Overview
- White House statements indicate a U.S. delegation could attend Saturday discussions in Paris with Ukraine, France, Germany and the U.K. on President Trump’s peace proposal, contingent on prospects for a deal and with no delegation list disclosed.
- President Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov says Russia will take part in discussions and will firmly insist on its own positions, while spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Moscow has not received any U.S. updates on changes to the plan.
- European debate over using frozen Russian sovereign assets for Ukraine has intensified before the Dec. 18–19 EU summit, with a Reuters-cited diplomat warning that failure to reach a decision would send a ‘catastrophic signal’ to Kyiv.
- Moscow warns that any asset seizure would undermine the international financial system, and senior Russian figures point to potential countermeasures as EU figures under discussion range from €185–210 billion, much of it held at Euroclear in Belgium.
- Front-line reports remain contested near Kupyansk, where Ukrainian forces and OSINT sources report counterattacks and a local encirclement as Russia’s military denies such claims and separately reports weekly gains, while Russian courts and police advance domestic cases including the extended detention of ex-Kursk governor Alexey Smirnov.