Overview
- U.S. officials may join Saturday discussions in Paris with Ukraine, France, Germany and the U.K. on President Trump’s peace initiative, contingent on prospects for a viable deal.
- Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia will strictly defend its positions and accused Volodymyr Zelensky of trying to insert terms Moscow deems unacceptable.
- Dmitry Peskov said Moscow has received no information from Washington about changes to the plan, as Putin and Erdoğan warned that seizing Russian state assets would undermine the global financial system.
- EU capitals are intensifying debates over using or indefinitely blocking frozen Russian reserves ahead of the Dec. 18–19 summit, with Reuters reporting warnings of a ‘catastrophic signal’ to Kyiv if no solution is found.
- Battlefield accounts diverge as Ukrainian sources report counterattacks in Kupyansk and the encirclement of a Russian grouping, while Russia’s Defense Ministry claims it ‘liberated’ eight settlements and inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian forces.