The diplomatic wheels are in motion again. Volodymyr Zelensky met American negotiators in Berlin this Monday, December 15, on the second day of negotiations aimed at ending the war with Russia. Already on Sunday, the Ukrainian president and American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner negotiated for more than five hours in Berlin to find a solution to this conflict triggered in 2022 by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a joint declaration, the leaders of the main European countries and the EU proposed this Monday evening to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine and to provide “sustainable” support for the Ukrainian army, limited to 800,000 soldiers.
Information to remember
⇒ Europeans propose to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine
⇒ Volodymyr Zelensky speaks of “progress” on American security guarantees for kyiv
⇒ The draft agreement provides “very strong security guarantees”, assures a senior American official
Europeans propose to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine
The leaders of the main European countries and the EU proposed this Monday to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine and to provide “sustainable” support to the Ukrainian army, limited to 800,000 soldiers, according to a statement sent by the German government. This “multinational force for Ukraine” would be “composed of contributions from willing nations, and supported by the United States.”
According to this document signed by the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the EU, these officials agreed with the United States to “work together to provide Ukraine with strong security guarantees and measures to support economic recovery as part of an agreement to end the war.” This would include “supporting Ukraine in building up its armed forces, which should remain at a peacetime level of 800,000 troops.” They also mention “a ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism led by the United States”.
The document emphasizes that it is “now up to Russia to demonstrate its willingness to work towards lasting peace by accepting President (Donald) Trump’s peace plan.” According to the same text, Moscow must “demonstrate its commitment to ending the fighting by agreeing to a ceasefire.”
Volodymyr Zelensky speaks of “progress” on US security guarantees for Ukraine
The Ukrainian president reported this Monday “progress” in negotiations on American security guarantees for his country, after two days of talks in Berlin with emissaries from Washington. “We have made progress in this area,” he said at a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “I have seen the details” and “they look quite good, even if it is only a first draft,” continued Volodymyr Zelensky.
A little earlier, he had mentioned “not easy” but “productive” discussions with American emissaries. “These conversations are never easy, to be honest with you. But the conversation was productive, with a lot of details, really a lot,” he said at a German-Ukrainian economic forum. “There are complex issues, especially those concerning the territories (…). To put it bluntly, we still have different positions,” he also declared.
Volodymyr Zelensky and American negotiators negotiated this Monday in Germany, for a second consecutive day, kyiv hoping to convince Washington that a ceasefire must take place in Ukraine without prior territorial concessions to Russia. This 2nd round started at the very end of the morning, and ended around 1:00 p.m.
Before Volodymyr Zelensky spoke, the main Ukrainian negotiator at the talks, Roustem Oumerov, welcomed “real progress made” following this closed-door meeting. “Negotiations between Ukraine and the United States have been constructive and productive, with real progress made. We hope to reach an agreement by the end of the day that will bring us closer to peace,” he said on X.
The draft agreement on Ukraine provides “very strong security guarantees”, assures a senior American official
American negotiators assured Monday that the United States had offered kyiv security guarantees that were “very strong” but nevertheless acceptable, according to them, to Russia.
During its two days of discussions in Berlin with Ukrainian negotiators, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, the United States offered “very strong security guarantees” for Ukraine, similar to those in Article 5 of the NATO treaty, a senior American official said. “Everything that we believe Ukrainians need to feel safe is included” in the security section of the draft agreement, he insisted during an interview with the press.
Another American negotiator who also participated in the telephone exchange, however, warned that these security guarantees for Ukraine, of which he did not give concrete details, “would not be on the table indefinitely.”
According to these two sources, US President Donald Trump is due to call his Ukrainian counterpart and European leaders on Monday during the dinner they are due to attend in the German capital.
Turkey shoots down ‘out of control’ drone coming from Black Sea
Turkey on Monday shot down an “out of control” drone approaching its airspace from the Black Sea, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced. “In order to prevent any harmful consequences, the drone was shot down in a secure area, away from any inhabited area,” the ministry said in a press release, without specifying the exact origin of the machine. According to Ankara, “an air trail (…) was detected and monitored as part of routine procedures” over the Black Sea, and “it was determined that the air trail in question corresponded to an out-of-control drone.” “In order to ensure airspace security, our F-16s, placed under NATO command and national command, were deployed on interception missions,” added the Turkish Defense Ministry.
This incident comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Saturday against transforming the Black Sea into a “confrontation zone” between Russia and Ukraine, after several strikes in recent weeks against ships.
EU credibility ‘severely compromised’ without deal on Russian assets, says Friedrich Merz
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ruled on Monday that the EU will be permanently discredited if member states cannot agree on the use of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. “If we fail to do this, the European Union’s capacity for action will be seriously compromised for years, and even longer, and we would show the world that we are incapable of uniting and acting at such a crucial moment in our history,” he said in a speech on the occasion of the visit to Berlin by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The latter, for his part, called for frozen Russian assets to “fully serve” Ukraine’s defense against Russia, at a time when Europeans are under pressure to decide whether or not to use the tens of billions of euros of Russian assets immobilized in Europe. “These funds must truly and fully serve the defense against Russia’s aggression. It is fair, it is reasonable, and it must be achievable,” argued the Ukrainian president.
New EU sanctions against Russia
The European Union announced on Monday that it had decided on new sanctions against entities and individuals accused of supporting Moscow in its war effort against kyiv, and added 40 ships to its list sanctioning the Russian “ghost fleet”. Five individuals and four entities were sanctioned for promoting the export of oil from Russia, including aiding its “ghost fleet” of ships helping Moscow circumvent Western sanctions, said a statement from the Council of the EU, which represents the 27 member states.
The sanctioned individuals are businessmen linked, directly or indirectly, to the large Russian state oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil, sanctioned by the United States. The entities targeted are maritime transport companies based in the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Russia, owners or managers of oil tankers sanctioned by the EU or by other countries, according to this text.
Ukraine claims to have struck a Russian submarine in a Black Sea port
Ukraine said on Monday that it had struck for the first time using a naval drone a Russian submarine moored in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, claiming to have inflicted “critical damage”. “For the first time in history, Sub Sea Baby underwater drones blew up a Russian submarine” of the Kilo class, the Ukrainian security services (SBU) announced on Telegram. “As a result of the explosion, the submarine suffered critical damage and was taken out of service,” they added.
This type of conventional attack submarine has been manufactured since the 1980s. According to military analysts, Russia has more than thirty of them. Russia did not immediately comment on these Ukrainian claims.
US negotiators still ask Ukraine to abandon its Donbass region
American negotiators are still asking Ukraine to abandon the part of the Donbass region (east) still controlled by kyiv, during the last round of talks in Berlin, a senior official familiar with the discussions told AFP. Vladimir “Putin wants territories. The Americans say that “Ukraine” must withdraw”, which kyiv refuses, this source close to the matter told AFP. “It’s quite striking that the Americans are adopting the Russian position on this issue,” she added.
According to a poll published Monday, 75% of Ukrainians are opposed to abandoning this territory.
Ukraine’s non-membership in NATO is a ‘cornerstone’ of talks, Kremlin says
kyiv’s non-membership in NATO is a “cornerstone” of talks, under American mediation, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said on Monday. This issue must be the subject of “specific discussions”, assured Dmitri Peskov during his daily press briefing in which AFP participated, while specifying that Russia was waiting to be informed by Washington of the results of the talks in Berlin between Americans, Europeans and Ukrainians on a plan to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
