Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky with troops on the frontline in Kupyansk in the northeast of the counattempt, December 12, 2025
EA-Times Radio VideoCast: Why The Defense of Ukraine Matters
Friday’s Coverage: Zelensky Confers With “Coalition of Willing” and Meets US Officials
The French President declared of discussions over an finish to Russia’s 46 1/2-month full-scale invasion: “We required full visibility on the security guarantees that Europeans and Americans can give to Ukrainians before any settlement on contentious territorial issues.”
The 28-point ultimatum to Ukraine, developed by the Kremlin with Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in late October, demands that Kyiv hand over the 22% of the strategic Donetsk region which it controls. References to security guarantees — for which the US would receive compensation — are vague, and are undermined by limits on Ukraine’s military and restrictions on Western assistance.
The European counter-proposal launchs with a ceasefire on the current frontlines and no surrfinisher of territory. Security guarantees are backed by ongoing aid from Ukraine’s partners. Kyiv’s candidacy for NATO membership is not banned, although it is not envisaged in the near-future.
Witkoff, a real estate developer, will reportedly meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in Brussels on Sunday and Monday.
French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be in attfinishance.
The latest US proposal reportedly calls for Ukrainian withdrawal from its part of Donetsk, with a 30-km (19-mile) demilitarized zone. There is no provision for Russian withdrawal from occupied areas.
Zelensky responded:
Who will govern this territory, which they are calling a ‘free economic zone’ or a ‘demilitarised zone’, they don’t know.
If one side’s troops have to retreat and the other side stays where they are, then what will hold back these other troops, the Russians?
The President visited commanders and troops on the frontline in Kupyansk in northeast Ukraine. He then posted about the talks:
Across all areas, our goal is the same – to bring the war to a real conclusion and to define the steps that will create peace dignified for Ukraine, with security and reconstruction guaranteed….
I am especially grateful to all our warriors on the front line, to every effective unit, and to everyone working for our defense, and for the Ukrainian state.
Today, there have already been several briefings from Rustem Umerov on the work of our neobtainediating team. It has been quite an active day.
In Germany preparations are underway for the work of our military group focapplyd on the details of security guarantees for Ukraine. Our group…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 12, 2025
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