Big oil firms came under pressure at the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from activists who accused them of hijacking the climate debate, while a Greta Thunberg-sponsored “cease and desist” campaign gained support on social media.

Major energy firms including BP (BP.L), Chevron (CVX.N) and Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) are among the 1,500 business leaders gathering for the annual meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos, where global threats including climate change are on the agenda.

“We are demanding concrete and real climate action,” said Nicolas Siegrist, the 26-year-old organiser of the protest who also heads the Young Socialists party in Switzerland.

The annual meeting of global business and political leaders opens in Davos on Monday.

“They will be in the same room with state leaders and they will push for their interests,” Siegrist said of the involvement of energy companies during a demonstration attended by several hundred people on Sunday.

The oil and gas industry has said that it needs to be part of the energy transition as fossil fuels will continue to play a major role in the world’s energy mix as countries shift to low carbon economies.

On Monday, a social media campaign added to the pressure on oil and gas companies, by promoting a “cease and desist” notice sponsored by climate activists Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate and Luisa Neubauer, through the non-profit website Avaaz.

It demands energy company CEOs “immediately stop opening any new oil, gas, or coal extraction sites, and stop blocking the clean energy transition we all so urgently need”, and threatens legal action and more protests if they fail to comply.

The campaign, which had been signed by more than 660,000 people, had almost 200,000 shares on Monday morning.

Sumant Sinha, who heads one of India’s largest renewable energy firms, said it would be good to include big oil companies in the transition debate as they have a vital role to play.

“If oil people are part of these conversations to the extent that they are also committing to change then by all means. It is better to get them inside the tent than to have them outside the tent,” Sinha, chairman and CEO of ReNew Power, told Reuters, saying that inclusion should not lead to “sabotage”.

Rising interest rates have made it harder for renewable energy developments to attract financing, giving traditional players with deep pockets a competitive advantage.

As delegates began to arrive in Davos, Debt for Climate activists protested at a private airport in eastern Switzerland, which they said would be used by some WEF attendees, and issued a statement calling for foreign debts of poorer countries to be cancelled in order to accelerate the global energy transition.

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The death toll from a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 40 on Monday with dozens more missing, making it the deadliest civilian incident of Moscow’s three-month campaign of hurling missiles at cities far from the front.

At least 40 people were killed in the attack in the central city, with 30 still unaccounted for, city official Gennadiy Korban said. He said 75 people were wounded including 14 children.

Ukrainian officials acknowledged little hope of finding anyone else alive in the rubble of Saturday’s attack, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said rescue efforts in the central Ukrainian city would go on “as long as there is even the slightest chance to save lives”.

The Kremlin said Russian forces do not strike residential buildings in Ukraine, and suggested Ukraine’s air defences had knocked the Russian missile off course, which Kyiv denies.

The German government said Chancellor Scholz accepted the resignation of Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht and would soon appoint a replacement, the culmination of growing scepticism about her ability to bring the German army into shape against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.

Her decision to step down comes as Germany is under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv, and Germany’s defence capabilities have been called into question after several Puma infantry tanks were put out of service during a recent military drill.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected in Berlin on Thursday and will attend a conference on Friday at the U.S. military base in Ramstein to discuss further support for Ukraine.

At the weekend, Britain broke the West’s taboo on sharing tanks with Ukraine, pledging 14 of its main battle tanks.

The Kremlin responded that Britain’s tanks “will burn.” and such support would not change the outcome of the war.

* Belarus began air force drills with Russia that it said were defensive in nature, but the move comes as concerns grow that Moscow is pushing Minsk to join the war in Ukraine. Russian President Putin visited Belarusian leader Lukashenko in December in a rare trip to Minsk, prompting speculation it preceded an attack on Ukraine.

* The Kremlin has denied that it has been pressuring its neighbour to take a more active role in the conflict in Ukraine. Minsk has said it will not enter the war.

* Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of Belarusian Security Council, said the situation on the country’s southern border with Ukraine was “not very calm” and that Ukraine has been “provoking” Belarus.

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