Zelenskyy to discuss Nato membership with Biden in the ‘coming days’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said there are plans to discuss Ukraine’s Nato membership with the US president, Joe Biden – who leaves office next month – in “the coming days”, according to reports.
Speaking at a news conference with Germany’s visiting opposition leader Friedrich Merz, he was quoted by the Independent as saying:
I intend to call President Biden in the coming time to discuss the question of an invitation to join Nato.
He is the current president and a lot rides on his opinion. Discussing it with Trump before he takes office doesn’t make so much sense.
Zelenskyy has previously suggested ending the “hot phase” of the war in exchange for Nato membership for the Ukrainian territories not occupied by Russia.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion was launched in 2022, Zelensky asked for Ukraine to be admitted to Nato – the 32 member western military alliance – as soon as possible.
Nato said earlier this year that Ukraine had made significant progress on democratic, economic and security reforms, but said that a formal membership invitation would only be given when all the required “conditions are met”.
Russia sees the idea of Ukraine’s integration into Nato as anathema and says it is an unacceptable security threat.
Key events
EU countries approve new €4.2bn payment for Ukraine
Ukraine will soon get another €4.2bn ($4.4bn; £3.5bn) in funds after the EU’s member states approved the planned payment of the money, the EU council has announced.
The money, which forms part of the EU’s Ukraine facility, will help the country’s struggling economy, which has been hit by a reduction in exports and the closure of many businesses owing to Russia’s war.
The EU council wants the money allocated to Ukraine as quickly as possible “given the difficult fiscal situation in Ukraine”.
The G7 group of the world’s biggest economies have earmarked an overall loan of €47.3bn ($50bn; £39bn) for Ukraine, serviced by profits generated by Russian assets frozen in the west.
The EU’s defence and space commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, has told Politico he wants the bloc’s next seven-year budget to allocate “not far away from” €100bn (£83bn) for defence amid Russia’s continuing war on Ukraine.
Giving Ukraine the support it needs to win the war is key, he said in his first interview since starting his job this week.
“We need to be ready for the possibility of Russian aggression,” said Kubilius, a two-time prime minister of Lithuania and a Russia hawk.
“If we fail in Ukraine, then of course, the possibility of Russian military aggression against the EU member states can increase.”
Revamping the bloc’s arms industry after decades of post-Cold War somnolence will require a lot of money. Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has talked of increasing Europe’s defense spending by an additional €500bn (£414bn) over the next decade.
Finding that money won’t be easy, but without it all the defense plans remain “theoretical,” Kubilius warned.
The new cash could come from boosting the bloc’s budget, from issuing common debt, or from easing rules for institutions like the European Investment Bank to make it easier to invest in arm-makers — or from some combination of those ideas.
Friedrich Merz, who arrived in Kyiv by train from Poland in the morning, has repeated his commitment to sending German-made Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
“President Zelensky knows our position on Taurus missiles… As it stands today, at the beginning of December 2024, it remains the same,” Merz told journalists.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly refused to send Taurus cruise missiles – which have a range of 500 kilometers (310 miles) – to Ukraine, fearing this could draw his country into a direct conflict with Russia.
More comments coming through from the press conference being held by Zelenskyy and Merz, who is leading polls ahead of German elections in February, in Kyiv.
“We are counting on stronger, more decisive actions from Germany, from you personally. We are counting on it very much,” Zelenskyy told Merz, the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, mentioning Ukraine’s request for an invitation to join Nato and for long-range missiles.
Zelenskyy to discuss Nato membership with Biden in the ‘coming days’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said there are plans to discuss Ukraine’s Nato membership with the US president, Joe Biden – who leaves office next month – in “the coming days”, according to reports.
Speaking at a news conference with Germany’s visiting opposition leader Friedrich Merz, he was quoted by the Independent as saying:
I intend to call President Biden in the coming time to discuss the question of an invitation to join Nato.
He is the current president and a lot rides on his opinion. Discussing it with Trump before he takes office doesn’t make so much sense.
Zelenskyy has previously suggested ending the “hot phase” of the war in exchange for Nato membership for the Ukrainian territories not occupied by Russia.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion was launched in 2022, Zelensky asked for Ukraine to be admitted to Nato – the 32 member western military alliance – as soon as possible.
Nato said earlier this year that Ukraine had made significant progress on democratic, economic and security reforms, but said that a formal membership invitation would only be given when all the required “conditions are met”.
Russia sees the idea of Ukraine’s integration into Nato as anathema and says it is an unacceptable security threat.
At least one person in the Kherson region has been killed and another eight injured in the past day by Russian shelling, the head of the regional state administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, has said.
Kherson and the surrounding region regularly come under Russian fire, with Moscow troops launching strikes from the occupied part of the region on the left bank of the Dnipro River.
Estonian prime minister arrives in Kyiv to meet Zelenskyy
Estonian prime minister, Kristen Michal, has arrived in Kyiv to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior officials, including Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmyhal. The German opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, is also on a diplomatic visit to the Ukrainian capital today.
Michal replaced Kaja Kallas as prime minister in July. She had resigned to become the EU’s foreign policy chief after emerging as one of the strongest critics of Russia and supporters of Ukraine in the political bloc and Nato. It is Michal’s first visit to Ukraine as head of the Estonian government.
“Supporting Ukraine to victory will remain Estonia’s priority, we will not make concessions,” the prime minister said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Estonia’s commitment to keep supporting Ukraine with 0.25% of its gross domestic product (GDP) “serves as an excellent example for other partners”.
Estonia, which borders Russia and spends more than 3% of its GDP on defence, has been one of the most staunch supporters of Ukraine – both military and in terms of humanitarian assistance.
Kremlin says it has had no contact with Trump so far
Russia has had no contact with US President-elect Donald Trump so far, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has told reporters in a press briefing.
The Kremlin said yesterday that Russia was open to talks on Ukraine after the President-elect called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations (see opening summary for more details).
Ukraine’s defence minister says he has discussed planning for the next meeting of the Ramstein Group, an alliance of Nato, the EU and other countries that back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, with US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin.
Rustem Umerov also said Austin reaffirmed the “readiness of the United States to provide Ukraine with everything it needs to effectively fight the enemy” during a conversation about continued security assistance.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion was launched in 2022, the US gathered like-minded nations at the sprawling American air base in Ramstein, western Germany, establishing a group of now about 50 countries that meet regularly to match Kyiv’s arms requests with pledges of donors.
The Biden administration is rushing military equipment to Ukraine in a last-ditch effort to shore up the country’s defenses before Donald Trump assumes the US presidency in January.
At the start of the month, the state department announced $725m in assistance, which will include Stinger anti-air missiles, anti-drone weapons, artillery shells and long-range Himars rocket munitions, and anti-armour missiles, as well as spare parts and other assistance to repair damaged equipment from US stocks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, facing manpower shortages and growing territorial losses, has indicated that he may be open to negotiations with Russia, though he has said this has to be from a position of strength, which means security guarantees from the west and more weapons.
In this story, the Guardian’s central and eastern European correspondent, Shaun Walker, writes that there is cautious optimism about Donald Trump’s election in Kyiv as many Ukrainians disapprove of the Biden administration’s recent handling of the war.
As many Ukrainians felt the red lines and “escalation management” of the Biden administration had disastrous consequences on the battlefield.
Ukraine has become increasingly exhausted after nearly three years of full-scale war, and the number of people who say they would consider territorial concessions to stop the conflict is increasing.
“About a third are against any deal, a third want a deal in any circumstances including through concessions to Russia, and a third are not sure. They want the war to end but not at any price,” said the political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko in an interview in Kyiv.In recent months, Kyiv has been suffering from an acute personnel shortage as its mobilisation drive flounders and the army struggles to replenish ranks. This has led to the US administration making the unusual move of publicly calling on Kyiv to lower the mobilisation age from 25 to 18 years old. Zelenskyy has ruled out the move, which would be deeply unpopular in Ukrainian society.
Among Zelenskyy’s inner circle, there is an increasing awareness that, as the army struggles to hold back Russia on the frontline, some kind of negotiations will be necessary soon. But they fear that without solid security guarantees from the west, a ceasefire would be meaningless.
Despite Trump’s optimism about a possible deal, it is not clear that Putin has any interest in negotiations at the moment. He has laid out his demands for ending the war, which include Russian control over the Crimean peninsula and four regions Moscow laid claim to in 2022, including parts of Ukraine not currently controlled by Russian troops. Putin also wants a ban on Ukraine joining Nato, as well as its disarmament. Most of these conditions would be absolutely unacceptable for any Ukrainian leader to sign.
In recent weeks, a number of sources close to decision-making circles in Moscow have told the Guardian that they did not see any desire on Putin’s part to make real concessions for the sake of peace.
Trump calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Ukraine as Zelenskyy reveals frontline casualties
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Donald Trump has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a day after meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Paris, claiming Kyiv “would like to make a deal” to end its war with Russia.
“There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed,” Trump said on Sunday in an online post. “I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting!” Trump added.
“Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” he added.
-
Zelenskyy described his discussions with Trump, brought together by French President Emmanuel Macron, as “constructive” but gave no further details. Zelenskyy cautioned that Ukraine needs a “just and robust peace, that Russians will not destroy within a few years.” “When we talk about an effective peace with Russia, we must talk first of all about effective peace guarantees. Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else. Russia brought war to our land,” he said Sunday in a post on the Telegram messaging app. Among Zelenskyy’s inner circle, there is an increasing awareness that, as the army struggles to hold back Russia on the frontline, some kind of negotiations will be necessary soon. But they fear that without solid security guarantees from the west, a ceasefire would be meaningless.
-
Zelenskyy said on Sunday that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 370,000 injured, of whom about half had been able to return to service after treatment. He also claimed that 198,000 Russian soldiers had been killed and a further 550,000 injured.
-
In an interview with on NBC on Sunday, Trump said that Ukraine will “possibly” receive less military aid once he takes office. “We’re in for $350 billion, and Europe is in for $100 billion. Why isn’t Europe in for the same as us?” the US-President elect said.
-
Germany’s Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who polls suggest will become the country’’s next chancellor, arrived in Kyiv this morning. “The purpose of my visit is to learn about the current state of defence in the country,” Merz said upon arrival. Merz – the leader of the Christian Democrats – said he wanted to assure the Ukrainian leadership of his conservative bloc’s support. Merz has struck a more hawkish tone on Russia than chancellor Olaf Scholz, saying Berlin should give Kyiv the Taurus long-range cruise missiles it has long wanted if the Kremlin continues to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. “Only if Ukraine is strong will Putin be prepared to enter into negotiations at all,” said Merz. “If our support for Ukraine weakens, then this war will last longer. If our support for Ukraine is consistent, then this war will end more quickly.”
-
The Ukrainian air force said on Monday that Russia launched two Kh-59/69 cruise missiles and 37 drones to attack Ukraine overnight. Of 37 drones, the air force shot down 18 and “lost” 18, likely due to electronic warfare. The air force also downed both missiles launched in the attack, the air force said.