“Ukraine – Russia”

Volodymyr Zelensky is urging European Union leaders gathered at a crunch summit in Brussels to loan billions of euros in frozen Russian money to fund Ukraine’s military and economic needs.

Most of Russia’s €210bn (£185bn; $245bn) worth of assets in the EU are held by Belgium-based organisation Euroclear, and so far Belgium and some other members of the bloc have said they are opposed to using the cash as a “reparations loan”.

Russia has warned the EU not to use its money, but without a boost in funding Ukraine’s finances are set to run dry in a matter of months.

“I hope we will be able to get a positive decision,” Zelensky told reporters. “Without this there will be a big problem for Ukraine”.

What exactly is the ‘platinum security guarantee’ that Donald Trump is pushing Volodimir Zelensky to accept? While the full details remain confidential, the deal is described as an ‘Article 5 style’ guarantee after the clause in Nato’s charter that states that ‘an armed attack against one Nato member shall be considered an attack against all members’ and triggers ‘an obligation for each member to come to its assistance.’

Sounds reassuring. Except that little weasel word ‘style’ covers an abyss of real-world back-pedalling and caveats. For a start, Nato’s charter does not oblige members to actually take military action if one is attacked but instead leaves that decision to individual states. The ‘assistance’ required by Article Five ‘may or may not involve the use of armed force’ and can include instead ‘any action that Allies deem necessary to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.’ Whatever Trump’s ‘platinum’ guarantee may be, it will be less binding even than that.

The United States told Ukraine to accept its “platinum” offer of security guarantees or risk losing them completely.

US officials said Nato-style guarantees were on offer on Monday in Germany, at peace talks that could end the war if Ukraine agrees to cede territory to Russia.

But they also warned that “those guarantees will not be on the table forever”, in an apparent ultimatum to Volodymr Zelensky to agree to the terms.

Ukraine is willing to sacrifice its longstanding ambition to join Nato if it receives guarantees that the West would prevent another Russian invasion, President Zelensky has said.

The Ukrainian leader arrived in Berlin on Sunday for talks with European leaders and American officials, as President Trump’s envoys pressure him to accept territorial concessions to achieve a peace deal with the Kremlin.

A FEW days ago it seemed as though President Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan for Ukraine still had some mileage.

Last Tuesday the Epoch Times reported hopefully that ‘conversations involving Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv have continued since Trump’s proposed plan to end the conflict came to light in November’. Apace, in fact, the article commented.

Helpfully the ET reminded us where the talks began and where they stood (by last Tuesday). First it went through the original plan drafted by the US special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The 28 points covered an array of topics including territory, the military, future international relations, post-war reconstruction funding, and internal politics.

In the city of Pokrovsk, territory is constantly changing hands. Amid the ruins, Ukrainian troops risk their lives to deliver supplies and rescue comrades

When Joseph saw the explosives-laden drone barrelling straight towards his flatbed lorry, his vision darkened and the world switched into slow-motion. His thoughts turned to the two young soldiers riding in the back alongside a mountain of ammunition and drones bound for Pokrovsk.

“You don’t have fear in those moments, you just think of the lives you have to save,” Joseph recalled. He remembered swerving left in a split second, dodging the full impact of the drone, which crashed into the window frame and exploded, blowing out the windows. From the back he heard one of the soldiers shout: “I’m 300, I’m 300.”

The ‘coalition of the willing’ can barely defend itself, let alone protect Ukraine from Russian aggression

Sir Keir Starmer’s blatant attempt to undermine the Trump administration’s Herculean effort to end the Ukraine conflict would be a great deal more credible if he and his European chums had the military clout to back their alternative diplomatic offering.

While leaders of Starmer’s so-called “coalition of the willing” were at pains not to criticise US president Donald Trump directly, their unstated intention during their Downing Street summit this week was to encourage Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to resist Trump’s land for peace proposal.

None of England, France or Germany can control the Muslim invaders within their borders, Russia can’t be too worried about them.

If bear hugs were army divisions and brave words cash euros, Volodymyr Zelensky would have ended his tour of European capitals this week the best-armed and best-funded leader in the world.

‘We stand with Ukraine,’ vowed Sir Keir Starmer after hosting a summit for Zelensky and top European allies at Downing Street on Monday. ‘We support you in the conflict and support you in the negotiations to make sure that this is a just and lasting settlement.’ Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz declared that ‘nobody should doubt our support for Ukraine’ and added that ‘the destiny of this country is the destiny of Europe.’ France’s president Emmanuel Macron promised that Europe has ‘a lot of cards in our hands.’ Zelensky went from London to Rome yesterday, where his staunch supporter Giorgia Meloni offered more hugs, while Pope Leo gave his blessing.

As soldiers face endless Russian pressure, the prospect of dying to defend land that could be given away at the peace table is damaging morale

The explosion reverberated through the city streets as another drone hit, drowning out staccato bursts of anti-aircraft fire. The Ukrainian troops defending Kramatorsk barely batted an eyelid.

The largest Ukrainian-held city in the Donbas, Kramatorsk is at the heart of the country’s “fortress belt” — probably its strongest defensive line. A series of heavy fortifications run 30 miles down the H20 highway and around four large cities, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostyantynivka, as well as several smaller towns.

For 11 years, President Putin has tried and failed to take these cities by force. First through hybrid warfare in 2014, then the full-scale invasion of 2022. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based military think tank, estimates it would still take Russian troops another “several years” to do so. Yet now President Trump wants to hand it to him as part of a US-brokered peace deal that would force Ukraine to surrender all its unoccupied territory in the Donbas.

US president claims European leaders will let Kyiv’s troops ‘fight until they drop’

Donald Trump has warned Ukraine to accept his peace proposal because Russia is winning the war.

The US president suggested his approach to settling the war was in contrast to the Europeans, who he claimed would let Kyiv fight “until they drop”.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Trump accused continental leaders of failing to adequately support Ukraine, branding some of them “real stupid”, as well as claiming Sadiq Khan’s London had been ruined by “ unchecked, unvetted” migration.

Could this be the moment at which US President Donald Trump washes his hands of Ukraine for good? His son thinks it might be. Donald Trump Jr yesterday told the Doha Forum that his father may walk away from supporting Kyiv, adding that “you don’t know what he’s going to do.”

President Donald Trump has said that he was “disappointed” that his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky, had not read the U.S. peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

In comments that followed discussions in Florida between Trump’s envoys and Ukrainian officials, the U.S. president also said that Russia was “fine” with a peace plan proposed by the U.S.

Donald Trump’s advisers and Ukrainian officials said Friday they’ll meet for a third day of talks after making progress on creating a security framework for postwar Ukraine and are urging Russia to commit to peace.

The officials, who met for a second day in Florida on Friday, issued a joint statement that offered broad brushstrokes about the progress they say that’s been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a US-mediated proposal to end nearly four years of war.

“Both parties agreed that real progress toward any agreement depends on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps toward de-escalation and cessation of killings,” the statement said. “Parties also separately reviewed the future prosperity agenda which aims to support Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, joint US–Ukraine economic initiatives, and long-term recovery projects.”

Surrender Monkey News: Macron reportedly warned Zelenskyy US may ‘betray Ukraine on territory’

Emmanuel Macron has reportedly warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy that “there is a chance that the US will betray Ukraine on territory, without clarity on security guarantees”, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported, quoting a leaked note from a recent call with several European leaders.

President Vladimir Putin has warned again that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region or Russia will seize it, rejecting any compromise over how to end the war in Ukraine.

“Either we liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories,” he told India Today. Moscow controls around 85% of Donbas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out ceding territory.