What we covered
• Ukraine war talks: Negotiators from Ukraine, the US and Russia met today for their first known trilateral meeting since Moscow launched the war. Even after the sides agreed to continue talks tomorrow, Kyiv faced a fresh wave of Russian attacks within hours of the meeting concluding.
• Remarks on NATO: President Donald Trump has baselessly claimed that NATO troops “stayed a little back” from the front lines in Afghanistan, further angering allies after a week of tensions over the US leader’s desire to control Greenland.
• Greenland deal: While Trump and NATO’s Mark Rutte agreed to the framework of a future deal involving the semiautonomous Danish territory, there’s no formalized document yet, sources say. NATO will continue holding military exercises on the island, Denmark said today.
• Iran in focus: Trump said a convoy of US military assets was heading toward Iran “just in case,” but that he’d rather not use it to strike the country.
Our live coverage has ended. Get the latest here.
Trump administration mandating "immediate citizenship verification" to receive HUD funds
The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today it is mandating “immediate citizenship verification” across all HUD-funded households and ordered public housing authorities to take corrective action to root out “waste, fraud and abuse” within the next 30 days.
HUD and the Department of Homeland Security conducted an audit of all HUD-funded housing nationwide that it said found 200,000 tenants in need of eligibility verification, including nearly 6,000 ineligible non-American tenants whose payments HUD will recapture, according to a news release Friday.
The deadline comes after the department sent a letter to public housing authorities last month outlining the verification process for all individuals prior to being granted HUD-assisted housing. Housing authorities that do not comply with the requirements will be subject to sanctions, according to the release.
How it works: HUD administers federal aid to local housing agencies to provide subsidized rent to residents. HUD funding assists approximately 970,000 households and is limited to low-income families, the elderly and disabled individuals who meet eligibility factors based on income and citizenship status.
Brazil's Lula says Trump is trying to create his own United Nations
Brazil’s president said Friday that Donald Trump’s Board of Peace initiative was an attempt by his US counterpart to create a new United Nations that he would be able to control.
“President Trump suggests creating a new UN, in which he alone is the UN’s owner,” Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said at an event in Brazil, without directly naming the initiative, according to Reuters.
Trump on Tuesday suggested that his Board of Peace “might” replace the international body. But on Thursday he said he wanted the two to work together, saying it could result in “something very, very unique for the world.”
The board, to be chaired by Trump indefinitely, was originally conceived to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, but its purpose has since expanded to tackle conflicts the world over.
Vance will travel to Armenia and Azerbaijan in February, Trump says
Vice President JD Vance will travel to Armenia and Azerbaijan next month, President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social Friday.
“In February, Vice President Vance will travel to both Countries to build on our Peace efforts, and advance the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. We will strengthen our strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, a beautiful Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation with Armenia, Deals for our Great Semiconductor Makers, and the sale of Made in the U.S.A. Defense Equipment, such as body armor and boats, and more, to Azerbaijan,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump continued to claim that he has ended eight wars with the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan being one of them. CNN has reported on Trump’s efforts to end conflicts across the globe, but as Daniel Dale has fact checked, the “eight” figure is an exaggeration.
“I want to thank President Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and Prime Minister Pashinyan of Armenia for upholding the Peace Agreement we signed last August. This was a nasty War, 1 of 8 that I have ended, but now we have Prosperity and Peace,” Trump said.
In August, Trump hosted the leaders of both countries, where they signed a joint declaration for peace.
Sitting in between the two leaders, Trump said at the time, “The country of Azerbaijan and Armenia are committing to stop all fighting forever and open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Russia attacks Kyiv with missiles and drones hours after trilateral talks end for the day
The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv is under attack, hours after trilateral talks aimed at ending the war wrapped for the day.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that missiles and drones were attacking the city, which had activated its air defenses.
CNN journalists in Kyiv reported hearing explosions.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that at least 11 people were injured, including two who were in serious conditions and hospitalized in the Holosiivskyi district.
The attack comes shortly after negotiators from the US, Russia, and Ukraine finished their first day of talks in Abu Dhabi, saying discussions would continue Saturday.
Son of Iran’s former leader says US airstrikes provide the “only chance” to remove Iranian regime
The son of Iran’s former monarch told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday that US airstrikes provide the “only chance” to remove Iran’s current theocratic government.
“There’s no other way to help unarmed people who are facing this level of brutality that the regime has exerted against them,” said Reza Pahlavi.
Pahlavi, whose father was deposed as Shah in 1979, has reemerged in recent weeks as a central Iranian opposition figure. Some protesters have chanted his name at the widespread anti-government demonstrations that subsided after a violent crackdown. But the size of Pahlavi’s base within the country is unclear, and he has not lived in Iran since he was a teenager.
On Friday, Pahlavi told CNN that he aimed to act as a transitional figure for Iran if the regime falls.
Pahlavi said the transition would eventually result in free elections for a constitutional assembly, then a national referendum on a new governing document. He told CNN he does not want to see Iran repeat the same mistakes as Iraq, where, after the US invasion, some civil servants were initially barred from government work due to their membership in Saddam Hussein’s ruling party.
“We are trying to be inclusive as much as possible of all those who can survive regime change and have a place in the future,” Pahlavi said, before adding a qualifier: “Except for the people who have their hands soiled with the blood of the Iranians — they will have to encounter the court of justice at some point.”
Remember: President Donald Trump said yesterday that a convoy of US military assets was heading toward Iran “just in case,” but that he’d rather not use it to strike the country.
Trump angers allies and key parties meet about Ukraine war: Catch up on today's headlines
Trilateral talks between Ukrainian, United States and Russian negotiators in the United Arab Emirates wrapped up for today, marking the first known meeting to be attended by all three countries since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Catch up on today’s news below:
Talks in the UAE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it is “too early” to draw conclusions from today’s meetings, which will continue tomorrow. The US, Russia and Ukraine seem to have the same conclusion that the issue of territory, namely the mineral-rich eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas, has yet to be resolved.
Trump angers allies with NATO remarks: In an interview with Fox News at Davos, Trump said the US has “never needed” NATO’s support in Afghanistan and that troops from the military alliance “stayed a little back” from the front lines there. The president has routinely downplayed NATO’s role in Afghanistan. Trump’s latest comments rankled US allies, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who suggested Trump apologize. The White House shrugged off that criticism.
Push for Greenland: The White House is continuing its push for US control of Greenland on social media, posting to its X account today an AI image of Trump walking across the snow toward a Greenlandic flag while holding hands with a penguin carrying an American flag.
US strikes alleged drug-trafficking boat: The US military killed two people in a strike against what it said was a boat involved in drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean today, according to US Southern Command.
US convoy to Iran: Trump said the US has “an armada” moving toward Iran “just in case,” renewing warnings over the government’s crackdown on protesters and Tehran’s nuclear program.
CNN’s Kosta Gak, Ivana Kottasová, Kit Maher, Sharon Braithwaite, Mitchell McCluskey, Christian Edwards, Kevin Liptak and Clay Voytek contributed to this report.
White House shrugs off Starmer's criticism of Trump's NATO comments
The White House is shrugging off sharp criticism from Prime Minister Keir Starmer of President Trump’s comments downplaying NATO’s role in Afghanistan, insisting Trump was correct in his sentiments.
“President Trump is absolutely right — the United States of America has done more for NATO than any other country in the alliance has done combined,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said when asked to respond to Starmer’s criticism earlier Friday.
In a speech, Starmer called Trump’s comments “insulting and frankly appalling” and said he understood why they’d caused “such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured” in Afghanistan.
“If I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologize,” Starmer said.
Trump made the offending comments in an interview with Fox Business on Thursday.
“We’ve never needed them,” Trump said of NATO. “We have never really asked anything of them. You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that. And they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.”
NATO’s collective defense clause, Article 5, has been invoked only once, by the United States after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
More than 450 British troops died over the course of the ensuing 2-decade war in Afghanistan.
White House continues push for Greenland on social media
The White House is continuing its push for Greenland on social media, posting to its X account on Friday an AI image of President Donald Trump walking across the snow, toward a Greenlandic flag, while holding hands with a penguin carrying an American flag.
“Embrace the Penguin,” the White House wrote.
(Penguins aren’t found in the arctic, according to National Geographic.)
In Davos, Switzerland, this week, Trump announced a framework deal for Greenland, but no document has yet memorialized a future deal, CNN reported.
Italian prime minister hopes to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she hopes to nominate US President Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reach peace in Ukraine.
More generally, regarding relations with the US, Meloni reiterated that “our desire for cooperation remains firm,” especially because Italy and Germany are “among the nations in Europe that maintain privileged relations with the US, thanks in part to the fact that there are American bases in their countries.”
She added that it is important to maintain a “pragmatic, non-instinctive approach to relations with the US.”
Trilateral talks focused on achieving a "dignified and lasting peace," Ukrainian negotiator says
Trilateral talks held in the United Arab Emirates on Friday focused on reaching a “dignified and lasting peace,” Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov wrote in a post on X after the meeting concluded.
He noted that Ukrainian officials “appreciate the US mediation” in Abu Dhabi.
Several additional Ukrainian officials, including the Head of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov and the Deputy Head of the Defense Intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi, will join the talks as they continue on Saturday, Umerov said.
“We are ready to work in various formats depending on the course of the dialogue,” he added.
Trilateral Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi end for the day
Trilateral talks held in the United Arab Emirates with the aim of ending the war in Ukraine have finished for the day, a source with knowledge of the discussions told CNN.
Negotiators from the US, Russia, and Ukraine agreed to continue discussions on Saturday, which was the plan going into the talks, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
"Too early" to draw conclusions from trilateral Abu Dhabi talks, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it is “too early” to draw conclusions from Friday’s trilateral talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates.
“It is still too early to draw conclusions about the content of today’s negotiations. We will see how the talks go tomorrow and what the results will be. It is necessary that not only Ukraine wants to end this war and achieve complete security, but that a similar desire somehow arises in Russia as well,” he said in a daily address.
The talks began on Friday in Abu Dhabi and will continue on Saturday.
The Ukrainian leader said he is in “constant contact” with the Ukrainian negotiators, who are discussing “parameters for ending the war.”
Zelensky said the “main thing” in the talks is for Russia to finally be ready to end the war.
“Ukraine’s position is clear. I have defined the framework for dialogue for our delegation,” he said.
Prince Harry says "sacrifices" of NATO troops in Afghanistan deserve respect
Prince Harry has defended NATO troops in Afghanistan after US President Donald Trump claimed that they had stayed “a little off the front lines.”
Harry, who also served in Afghanistan, said that the sacrifices of NATO soldiers “deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect.”
“I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there,” Harry said.
During the operations in Afghanistan, Harry said 457 British service personnel were killed.
“Thousands of lives were changed forever. Mothers and fathers buried sons and daughters. Children were left without a parent. Families are left carrying the cost,” Harry said on Friday.
Some background: Harry was deployed to Afghanistan for about ten weeks in 2007-2008 and returned for a four-month deployment in 2012.
In his 2023 autobiography, the prince wrote about his military experience in Afghanistan, where he claimed to have killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving for the British Army.
Today's trilateral talks likely focus on Ukraine's Donbas. Here's more about the region Putin covets
The United States, Russia and Ukraine rarely agree on anything. But as their delegations meet in Abu Dhabi for their first trilateral meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the three parties seem to have come to the same conclusion: Only one issue remains to be resolved.
That issue is territory, namely the mineral-rich eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas. And based on their comments coming into the meeting, it is unlikely to be resolved.
“It’s all about the eastern part of our country; it’s all about the land,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said, pointing to Russia’s long-standing — and previously rejected — demand that Kyiv gives up the parts of the Donbas it still controls.
A Kremlin aide yesterday warned that there wouldn’t be any long-term settlement “without resolving the territorial issue.”
Read more about the region and why Russian President Vladimir Putin wants it so badly.
UK prime minister criticizes Trump's "insulting" remarks about NATO troops and suggests apology
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sharply criticized Donald Trump’s “insulting and frankly appalling” comments about NATO troops’ involvement in Afghanistan and suggested the US president should apologize.
In an interview with Fox News at Davos, Trump said that the US has “never needed” NATO troops’ support and claimed they had stayed “a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan
In response, Starmer noted that 457 British troops died and many others were injured in Afghanistan.
“I’m not surprised they’ve caused such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured,” he added.
The British leader also suggested that Trump should apologize for his remarks.
Danish and Greenlandic prime ministers meet in Nuuk
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen met in Nuuk on Friday, two days after President Donald Trump backed away from his threats of a US takeover of the Danish autonomous territory.
CNN’s Nic Robertson is in Nuuk, where he followed the Danish and Greenlandic leaders as they walked the streets and met with locals.
NATO military exercises in Greenland that were launched amid Trump's threats will continue, Denmark says
Military exercises in Greenland carried out by Denmark and its NATO allies, dubbed “Operation Arctic Endurance,” will continue into 2026, according to Denmark’s defense ministry.
The operation to reinforce security in the Danish-controlled region was launched earlier this month amid threats to annex the island by US President Donald Trump, and saw several European countries send military personnel to the Arctic island.
The exercises will continue in the coming weeks, according to Denmark’s defense ministry.
A statement from the ministry added that additional NATO members have expressed interest in deploying reconnaissance teams to Greenland and are expecting to arrive over the course of the year.
Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday backed away from his threats of a US takeover of the territory, ruling out using the use of military force during his keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The US president dropped his threats to impose tariffs on nations who objected to his ambitions, and instead announced the “framework of a future deal” over the island after meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
It is not unusual for NATO countries to send troops to train in other NATO countries, and there has been a yearslong push by allies, including the US, to ramp up joint exercises near the Arctic Circle. The US has about 150 troops stationed at its Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland.
CNN’s Lex Harvey contributed to this report.
Trump's comments about NATO troops in Afghanistan adds to anger of US allies
President Donald Trump has once again questioned whether NATO allies would “be there” if the United States “ever needed them,” claiming that the alliance’s troops “stayed a little back” from the front lines in Afghanistan.
“I’ve always said, ‘Will they be there, if we ever needed them?’ And that’s really the ultimate test. And I’m not sure of that. I know that we would have been there, or we would be there, but will they be there?” Trump said yesterday in an interview with Fox News in Davos, Switzerland.
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the US became the first and so far only NATO member to invoke Article 5, which states that an attack against one member is an attack against all. For 20 years, NATO allies and other partner countries fought alongside US troops in Afghanistan — a sacrifice Trump has routinely downplayed.
The president’s comments have rankled US allies in NATO, coming at the end of a week in which he has severely strained the alliance through his repeated threats to seize control of Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark, another NATO member.
"We are back to where we were a week ago," Greenlandic minister says
Negotiations regarding Greenland are “back to where we were a week ago,” when key representatives from Greenland and Denmark engaged with US officials in Washington, DC, according to Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister of business, trade, and mineral resources.
“I think we’re back to that same position — that we are willing to look on a lot of different possibilities to accommodate any wishes from the American side, except giving up sovereignty, of course,” Nathanielsen said, speaking with CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “CNN News Central.”
“I’m really happy that the US seems to have changed its perspective on gaining sovereignty over Greenland, and instead going back to the negotiation table,” Nathanielsen added. “I think that’s the right place to be. I think we can reach a lot of agreements together.”
Her comments come as US President Donald Trump said this week he would not use military force to take control of Greenland.
According to the minister, Greenland has always been willing to discuss an increase in national security for the US in by opening Greenland up to “some sort of access, in one form or other.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is in Greenland today to speak with Greenlandic Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen. Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
