
NATO has begun discussing scenarios to end the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg says, one of the possible options for a ceasefire is the creation of a demilitarized zone. A senior NATO diplomat said that European troops will likely provide security and patrols. The Alliance plans to increase military assistance to Kiev to strengthen its position in the negotiations. Security guarantees that will protect the country without “provoking Putin” are being discussed.
According to The Wall Street Journal: “Donald Trump’s team at the meeting with Andriy Yermak, number one of the Presidential Council, showed little interest in the idea of Ukraine joining NATO.” Mike Waltz and Ukrainian envoy Keith Kellogg were present at the meeting.
What is certain is that Ukraine will receive $50 billion from frozen Russian assets in the coming weeks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a briefing. According to Blinken, there is a coordinated plan between the United States and the European Union to quickly transfer the funds to Ukraine. “Now, based on frozen Russian assets, we should receive $50 billion, which will go to Ukraine. This money will leave us in the coming weeks, as well as from Europe, and this will support Ukraine for the next year,” Blinken said.
The EU has confirmed Blinken’s statement and guarantees the transfer of a $50 billion loan to Kiev even though the United States refuses to participate in loans to Ukraine after President-elect Donald Trump took office, Polish Deputy Finance Minister Pawel Karbownik said. “We in the EU will take steps to ensure that $50 billion goes to Ukraine regardless of Trump’s [position],” the European publication Politico said. According to the deputy head of the Polish finance department, “there is a risk” that Trump, after taking office as head of state, will withdraw from the Group of Seven (G7) agreement to provide a loan to Kiev using the proceeds of Russian assets frozen in the West.
Problems for migrants in Ukraine: “It is necessary to encourage Ukrainians in Germany to start working or let them return home,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Chancellor discussed the issue “in great detail” with Zelensky. “He told me that he intends to create a Ukrainian agency in Germany and Poland that will help Ukrainians return home or find work in Germany, so that we can move together in this direction,” the German Federal Chancellor said. The Chancellor also said: “Russia is undermining cybersecurity and infrastructure.” Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó is more optimistic: “We are very close to making Donald Trump’s goal of quickly ending the war in Ukraine a reality.”
YouControl reports that since the beginning of the war, more than UAH 31 billion has been spent on the construction of shelters in Ukraine, and the Prozorro platform shows that a total of 46,088 tenders have been held. The leading places in terms of costs for the construction of shelters were: Kiev – UAH 7.2 billion, Kiev region – 4.2 billion, Dnepropetrovsk region – 3 billion, Odessa region – 2.2 billion, Kharkov region – 1.9 billion, Zaporozhye region – 1.6 billion and Lvovskaya – 1.1 billion. The least number of tenders won were in the regions of Transcarpathia, Lugansk, Khmelnitsky, Ternopil and Kirovograd.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in line with US decisions, is preparing sanctions against Georgian authorities: “The current authorities in Georgia are pushing the country into obvious dependence on Russia”, Zelenskyj intervened.
And Zelensky’s advisor, Dmitry Litvin, reiterated on December 5 via X: “No one is preparing a mobilization of 18-year-olds”. On December 4, US Secretary of State Blinken said that Ukraine must make difficult decisions to further mobilize citizens to continue the war and, still on the subject of internal issues, Yermak told the press that: “Ukraine is ready to hold elections immediately after reaching peace”.
The Chiefs of Staff of the US and Russian armies, Generals Charles Brown and Valery Gerasimov, spoke on the phone for the first time since Brown took office. According to the New York Times, the conversation took place on November 27 at the request of General Gerasimov, General Brown agreed not to announce the conversation in advance.
During the call, Gerasimov told Brown that “the launch of Oreshnik was planned long before the Biden administration agreed to allow Ukraine to use long-range American missiles to strike deep into Russian territory,” the NYT reported. Gerasimov and Brown also discussed how to avoid miscalculations and escalation between the countries in relation to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Roscosmos is ready to make Oreshnik as powerful as the Defense Ministry needs, Borisov said in response to a question from TASS.
“Russia is ready to carefully study Trump’s proposals, but at the same time Moscow will not deviate from the basic elements of its position on the Ukrainian conflict,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with CNN.
“Russia does not want to attack anyone, it was the United States that attacked Russia through the hands of the Ukrainian regime,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
On December 5, Moscow declared three diplomatic employees of the Polish Consulate General persona non grata in St. Petersburg, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports. The Polish Embassy in Russia will cease to operate from January 10, 2025. The measure was taken after the closure of the Russian representative office in Poznan. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would respond harshly to any hostile move by Warsaw. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski threatened to close the remaining Russian consulates in the country.
And now a look at the front line updated at 15:30 on December 5.
At least 9 Ukrainian UAVs were shot down at night over the Bryansk region. Ukrainian resources reported night attacks in Shostka in the Sumy region, Myrhorod in the Poltava region, Krasnohrad in the Kharkiv region, Pokrovs’ke in the Dnipro region, a number of settlements in the Cherkasy region, Zhytomyr and Odessa region. Geranium UAVs and the FAB with UMPC were operating in the area. On the morning of December 5, reports of explosions in Kiev.
From the Kursk region, the Sever group of troops writes that it repelled two enemy counterattacks in Novoivanovka and Dar’ino. The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive with the support of Western armored vehicles (Leopard and Bradley tanks were destroyed); at the moment the offensive has been repelled.
Clashes continue in a multi-story building in the center of Torets’k. Russian Armed Forces are advancing. However, the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to try to counterattack to drive the attackers from the occupied houses.
In the direction of Pokrovs’k, Russian Armed Forces have taken the settlement. Zhovte, they are advancing towards the Dachens’ke settlement, south of the settlement. Shevchenko, Russian troops continue attacks along the railway. There is information that Ukrposhta will be evacuated from Pokrovs’k and will stop operating next week.
In the direction of Kurachove, successes of Russian troops are reported near Romanivka. In Kurachove itself, the control zone of Russian units is expanding, and Russian Armed Forces are attacking the village of Sukhi Yaly from the south, having already occupied part of the settlement. The position of the Ukrainians in some villages is actually an operational encirclement; its retreat is unlikely, especially since the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces forbids its units to leave their positions, despite the obvious futility of resistance.
In the direction of Vremivka in the settlement. Blahodatne, units of the Vostok group of troops planted the Russian flag. There are imminent battles in the area of Novyi Komar and Velyka and Novosilka.
In the Belgorod region, Shebekino, the village of Gruzskoye and the village of Politotdelsky were attacked by drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Several fires broke out. During the day, Shebekino was also hit by artillery fire and UAV attacks, and three civilians were injured.
Graziella Giangiulio
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