Ukraine war latest: EU agrees indefinite freeze on €210bn of Russian assets
Trump says US will attend Ukraine peace talks with Europe but doesn’t want to ‘waste time’On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchDonald Trump’s top envoy and his son-in-law are set for crunch talks with Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders over a peace deal.Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet the Ukrainian president in Berlin this weekend, a US official briefed on the matter said.Witkoff will also meet with his counterparts from France, Britain and Germany on Sunday and Monday, with French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expected to attend, the Wall Street Journal reported.The choice to send Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia regarding a US peace proposal, highlights Washington's growing urgency to bridge remaining gaps with Kyiv over the plan's terms.On Thursday, the White House said Trump would only send an official to the meeting if he felt there was enough progress to be made in peace talks.The meeting comes as the European Union decided to indefinitely freeze €210bn worth of Russia’s assets, so that Hungary and Slovakia, two countries with friendly relations with Moscow, cannot prevent billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine.Zelensky says five Ukrainians released by Belarus in US-brokered dealFive Ukrainians were among the prisoners released by Belarus in a US-brokered deal on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, expressing gratitude to Washington for aiding their release."Thanks to the active role of the United States and the cooperation of our intelligence services, about a hundred people, including five Ukrainians, are now being released," Zelensky wrote on Telegram."We are assisting our American partners to ensure that Ukraine receives the appropriate assistance."Zelensky said he had told his intelligence services to prioritise agreeing on a new release of Ukrainian POWs held by Russia before the new year.Russia and Ukraine have conducted regular prisoner swaps since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022.Tara Cobham13 December 2025 14:21Comment: Any Ukraine peace deal without Belarus risks Russian annexationAs diplomatic efforts to chart a path toward peace in Ukraine intensify, one critically important element continues to be overlooked. Lasting peace in Europe is impossible if Belarus is left outside any agreement.On the eve of the invasion, President Alexander Lukashenko – Belarus’s first and only president since 1994 – assured Ukraine and the international community that no attack would come from Belarusian territory. Yet, just days later, Russian columns entered from Belarus in a direct betrayal of Ukraine and the Belarusian people, who oppose participation in this war. Missiles were launched, aircraft flew from its airfields, and Russian forces received logistical and rear support. Several countries have recognised Belarus as a co-aggressor in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Belarus stretches approximately 1,080km along Ukraine’s northern border. It is the shortest route to Kyiv and a direct missile corridor toward Nato countries. As long as Belarus remains an unregulated military space, Europe’s security architecture contains a fundamental breach.Valery Tsepkalo and Dmitry Bolkunets write:Any Ukraine peace deal without Belarus risks Russian annexationBelarus is a corridor through Europe that Russia could take over and use to invade Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Ukraine, write Valery Tsepkalo and Dmitry Bolkunets. President Lukashenko’s friendship with Putin is a loophole that needs to be closedTara Cobham13 December 2025 13:30US says it will lift some trade sanctions on Russia’s ally BelarusThe United States will lift sanctions on Belarusian potash in the latest sign of a thaw between Washington and the isolated autocracy.John Coale, US special envoy for Belarus, met the country's authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko for talks in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Friday and Saturday.A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced western isolation and sanctions for years - Mr Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by western countries for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and US Presidential envoy John Coale shake hands during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, on Friday (Belarusian Presidential Press Service)Tara Cobham13 December 2025 13:00Trump's envoy discusses Ukraine with Lukashenko, state media reportsUS President Donald Trump's envoy John Coale discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to state media."We talked about the war between Ukraine and Russia, about Venezuela," Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted Coale as saying."We had a very good conversation. We talked about the future. About how to move forward on the path of rapprochement between the US and Belarus to normalise relations. That's our goal."Coale also noted the close relationship between Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the context of the war in Ukraine."Your president has a long history with President Putin and has the ability to advise him. This is very useful in this situation. They are longtime friends and have the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues," Coale said."Naturally, President Putin may accept some advice and not others. This is a way to facilitate the process."Tara Cobham13 December 2025 12:30New Czech prime minister rejects guarantees for Ukraine loanThe Czech Republic will not take on any guarantees for Ukraine financing, incoming Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who will take power on Monday, said on Saturday, adding that the European Commission must find alternative ways of supporting the country.EU leaders will discuss next week a complex scheme for a loan to Ukraine that would use frozen Russian assets but also involve national guarantees."We will not take guarantees for anything nor put any money in," Babis said in a video posted on social networks.The Czech Republic will not take on any guarantees for Ukraine financing, incoming Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who will take power on Monday, said on Saturday (REUTERS)Tara Cobham13 December 2025 12:00Erdogan says 'peace is not far away' after returning from Putin meetingTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan, fresh from a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin, said he hopes to discuss a Ukraine-Russia peace plan with US President Donald Trump, adding that "peace is not far away".The comments, made to reporters on his return flight from Turkmenistan where he met Putin on Friday, were released by Erdogan's office on Saturday morning.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said that ‘peace is not far away’ (Presidential Press Office)Tara Cobham13 December 2025 11:30Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant temporarily loses power overnight, IAEA saysUkraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all offsite power overnight for the 12th time during the conflict, due to military activity affecting the electrical grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.Both power lines are now reconnected, the IAEA said. The nuclear power plant, which is in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine close to the front line, is not operating but requires constant power to keep its reactors cool. It has backup generators that operate when it is disconnected from the grid. Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Europe's largest nuclear power station (Getty Images)Tara Cobham13 December 2025 11:00Peace talks have run into major obstacle over Ukrainian territory occupied by RussiaThe search for possible compromises on ending the war has run into a major obstacle over who keeps Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Russian forces.For months, American negotiators have tried to navigate the demands of each side as US President Donald Trump presses for a swift end to Russia's war while growing increasingly exasperated by delays. Tara Cobham13 December 2025 10:30Ukraine's Odesa suffers major blackouts after Russian attackUkraine's southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region suffered major blackouts on Saturday after a large overnight Russian attack on the power grid across the country.President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had attacked Ukraine with over 450 drones and 30 missiles."The brunt of the attack was on our energy system, on the south and Odesa region," he wrote on Telegram, adding that thousands of families in seven regions across Ukraine were left without power.Moscow has regularly bombarded Ukraine's energy system since its 2022 invasion, causing hours of daily blackouts countrywide.Ukraine's power grid operator said a "significant number" of households were without power in the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, and that the Ukrainian-controlled part of the frontline Kherson region was totally without power.Tara Cobham13 December 2025 10:00Russian police will stay on in Ukraine's Donbas even if peace deal ends war, Kremlin adviser saysKremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Friday that Russian police and National Guard will stay on in eastern Ukraine's Donbas and oversee the industry-rich region, even if a peace settlement ends Russia's nearly four-year war in Ukraine.This underscores Moscow's ambition to maintain its presence in Donbas post-war.Ukraine is likely to reject such a stance as US-led negotiations drag on.Moscow will give its blessing to a ceasefire only after Ukraine's forces have withdrawn from the front line, Ushakov said in comments published in Russian business daily Kommersant.Tara Cobham13 December 2025 09:30
