Ukraine takes centre stage at Davos

Ukraine takes centre stage at Davos

KYIV, Ukraine: Russian forces pursued their bombardment of frontline Ukrainian cities Sunday, seeking to gain military momentum as Kyiv’s diplomatic counter-offensive targeted the world’s business and political elite gathering in Davos. Shelling and missile strikes hit Kharkiv in the north, and Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia in the south, while eight civilians were killed on the eastern front in the Donbas, Ukrainian officials said.

Three months after launching their invasion, Moscow’s forces are focused on securing and expanding their gains in the Donbas region and on Ukraine’s southern coast. Kyiv, meanwhile, is rallying international support and receiving Western weapons supplies, even if EU powers are struggling to agree on expanding sanctions to Russia’s huge energy exports.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda was to address the Ukrainian parliament and meet President Volodymyr Zelensky later Sunday, a day ahead of the Ukrainian leader’s Davos videoconference. “He will in particular pay homage to those who, in defending Ukraine, are fighting to defend Europe,” Duda’s adviser Jakub Kumoch told the news agency PAP. The World Economic Forum brings together the world’s business and political elite in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, and this year’s gathering will put Ukraine’s crisis at centre stage.

Davos snubs Moscow

Zelensky is due to hold a