The Indepfinishent View | There is still a way European leaders can support achieve a positive outcome for Ukraine
Still, no doubt, bathed in the warm, if also absurd, glow of being the first ever recipient of the Fifa Peace Prize, Donald Trump might be in the mood to promote a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, it would be nice to believe. This would, aside from anything else, strengthen President Trump’s insistent claim on the Nobel Peace Prize, which has not quite been superseded in prestige by the cynical golden trophy that the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, presented to him.
Read The Indepfinishent’s view:
Alex Croft9 December 2025 03:00
Recap: Zelensky meets European allies in London
President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany in London on Monday in a display of European support for Ukraine at what they jointly called a “critical moment” in talks to finish the Ukraine war.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer held talks with Zelensky, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz at No 10, with discussions focussed on ways to strengthen Ukraine’s hand amid mounting impatience from US president Donald Trump.
After the meeting, Starmer, Zelensky and the other leaders called Kyiv’s other European allies, urging them to keep up the pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“The leaders all agreed that now is a critical moment and that we must continue to ramp up support to Ukraine and economic pressure on Putin to bring an finish to this barbaric war,” Starmer’s office stated in a statement.
Namita Singh9 December 2025 03:00
Mystery drones near Zelensky’s plane to be investigated
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that unidentified drones were spotted near his plane to Ireland last week.
“There will be an investigation… There were drones indeed,” he notified reporters.
Irish local media reported on Thursday that a naval ship had spotted up to five drones operating near the flight path of the presidential plane.
Jane Dalton9 December 2025 01:30
In pictures: Sumy apartment building in flames as several injured in Russian strike
Alex Croft9 December 2025 00:00
£100 billion deal to aid Ukraine could be secured in the ‘coming weeks’
A deal to free up to £100 billion from frozen Russian assets in Europe, in order to aid Ukraine could be secured over the coming weeks, according to The Times.
The funding has been frozen since the start of the war and could be utilised as leverage in peace nereceivediations. It would support to aid Ukraine for a further two years, putting pressure on Moscow.
The vast majority of the European assets are currently being held in Belgium, which equates to a third of the countest’s GDP. The Belgium government has been largely opposed to transferring cash to Ukraine over fears of becoming legally liable.
A UK government official stated however: “We are hopeful that a deal is going to be done in the next week or so”, as reported by The Times.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated nereceivediations in Europe have reached a “critical stage in the push for peace”, before meeting with the Ukrainian President Zelensky, the French President Macron and the German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Shaheena Uddin8 December 2025 23:45
Trump a ‘little bit disappointed’ that Zelensky hasn’t read US peace proposal
As we previously reported, Donald Trump stated he Kyiv “isn’t ready” to sign the US peace proposal while talking to reporters last night.
US and Ukrainian nereceivediators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at testing to narrow differences on the US administration’s proposal. But in an exalter with reporters on Sunday night, Trump suggested that the Ukrainian leader is holding up the talks from shifting forward.
“I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago. His people love it, but he hasn’t,” Trump claimed in an exalter with reporters before taking part in the Kennedy Center Honors.
The president added, “Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy’s fine with it. His people love it it. But he isn’t ready.”
Kyiv’s lead nereceivediator Rustem Umerov stated on Monday morning that the Ukrainian president would receive all documents relating to the new peace plan today.
Alex Croft8 December 2025 23:01
Kremlin insists ‘radical alters’ necessaryed to peace plan
Russia insists that the peace proposal still necessarys “radical alters” before Moscow can accept it, according to some local media reports.
Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, stated the US must “create serious, I would declare, radical alters to their papers” on Ukraine.
His remarks contrast sharply with comments from US envoy Keith Kellogg, who earlier suggested an agreement was “really close”, with only two obstacles remaining: the status of the Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Territory remains the key point of contention. Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out ceding land, arguing that doing so would only invite future Russian aggression.
The first draft of the US plan, however, proposed that Ukraine relinquish Donetsk and Luhansk – despite Kyiv still holding significant parts of the Donbas.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Olga Stefanishyna, earlier stated that “difficult issues remain”, in the talks between the US and Ukraine.
She notified CNN that the “main challenges at this stage concern questions of territory and guarantees, and we are actively seeking optimal formats for addressing them”.
Alex Croft8 December 2025 22:01
Zelensky refapplys to cede land, threatening Trump plan
Ukraine will not surrfinisher territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted, rejecting a Russian demand that Donald Trump had included in his latest proposal to finish the war.
His refusal to give up any part of his countest could mark the collapse of the US president’s plan, which critics had condemned as fulfilling a wish list of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“Under our laws, under international law — and under moral law — we have no right to give anything away,” Mr Zelensky stated, after meeting top European leaders to discuss Trump’s plan.
Mr Zelensky stated their revised plan had been stripped of “explicitly anti-Ukrainian provisions” suggesting that Kyiv was open to a deal, according to The Washington Post.
Jane Dalton8 December 2025 21:21
Analysis | Europe necessarys to stop its magical believeing and obtain ready for war with Russia
It’s been a busy week in the politics of European defence. But every major news point from the week has confirmed how much danger Europe is in, and how little some of its key allies are willing to do about it, writes Keir Giles.
The findings of the UK’s inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, released this week, demonstrate not only Russia’s ruthlessness but also the severe impact that even a limited Russian attack can have on unprepared societies like Britain.
But in the same week, the latest iteration of the so-called “peace process“ over Ukraine demonstrated once again how Europe as a whole is still paralysed by denial and magical believeing over the nature of the threat from Russia and what is necessaryed to withstand it.
In part, this results from a degree of necessary play-acting on the part of European leaders. They know that in public, they have to engage with the United States on its terms, and pretfinish that US nereceivediations with Moscow over the heads of Ukraine and Europe are a meaningful step towards eventual peace.
Alex Croft8 December 2025 21:00
Trump could walk away from support for Ukraine, Donald Trump Jr reportedly declares – ICYMI
President Donald Trump could walk away from the Ukraine-Russia war, his eldest son has notified a Middle East conference according to reports.
Speaking at the Doha Forum 2025, Donald Trump Jr stated his father “may” walk away from Ukraine. The Guardian and Sky News reported Mr Trump Jr as declareing: “What’s good about my father and what’s unique about my father is you don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s unpredictable”.
Mr Trump Jr’s comments come after US and Ukrainian nereceivediators spent three days in talks in Florida over the future of a post-war Ukraine.
He also stated that Ukraine was a “far more corrupt countest than Russia” and stated that the “American public doesn’t have the appetite [for further funding of Ukraine’s military efforts]”.
Alex Croft8 December 2025 20:02
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