Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen while delivering a speech during a military parade on Victory Day, marking the 81st anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

An instructor from the Ukrainian company General Cherry demonstrates the operation of an anti-air interceptor drone designed to destroy Russian attack drones in Kyiv region. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine on April 25, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

There has been a string of high-profile arrests of Western citizens since Moscow ordered its troops into Ukraine. File

Smoke rises amid explosions from a Ukrainian strike on a Russian missile plant, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Bryansk, Russia March 10. 2026 in this screen grab from handout video. Photo: General Staff of Ukraine Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Europe and India can build a partnership that is “predictable”, Kaja Kallas, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, said on Tuesday (January 27, 2026), taking aim at the U.S., Russia, and China for increasing uncertainty in the world.

Ms. Kallas said that during the EU-India Summit on Tuesday (January 27, 2026) between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Antonio Costa, the EU had asked India to “put pressure” on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

India-EU Summit updates on January 27, 2026

Speaking at a think-tank event here, shortly after the India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) and Strategic and Defence Partnership (SDP) were announced, Ms. Kallas said the U.S.’s “tariff threats”, China’s “economic coercion”, and the “existential threat” to Europe from Russia were all common challenges.

Ms. Kallas, who was Estonia’s Prime Minister (2021-2024), is known for her outspoken views, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In September 2025, Ms. Kallas had said that India’s participation in the Zapad military exercises and its imports of Russian oil “stand in the way of closer ties” between New Delhi and Brussels.

Accusing Russia of refusing to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine and of bombing civilian targets, Ms. Kallas said that Moscow wanted to “push Ukrainian people to surrender”.

“What we have asked our Indian colleagues is to put pressure on the Russians so that they would also want peace, because this war is not good for Europe or for the [Global South] and that is an area of convergence for EU and India is that we both want sustainable peace”.

On Sunday, the Kremlin spokesperson had said that ceasefire talks in Abu Dhabi between Russia and Ukraine were under way, but that European leaders, particularly Ms. Kallas, would not be included in the talks.

Calling for India and the EU to cooperate on the Indo-Pacific, the EU top diplomat criticised China’s “weaponisation of trade” and highlighted the need for open sea lanes.

“[EU and India] both face economic coercive practices coming from China and to address this alone, we are both weak. But together we are much stronger [and can] stand up to this,” Ms. Kallas said, adding that if companies were “hit” by Chinese practices, prosperity would also suffer, and the EU-India FTA would help the two countries cooperate against this, and shore up the multilateral world order.

“When I go around the world, I see more and more countries want to build partnerships with Europe, because we are predictable, and that has become something of value,” Ms. Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President, said speaking at the Delhi-based Ananta Centre.

Referring to President Donald Trump’s imposition of new duties, without naming the U.S., she said that the “constant threat of tariffs” and the reversal of signed agreements “by an executive order” had created pressure on companies around the world.

She stressed that India and the EU must “build confidence” and work on trade, security, defence and foreign policy together. “[EU members] take a long time to negotiate an agreement, but when we do, we stick to them and actually implement them,” she said.

Ms. Kallas said it was time for India and the EU to cooperate on defence hardware as well.

“There is an interest in our EU member states for cooperation with the Indian defence industry, because we have these existential threats coming from Russia,” she said. “We have our member states increasing their defence expenditure… if European industries cannot deliver, we can buy from outside,” she said, adding that India and the EU could work together, not only on defence hardware, but maritime exercises, cybersecurity, and hybrid threats.

Published – January 27, 2026 08:28 pm IST

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer puts his hand on the shoulder of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as he departs 10 Downing Street, London on December 8, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with ballistic missiles and drones on Saturday (December 27, 2025), killing at least one person and wounding 27, a day before talks between the leaders of Ukraine and the United States, authorities said.

Explosions boomed across Kyiv as the attack began in early morning and continued for hours.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday for further talks on ending the nearly four-year war. Mr. Zelenskyy told reporters that he and Trump plan to discuss several matters, including security guarantees and territorial issues in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

“This attack is Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. It really shows that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not want peace,” Mr. Zelenskyy said after stopping in Canada to meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Carney announced $1.8 billion worth of economic assistance to Ukraine that helps unlock financing from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for reconstruction and development.

“The barbarism that we saw overnight, the attack of Kyiv, shows just how important that we stand with Ukraine during this difficult time,” Mr. Carney said.

Apartment buildings hit

The Russian Defence Ministry said it carried out a “massive strike” overnight, using “long-range precision-guided weapons from land, air and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” and drones. It said it targeted energy infrastructure facilities used by Ukraine’s forces and military-industrial enterprises.

But several residential buildings were struck.

The Ministry said the strike was in response to Ukraine’s attacks on “civilian objects” in Russia.

Earlier on Saturday, the ministry said air defences shot down seven Ukrainian drones over the Russian regions of Krasnodar and Adygeya overnight. On Saturday afternoon, the ministry said 147 more drones were shot down over a number of Russian regions.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defences intercepted more than 20 drones “flying towards” the Russian capital on Saturday. He did not report any damage or casualties. It was not immediately clear whether those were included in the Defence Ministry’s count.

Russia claims territorial gains

In what could be viewed as an effort to further ramp up pressure on Ukraine before the Zelenskyy-Trump talks, the Kremlin on Saturday night released a video of Mr. Putin in military fatigues receiving reports from top military officials in an unidentified military command post.

Russia’s General Staff chief, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, reported to Putin that the Russian troops have taken full control of Myrnohrad in the Donetsk region —Russia uses the old Soviet name of the city, Dimitrov — the city of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a few other settlements.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials. Ukraine’s General Staff reported attempts by Russian forces “to push Ukrainian defenders from their positions” in a number of areas, including Myrnohrad, and Kyiv’s forces repelling “enemy attempts to advance” in the areas of Huliaipole and Bilohiria.

Mr. Putin said that “if Kyiv authorities are not willing to end the matter peacefully, we will achieve all the goals we have in the special military operation by military means”.

Poland on alert

Poland scrambled fighter jets and closed airports in Lublin and Rzeszow near the border with Ukraine for several hours during the Russian attacks, the country’s armed forces command said on social media. There was no violation of Polish airspace, it said.

Civil aviation authority Pansa later said the airports had resumed operations. It was unclear what caused the alert in Poland when the Russian attacks were focussed on Kyiv, which is far from the border.

Russia targeted Ukraine with 519 drones and 40 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said. The main target was energy and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, Mr. Zelenskyy said. In some districts of the region, there is no electricity or heating because of the attacks, he said.

Screams as man burns to death

More than 10 residential buildings were damaged, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on social media.

Olena Karpenko, 52, said she heard a man as he burned to death. “His scream is still in my ears. I cannot believe it,” she said, weeping.

Karpenko said they heard an explosion at the nearby thermal power plant, followed by a stronger blast that shook the windows of her home. Then came the strike on her building.

Two children were among those wounded in the attack, which hit seven locations across the capital, the head of the Kyiv Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said on social media.

A body was found under the rubble of one damaged building, he said. It was not immediately clear if that person was the man who burned to death.

A fire broke out in an 18-story residential building in the Dnipro district, and emergency crews rushed to contain the flames. A 24-story residential building in the Darnytsia district was also hit, Tkachenko said, and more fires broke out in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivsky districts.

In the wider Kyiv region, the strikes hit industrial and residential buildings, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service. In the Vyshhorod area, emergency crews rescued one person found under the rubble of a destroyed house.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said on X on Saturday evening that the Russian attack caused “extensive power outages” in Kyiv, saying that hundreds of thousands of customers remained without power.

Security guarantees prioritised

Mr. Zelenskyy told reporters he would aim to ensure there were “as few unresolved issues as possible” in talks with Trump, while respecting Ukraine’s red lines.

Speaking by audio note in a WhatsApp chat with journalists, Mr. Zelenskyy said he would prioritise discussing security guarantees for Ukraine. He has said that in the draft peace plan, the US has committed to providing guarantees that mirror the NATO alliance’s Article 5, which means an attack on Ukraine would trigger a collective military response from the US and its allies.

But key details must be worked out in a bilateral agreement.

Territorial concessions are the most sensitive of issues the two leaders will discuss, including the Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Mr. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would never recognise any territory as Russian “under any circumstances”.

Published – December 28, 2025 05:12 am IST