No Country’s Safe in Imperialism’s Gangster Phase

Prabhat Patnaik | 13 Jan 2026

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The difference between Trump and earlier US Presidents lies only in the fact that the others had camouflaged their gangster acts under a patina of “civilised” verbiage.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, liberal bourgeois writers had proclaimed the arrival of an era marked by the universal triumph of democracy and stability; they had considered the socialist challenge unnecessary and counterproductive, and believed that capitalism, which had already given political independence to its colonies, and introduced universal adult franchise and welfare state measures at its core, would, in the absence of this challenge, secure for mankind peace, economic security and individual freedom.

Several Left writers, on the other hand, had seen decolonisation, and the introduction of universal adult franchise and welfare state measures, as concessions wrung out of capitalism at a time when it faced an existential threat because of the socialist challenge, and had anticipated that the abatement of this challenge would make the system assume its usual predatory character and roll back these concessions. They have been proved right, and imperialism, with which alone we shall be concerned here, has shown its blatantly aggressive nature, exhibiting what can only be called a “gangster phase”.

To abduct, as US imperialism has done, a duly elected President of another country, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, and his wife, from their residence through a military operation, and bring them to the US in handcuffs to face trial on trumped up charges for which no credible evidence has ever been provided, and to run their country directly as a US colony until a suitable puppet government has been put in place, is an act of incredible audacity which violates all legal and moral norms of international behaviour and typifies this “gangster phase” of imperialism.

This, however, constitutes the latest act of the gangster phase of imperialism. The forcible removal of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and his execution, again on totally false charges, the brutal killing of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, the occupation of Syria, the genocide perpetrated on the Palestinian people whose only “fault” lies in their desire not to be evicted from their homes by an imperialist-backed settler colonial project, the taking over of Gaza as a US colony to be ruled by a “Viceroy” selected by US President Donald Trump and to be converted into a piece of prime real estate, are all episodes in the unfolding of the gangster phase of imperialism.

Liberal opinion, again, holds Trump as a maverick responsible for behaving like a gangster and puts the entire onus of recent predatory acts on him alone. But most of the episodes mentioned above predate Trump’s ascendancy to power; the difference between Trump and earlier US Presidents lies only in the fact that the others had camouflaged their gangster acts under a patina of “civilised” verbiage, while Trump makes no bones about his administration’s intentions.

Besides, every one of the episodes mentioned above, including even the genocide directed against the Palestinians, has the full support of other imperialist countries who never cease to advertise their so-called “liberal” principles. Even the abduction of Maduro, while it has drawn condemnation from all over the world, except a few in the Global South wishing to curry favour with Trump (among whom alas India is included), has enjoyed the active or tacit backing of Germany, France and Britain.

An argument is being put forward, in particular by the European allies of the US, to the effect that Maduro was an authoritarian ruler, so that no tears need be shed over his removal. The utter absurdity of this argument is palpable. International law does not allow the US, or any other country for that matter, to intervene militarily in the affairs of another country to establish democracy there; it is for the people of that country to determine who the ruler should be. Whether Maduro was authoritarian or not is thus completely irrelevant to the issue of US intervention.

Read Also: What Really Does ‘Western Civilisation’ Denote?

Besides, Trump himself has openly admitted that Maduro’s principal opponent in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado, did not enjoy sufficient popular support to take over the reins of administration after Maduro had been arrested.

In a country with two main political platforms, if one does not enjoy sufficient popular support, then it stands to reason that the other must have greater support. In such a case, to claim, as Trump himself and many European leaders have done, that Maduro lacks political legitimacy, is utterly absurd. If Machado lacks political legitimacy and so does Maduro, then Trump must specify who in Venezuela does enjoy political legitimacy.

The real reason for removing Maduro was revealed by Trump with his characteristic bluntness, when he stated at his press conference on Saturday, January 3: “We are going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground”. The money made, according to him, would not only go to the people of Venezuela but also to American oil companies and to the “United States of America in the form of reimbursement for damages caused us by that country”.

The “damages” Trump was referring to were caused apparently by Venezuela’s nationalising its oil resources. Venezuela has more oil reserves than any other country in the world, reserves amounting to as much as 17% of total world reserves. And Trump’s proposal to loot Venezuela’s oil is a brazen admission of his motive for taking over and “running” that country. This is nothing else but open gangsterism: you have oil and we shall take it from you by abducting your President if he stands in the way, and either by running your country directly as a colony or by putting in place some puppet government that would allow us to loot your country.

To be sure, looting the resources of other countries, including land or products of land, is what imperialism has always done; it is central to imperialism. After decolonisation, it attempted to carry on the process of looting by toppling governments that stood in the way and putting in place pliant governments.

The CIA-sponsored coups against Arbenz in Guatemala, Mossadegh in Iran, Lumumba in Congo (as it was then called), and Allende in Chile, come to mind as obvious examples. More recently, the various colour revolutions in Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics, and the American assault on West Asia, belong to the same genre. 

The difference between all these earlier cases and Venezuela lies in the fact that in earlier cases the US gave the appearance of supporting one side in an internal conflict, while working on coups behind the scenes; but in Venezuela it has simply carried out a military intervention without this fig-leaf of supporting one side in an internal conflict.

Of course, it also targets those countries which have anti-imperialist governments even when they may not be minerally rich, and Trump has already announced his plans of targeting Cuba, Mexico and Colombia as part of his attempted revival of the infamous Monroe Doctrine. But it is not just Latin America and the Caribbean that constitute the domain of his empire. No country in the world is safe from US intervention today.

The Soviet Union had come to the defence of Cuba during the so-called Cuban missile crisis when the US had threatened to attack that island, even at the risk of provoking a nuclear conflict with the US, just as it had earlier come to the defence of Egypt against an Anglo-French invasion following Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal; in both cases, imperialism had to beat a retreat. The absence of the Soviet Union today will be sorely missed by all countries of the world that are threatened by imperialism led by the US.

This gangster phase of imperialism, which constitutes the highest stage of imperialism to date, cannot obviously last for long. The people of the world, especially of the Third World who have been victims of imperialism, will not allow themselves once again to remain in thraldom to imperialist domination. In fact, even in earlier cases of imperialist gangsterism in the Arab world, the outcome of its interference has been quite different from what was intended.

It is significant in this context that Trump’s bland assumption that, with Maduro out of the way, the Vice-President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, who has taken his place, will obey American diktat has already proved hollow: she has condemned the US action and demanded the release of Maduro because of which Trump has started threatening her with “a fate worse than Maduro”. And indeed, the entire country has stood up against this act of US gangsterism. While the absence of the Soviet Union has emboldened imperialism in its quest for world domination, this domination will remain a pipe-dream.

Prabhat Patnaik is Professor Emeritus, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The views are personal. 

THE NEW IMPERIALISM IS FASCISM

'To remain free, one must be feared': Macron says of France’s defence priorities

By Sophia Khatsenkova

Published on 15/01/2026 -  EURONEWS

On Thursday, the French president offered his New Year's address to the armed forces. The eagerly awaited annual event comes amid multiple geopolitical crises.

2026 will be “a year of challenges” for national defence, French President Emmanuel Macron told armed forces on Thursday at the Istres Air Base in southern France, against a backdrop of escalating international tensions.

Russia's war in Ukraine continues, tensions are escalating amid violent protests in Iran, and a new source of concern has emerged with US President Donald Trump’s expressed interest in taking over Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Paris has viewed this development as strategically sensitive, given the Arctic region’s growing geopolitical importance.

“We are ready,” Macron declared. “This decade of French rearmament is bearing fruit.”

'To remain free, one must be feared'

Macron reaffirmed his “determination to give our armed forces the means to ensure our defence” in a world he described as increasingly unstable.

“To remain free, one must be feared, and to be feared, one must be powerful. To be powerful in this brutal world, we must act faster and stronger,” he said.

Macron outlined three strategic priorities: increasing ammunition stockpiles, strengthening operational readiness, and safeguarding France’s sovereignty.

On the financial front, Macron confirmed his intention to significantly increase military funding, calling for a €36bn rise over the 2026-2030 period, including €3.5bn as early as 2026.

He had previously pledged in 2017 to raise France’s defence spending to 2% of GDP, a target that has been reached.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech as he visits the Istres military air force base, southern France, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Philippe Magoni/Copyright 2026 The AP. All rights reserved.

Acknowledging drone capability gaps

The French president also recognised gaps in certain areas, particularly in drone capabilities, which have been heavily used in the war in Ukraine.

“We are behind,” he admitted, calling for a rapid and forceful response. Highlighting the Russian threat, he warned: “We are within firing range of Russia.”

Macron announced that France would strengthen its military presence in Greenland.

Around 15 French soldiers are already deployed in Nuuk for exercises, and the contingent will be “reinforced in the coming days with land, air, and naval assets.” He emphasised that “Europeans have a particular responsibility” in the area.

Earlier on Thursday, Macron convened an emergency defence council to assess the strategic implications, while several allied countries, including Germany, Norway, and Sweden, have begun deploying troops to the Arctic in a show of support.

Another key initiative for the coming years is the reintroduction of a voluntary, paid national service for young people.

Announced last November, the program is designed to bolster military personnel numbers and meet growing staffing needs.

The government and the French armed forces launched a recruitment campaign this week for the new 10-month program.

The army aims to enlist 3,000 young people this year, 4,000 in 2027, and 10,000 by 2030, with the long-term goal of reaching 42,500 volunteers by 2035.

 

Putin attempting to freeze Ukraine into surrender

Putin is using Ukraine's freezing winters as a weapon. / bne IntelliNews

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By Ben Aris in Berlin January 15, 2026

Russia is trying to freeze Ukraine into submission. As temperatures plunge to -20°C in Kyiv, the Armed Forces of Russia (AFR) has stepped up its barrage of drones and ballistic missiles to take out key heating and power infrastructure. Half of Ukraine’s capital is now in subzero darkness and the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said that anyone with somewhere else to go should leave. He is not the only one. Other governors in frontline regions have said the same.

The attacks are country wide. Russian forces launched another massive overnight drone attack on Zelenskiy’s home town of Kryvyi Rih on January 13, knocking out heat to more than 700 apartment buildings and cutting electricity to over 45,000 customers as temperatures dropped to –7°C, local officials said.

“Russia is attacking energy infrastructure in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. Russia deliberately plans these attacks during very cold weather to maximize the damage and bring more suffering to Ukrainian civilians,” Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs and founder of the Institute of the Future, said in a social media post this week.

The extreme cold temperatures of deep winter have arrived, with the mercury falling below -15°C. Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for more than two years, but the Kremlin has been waiting for the icy Siberian airmasses to settle over Ukraine, as they do every year, and is now scaling up the attacks. The targets have changed too. The non-nuclear generating capacity is already largely destroyed, but now the AFR is hitting the infrastructure – things like power substations, gas pipelines and hot water pumping stations. In just one attack this week, Russia used over 300 drones, 18 ballistic and seven cruise missiles to target energy that deprived people of power, water, and heating on January 13, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

“Russia is deliberately trying to inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction of the Ukrainian people—which falls exactly under the definition of Article II (c) of the Genocide Convention,” Sybiha said following the barrage against Kyiv.

Weaponizing the weather

Turning off the lights in Ukraine has been a long-standing strategy. Putin is using his ability to take out civilian energy infrastructure with highly accurate and powerful guided missiles as a tool in his ongoing efforts to force Ukraine to capitulate on Russian terms. While the damage has been dramatic and devastating, in typical Putin-style it has also been incremental. Putin has been proceeding step by step, starting with the generating capacity, but ignoring the substations until now.

Russia began to target the power sector in 2023 and over the next two years it destroyed virtually all of Ukraine’s non-nuclear generating capacity. Off limits for obvious reasons, the nuclear power stations have been left alone and account for about half of Ukraine’s generating capacity, but the substations that distribute their power have also been largely untouched so far.

With reduced output, last winter was harsh but between the repairs, imports, temporary container-sized generators largely supplied by USAID, and the surviving nuclear capacity the country managed to struggle through the season.

As deep winter arrives this year, the situation is already much more difficult. Since a missile war began this summer and Russia’s military production went into surplus, the AFR has changed tactics. It now flies in waves of hundreds of drones to denigrate air defences that are followed by a few powerful ballistic missiles that can destroy a target completely.

Power plants have been made vulnerable by the Energoatom corruption scandal. While Ukrenergo, the state-owned thermal utilities operator, built some 70 highly effective concrete bunkers to protect its infrastructure, a similar plan for nuclear power infrastructure under the control of Energoatom was never implemented, when Zelenskiy’s close associates siphoned off $100mn in a kickback scheme that was supposed to be spent on defences. At the same time the $1bn in foreign aid for the power sector raised by Ukrenergo fell away to almost nothing partly due to corruption in the sector.

The AFR is now capitalising on this weakness and has been targeting key energy and transport infrastructure that can knock out the power in entire cities and regions. Ukraine’s key ultra-high voltage 750kV substations are especially vulnerable, which provide power to whole cities and act as the regional interconnectors. So far, Russia has deliberately avoided hitting these hard to protect and hard to fix substations, but in the last two months the 750kV substations in Sumy and Odesa were knocked out leaving both in darkness for over a week.

Similar substation attacks are now being reported in Kyiv and other cities. A third of Kyiv is now without power or heat for several days, which has sparked limited public protests as the city starts to be uninhabitable, according to local reports.

Siberian airmasses arrive in Ukraine

Russia has clearly been waiting for the coldest part of the year to scale up its attack. A large cold mass of icy air from Siberia is now trapped over the country and temperatures have dropped below -20°C. In Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia, temperatures will regularly drop to around −20°C over the next at least 14 days, according to the Ventusky metrological service, while daytime highs will be only around −10°C. These are below-average temperatures which, according to current forecasts, could persist throughout the entire month of January.

Families in Soviet-era apartment blocks have taken to huddling together in the smallest rooms to try and keep warm as internal temperatures fall to 13°C-15°C and will fall further. The “invincibility points” are back in use – small huts set up in the courtyard of apartment complexes where locals can go to warm up, cook some food and recharge their phones that were deployed after two years of the war during the first big missile barrages in January 2024.

With no prospect of the heating being restored soon, apartment block management have drained the water from central heating pipes to avoid them freezing and bursting. The bitterly cold weather is also shutting down supermarkets and offices.

“The humanitarian crisis in Kyiv and the region is intensifying amid prolonged power outages and severe winter conditions, Iuliia Mendel, Zelenskiy’s former press secretary said on social media. “​For the second consecutive day, photos and videos of empty store shelves—particularly bread—have been circulating widely on social media. Several supermarket chains have partially or temporarily closed locations due to extended blackouts and equipment failures in sub-zero temperatures.”

Ukraine's retail chains are starting to collapse. More and more stores cannot open or are suspending operations indefinitely after their equipment -- primarily refrigeration units -- cannot withstand the constant power surges and outages. The surges lead to breakdowns, product spoilage, and massive losses, leaving the urban populations unable to meet their basic needs. Photos of empty shelves are starting to pop up on social media as residents hunt for bread and other basics.

Public transport remains severely disrupted too. Kyiv’s metro is operating with delays or reduced service in many areas, while ground transport struggles with snow, ice, and power issues.

In some districts of Kyiv, residents are blocking roads in protest over multi-day blackouts. Windows in apartment blocks are blown out by constant missile and drone attacks but go unrepaired. In other cases, workers turn up at their offices only to go home again in a few hours thanks to the intense cold, reports Mendel.

A large-scale humanitarian crisis is brewing. If Russia’s campaign continues then western governments have been warned to prepare for a fresh wave of refugees fleeing the freezing conditions, bne IntelliNews diplomatic sources say.

 

 

Negotiating tactics

“Production of missiles is way up and interception rates are way down…” says journalist and bne IntelliNews columnist Leonid Ragozin. “Ukrainian air defence forces downed seven of 25 missiles fired by Russia last night. Quite a contrast with earlier in the war when all but a few missiles would be shut down, at least as per official reports.”

For the last two days, people in multiple cities have been without electricity, water, or sewage services, pushing living conditions to a critical brink. Thousands of generators are struggling to provide enough electricity to maintain even the most basic level of normalcy in people's lives as demand starts to overwhelm small-sale generating capacity.

Putin is attempting to freeze Ukraine into submission and has been using his ability to destroy the heating as a negotiating tool. Last summer, when there were hopes that a peace deal could be done after the Alaska summit on August 15, there was a preliminary follow up meeting between a Ukrainian and Russian delegation in Qatar – the first time officials from the warring parties agreed to meet since the failed 2022 Istanbul meeting. Top of the agenda was a limited offer to halt Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector.

Putin tends to telegraph his intentions well in advance, although this is not widely appreciated. He made it clear in his Munich Security Conference (MSC) speech in 2007 that he was irked with Nato’s eastward expansion and that “Russia will push back” if it was not stopped, but he didn’t start modernising his army until 2012.

Around the same time, Putin ordered CBR governor Elvia Nabiullina to build up Russia’s hard currency reserves, increase the share of gold and start selling US treasury bills – a process that took years to complete. Putin plans for the long-term.

With the economy sanction-proofed, things went up a level in 2021. In the showdown with the EU over Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Europe what was coming in his “new rules of the game” speech delivered in February 2021. He warned Russia would break off diplomatic relations with Europe unless the 2014 sanctions were ended. That was followed by breaking off diplomatic relations with Nato in October the same year – another signal - and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs eight-point list of demands in December in 2021. The Kremlin massed troops on Ukraine’s border twice ahead of the actual invasion in 2021 and again in 2022 before actually invading.

What has surprised with the war in Ukraine is when Putin finally loses patience, he has chosen the most extreme and dramatic escalation option on the table – starting with the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 itself, which few commentators expected from the otherwise cautious and slow-moving Putin.

Now Putin is employing the same step by step escalation of missile attacks on energy infrastructure. He has had the ability to knock out power from the start, but it is being done incrementally and he has waited until deep winter arrives to make it more effective.

The Qatar talks were an olive branch, albeit all the Kremlin was looking for was a capitulation on its own terms. They were called off after Russia launched its largest missile barrage against Kyiv since the start of the war a few days before. Typically, Russia launches increased attacks on Ukraine each time they are scheduled to meet, but in this case it appears Putin overplayed his hand and scuppered the first real attempt by the two sides to meet and negotiate.

Now the peace talks appear to have stalled again and so Putin is turning the screws on Kyiv by ratcheting up the energy attacks. A lot of progress was made in the last quarter, starting with the Witkoff-Dmitriev plan, named after its reported authors, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, who started meeting in October. That effort culminated in the Moscow meeting on December 3 between the US representatives and Putin and a 27-point peace plan (27PPP) that Russia said it was largely happy with.

However, following the Berlin meeting on December 14-15 and the Mar-a-Lago meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy on December 28 Ukraine came up with an alternative 20-point peace plan (20PPP) submitted to the Kremlin on Christmas Eve, which has since been largely rejected. Both Trump and Putin were pressuring Zelenskiy to do the deal at Mar-a-Lago, but without real Article 5-like security guarantees from his partners, Zelenskiy refused.

US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine, not Russia, is holding up a potential peace deal, in sharp contrast to rhetoric from European allies who have consistently said that Moscow has little interest in ending the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported on January 15. 

"I think [Putin] is ready to make a deal. I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal," Trump said. Asked why US-led talks have so far failed to resolve Europe’s biggest land conflict since World War II, Trump replied: "Zelenskiy,"

Talks are continuing at the level of foreign ministries and amongst the envoys, but little progress has been made. The talks appear to have stalled again.

Cracks in Bankova’s position appearing

Putin’s tactics appear to be having an effect. Zelenskiy is putting a brave face on the deteriorating situation. “Russia must understand that the cold will not help win the war,” he said this week. But he admitted that the main target of this week’s strikes was again energy infrastructure - generation facilities and substations – and the significant destruction of residential and civil infrastructure. Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions were all simultaneously under attack. Hundreds of thousands of households are without electricity, according to the president.

Cracks in Bankova’s resistance are appearing. Zelenskiy’s call for Europe to rush stockpiled ammo to Kyiv this week smacks of growing desperation. This month Zelenskiy also said that the war might be over by summer – an unusual statement as Zelenskiy typically doesn’t give timelines.

In an interview, Ukraine’s former Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, also said that Ukrainians are ready to accept territorial concessions to end the military conflict with Russia, something that Bankova has been adamant it won’t agree to until recently.

"What everyone sees in ratings and opinion polls is one story. But what people say on the streets and in their kitchens is quite another. When I travelled to villages and started talking to people outside of gas stations, I honestly stopped reading opinion polls,” Kuleba said. “My impression is this: if people are told, 'This is what we need to give up, but it will all stop, and this is what we'll get in return: a strong army, billions for reconstruction, and EU membership,'… I think this is a story that society will be ready to accept. Provided, of course, that it doesn't say anywhere that we are finally and irrevocably giving up any territories forever," Kuleba said.

So far, Zelenskiy is toughing a bad and worsening situation out. However, with temperatures in homes plummeting and shops emptying with at least two or three months of winter still to go, the question is how long can Ukraine’s population hold out.

Trump says Zelenskiy, not Putin, is holding up a Ukraine peace deal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to US President Donald Trump, after Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed willingness to help Ukraine "succeed", during a press conference at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, in Palm Beach, Florida, US, Dec 28, 2025.
PHOTO: Reuters file

January 15, 2026 


WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump told Reuters that Ukraine — not Russia — is holding up a potential peace deal, rhetoric that stands in marked contrast to that of European allies, who have consistently argued Moscow has little interest in ending its war in Ukraine.

In an exclusive interview in the Oval Office on Wednesday (Jan 14), Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to wrap up his nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskiy, the US president said, was more reticent.

"I think he's ready to make a deal," Trump said of the Russian president. "I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal."

Asked why US-led negotiations had not yet resolved Europe's largest land conflict since World War Two, Trump responded: "Zelenskiy."

Trump's comments suggested renewed frustration with the Ukrainian leader. The two presidents have long had a volatile relationship, though their interactions seem to have improved over Trump's first year back in office.

At times, Trump has been more willing to accept Putin's assurances at face value than the leaders of some US allies, frustrating Kyiv, European capitals and US lawmakers, including some Republicans.

In December, Reuters reported that US intelligence reports continued to warn that Putin had not abandoned his aims of capturing all of Ukraine and reclaiming parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard disputed that report at the time.
'Having a hard time getting there'

After several fits and starts, US-led negotiations have been centred in recent weeks on security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine to ensure that Russia does not invade it again after a potential peace deal. In broad terms, US negotiators have pushed Ukraine to abandon its eastern Donbas region as part of any accord with Russia.

Ukrainian officials have been deeply involved in recent talks, which have been led on the US side by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. Some European officials have cast doubt on the likelihood of Putin agreeing to some terms recently hashed out by Kyiv, Washington and European leaders.

Trump told Reuters he was not aware of a potential upcoming trip to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, which Bloomberg reported earlier on Wednesday.

Asked if he would meet Zelenskiy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week, Trump said he would but implied no plans were set.

"I would — if he's there," Trump said. "I'm going to be there."

Asked why he believed Zelenskiy was holding back on negotiations, Trump did not elaborate, saying only: "I just think he's, you know, having a hard time getting there."

Zelenskiy has publicly ruled out any territorial concessions to Moscow, saying Kyiv has no right under the country's constitution to give up any land.

World

January 15, 2026

How Russia's and Ukraine's Neighbors See Them

Kyiv's lead in approval over Moscow narrows, but varies by region

by Benedict Vigers and Galina Zapryanova

This article is part of a series on global leadership approval ratings. Read more on approval of the U.S. and China among NATO countries and on EU approval among its member states.

LONDON — Nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, neither country’s leadership earns high approval in its own backyard, and Ukraine’s slight edge has faded.

Across 25 countries in Eastern and Southern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, a median of 24% of adults approved of Ukraine’s leadership in 2025, down slightly from 27% in 2024. Approval of Russia’s leadership stood at 22%, mostly unchanged from the previous year.

Gallup has measured approval of Ukraine’s leadership throughout the region since 2024, while it has tracked views of Russia’s leadership since 2007. Russia’s current 22% average approval rating is marginally higher than where it stood after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. At that time, regional approval of Russia had fallen to 19% from 31% in 2021. It has hovered near 20% ever since. Russia’s current approval rating is less than half of what it was at its highest point in 2008, when it stood at 45%.

Median approval of Ukraine’s leadership across the region has inched downward since 2024, from 27% to 24%. This mostly reflects sharp declines in Kazakhstan (down 16 percentage points), Romania and Georgia (both down 10 points) since 2024, while approval has been steadier elsewhere.

Clear Regional Divisions in Allegiances to Kyiv, Moscow

The region shows significant divides in relative approval of Kyiv and Moscow. Ten countries favor Kyiv (meaning their approval of Ukraine’s leadership exceeds their approval of Russia’s by at least 10 percentage points), eight are more aligned with Moscow, and seven show no clear preference — a picture similar to 2024.

The Baltic states show the strongest support for Ukraine over Russia, led by Lithuania (66-point gap), Latvia (52 points) and Estonia (51 points). Central Asia leans heavily toward Russia, with Tajikistan showing a 58-point gap and Kyrgyzstan 50 points. Four countries where Russia leads show gaps in approval exceeding 20 points. By contrast, all 10 countries favoring Kyiv do so. Countries with no clear preference, including Romania, Slovakia, Moldova, Greece and Hungary, cluster in Southern and Eastern Europe.

These regional allegiances reflect a mixture of broader historical ties and economic interests. In the Baltics, Ukraine’s struggle is often seen as their own, and they view Russia’s military actions as a potential threat to their sovereignty.

On the other hand, countries in Central Asia share close economic, cultural and media ties with Russia. Many Central Asian migrants work in Russia and send remittances home, boosting their national economies.

Countries in Southern and Eastern Europe, where there is no clear lead in approval, have historical ties and economic dependencies with both the European Union and Russia. The economic pain of decoupling from Russian energy continues to weigh on the region. At the same time, many of these countries are deeply integrated within the EU, and EU leadership approval is higher than that of both Russia and Ukraine.

Significant Political Divides in Key EU Countries Hungary and Slovakia

Although their populations offer low approval of both Russia’s and Ukraine’s leadership, EU member states Slovakia and Hungary have been the bloc’s most vocal opponents of military support for Kyiv.

Led by Prime Ministers Robert Fico and Viktor Orban, respectively, these nations are the most aligned with the Kremlin’s positions, international networks and economic interests. Because many EU decisions regarding sanctions and aid require unanimity, Slovakia and Hungary have the power to delay or dilute actions aimed at bolstering Ukraine.

In both countries, views of Ukraine and Russia are sharply divided along partisan lines. Supporters of Fico’s Direction Party are nearly three times as likely to approve of Moscow (38%) as Kyiv (14%), while supporters of the opposition Progressive Slovakia Party are much more approving of Kyiv (45%) than Moscow (3%).

The Russia-Ukraine divide runs deeper in Hungary, where a majority of Orban’s Fidesz Party supporters approve of Russia’s leadership (55%), compared with only 3% who approve of Ukraine’s. By contrast, 41% of those aligned with the opposition TISZA Party approve of Kyiv, while 13% approve of Moscow.

These partisan gaps help explain why EU support for Ukraine remains contested in some member states. Hungary and Slovakia have delayed EU sanctions on Russia and questioned military aid to Ukraine. Supporters of the parties currently in power (Direction, Fidesz) are largely aligned with this more favorable stance toward Russia, giving their leaders more domestic backing to resist EU consensus. But elections could shift these positions quickly. Hungary votes in April 2026, with polls forecasting a close race between Fidesz and TISZA.

Bottom Line

As the war in Ukraine continues, Kyiv and Moscow earn similar approval ratings from the wider region, with a slight slip in approval of Kyiv over the past year. However, relative approval of the two countries’ leadership varies considerably by geography, with the Baltics leaning heavily toward Kyiv, Central Asia favoring Moscow, and several Southern and Eastern European nations not clearly aligned with either.

Many efforts have been made to bring the war to an end in recent months, with U.S. President Donald Trump recently hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida to discuss options. This concluded with Trump acknowledging that some “thorny issues” remain unresolved. However, if the war does end in the near future, regional approval ratings could factor into the regional political landscape Ukraine faces as it rebuilds, as well as which countries fall into Kyiv’s or Moscow’s orbit in the years to come.

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For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details. Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.

Nestormakhno.infowww.nestormakhno.info/

The Nestor Makhno Archive

An Archive of material relating to Nestor Makhno and the Makhnovshchina.

Marxists.orgwww.marxists.org/reference/archive/makhno-nestor/index.htm

Nestor Makhno: Archive of the Ukrainian Anarchist Leader

Makhno was a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of an independent anarchist army in Ukraine from 1917–21.

Archive.orgarchive.org/details/historyofmakhnov0000unse

History of the Makhnovist movement, 1918-1921 : Arshinov, P. (Petr ...

Oct 24, 2019 ... History of the Makhnovist movement, 1918-1921 ; Contributor: Internet Archive ; Language: English ; Author (alternate script): Аршинов, П ; Item ...