices, now about $77 a barrel, to curb Russia’s oil revenues, which it uses to fund the war.

“If the price comes down,” Trump said, “the war in Ukraine will end immediately.”

“It’s so important to get that done,” he said. “It’s time to end it.”

Trump’s new remarks on the war came a day after he described the conflict as a “ridiculous war” and told Putin in a social media message that if he didn’t move to end it, the U.S. would impose new tariffs, taxes and sanctions on Russian exports to the West.

But the Kremlin was unmoved by Trump’s threat, saying Thursday it did not see any particularly new elements in U.S. policy toward Russia.

“He likes these methods, at least he liked them during his first presidency,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Peskov said Russia remains ready for “mutually respectful dialogue” with the United States as Trump starts a four-year term in the White House.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday invited global businesses to manufacture their products in the U.S. and promised them lower taxes but warned if they choose to produce their goods elsewhere, they would have to pay tariffs to export them to the United States. 

“America is back and open for business,” Trump, in a video linkup from Washington, told corporate leaders meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

“My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America, and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth,” Trump said. “But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff.” 

Trump, three days into his second term in the White House, said he wants to cut the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21 to 15%, although that needs approval from his political allies in the Republican-controlled Congress. Lawmakers have begun debating how to extend and reshape personal and corporate tax cuts enacted in 2017 during Trump’s first term in office. 

Trump promised the U.S. would supply Europe with the liquified natural gas it needs but contended that the European Union treats the United States “very, very unfairly” with the extent of regulations it imposes on American businesses operating in the 27-nation bloc. 

The president complained specifically about tariffs and environmental impact statements for new construction projects, calling them “things you shouldn’t have to do.”  

Trump promised that his administration would make the U.S., already the world’s biggest economy, “a manufacturing superpower” and said the government during his four-year term would eliminate 10 business regulations for every new one that is imposed. 

He said he plans to ask Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut the price of oil they produce to boost the global economy. 

He contended that if the current global oil price — about $77 a barrel — is cut, “the war in Ukraine will end immediately.” Russia uses revenue from its own oil production to help fund its three-year war on neighboring Ukraine.  

Trump said that in the global economy, the U.S. “just wants to be treated fairly by other countries.” 

He said the U.S. wants to have a “fair relationship” with China, the world’s second-biggest economy. 

“We don’t want to take advantage,” he said of Washington-Beijing relations. “We just want to have a level playing field.” 
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A record 47% of the European Union’s electricity now comes from solar and other renewables, a report Thursday said, in yet another sign of the growing gap between the bloc’s push for clean energy and the new U.S. administration’s pursuit of more fossil fuels.

Nearly three-quarters of the EU’s electricity doesn’t emit planet-warming gases into the air — with another 24% of electricity in the bloc coming from nuclear power, a report released by the climate energy think tank Ember found. This is far higher than in countries like the United States and China, where nearly two-thirds of their energy is still produced from carbon-polluting fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Experts say they’re encouraged by Europe’s fossil fuel reductions, particularly as the U.S. looks set to increase its emissions as its new president pledges cheaper gas prices, has halted leases for wind projects and pledged to revoke Biden-era incentives for electric vehicles.

“Fossil fuels are losing their grip on EU energy,” said Chris Rosslowe, an energy expert at Ember. In 2024, solar power generated 11% of EU electricity, overtaking coal which fell below 10% for the first time. Clean wind power generated more electricity than gas for the second year in a row.

2024 data wasn’t available for all countries. Ember’s data for the world’s largest generators of electricity for 2023 show Brazil with the largest share of its electricity from renewables, almost 89%, with much of that coming from hydroelectric power. Canada had about 66.5%, China 30.6%, France 26.5%, the U.S. 22.7% and India 19.5%.

One reason for Europe’s clean power transition moving at pace is the European Green Deal, an ambitious policy passed in 2019 that paved the way for climate laws to be updated. As a result of the deal, the EU made their targets more ambitious, aiming to cut 55% of the region’s emissions by the end of the decade. The policy also aims to make Europe climate neutral — reducing the amount of additional emissions in the air to practically zero — by 2050.

Hundreds of regulations and directives in European countries to incentivize investment in clean energy and reduce carbon pollution have been passed or are in the process of being ratified across Europe.

“At the start of the Deal, renewables were a third and fossil fuels accounted for 39% of Europe’s electricity,” Rosslowe said. “Now fossils generate only 29% and wind and solar have been driving the clean energy transition.” The amount of electricity generated by nuclear energy has remained relatively stable in the bloc.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also spurred the move to clean energy in Europe. Gas prices skyrocketed — with much of Europe’s gas coming from Russia becoming unviable — forcing countries to look for cheaper, cleaner alternatives. Portugal, Netherlands and Estonia witnessed the highest increase in clean power in the last five years.

The transition to clean power helped Europe avoid more than $61 billion worth of fossil fuel imports for generating electricity since 2019.

“This is sending a clear message that their energy needs are going to be met through clean power, not gas imports,” said Pieter de Pous, a Brussels-based energy analyst at European think tank E3G. De Pous said the EU’s origins were “as a community of coal and steel because those industries were so important,” but it is now rapidly becoming a “community of solar and wind power, batteries and smart technologies.”

Nuclear growth in the bloc, meanwhile, has slowed. Across the European Union, retirements of nuclear plants have outpaced new construction since around the mid-2000s, according to Global Energy Monitor.

As President Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement aimed at curbing warming and is pursuing a “drill, baby, drill” energy policy, Rosslowe said the EU’s leadership in clean power becomes all the more important. “It’s about increasing European energy independence, and it’s about showing this climate leadership,” he said.

On Tuesday, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said: “Europe will stay the course, and keep working with all nations that want to protect nature and stop global warming.”
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Nuuk, Greenland — A blizzard whips the Danish, Greenlandic and Faroe Islands flags above the Joint Arctic Command headquarters overlooking the harbor of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.

The small military outpost staffed by around 80 personnel oversees Danish security for the vast Arctic island of some 2.1 million square kilometers.

Greenland’s government is largely autonomous, but the island is part of the Danish Kingdom, and Denmark retains responsibility for its security.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made clear his determination to take ownership of the island for the United States and hasn’t ruled out using economic or military force.

Speaking hours after his inauguration, Trump reiterated his view that U.S. control was necessary for “international security” because, he explained, “You have Russian boats all over the place. You have China boats all over the place, warships. And [Denmark] can’t maintain it.”

Russian missiles

The United States has long viewed Greenland as vitally important for its defense, explained Marc Jacobsen, an analyst at the Royal Danish Defense College in Copenhagen.

“There’s no doubt that it’s geostrategically important in defending the U.S. national security against Russian missiles,” Jacobsen told VOA. “The shortest route for Russian missiles towards the U.S. is via the North Pole, via Greenland.”

Russia has invested heavily in its Arctic military footprint in recent years. Its northernmost Nagurskoye air base on Siberia’s northern coast hosts nuclear-capable strategic bombers, missile and surveillance systems.

Russian nuclear submarines patrol the Arctic seas, while a growing fleet of nuclear-powered ice breakers projects Kremlin power across the region.

China and Russia have conducted joint military drills in the Arctic. Beijing is also seeking access to valuable minerals beneath the ice.

“There is definitely a threat, especially from Russian military capacities in that region. And NATO countries are right now moving to increase their capacity,” Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, also of the Royal Danish Defense College, told VOA.

Denmark’s defense

Denmark’s military capabilities on Greenland consist of four aging naval patrol vessels, a surveillance plane and dog sled patrols.

Copenhagen announced plans last month to invest in new surveillance drones, two new ships and additional personnel, along with upgrading an existing air base to accommodate F-35 fighter jets. The exact cost has yet to be decided, but the government said it would spend a “double-digit billion amount” in Danish kroner, or at least $1.5 billion.

Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen admitted, however, that the government has failed to invest in Greenland’s security.

“We have neglected for many years to make the necessary investments in our ships, in the aircraft that will help to monitor our kingdom, and that is what we are now trying to do something about,” he told reporters on Jan. 9.

“We will hopefully create an investment package where we will strengthen our ability to monitor what is happening in the Arctic, and also for some new capacities to be put into place.”

Denmark hopes the upgrades will go toward “meeting American demands for increasing the surveillance of Greenland,” Jacobsen said.

US Space base

The U.S. military has been present in Greenland since World War II, when American forces were deployed to the island following Denmark’s fall to Nazi Germany. At the height of the U.S. deployment, Greenland hosted more than 10,000 U.S. service personnel.

The Pituffik Space Base on Greenland’s northwest coast, formerly known as the Thule Air Base, is the United States’ northernmost military facility. It now hosts around 200 military personnel, alongside missile warning, defense and space surveillance systems.

“The military protection of Greenland de facto relies on the U.S.,” Rahbek-Clemmensen said. “And the big question is then whether the U.S. wants to enhance that presence, perhaps to be able to do other types of military operations in that area.”

That may be why, he added, Danish officials appear to be approaching the issue in a manner that maintains good U.S. relations.

“The Danish government has been trying to touch on that word ‘control’ that Trump uses, which is a very ambiguous term,” he added. “What does control mean? Does it mean owning a piece of territory? Or does it mean having a certain amount of military equipment on that territory?”

US-Danish relations

At Denmark’s Arctic command center in Nuuk, the U.S. flag flies alongside the Danish, Greenlandic and Faroe Islands colors. The building also hosts the U.S. Consulate — a sign that, for the time being, U.S.-Danish relations remain cordial.

Before Trump’s inauguration, the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen said there were no plans to expand U.S. military presence in Greenland.

That could change under the new president.

For now, Denmark and its European allies are hoping that Trump’s comments are part of a strategy to force NATO allies to spend more on defense.

“There’s an important element which is about his personality, which he brings into the way that U.S. diplomacy, or his diplomacy, is carried out,” Jacobsen said.

“In a positive light, if the USA increases its presence in the Arctic, it will increase the NATO presence, because the seven Arctic states — besides Russia — we are all members of NATO now.”
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