Putin trying to negotiate an end to Ukraine war as he cannot win it on battlefield, says EU’s Kallas – as it happened

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Closing summary

… and on that note, it’s a wrap!

The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has cautioned that “Putin cannot achieve his goals on the battlefield so he will try to negotiate his way there,” as she called for further support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia after a meeting of EU foreign ministers (14:17, 14:23, 14:26)

Earlier, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has also warned against “the unilateral carving up of a sovereign European nation”, as Europe scrambles to assert influence over a US effort to end the war in Ukraine (9:24, 9:24, 9:24, 9:26, 9:29, 9:33, 13:14).

The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said that Germans “have to get used to the idea again that peace and freedom do not come for free,” as he spoke about the country’s 2026 budget, and said that “Putin must realize that he has no chance of winning this war at the expense of the European order of freedom and peace.” (9:54).

At the same time, Russia welcomed some “aspects” of the new US plan to end the war, while saying it still required further analysis (13:53), and rejecting Europe’s “meddling” in the talks (10:56).

Meanwhile, speculations were swirling over where the leaked conversations involving US peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Kremlin’s senior aide Kirill Dmitriev, published by Bloomberg, may have leaked from (11:02, 15:55).

In other news,

Moldova displayed a Russian drone that fell on its soil outside its foreign ministry as it summoned Moscow’s envoy over the crash, in an overt criticism of Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine (17:09).

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid, after the country’s highest court rejected his final appeal (14:44).

Poland said it was expecting 44bn from the European Union’s SAFE programme to spend on defence projects, including drones, space defence, AI, cyber and cryptosecurity, and equipment for its army and border guards, becoming the largest beneficiary of the scheme (12:40).

Moldova displays Russian drone after summoning ambassador over 'unacceptable' crash

Moldova displayed a Russian drone that fell on its soil outside its foreign ministry as it summoned Moscow’s envoy over the crash, in an overt criticism of Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine, AFP reported.

The small ex-Soviet republic, wedged between Ukraine and Nato member Romania, has repeatedly seen violations of its airspace since Russia’s invasion of its neighbour in 2022 and has expelled dozens of diplomats and employees of the Russian embassy.

After summoning Oleg Ozerov, the Russian ambassador to Chișinău, on Wednesday, Moldova’s foreign ministry placed the crashed drone in front of its headquarters, AFP said.

The foreign ministry said it had handed Ozerov “a note of protest regarding the illegal overflight”, deeming it “totally unacceptable” and “a serious violation of the sovereignty” of Moldova.

As Russia 'rebuffs all peace efforts, sanctions must be tightened,' Ukraine's Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke earlier today with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, talking about the need to keep the pressure on Russia as the US-led peace efforts continue.

Thanking von der Leyen for her comments in the European Parliament earlier today (9:24, 9:24, 9:24, 9:26, 9:29, 9:33, 13:14), Zelenskyy said:

“We see eye to eye: as long as Russia continues to rebuff all peace efforts, sanctions against it must be tightened, and defence and financial assistance for Ukraine must continue.”

He said the pair also discussed “the current diplomatic situation” – that’s the US-led peace talks – and the EU’s ongoing work on the use of frozen Russian assets.

Americans helping Ukrainian war effort decry US peace plan as a ‘betrayal by Trump’

Americans involved in the Ukrainian war effort are embarrassed and dismayed by Donald Trump’s continuing pressures on Kyiv and think his administration’s latest peace plan is tantamount to backstabbing and another catastrophic failure of US foreign policy.

“Complete bullshit and a betrayal by Trump,” said an American special forces veteran who has helped train and advise the Ukrainian military since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022. “But are you even surprised?”

As soon as Russian bombs were dropping on Kyiv in the early breaths of the war nearly four years ago, thousands of foreigners – soldiers, veterans, trainers, medics and others – poured into Ukraine to help defend what was largely seen as a collective defense of democracy against naked imperialism.

Among those international volunteers were hundreds of Americans, if not thousands, many of whom were and are Republicans who’ve had trouble squaring the animosity Trump has with the country they help.

Voices in the GOP have also railed against Trump’s latest demands on Ukraine, with Don Bacon, a Nebraska congressman, describing it as “gross buffoonery” and “pushing a surrender plan on Ukraine” that “looks like Russia wrote it.”

“Follows Russia’s talking points almost to the letter,” said the same source, who called Witkoff a “Russian sycophant”.

Another American working in the defense sector in Ukraine, agreed the latest news of a peace plan was another chapter in the tumultuous relationship between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but told the Guardian he felt bad for the diplomats at the Kyiv embassy, who he described as not “Maga” and “motivated but totally handcuffed.”

A Nato veteran who trains Ukrainian soldiers alongside former US servicemen says money is motivating the US government and called the plan “pathetic”.

Who leaked Witkoff’s call advising Kremlin on how to get Trump on side? - analysis

Bloomberg’s scoop showing how Trump aide Steve Witkoff coached the Kremlin on the best way to get into Trump’s good graces is extraordinary for what it tells us about Witkoff’s dubious loyalties and the Kremlin’s potential influence over US negotiation efforts.

But equally interesting is the leaked material itself and where it may have come from.

Bloomberg says only that it has “reviewed and transcribed audio” of the two phone calls, without giving any hint as to the sourcing or any checks done to verify authenticity.

Given the agency’s reputation for rigorous reporting however, it can be assumed that the source was considered to be very trustworthy before a decision was made to publish.

The content of the calls provides proof of what many already suspected about Witkoff’s closeness to the Russian position in negotiations.

The question of who took the highly unusual step of leaking such sensitive audio to a news agency is more complicated.

“It’s really hard to speculate. It could be 100m different things, including somebody on the Russian side trying to hurt Witkoff’s reputation,” said Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA Moscow station chief.

Russian intelligence agencies have a long pedigree of intercepting and releasing sensitive political calls, but there is no obvious motive for Moscow to have compromised Ushakov, a key aide to Vladimir Putin, and Witkoff, Russia’s friendliest interlocutor in the Trump administration.

However, given reports of splits in the Kremlin elite over who manages relations with the US, nothing can be ruled out.

Ukraine may have the motive to make the call public – Kyiv is extremely uneasy with Witkoff’s role in negotiations and would be keen to undermine his position, as well as publicise the shocking extent of collaboration between the Kremlin and the White House adviser. But the risk of a catastrophic bust-up with the Americans if caught would probably give Ukrainian officials pause for thought.

One senior former intelligence official said that while any number of agencies could have intercepted the call, the most likely source was someone inside the US system.

“There are different ways of intercepting calls, including traditional signals intelligence methods, cyber-attacks, and having access to the devices, so anything is theoretically possible, but my strong suspicion is that this came from the US side, and if that’s the case, you have two entities who are capable of doing this, the CIA and the NSA,” said the official.

There are many people inside US intelligence agencies unhappy with the current administration and its policies on Ukraine and Russia, but leaking audio of the call would be a difficult and potentially extremely dangerous move for any disgruntled employee.

What makes the publication so surprising is that, if the interception of Ushakov’s calls was part of a longstanding penetration, releasing the information would probably cause him to change his device and communication habits, and thus would close down a fruitful intelligence window for whichever agency had obtained it.

Sweden pushes EU to press with next round of sanctions on Russia

Meanwhile, Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the country wanted the EU to progress with a 20th package of sanctions against Russia as soon as possible to keep the pressure on Moscow, Reuters reported.

Earlier this week, she also outlined Sweden’s red lines for any peace deal in Ukraine, saying Sweden would never “reward aggression” and recognise Russia’s “illegal annexation of Crimea or any other part of Ukraine’s territory.”

Note that this latest conviction is in a separate case to the Libyan scandal that saw Sarkozy dominate the headlines and briefly go to La Santé prison in Paris last month.

The appeal in that case is scheduled to run from March to June.

But the 20 days behind the bars proved to be very productive: Sarkozy is planning to release his prison memoirs next month, detailing his experiences during the stay in prison.

A Prisoner’s Diary is reportedly 216 pages long – that’s 11 pages per one day of his imprisonment, as Politico helpfully calculated – and will hit the bookstores on 10 December.

Nicolas Sarkozy convicted of illegal campaign financing in failed 2012 re-election bid

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid, after the country’s highest court rejected his final appeal.

Sarkozy, who was the country’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, was convicted of hiding illegal overspending for his unsuccessful re-election campaign that was shaped by vast American-style rallies.

The case was labelled the “Bygmalion” affair because of the name of the events company that organised Sarkozy’s elaborate and artfully filmed stadium gigs in front of thousands of flag-waving fans when he was fighting for re-election. He ultimately lost to the Socialist party’s François Hollande.

In a 2021 trial, the state prosecutor had highlighted Sarkozy’s “couldn’t care less” attitude in demanding one rally a day in the form of vast “American-style shows” and allowing costs to rise substantially above the legal limit for a presidential election campaign.

The prosecution said accountants had warned Sarkozy he was about to pass the official €22.5m spending cap but that he insisted on holding more events to fend off Hollande, who was gaining ground as a “Mr Normal” seeking to crack down on the world of finance.

In the end, Sarkozy’s campaign spending came to at least €42.8m, nearly double the legal limit, prosecutors said.

Sarkozy, who denied all wrongdoing, lodged an appeal process that took several years.

France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation, which focuses on whether the law has been applied correctly rather than on the facts of the case, has now upheld an earlier ruling, making Sarkozy’s conviction final.

Russia's army should be curbed to end the war, says EU's foreign policy chief

On that last point, Kallas says that Russia’s army and its budget should be “curbed to prevent new attacks”. The focus, she says, should be on “limiting Russia so they wouldn’t have the chance to invade again”.

“A just and lasting peace in Ukraine is needed to prevent the war continuing,” she adds.

Kallas adds that the “notion Ukraine is losing is false” and says more sanctions against Russia are necessary, as well as more support for Ukraine.

Any peace agreement needs to include concessions from the Russian side, she says, adding that the focus of an agreement “must be on what Russia should do”. Kallas says:

We must ensure that Russia will never attack again.

'Putin cannot achieve goals on battlefield so will try to negotiate his way there', warns EU's Kallas

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is now speaking to the media after today’s videocall with EU foreign ministers. There has been a delay in the press conference starting.

Kallas begins by saying that “it is important that we continue to support Ukraine and pressure Russia. That is what we are working on”. She says those in the meeting all “welcomed the US’s push for the war to end”.

Kallas adds:

We all want this war to end but how it ends also matters. We must keep in mind there’s one aggressor and one victim. A complete and unconditional ceasefire must be the first step … but right now, we see no indiction that Russia is ready for a ceasefire.

Russia is not winding down its military machine but ramping it up. We still need to get from a situation where Russia pretends to negotiate to a situation where Russia needs to negotiate. We are getting there.

She describes how sanctions on Russia have had an impact on its economy and notes some failures on the battlefield. Kallas adds:

Putin cannot achieve his goals on the battlefield so he will try to negotiate his way there.

Russia welcomes 'aspects' of new US plan to end Ukraine war, says the Kremlin

Russia has seen the latest copy of a draft US plan to end the Ukraine war and views some of it positively, but wants a discussion about the other parts, the Kremlin on said Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In comments to a Russian state TV reporter, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the new draft required “truly serious analysis” and that Russia had not yet discussed it with anyone.

The plan has not yet been published.

US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday that it was a “fine-tuned” version of an earlier 28-point plan that Kyiv and Europe had rejected, and that he was sending officials to meet both sides in the hopes of finalising it.

Ushakov said of the plan on Wednesday:

Some aspects can be viewed positively, but many require special discussions among experts.

The original plan, widely criticised in Europe as heeding Moscow’s demands, would have seen Ukraine withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the US de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Luhansk regions as Russian.

Ukraine said later it had reached an “understanding” with the US and that the two sides had pared back some of the points Kyiv disagreed with after talks in Geneva.

It is not clear which points were removed and which remain, and deep differences remain in Russia and Ukraine’s negotiating positions.

The European Union is likely to find a solution in December on how to secure future funding for Ukraine, Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen said on Wednesday after a video call with EU foreign ministers.

The Reuters report did not include any further details but we will update if more information comes in.

Americans involved in the Ukrainian war effort are embarrassed and dismayed by Donald Trump’s continuing pressures on Kyiv and think his administration’s latest peace plan is tantamount to backstabbing and another catastrophic failure of US foreign policy.

“Complete bullshit and a betrayal by Trump,” said an American special forces veteran who has helped train and advise the Ukrainian military since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022. “But are you even surprised?”

Last week, a 28-point piece-plan reportedly drafted by Steve Witkoff, a Trump envoy negotiating with Kremlin adviser, Kirill Dmitriev, was leaked to the press and then revealed to be an apparent repackaging of Vladimir Putin’s maximalist demands on Ukraine.

As soon as Russian bombs were dropping on Kyiv in the early breaths of the war nearly four years ago, thousands of foreigners – soldiers, veterans, trainers, medics and others – poured into Ukraine to help defend what was largely seen as a collective defence of democracy against naked imperialism.

Among those international volunteers were hundreds of Americans, if not thousands, many of whom were and are Republicans who’ve had trouble squaring the animosity Trump has with the country they help. Voices in the GOP have also railed against Trump’s latest demands on Ukraine, with Don Bacon, a Mississippi congressman, describing it as “gross buffoonery” and “pushing a surrender plan on Ukraine” that “looks like Russia wrote it.”

“Follows Russia’s talking points almost to the letter,” said the same source, who called Witkoff a “Russian sycophant”. He continued:

I’m worried they really are getting forced into this one. But too much blood has been spilled. I don’t think Zelenskyy can take anything close to that deal if it means giving up territory and giving up its own sovereignty to make decisions like joining Nato or the size of the military.