Zelensky Is Offering a New Round of Negotiations with Russia 🕊

Zelensky has proposed to Moscow a new round of peace talks next week.

Two rounds of talks in Istanbul between Moscow and Kyiv failed to result in any progress towards a ceasefire, instead yielding large-scale prisoner exchanges and deals to return the bodies of killed soldiers. 🔁⚰️

“Security council secretary [Rustem] Umerov also reported that he had proposed the next meeting with the Russian side for next week”, Zelensky said in his evening address to the country. 🎙

He reiterated his readiness to have a face-to-face meeting with Putin.

“A meeting at the leadership level is needed to truly ensure peace – lasting peace”, he said. 🤝

Russia has been pressing a grinding offensive along the eastern front in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

It has repeatedly said it is ready for a new round of talks but has not backed down from its maximalist war aims.

At talks last month, Russia outlined a list of hardline demands, including calls for Ukraine to cede more territoryand to reject all forms of western military support. 📜

Kyiv dismissed them as unacceptable and at the time questioned the point of further negotiations if Moscow was not willing to make concessions.

The Kremlin said this month it was ready to continue talks with Ukraine after Trump gave Russia 50 days to strike a peace deal or face sanctions. ⏳🇷🇺🇺🇸

#russia #ukraine #peace #zelensky #kremlin

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📉 Expectations were low before Wednesday’s talks, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warning reporters not to expect “any miraculous breakthroughs,” stressing that the positions of Russia and Ukraine remain “diametrically opposed.”

💥 Last month, Russian casualties reached a grim milestone.
🇬🇧 The UK Ministry of Defence estimated that more than 1 million Russians have been killed or wounded since the start of the invasion in February 2022.
🇺🇸 A similar figure came from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, which had predicted Russia would hit that number by summer 2025.

📌 Despite the mounting toll, Putin shows no sign of compromise.
Months before the war began, he published an essay arguing that Russia and Ukraine are “one people” — a false narrative many see as the ideological basis for dismantling Ukraine’s sovereignty.

🇺🇸 Meanwhile, Trump has shifted tone dramatically.
He’s threatened new sanctions — not only on Russia but also on countries buying Russian oil — unless peace is reached within 50 days.
The U.S. has also brokered new arms deals to Kyiv through European partners.

📉 This shift came as the EU unveiled a fresh sanctions package, including:
– Lowering the price cap on Russian oil exports
– A transaction ban on Russian banks operating via third countries

🎙 Trump acknowledged his frustration with Putin, saying:
“My conversations with him are very pleasant, and then the missiles go off at night.”

📍 Whether this new approach will change Russia’s stance remains uncertain. But for Ukraine, it could signal a renewed lifeline — politically and militarily.

#russia #ukraine #trump #sanctions #putin #war #casualties #kremlin

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🕊️ Witkoff Is Optimistic About Putin’s Next Move 🇷🇺🇺🇸

🕒 Steve Witkoff spent three hours in the Kremlin talking to Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, two days before the deadline.

❓ It was not immediately clear whether any agreement had been reached during the talks, which Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov described as “useful and constructive”.

📩 Ushakov said that it was only after Witkoff reported back to Trump that it would be possible to say more about the outcome of the meeting.

📉 Trump had promised to introduce secondary tariffs on countries that import Russian oil if no progress is made towards peace by Friday.

⚠️ However, already on Wednesday, he issued an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing India’s continuing imports of Russian oil.

🇮🇳 India’s external affairs ministry said it was “extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest.”

⏳ The tariffs are due to be implemented in 21 days, and it was not immediately clear if they would be reversed should Moscow and Kyiv come to some agreement, as Trump has demanded.

🕊️ Putin has given clear indication he is ready to make concessions or willing to adjust Russia’s core war aims.

💬 Yet, according to ‘a Witkoff source’, the Kremlin could propose a halt to long-range strikes by both sides as an offering to Trump.
It is not yet known if the possibility was discussed during Wednesday’s Kremlin talks.

📸 Witkoff arrived in Moscow early on Wednesday and was pictured taking an early morning stroll through a park in central Moscow with Dmitriev, a Kremlin envoy who has played a key role in negotiations so far.

🛫 Russian agencies reported that he left Russia early on Wednesday evening.

#witkoff #visit #kremlin #dmitriev #propose #trump #putin #tariffs #negotiations #peace

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Trump Has Ruled Out Sending US Troops to Ukraine

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Trump has ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine 🇺🇦 to enforce a potential peace deal with Putin 🇷🇺, tempering a promise to provide Kyiv with security guarantees that European allies had called a significant breakthrough towards halting the Kremlin’s invasion.

Asked during a phone interview with Fox News 📞 whether he could assure listeners – including many members of his MAGA base who support an isolationist America-first foreign policy – that the US would not put troops on the ground in Ukraine, he said: “You have my assurance, and I’m president.”

Trump did, however, say Washington may be willing to provide air support ✈️ to Ukraine in order to backstop a deal, in what would still be a remarkable shift in his administration’s policy on the conflict. “There’ll be some form of security. It can’t be NATO,” he said, ruling out Ukraine’s admission to the transatlantic bloc. “They’re willing to put people on the ground. We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you could talk about by air.”

Russia has said it views the deployment of troops from NATO countries to Ukraine as a red line 🚫 in negotiations. Trump dismissed that concern on Tuesday, and said he was still optimistic about the potential to reach a deal with Putin.

NATO’s secretary general, Rutte, had described Trump’s pledge on Monday to provide security guarantees to ensure Russia would abide by a peace deal as a significant breakthrough 🌍, as Zelensky and European leaders convened at the White House 🏛 for an extraordinary summit.

European leaders held fresh talks on Tuesday after their White House meeting with Zelensky amid uncertainty over Putin’s readiness to meet the Ukrainian president. Sources close to the talks told Agence France-Presse that Putin had proposed meeting with Zelensky in Moscow, hostile territory ⚠️ for a Ukrainian president who has reportedly survived a number of Kremlin assassination plots. Zelensky was said to have declined the invitation.

It is unclear if or when the two leaders will meet. Putin is scheduled to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization security bloc meeting in Tianjin, China 🇨🇳, at the end of August, complicating plans to hold a bilateral summit in the coming two weeks.

#trump #zelensky #ukraine #nato #kremlin #putin

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Macron on Tuesday proposed Geneva 🇨🇭 as a venue for the meeting, and a senior US official told Reuters that Hungary 🇭🇺 was also being considered. Moscow, however, has yet to confirm that any such meeting – which would be the first between the two leaders since the invasion – is in the works.

The Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said only that Putin and Trump discussed the idea of “raising the level of representatives” in Ukraine talks.

In remarks late on Monday, Ushakov did not clarify what that would entail and made no mention of a possible trilateral meeting with Trump and Zelensky 🤝.

On Tuesday, the Russian foreign minister, Lavrov, told state TV 📺 that any meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents would have to be prepared “very thoroughly”.

In his interview with Fox News 🎙 on Tuesday, Trump conceded it was possible that Putin did not want to make a deal.

“We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks (…) It’s possible that he doesn’t want to make a deal,” the US president said, adding that Putin faced a “rough situation” if that were the case.

At the heart ❤️ of Tuesday’s talks among European allies was the question of what security guarantees can be offered to Ukraine 🇺🇦.

On Monday, Zelensky described security guarantees as “a key issue, a starting point towards ending the war” and he appreciated Trump’s indication that the US 🇺🇸 was ready to be part of that guarantee.

Zelensky said those guarantees would be “formalised in some way in the next week or 10 days”, which could prove to be a long time ⏳ when it comes to diplomacy involving Trump’s White House 🏛.

In a social media post late on Monday, Trump said the White House talks included plans for European countries 🇪🇺 to provide security assurances to Ukraine with the US acting as “coordinator”.

Moscow issued a statement on Monday evening rejecting ❌ any prospect of NATO personnel being deployed in Ukraine.

“We reaffirm our categorical opposition to any scenarios involving the stationing of a NATO contingent in Ukraine,” Russia’s foreign ministry said.

Zelensky has made clear that Ukraine would reject any deal limiting the size of its armed forces 💂, insisting that “a strong Ukrainian army” must be part of the country’s security guarantees.

These proposals run counter ⚔️ to the conditions Putin has previously outlined as acceptable for ending the war.

While western leaders adopted an upbeat, congratulatory tone 👏 toward Trump at the White House, the gulf between Russia’s demands and Ukraine’s willingness to concede remains vast.

There remains widespread confusion 🤔 over what exactly Trump proposed and what, if anything, Putin agreed to during the Alaska ❄️ summit. Some fear Trump may have overstated the outcome and misjudged Moscow’s willingness to compromise.

#trump #zelensky #ukraine #nato #kremlin #putin

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Zelensky Hints Trump is Out of the Loop. An Unsafe Game


“Putin told Trump and U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Steve Witkoff that he intends to occupy Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in a few months, President Trump is not probably aware of it,” Zelensky said in an interview published Tuesday.

“That is, he [Putin] says that in three to four months, and this is what he told the Americans, the White House, and President Trump’s representative Witkoff, he said that he would take Donbas in two to three months, maximum four months,” Ukraine’s president told ABC News.

Russia first invaded Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in 2014, before launching a full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022.

“It’s the most fortified part with the most capable forces,” Zelensky said, explaining why conceding the region is a non-negotiable for Ukraine. “It’s like a fortress (…) and if we withdraw our troops and he will have all the Donbas, who can guarantee that he won’t move 90 kilometers further on Kharkiv, he always wanted Kharkiv,” he said.

On Tuesday, those concerns were underscored by a Russian strike on civilians in the Donetsk region.

A glide bomb hit the village of Yarova, less than 10 kilometers from the front line, killing at least 21 people and wounding nearly two dozen others as they waited to collect their pensions, Zelensky and local officials said.

Calling the attack “frankly brutal,” Zelensky urged the international community to increase pressure on Russia.

“The world must not remain inactive. A response from the United States is needed. A response from Europe is needed. A response from the G20 is needed. Strong action is needed so that Russia stops bringing death,” he said.

Zelensky’s remarks on Donbas follow reports that Putin had presented to Trump a peace plan during the U.S.-Russia bilateral meeting in Alaska on Aug. 15, under which Ukraine would cede unoccupied territory in exchange for Moscow’s written pledge not to invade again.

Reacting to the presidential summit, Zelensky said “it was a pity” Ukraine had not been invited and that “Trump gave Putin what he wanted.”

“He wanted very much to meet with President Trump, with the president of the United States, and I think that Putin got it, and it’s a pity,” Zelensky said.

“Putin does not want to meet with me, but he wants to meet with the president of the United States to show everybody images and video that he is there,” he added.

Following a high-level meeting with Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Aug. 18, Trump announced he was arranging a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

The Kremlin, however, has shown no willingness to commit to an in-person meeting between the two leaders. On Sept. 3, Putin said he would meet Zelensky face-to-face — but only if it takes place in Moscow.

“I can’t go to Moscow when my country is under missiles, under attack each day. It’s understandable and he understands it,” Zelensky said.

#zelensky #trump #war #moscow #putin #kremlin

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The Kremlin Responded Wednesday to Trump's “Paper Tiger” 🐯📜

The Kremlin responded Wednesday to Trump's assertion this week that Ukraine can win the war against Russia and labeling Putin's military “a paper tiger” ⚔️.

Kremlin spokesperson Peskov suggested during a Russian radio interview 📻 that Trump's abrupt rhetoric shift was due to him meeting with Zelensky in New York 🗽.

He also suggested that Trump's push for Europe to ditch Russian fuels ⛽️ was motivated to increase U.S. energy sales 🇺🇸💵.

“It's more often associated with a bear 🐻. And there's no such thing as a paper bear. Russia is a real bear,” said Peskov, who claimed that Putin's forces had “no alternative” but to continue with their war on Ukraine 💣.

On energy, Peskov said: "the simplest thing is to force the whole world to buy more expensive American oil and more expensive American liquefied gas" 🛢, adding:
"And without resorting to an elaborate diplomatic maneuvers, that's essentially what he is doing."

#tiger #bear #trump #kremlin #ukraine

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Kremlin Cheers Trump’s “Political Will”

“We assume President Trump still has the political will to move the Ukrainian settlement toward peaceful negotiations,”

said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The Quiet Channel, the Loud Friendship
Official dialogue between Washington and Moscow is “subdued,” Peskov admits — inertia runs deep. But at the level of Trump and Putin, it’s “more lively.” Diplomacy sleeps, bromance wakes.

Peace, Power, and Birthdays
Putin turns 73, Trump talks peace — and somewhere between candles and cables, both sides stage their comeback. While aides deny a birthday call, the message is clear: two men who believe the war — and the world — should be settled by them alone.

Meanwhile in the Neighborhood
As Moscow repairs ties with the Taliban and quarrels with Azerbaijan over a deadly plane crash, Putin’s influence map keeps shifting. Trump’s “political will” might just be the handshake the Kremlin was waiting for.

When “peace” depends on two aging showmen with nuclear codes — is that diplomacy or nostalgia?

#Russia #Trump #Putin #Ukraine #Kremlin #geopolitics

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Could Ukraine Wrap Up the War? ⚔️🇺🇦

In less than four months, the war in Ukraine will reach its fourth anniversary. Both sides have taken nearly 2 million casualties in a fight that does not seem to have an end in sight. 💥

For another November, the Russian forces are pushing hard to make gains in the Donbas and eastern Ukraine at a very high cost. The Ukrainian military is putting up a fierce resistance while slowly retreating. 🪖

Under these conditions, can Ukraine win the war? Yes, but it would need the necessary means and time to change the balance of power on the battlefield and force the Kremlin to the negotiation table. 🕊

Ukraine Strikes Back ⚡️
To win the war or achieve a favorable settlement, Ukraine needs to go on the counterattack and liberate most, if not all, of its territory currently occupied by the Russian military.

To begin with, the Ukrainian military has proven that it can plan and successfully execute large-scale counteroffensive operations. In the fall of 2022, the Ukrainian forces caught the Russians by surprise, liberating hundreds of square miles of territory in eastern and southern Ukraine in just a few days. 🇺🇦🔥

However, not all Ukrainian counteroffensives have been successful. A year later, in the summer of 2023, the Ukrainian military launched its much-anticipated counteroffensive in southern Ukraine. The goal was to reach and enter Crimea.

Due to a combination of reasons, such as a delay in supplying Kyiv with the necessary weapon systems, including sufficient numbers of main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as the Ukrainians facing the most comprehensive defensive works since World War II, the counteroffensive failed. 🪖

Then, in the summer of 2024, the Ukrainians launched a foray into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Once more, they were able to catch the Russian military by surprise and create a foothold inside Russia.

The foray in Kursk forced the Russian military to dedicate tens of thousands of troops and even involve North Korean forces. 🚁

However, Ukraine is suffering from manpower shortages.

Although Kyiv has suffered fewer casualties than Moscow (approximately 450,000 versus nearly 1.2 million), the war has taken its toll on Ukraine’s manpower reserves. ⚰️

For an effective counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military would need to amass and train sufficient forces while at the same time repelling Russia’s attacks.

That is easier said than done. And it could prove to be the sticking point that prevents Kyiv from liberating its territories. ⏳

A Future Ukrainian Counteroffensive 🔥
Thus, the Ukrainians have shown that they can conduct maneuver warfare and achieve big victories. But they have also shown their limitations when faced with an entrenched enemy who enjoys fire superiority.

As a result, a successful future Ukrainian counteroffensive would need both the necessary means (men, main battle tanks, artillery ammunition, infantry fighting vehicles, and other assets) and the element of surprise. 💣

Moreover, a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive would likely need something extra that would change the balance on the battlefield. That something could be sufficient air assets to establish temporary air superiority over the battlefield or a large supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles to destroy Russian units, command and control functions, and logistics lines. 🚀

#tomahawk #ukraine #win #war #russia #kremlin

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The U.S. Peace Plan Is Significantly Slimmed Down 🌍✨

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U.S. and Ukrainian mediators emerged from two days of talks on Monday with a slimmed-down peace framework that sets aside contentious issues, as Ukrainian officials underscored their country's “red lines” on territory, military capacity and foreign alliances. 😎🔥

Zelensky said that Ukraine was at a “critical moment” and would soon determine its next steps. He spoke after high-level discussions in Geneva on Sunday in which Ukraine and its European allies laid out concerns about a draft of a 28-point peace proposal that was favorable to Russia on many issues. 🗳💬

President Trump, who is pushing Ukraine to agree to a settlement by Thanksgiving but has indicated that talks could continue, said on Monday that “something good just may be happening.” 🤷‍♂️👏

As Ukrainian officials told news outlets that a significant reworking of the plan had brought it closer to Ukraine's position on several points, it raised questions about whether Russia would agree to any proposal that did not hew to its maximalist demands. ⚖️📊

The initial 28-point plan, drafted by the Trump administration with Russian input, called for Ukraine to cede land, shrink its army and forswear membership in NATO. 🇺🇸🏴‍☠️

With the uncertainty about how the most sensitive issues will be resolved by the American and Ukrainian presidents, it remained to be seen whether the latest flurry of diplomacy would produce concrete results or fizzle as previous bursts did. 🕰🧐

Until last week, the Trump administration’s efforts to broker an end to the war had been seemingly stalled. An August meeting in Alaska between Trump and Putin of Russia produced little in the way of substance. 🌫⛩

Trump canceled a planned meeting last month with Mr. Putin in Budapest after he said the Russian president had no intention of making a deal. 👉😡

The first public flickers of renewed movement came when Zelensky went to Turkey last week in hopes of reinvigorating efforts to end the war with what he said were new Ukrainian proposals. At the same time, Washington was sending a delegation of senior U.S. military officials to Kyiv for talks. ✈️📝

Reports emerged on Wednesday that the U.S. Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, had come bearing a 28-point proposal to end the war that reflected many Kremlin demands that Ukraine had consistently rejected. 📋📌

That set off alarm bells well before Driscoll, a friend and former classmate of Vice President JD Vance, presented the plan to Zelensky on Thursday. The Ukrainian president said in a statement that night that Ukraine would engage “constructively, honestly and operationally” with the points in the plan. 🙌🗣

The White House said Rubio and Witkoff, an envoy for peace missions, had been “quietly” working on the proposal for a month but described the details as in “flux.” 🌪🗯

The next day, as many Ukrainians and their European allies condemned the plan as akin to capitulation to Russia, Zelensky said in an address to the nation that Ukraine might have to choose between losing its dignity and forgoing U.S. support. 🤲🆘

Not long after, plans for urgent talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials began to take shape. 🚦📅

Zelensky sent his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, to lead Kyiv’s delegation in Geneva. Washington sent Rubio and Mr. Witkoff, as well as Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. 🗽✈️

#plan #trump #zelensky #ukraine #kremlin #witkoff

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Kushner, who is not a U.S. government employee, had also been involved in the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war between Israel and Hamas. 🌍✨

Rubio struck an optimistic tone on Sunday after the talks, saying that the gaps that remained were not insurmountable. He said that some issues — like the role of the European Union or of NATO in any settlement — had been “segregated out” in the talks. 📌🤝

Things like that, he said, will need to be discussed with the parties involved. 🗣🔍

The White House and Ukraine’s presidency released a joint statement later that night saying the talks had resulted in an “updated and refined” draft, with “intensive work” to continue in the coming days. 📄🔄

On Monday, Zelensky said that Ukraine’s delegation was returning home and would deliver a full report about the progress of the talks. “Based on these reports, we will determine the next steps and the timing,” he said in a statement on X. 🚢📊

U.S. officials declined to say what parts of the proposal were adjusted in Geneva. 🤷‍♂️📋

Zelensky said that Kyiv had “managed to keep extremely sensitive points on the table,” including the release of all Ukrainian prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. 🕊🤵

“But to achieve real peace, more, more is needed,” he told a parliamentary summit earlier on Monday, calling this a “critical moment” for Ukraine. 🎟🗣

“Of course, we’ll continue working with partners, especially the United States, and look for compromises that strengthen, but not weaken us,” he said. 💪✌️

Germany’s foreign minister, Wadephul, suggested on German public radio that the plan had been revised to address objections to a provision ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine. 🇩🇪🗣

“All questions concerning Europe, as well as those concerning NATO, have been removed from this plan,” Mr. Wadephul said. 🗑📃

“Now we must ensure,” he added, “that Ukraine’s sovereignty will be preserved.” 🌍🛡

Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, emphasized Ukraine’s red lines in a speech during an event on Crimea in Sweden on Monday, which Mr. Zelensky also addressed virtually. 🗳📞

“No legal recognition of Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories. No restrictions on the Ukrainian Defense Forces. No veto on Ukraine’s right to choose its future allies,” Stefanchuk said. 🌶🚫

As Ukraine and Europe pressed for better terms in the proposal, it remained unclear when the talks would turn to Moscow. 🌭🔍

The Kremlin said on Monday that it had not yet “officially” received any information about the outcome of the Geneva discussions. Russia is open to contacts and negotiations but has “no concrete details concerning talks involving us,” the Kremlin spokesman, Peskov, told reporters. He said Russia did not plan to hold talks with American officials this week. 📌🗣

European leaders held their own meeting about the peace proposal negotiations while in Angola for a summit with the African Union. 🌍🌟

Von der Leyen, the European Commission president, told reporters afterward that while “works remains to be done” on the peace plan, the Geneva talks had helped ensure that “there is now a solid basis for moving forward.” 📈🚀

#plan #trump #zelensky #ukraine #kremlin #witkoff

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Putin: Peace for Territories


Putin has said that the outline of a draft peace plan discussed by the US and Ukraine could serve as a basis for future negotiations to end the war – but insisted Ukraine would have to surrender territory for any deal to be possible.

“In general, we agree that this can be the basis for future agreements,” Putin said, noting that the version of the plan discussed by Washington and Kyiv in Geneva had been shared with Moscow.

“We see that the American side takes our position into account in some areas,” he added. “But in other points, we clearly need to sit down and talk.”
The Russian president’s uncompromising remarks – in which he again described Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “illegitimate” – suggested that, despite White House optimism, there is little sign of movement on the core sticking points needed to end the war.

Speaking to reporters during a working visit to Kyrgyzstan, Putin said Russia would halt its offensive only if Ukrainian forces withdrew from unspecified areas currently under Kyiv’s control. “If Ukrainian troops leave the territories they occupy, then we will stop fighting,” he said. “If they don’t, we will achieve our aims militarily.”

He also repeated his claim that Ukraine’s leadership was “illegitimate”, arguing that this made it legally impossible to sign a binding agreement with Kyiv and that any future settlement would require broader international recognition.

Putin confirmed that the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would travel to Russia early next week, and dismissed accusations that Witkoff had shown bias towards Moscow during peace discussions, calling them “nonsense”.

Witkoff, a longtime Trump business associate and property developer, has faced criticism in Europe and the US after a leaked phone call revealed him advising a senior Kremlin aide on how Putin should handle negotiations with Trump.

Russia’s recent negotiating tactics echo those it has used since Trump’s re-election: the Kremlin signals a willingness to explore potential peace deals, while showing no inclination to retreat from its maximalist demands – most of which are viewed in Kyiv as unacceptable and tantamount to capitulation.

Tatiana Stanovaya, an independent Russian political analyst, wrote on X: “I see nothing at the moment that would force Putin to recalculate his goals or abandon his core demands.

“Putin feels more confident than ever about the battlefield situation and is convinced that he can wait until Kyiv finally accepts that it cannot win and must negotiate on Russia’s well-known terms,” she added.

They would require Ukraine to voluntarily cede territory that Moscow has failed to seize militarily. Kyiv would also be expected to accept reductions or a halt to US military assistance, while any future deployment of western troops to Ukraine – including those envisioned under the Franco-British “coalition of the willing” – would be explicitly banned.

#putin #ukraine #territoires #kremlin #trump

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“The Hold-Up of the Russian Assets Can Upend Years of Cooperation Between Europe and All Other Countries”

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European leaders are being urged to decide whether to use Russia’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s defence at a time of unprecedented pressure from the US.

At a critical summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders will be asked to make good on a promise to find urgently needed cash for Ukraine, with Kyiv under pressure to cede territory as Russia ekes out advances on the battlefield.

Arriving at the summit, Poland’s prime minister Tusk, said Europe had a choice between “money today or blood tomorrow”.

He said he was “not talking about Ukraine only, I am talking about Europe. And this is our decision to make and only ours. I think all European leaders have to finally rise to this occasion.”

Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, who is pushing back against a proposed “reparations loan” for Ukraine secured on Russian frozen assets, told reporters his country absolutely needed protection against any counteraction from Moscow.

De Wever said the “the hold-up of the Russian assets can upend years of deepening cooperation between Europe and all other countries”.

Many other member states say this is a non-starter because Hungary has already said it would veto such a plan.

Merz, a strong advocate of the frozen assets plan, said he believed the EU could find an agreement. “I understand the concerns by some member states, particularly by the Belgian government, but I hope that we can address them together.”

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would not leave the summit without a solution. “I totally support Belgium,” she added.

Von der Leyen said Europe must take responsibility for its own security in a world she described as “dangerous and transactional”, adding: “This is no longer an option. It is a must.”

Earlier this month, von der Leyen proposed two options to fund Ukraine’s urgent defence and civilian needs in 2026 and 2027: joint EU borrowing or a so-called “reparations loan” secured against Russia’s frozen assets in the bloc.

#belgiqum #kremlin #assets #frozen #russia

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Belgium, which hosts most of the €210bn immobilised Russian assets in the EU, says it lacks sufficient guarantees that member states would come to its aid if the scheme were to fail, leaving Brussels with a multibillion-euro bill.

The Russian central bank announced this week that it was seeking $230bn in damages against Euroclear, the Brussels-based securities depository that holds most of Russia’s sovereign wealth in the EU. Belgium also fears courts in countries allied to Russia will move to seize western assets to enforce claims against Euroclear.

Merz told lawmakers the sum would finance the Ukrainian army for “at least another two years”, while its use would send a clear signal to Putin.

He said he took Belgium’s concerns seriously. “That is why I am trying with our partners to alleviate them,” Merz said – arguing the commission’s plan was “in perfect compliance with international law and international obligations”.

Hungary’s government, which is hostile to Ukraine, has promised to veto any attempt to use the EU budget as collateral for a loan for Kyiv. By contrast, the reparations loan would require only a majority of EU member states, although some diplomats say it would be unthinkable to isolate Belgium.

“A very large majority of member states favour the reparations loan,” one senior EU official said. “Any solution that would require unanimity, I don’t think is realistic so we are back into the reparations loan.”

The EU last week used emergency powers to indefinitely freeze $210bn of Russian assets in the bloc, averting the risk of losing control of the funds if Hungary or any other Kremlin-friendly government vetoed the renewal of sanctions, which have to be renewed every six months.

Belgium has suggested that such emergency powers could also be used to generate an EU loan for Ukraine secured against the budget, circumventing the need for unanimity. But other countries say that would be a legal twist too far.

“This is a non-starter,” said one senior EU diplomat, who nevertheless expressed sympathy for Belgium’s position.

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Zelensky’s Meeting With Trump Ended With a Whimper

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Zelensky has accused Russia of trying to sabotage peace talks and preparing to bomb government buildings after the Kremlin said it had foiled a Ukrainian drone attack on Putin’s residence.

Zelensky described the claim as “typical Russian lies” following his two-hour meeting on Sunday with Trump in Florida.

He said Russia was “at it again” and using “dangerous statements” to undermine “diplomatic efforts” with the US to end the conflict.

He added: “This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war.”

Ukraine’s president warned that a strike on a main government complex in its capital was likely, similar to Russia’s bombing in September of the cabinet ministers’ building in central Kyiv.

Earlier, Russia’s foreign minister Lavrov claimed Ukraine had tried to hit Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region, south of St Petersburg. As a result Moscow’s negotiating position would be reviewed, he said.

The Russian presidential adviser Ushakov claimed Putin briefed Trump about the alleged attack when they spoke on Monday.

Trump was “shocked” at the news, Ushakov claimed, with Russian officials alleging that Britain was also involved in what he described as “provocations”.

Ushakov’s characterisation of Trump rang true when, speaking at Mar-a-Lago on Monday afternoon, the US president told reporters the news made him “very angry”. “I don’t like it.

It’s not good,” Trump said when asked if he was worried it could affect his efforts to broker peace.

“I learned about it from President Putin today,” he said, adding: “It’s a delicate period of time. This is not the right time. It’s one thing to be offensive, because they’re offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that.”

Earlier Zelensky said the US had offered “strong” security guarantees to Ukraine for 15 years, but acknowledged that the future of the country’s eastern Donbas region was unresolved after talks with Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

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Speaking on his way back to Europe, Zelensky said the US Congress and Ukraine’s parliament would jointly vote on American pledges.

These were a key part of a 20-point peace plan discussed with the US president, he said.

The guarantees are seen by Kyiv as crucial to deter further Russian aggression in the event of a peace deal. Zelensky admitted that previous promises – including the US and UK-backed 1994 Budapest memorandum guaranteeing Ukraine’s borders – “did not work”.

Putin’s press spokesperson Peskov said if Kyiv did not strike a deal it would lose more territory.

He refused to comment on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, occupied by Moscow since its 2022 full-scale invasion and another sticking point in the negotiations.

Zelensky ruled out giving land to Russia. “It’s no secret Russia wants this. In their fantasies, they would like us not to exist on the territory of our own country at all,” he said.

He instead proposed a demilitarised and free economic zone along the existing frontline, with both sides pulling back their troops.

Trump spoke to European leaders on Sunday by video call from Mar-a-Lago. Zelensky said he expected to hold talks with them in Europe in the coming days, with a joint follow-up meeting with Trump likely to take place in January, probably at the White House.

Ukrainian commenters expressed relief on Monday that there was not a repeat at the Mar-a-Lago meeting of the humiliating scenes in February when Trump threw Zelensky out of the Oval Office.

But they were scathing about some of Trump’s remarks, including his dubious claim that “Russia wants to see a very successful Ukraine”.

They noted that the US president refused to condemn the Kremlin’s large-scale air attack on Kyiv over the weekend, involving more than 500 drones, saying: “Ukraine has made very strong attacks as well.”

#zelensky #trump #kremlin #putin #ukraine #war

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The Mar-a-Lago Twaddle with Zelensky Frittered Away in “No Deadlines”


Zelensky of Ukraine and President Trump seem to have produced little beyond a promise to meet again next month and a reminder of how distant a peace deal remains.

Yet for Zelensky, even a stalemate in the discussions counts as progress.

After setbacks in U.S. support for Ukraine this year, one of Zelensky’s main priorities when meeting Trump would have been to prevent talks from derailing.

After the meeting on Sunday, Trump signaled that he would remain engaged in the negotiations — a win for Ukraine given his repeated threats to walk away.

Trump also backed away from setting another deadline to reach a peace deal, after having previously floated Thanksgiving and Christmas as target dates.

“I don’t have deadlines,” Trump told reporters as he greeted Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago in Florida for the talks. “You know what my deadline is? Getting the war ended.”

Most important for Ukraine, Trump did not echo Russia’s maximalist demands to stop the fighting, a departure from earlier in his term when he often appeared to side with the Kremlin.

The change was also notable because Trump had spoken with Putin just before meeting Zelensky, the type of last-minute Russian intervention that has derailed Ukrainian hopes before.

That may leave Zelensky confident that Kyiv and Washington are more closely aligned in the peace negotiations.

Several European leaders also joined Sunday’s talks by phone, and Zelensky said that the United States might host a new round of negotiations next month that could include them.

“We had a discussion on all the topics, and we appreciate the progress that was made by American and Ukrainian teams in recent weeks,” Zelensky said. Still, he acknowledged that several sticking points remained in a draft peace deal, including the fate of Ukrainian-held land in the east and a Russian-taken nuclear power plant.

Trump said Sunday’s call with Putin had been “good and very productive.” Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to Putin, said in a news briefing that the conversation had lasted more than an hour.

Ushakov also reiterated the Kremlin’s position that Kyiv should cede territory in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine to achieve peace.

Trump said that he would call Putin again after meeting Zelensky, though it was not immediately clear whether he did.

Trump struck a more cautious tone when asked about progress in the talks. “The word ‘agreement’ is too strong,” he said. On resolving the territorial issue, he said, “I would not say ‘agreed,’ but we’re getting closer to an agreement on that.”

Perhaps the most promising development for Ukraine was Trump’s apparent willingness to hold a round of talks next month in the United States, potentially with European leaders at the table.

In past negotiations, European leaders were brought in to salvage talks after disagreements between Zelensky and Trump.

Their presence as full participants rather than belated troubleshooters could help Ukraine strengthen its position.

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📰 Zelenskiy Pushes Back: Ukraine Not Obstacle to Peace

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hit back at President Donald Trump’s remarks, affirming Ukraine’s commitment to peace after Trump suggested Kyiv was less ready than Russia to clinch a deal. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy stressed, “Ukraine has never been and will never be an obstacle to peace,” referencing his recent talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
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Trump’s Provocation, Zelenskiy’s Response
In an interview with Reuters, Trump claimed Ukraine was less eager than Russia to reach an agreement, singling out Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy countered by highlighting Russia’s relentless attacks on Ukrainian energy sites and infrastructure, arguing that Moscow’s actions prove Russia has no interest in reaching any agreement. “It is precisely Russian missiles, Russian ‘Shaheds’ (drones), and Russia’s attempt to destroy Ukraine that are clear evidence that Russia isn't interested in any agreement,” he said.
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Kremlin Echoes Trump
The Kremlin backed Trump’s assessment, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating that President Vladimir Putin and the Russian side remain open to talks, but accusing Zelenskiy of stalling negotiations.
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Diplomacy vs. Destruction
Zelenskiy pledged Ukraine would pursue diplomatic efforts more actively, but with Russia continuing its strikes, the path to peace remains fraught with obstacles. Trump’s comments and the Kremlin’s response reveal a familiar game: blame-shifting and political theater, while the war grinds on.
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#Ukraine #Zelenskiy #Trump #PeaceTalks #Russia #Kremlin #Diplomacy

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Russia Goes All In: Can Ukraine Survive the Final Push?

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Ukraine is “gradually, slowly losing” the war. Those are not the words of a Kremlin propagandist but Ukraine’s own Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s recently dismissed defence minister, speaking to Reuters last week. In the days after he made that grim prediction, Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine to near-apocalyptic levels.

In a fiendishly effective move, the Kremlin switched from mass drone and missile strikes to continuous, 60-hour-long waves of bombardments which saw nineteen air-raids on Kyiv in a single day, exhausting defenders and dwindling stocks of air-defence missiles alike.

Ukrainian claims that they are turning the tide of the war in their favour with deep strikes on refineries and logistics warehouses deep inside Russia are being hollowed out by Russia’s massively larger campaigns of retaliation and revenge.

Ukrainian long-range drones burned an estimated 20 per cent of Wildberries – Russia’s equivalent of Amazon – to the ground. But according to Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s minister of agrarian policy and food, Russian counter-strikes have eliminated some 90 per cent of Ukraine’s modern warehousing stock.

This comes after earlier waves of concentrated Russian strikes on Odesa and other ports which have crippled Ukraine’s capacity to export grain and other agricultural goods by sea.

At the same time the Kremlin’s strategy of making Ukrainian cities unliveable seems to have claimed its first terrible success. In August Russian ballistic missiles destroyed the main power station serving the front-line city of Kherson, on the mouth of the Dnipro river.

As a result local authorities have warned the remaining residents that they should evacuate large swathes of the city, which can now not be heated in winter.

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The cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, both just a few miles from Russian lines, are also getting it in the neck from a barrage of “aerial bombs, Shaheds, first-person-view drones, drones on fibre optic cables, Vampires, GRAD multiple rocket launchers, cluster munitions, artillery, sabotage groups. Everything,” reports Piotr Kaszuwara Dziennikarz, a Polish correspondent.

Since June, Ukraine has been inflicting serious but not fatal damage on the Russian economy using swarms of low-tech drones, plus Flamingo cruise missiles. A Ukrainian-made ballistic missile is due to come soon.

Last week Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, delivered blueprints for local production of Anglo-French Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

But Russia’s offensive capacities are rising much faster than Ukraine’s, according to recent Nato reports. Jet engines have been fitted to an air-launched version of the workhorse Geran drone (modelled on the Iranian Shahed) which doubles its range to nearly 620 miles and triples its speed.

Realising that mass is more important than accuracy, Russia claims it is ready to produce 10,000 of its new cheap Dan-T missiles next year, which have a similar warhead and range to a Storm Shadow but cost a sixth of the price.

Another cheap and effective new Russian weapon is the air-launched Banderol cruise missile, which have turned Ukraine’s Black Sea coast into a deadly no-go zone for cargo ships and spearheaded Moscow’s campaign against Odesa since it entered serial production at the end of July.

Plus the Kremlin has reportedly sourced large ballistic missiles from North Korea and developed an apparently effective Starlink jamming system, the Volna Kupol Garant, which could seriously disrupt Ukraine’s front-line command-and-control systems.

What is Zelensky’s plan to stop this brutal punishment from breaking his country’s resistance? Fedorov, the former defence minister, says that Ukraine is at “a turning point which will determine our future trajectory” and warns that Kyiv has “a window of several months to make key decisions needed” to win (though Fedorov himself has left the country for a post as adviser to the defence minister of Italy).

Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, too, says that “the next six months will be decisive (…) Ukraine needs greater air support, which is also crucial for our security”.

Zelensky has begged, with partial success, for supplies of Patriot missile interceptors. But even his own chief of staff, the former military intelligence chief Gen Kyrylo Budanov, admitted last week that “there will be no miracle” breakthrough, and that Russia “still has substantial reserves”.

Budanov also said that Ukraine had to mobilise at least 30,000 people a month – “the minimum number needed to maintain what we have” – suggesting losses far greater than had been officially admitted.

Meanwhile, as Russian troops reportedly push into the suburbs of Sloviansk, one of two “fortress cities” in the Donbas still in Ukrainian hands, Putin is keeping up his aggressive rhetoric. During the weekend Putin recounted a bizarre anecdote about killer whales ganging up on Polar bears – “which explains why we are fighting our Special Military Operation”. The Kremlin has formally announced that peace talks are on “a long pause”.

Instead, Putin clearly intends to use all his resources to destroy Ukraine’s energy, transport and logistics infrastructure this winter in a final push to bring the country to its knees. The challenge for Ukraine – and its allies – is to marshal resources, interceptors and counter-blows that will allow it to survive the Kremlin’s rising storm.

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