BRUSSELS, 20 January 2023, (TON): NATO countries are set to announce new “heavier weapons” for Ukraine, the alliance’s chief said on Wednesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on his backers to speed up their decision-making.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin will convene a meeting of around 50 countries at the US-run Ramstein military base in Germany, including all 30 members of the NATO alliance.

“The main message there will be more support and more advanced support, heavier weapons, and more modern weapons, because this is a fight for our values,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Many of Ukraine’s allies have announced plans to step up their military support to Kyiv this month despite the risk of antagonising Russia, notably Britain, which became the first nation to pledge Western heavy tanks.

ANKARA, 20 January 2023, (TON): Turkey appealed to the United States to expedite F-16 jets, a sale some US officials hope could coax Ankara to lift objections to NATO expansion but is bitterly opposed by a key senator.

Meeting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he intended to discuss his country’s request for modernized versions of the mainstay F-16 fighter jets.

Cavusoglu said “as we said together before, this is not only for Turkey but also important for NATO and for the United States as well.”

“So we expect the approval in line with our joint strategic interests.”

LONDON, 20 January 2023, (TON): The Memorandum of Understanding is being updated to formally recognise Fluid Gravity Engineering Ltd and Airbus Defence and Space Ltd as industry partners to the UK Missile Defence Centre.

The MDC was established in 2003 as a government-industry partnership to deliver science and technology research across all areas of Ballistic Missile Defence.  More recently, their remit has expanded to include advanced missile threats, including hypersonics.

The unique relationship enshrined in the MOU enables the MDC to respond rapidly to technology and geopolitical developments, with clear benefits for MOD and UK industry.

The partnership supports closer working relations and open communication between and within MOD and industry to enhance planning, increase understanding of threats and defensive architectures, and develop defensive technologies for the UK and our allies.

DAVOS, 20 January 2023, (TON): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has written a letter inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping for talks, which was handed over in Davos to the Chinese delegation, his wife Olena Zelenska said.

Zelensky has repeatedly sought to make contact with Xi since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year in the hope that Beijing will use its influence over Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

During a speech on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, Zelenska said she had a letter for Xi but she gave new details during a press conference.

She told reporters “it was a gesture and invitation to dialogue and I hope very much that there will be a response to this invitation.”

DAVOS, 19 January 2023, (TON): The UN Secretary General has said the planet is in a “sorry state” with problems “piling up like cars in a chain-reaction crash” as he cast a gloomy picture at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Antonio Guterres said the parlous state was a result of interlinked problems such as the Russia-Ukraine war and a global economic slowdown that had no easy solutions.

He singled out climate change as an “existential challenge,” and said a global commitment to limit the Earth’s temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius was “nearly going up in smoke.”

WASHINGTON, 19 January 2023, (TON): Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said “his country plans to “join” the US and Germany’s efforts to train and arm Ukraine with advanced Patriot defense systems.”

Rutte signaled the Netherlands’ intentions at the start of a White House meeting with President Joe Biden.

It remains unclear if the Dutch will ultimately send Patriot systems, take part in training or offer some other assistance related to deployment of Patriots.

The Dutch defense ministry said that Ukraine has asked the Netherlands to provide “Patriot capacity.”

RIYADH, 19 January 2023, (TON): Saudi Press Agency reported “the 13th meeting of the Saudi-Swiss Joint Economic Committee and the Saudi-Swiss Executive Investment Forum was held in Zurich.”

The meeting was attended by Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, Swiss Confederation President Guy Parmelin, and a number of representatives from both countries’ public and private sectors.

The meeting examined the two countries’ investment, economic, and trade relations, as well as the business environments in the Kingdom and Switzerland.

It also hosted discussions on topics such as innovation, technology, tourism, energy and health.

DAVOS, 19 January 2023, (TON): NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said “Ukraine needs a significant increase” in weapons at a pivotal moment in Russia’s invasion and such support is the only way to a negotiated peaceful solution.”

Defense leaders from around 50 countries and NATO will hold talks at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base, the latest in a series of meetings since Russian forces swept into Ukraine nearly 11 months ago.

Stoltenberg told “this is a pivotal moment in the war and the need for a significant increase in support for Ukraine,”

“If we want a negotiated peaceful solution tomorrow we need to provide more weapons.”

KYIV, 19 January 2023, (TON): Eighteen people including Ukraine’s interior minister, other senior ministry officials and three children were killed when a helicopter crashed near a nursery outside Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

The regional governor said 29 people were also hurt, including 15 children, when the helicopter came down in a residential area in Brovary, on the capital’s northeastern outskirts.

Several dead bodies draped in foil blankets lay in a courtyard near the damaged nursery. Emergency workers were at the scene. Debris was scattered over a playground.

OTTAWA, 19 January 2023, (TON): Canada’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Ottawa has summoned Russia’s ambassador to Canada over Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including an attack in Dnipro that killed at least 45 people.

Officials summoned the ambassador to “make clear we do not accept the sheer brutality of Russia’s recent attacks against civilians in Dnipro and to condemn face to face the anti-Semitic comments made by Russia’s Minister, Sergei Lavrov,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters in Toronto.