‘Good spirit to get something done’ on Greenland and build Golden Dome, Trump says
Back to Greenland, Trump says “there is a good spirit to get something done,” and the US will “have ability to do exactly what we want to do” with the “great” US military.
He says it will be a “much more generous deal” and says it’s “so much better” for the US to “have that piece of ice covered by the Golden Dome” missile system.
Updated at 17.03 EST
Key events
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‘Last mile’ is ‘difficult,’ but Zelenskyy praises ‘good’ talks with Trump
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Documents aimed at ending Ukraine-Russia war ‘nearly ready,’ Zelenskyy says
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Zelenskyy urges leaders to act and make Europe ‘global force’
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Europe remains ‘beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers’
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Zelenskyy criticises EU’s soft response on Greenland, calls for serious approach to Arctic security
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Nato’s Rutte says he didn’t discuss Danish sovereignty with Trump; urges leaders to ramp up defence preparations
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Zelenskyy/Trump meeting in Davos ends
10h ago
Opening: More questions than answers
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Jakub Krupa
All that food talk made me a bit hungry, so let me tell you what the EU leaders are munching on during their talks in Brussels tonight.
As Jennifer Rankin confirmed, the menu for tonight is:
Scallops in a walnut and curry crust
Chicken supreme with vanilla roast parsnips
Citrus salad with a fennel and dill foam
Erm.
No wonder Robert Fico wasn’t happy about having to come all the way to Brussels (22:00). For this? Vanilla roast parsnips!?
Perhaps the inclusion of dill that is so popular in central and eastern Europe – as controversial as it is with our Guardian colleague Shaun Walker – could make it slightly more appealing to him?
Back to Greenland, that TV2 piece I referenced earlier (22:47) has also another anecdote about how the same two Danish ministers for foreign and defence found out about Trump’s decision to drop retaliatory tariffs on Europeans.
The broadcaster says they were out dining with the UK defence minister, John Healey, who was in Copenhagen on Wednesday night, chatting over a plate of fish and chips of sorts (or “a pan-fried turbot with fumet, fennel, cabbage and potatoes,” as the menu has it), when they got the message.
On his way back from the dinner, defence minister Poulsen reportedly called Nato’s Mark Rutte to get his reading about his discussions with Trump, who had already briefed PM Frederiksen about his conversations with the US president, the broadcaster claimed.
Again: at least that’s what TV2 says.
Updated at 17.34 EST
Europeans ‘have to do something about immigration,’ Trump says
Closing his remarks on Air Force Trump, Trump also claims that some unnamed European leaders “told me openly that they wish they had our border,” as he repeated his criticism of Europe’s open borders.
“They have to do something about immigration,” he said.
He later briefly addresses the latest controversy about new bruising on his hands (he clipped it on a table and repeats an old line about taking an ‘big’ aspirin tablet which he says contributes to bruising), and that wraps up the briefing.
ShareJakub Krupa
In Poland’s case it’s a bit more complicated than Trump makes it sound: the centrist, pro-EU government seems to oppose the idea of joining the ‘Board of Peace’ (in line with most EU governments), and the president, Trump ally Nawrocki, cannot join it without the government’s backing and a majority in the parliament.
So Poland appears to be displaying some strategic ambiguity there by saying it’s interested to keep Trump on side, but in fact it’s actually unlikely to join, at least for now. But things change, obviously.
Updated at 17.18 EST
Trump says his ‘Board of Peace’ is open to more European countries, claims Italy, Poland mulling move to join
Trump also gets asked if other countries, like the UK or France, will want to join his Board of Peace.
He says he thinks they will want to, but in some cases they need to get legislative approval.
He says Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Poland’s Karol Nawrocki both said they wanted to join, but would need to go through formalities first.
He then pointedly praises Nawrocki, reminding reporters he endorsed him in last year’s presidential election in Poland.
“He’s great, by the way. He’s doing a great job, … but he has to get an approval.”
Share‘Good spirit to get something done’ on Greenland and build Golden Dome, Trump says
Back to Greenland, Trump says “there is a good spirit to get something done,” and the US will “have ability to do exactly what we want to do” with the “great” US military.
He says it will be a “much more generous deal” and says it’s “so much better” for the US to “have that piece of ice covered by the Golden Dome” missile system.
Updated at 17.03 EST
Trump claims Putin and Zelenskyy both want to end Ukraine war
Trump then turned to Ukraine, saying he had “numerous conversations on Ukraine” as “it’d be nice to end that war”.
He notes the US meeting with Putin in Moscow and says “we will see how that works out”.
He adds he had “a good meeting” with Zelenskyy in Davos, but they also had good meetings in the past and nothing happened. He later repeats it was a “very good” meeting.
He says Europe will also be going a part of the deal, if it comes through.
Trump claims that both Zelenskyy and Putin “want to make a deal”, and says that Zelenskyy repeatedly said that during their meeting today.
He says he spoke with Zelenskyy about the dramatic situation of the Ukrainian people, with no energy and heat in extremely low temperatures.
“It’s pretty amazing what they do to live. That’s no way to live,” he says.
On the UAE meeting this weekend, he says:
“Anytime we meet, it’s good. If you don’t meet, nothing’s going to happen.”
Updated at 16.59 EST
Greenland deal would let US ‘do anything we want’ in cooperation with Nato, Trump says
Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump is gaggling with reporters on board of Air Force One, on his way back from Davos.
Asked about more details on the Greenland deal, he said it would run in “infinity” and the US could “do anything we want” there militarily.
“It’s being negotiated and let’s see what happens,” he said.
We says “we are all going to work together” with Nato as the alliance “is going to be involved with us,” but the US will not have to pay for anything except the Golden Dome missile system.
Is Denmark on board with this idea?
“I think everyone likes it,” he assets, adding he will update the press on this in “two weeks.”
ShareJakub Krupa
Since Jennifer mentioned (22:30) confidential meetings without phones …
Danish broadcaster TV2 has this great story with an amazing, if slightly bizarre, anecdote about Trump’s Davos speech yesterday in which he repeatedly said he wanted to control Iceland Greenland, but ruled out the use of force.
So, the speech took place at the same time as Denmark’s foreign and defence ministers were briefing members of the Danish parliament’s foreign affairs committee in a confidential, no-phone setting.
According to TV2, the ministers’ officials had to regularly leave the room for “toilet breaks” to get hold of their phones, check the latest on Trump’s speech on Europe Live blog obviously, and report it back to their principals, eventually scribbling on a piece of paper that the military threat is off the table (for now?).
That’s why when Rasmussen and Poulsen finally emerged from the room, they were able to give reporters their first reaction – despite not seeing the speech.
Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen talk to media in Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. Photograph: Tom Little/Reuters
Or so says TV2.
Updated at 16.48 EST
Denmark’s Frederiksen expected to meet Nato’s Rutte on Friday – media reports
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen will stay overnight in Brussels and meet with Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte on Friday morning to talk about Greenland and his discussions with US president Donald Trump, Danish media reported.
Danish public broadcaster DR said the meeting was confirmed by Frederiksen’s office.
Share
Jennifer Rankin
in Brussels
It’s a waiting game now! We are all in the council atrium, but there is no information from the room as it’s a closed discussion without phones…
View of the European Council press room as journalists wait for the outcome of the European Council summit on 22 January 2025 in Brussels, Belgium. Photograph: Jennifer Rankin/The GuardianShareSlovak PM Fico calls for change of EU leadership as he criticises ‘unprepared’ expensive summit and hatred of Russia
Separately, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico has just posted a short rant vlog recorded during his travel to this night’s Brussels meeting, in which he criticised the EU’s leadership for hosting what he saw as an “unprepared” summit convened in response to “panic” by “some member states.”
In the 5-minute video, he criticises European Council president António Costa for calling “a super expensive dinner in Brussels,” and EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas for, well, everything.
He was particularly keen to stress his longstanding feud with Kallas, which started over Fico’s repeated willingness to meet with Putin despite the continuing Russian aggression on Ukraine, which she criticised him for.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Slovak prime minister Robert Fico pose for a picture during a meeting in Beijing in September 2025. Photograph: Alexander Kazakov/Reuters
Taking aim at the bloc’s foreign policy chief over the recent crisis in relations with the US, he said:
“We cannot have people in EU leadership roles with whom key places do not meet with and don’t even really talk. If the US state secretary Marco Rubio repeatedly refuses to meet with Kaja Kallas, let alone have a constructive disagreement with her, what purpose does her role actually serve?”
Fico also claimed that “the only thing driving the EU today is hatred towards Russia.”
He argued that the EU can only emerge from its “deep crisis” if it gets a new leadership, as the current crop has “no answers” to any of the key questions facing the bloc, before delivering this killer line:
“The same rule applies to the EU as to a massage parlour: if it doesn’t work, it’s not enough to change the beds, you have to change the staff.”
(He was so keen to make everyone notice this line that he put it in his post in English, ALL CAPS.)
He then wrapped up by saying he hopes they won’t be sitting there until the morning, as he has a meeting in Paris tomorrow.
(There is also a line about other Slovak parties riding a donkey, but that’s for another occasion. The next parliamentary election is scheduled for next year, and Fico is already on manoeuvres, as his Smer party is trailing in polls behind the liberal opposition party, Progresívne Slovensko).
Updated at 16.16 EST
Jakub Krupa
During his Davos appearance earlier today, Zelenskyy said that he expected the US-Russian talks to take place tomorrow, before correcting himself to say “tonight, at night.”
He then said:
“I don’t know when, maybe Putin [will be] sleeping. Like you said, nobody knows what is in his head,” he joked.
But it appears that there is some urgency is to progress things before the UAE talks tomorrow and over the weekend, hence the late night meeting in Moscow tonight.
SharePutin holds talks with US Witkoff, Kushner on Ukraine, Kremlin says
It turns out Russia’s Vladimir Putin has something in common with European leaders as he is as keen to hold late night political dinners as they are over in Brussels.
We are just getting a line from the Kremlin that his talks with Witkoff and Kushner is just getting under way now, despite the fact that it’s 11.30pm local time.
ShareUkraine secured new deals on air defence in Davos, Zelenskyy says
Without offering more details, Zelenskyy also says that he has reached “agreements on new package of critically needed air defence for the protection of our people” during his time in Davos.
ShareUkrainian delegation en route for trilateral talks with US, Russia, Zelenskyy says
In other diplomatic travel news, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has just confirmed that, as previously reported (15:39), a Ukrainian delegation is now en route to the United Arab Emirates for their trilateral talks with the US and Russia.
“We will see how this proceeds and then determine our next steps,” he says.
ShareGet out of Greenland mode and stand up for yourself, Zelenskyy tells Europe
Andrew Roth
Global affairs correspondent
As reported, earlier today Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has taken aim at Europe in a fiery speech at Davos, accusing leaders of being in “Greenland mode” as they waited for leadership from Donald Trump on Ukraine and other geopolitical crises rather than taking action themselves.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Europe needs to know how to defend itself – video
The Ukrainian president’s call to arms, targeting some of Kyiv’s top allies, capped a week of extraordinary diplomatic drama at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort, where European leaders scrambled to end a standoff with the White House over Greenland, and several western leaders – led by Canada’s Mark Carney – called for stronger pushback against Trump’s territorial ambitions and political whims.
Despite Trump’s limited and scattershot support for Ukraine since taking office one year ago, Zelenskyy focused instead on Europe’s role in the conflict, accusing the continent’s leaders of complacency and inaction.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words ‘Europe needs to know how to defend itself’,” Zelenskyy said. “A year has passed, and nothing has changed.”
He added: “Europe remains in Greenland mode: maybe someone somewhere will do something.”
ShareWitkoff, Kushner arrive in Moscow for Putin talks on Ukraine
Meanwhile, we are also getting reports that a plane carrying US envoy Steve Witkoff and president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has just landed in Moscow, where they are expected to hold talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.
(Although it may not necessarily be today, given it’s just before 11pm local time.)