On this seize from a video offered by the Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine on Friday, Dec 12, 2025, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy information a video on the highway getting into of Kupiansk, Ukraine.
AP/Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine
conceal caption
toggle caption
AP/Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine
U.S. envoys arrived in Berlin Sunday morning for one more spherical of talks meant to safe a deal to finish the conflict in Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had been noticed in downtown Berlin by a photographer for German information company dpa.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukrainian, U.S. and European officers will maintain a collection of conferences in Berlin within the coming days.
“Most significantly, I can be assembly with envoys of President Trump, and there may also be conferences with our European companions, with many leaders, regarding the basis of peace — a political settlement to finish the conflict,” Zelenskyy stated in an tackle to the nation late Saturday.
Washington has tried for months to navigate the calls for of every aspect as Trump presses for a swift finish to Russia’s conflict and grows more and more exasperated by delays. The seek for doable compromises has run into main obstacles, together with management of Ukraine’s japanese Donetsk area, which is generally occupied by Russian forces, and safety ensures for Ukraine.
“The prospect is appreciable at this second, and it issues for our each metropolis, for our each Ukrainian neighborhood,” Zelenskyy stated. “We’re working to make sure that peace for Ukraine is dignified, and to safe a assure — a assure, above all — that Russia won’t return to Ukraine for a 3rd invasion.”
Robust obstacles remainRussian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the a part of the Donetsk area nonetheless underneath its management and abandon its bid to affix NATO among the many key circumstances for peace — calls for Kyiv has rejected.
Putin’s overseas affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov advised the enterprise day by day Kommersant that Russian police and nationwide guard troops would keep in components of japanese Ukraine’s Donbas even when they develop into a demilitarized zone underneath a potential peace plan — a requirement prone to be rejected by Ukraine as U.S.-led negotiations drag on.
Ushakov warned {that a} seek for compromise might take a very long time, noting that the U.S. proposals that took under consideration Russian calls for had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
“We do not know what adjustments they’re making, however clearly they are not for the higher,” Ushakov stated, including: “We are going to strongly insist on our concerns.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to assist Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and U.Ok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, stated Saturday that “the a long time of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as properly.”
He warned that Putin’s intention is “a elementary change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the previous Soviet Union inside its borders.” “If Ukraine falls, he will not cease,” Merz warned on Saturday throughout a celebration convention in Munich.
Putin has denied plans to revive the Soviet Union or assault any European allies.
Russia and Ukraine trade aerial attacksAs peace efforts continued, Russia and Ukraine exchanged one other spherical of aerial assaults.
Ukraine’s air drive stated in a single day Russia launched ballistic missiles and 138 assault drones at Ukraine. In its day by day report, the air drive stated 110 had been intercepted or downed however missile and drone hits had been recorded at six areas.
Zelenskyy stated Sunday that tons of of hundreds of households had been nonetheless with out energy within the south, east and north-east areas and work was persevering with to revive electrical energy, warmth and water to a number of areas following a large-scale assault the earlier night time.
The Ukrainian president stated that previously week, Russia had launched over 1,500 strike drones, almost 900 guided aerial bombs and 46 missiles of varied varieties at Ukraine.
“Ukraine wants peace on first rate phrases, and we’re able to work as constructively as doable. Nowadays can be stuffed with diplomacy. It is crucial that it brings outcomes,” Zelenskyy stated.
Russia’s Protection Ministry stated that air defenses downed 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday.
Within the Belgorod area, a drone injured a person and set his home ablaze within the village of Yasnye Zori, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov stated.
Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in Uryupinsk within the Volgograd area, triggering a hearth, based on the regional governor, Andrei Bocharov.
Within the Krasnodar area, the Ukrainian drones attacked the city of Afipsky, the place an oil refinery is situated. The authorities stated that explosions shattered home windows in residential buildings however did not report any injury to the refinery.
