Live blog: Zelenskyy seeks Western support with surprise Germany visit

Thursday, December 14, 2023

1647 GMT — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an unannounced visit to Germany, his spokesman said, as Kiev tries to ensure continued Western support for the embattled country.

Zelenskyy's spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov said on Thursday that the purpose of the trip was "to visit the (US) military base in Wiesbaden, from where the assistance from partners is coordinated".

On X, formerly Twitter, Ukraine's presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak posted simply a German flag and a flexed bicep.

A police spokesman in the German business capital Frankfurt told AFP earlier that Zelenskyy had "appointments in the Rhine-Main area".

The spokesman said police officers had accompanied Zelenskyy from Frankfurt airport towards nearby Wiesbaden and had temporarily blocked off traffic for security reasons.

Politico reported on Wednesday that German defence firms were given 24 hours to list armaments that could be sent to Ukraine next year, based on a request to industry from senior government officials.

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1654 GMT - Patriot air defence system from Germany arrived in Ukraine: Kiev

Ukraine said that it had taken delivery of a Patriot air defence system provided to Kiev from Germany, in the wake of increasing aerial attacks by Moscow.

"One more Patriot air defence system from Germany arrived in Ukraine!" the Ukrainian defence ministry said in a statement on social media on Thursday, listing new military aid including mine clearing systems.

1423 GMT - Supporting Ukraine 'investment in our own security’: NATO chief

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned against the risk of Russia targeting other countries if it wins its war in Ukraine and said supporting Ukraine is “an investment in our own security."

After meeting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at NATO headquarters, Stoltenberg made statements to the media.

Referring to discussions among European Union leaders regarding initiating membership negotiations with Ukraine and providing additional financial support, Stoltenberg said: "There is a real risk that if Putin wins in Ukraine, he will not stop. Our support for Ukraine is not an act of charity.”

"We can say that the only way to achieve a fair and lasting solution is to convince President Putin that he cannot win on the battlefield. The only way to make President Putin understand that he is not winning on the battlefield is to continue supporting Ukraine," he added.

1146 GMT - German chancellor voices support for opening EU membership talks with Ukraine

Germany will actively support opening European Union membership talks with Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Thursday ahead of a key EU summit, Scholz said decisions taken by European leaders should give a strong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Germany strongly supports the European Commission’s proposal (to start accession talks with Ukraine), and here we’ll also actively work toward reaching a good European understanding, and a common decision,” he said.

1115 GMT — Putin says Gaza 'catastrophe' incomparable with Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin described the situation in Gaza as a "catastrophe" unfolding on a scale that could not be compared to the Ukraine conflict.

Putin, whose government has maintained ties with Hamas and Israel, gave the comments during a news conference in Moscow, as the full-scale military offensive against Kiev approaches the two-year mark.

"Everybody here and around the world can see and look at the special military operation and at what is happening in Gaza and feel the difference," he said, using the Kremlin's name for its conflict in Ukraine.

1136 GMT — Putin says, 'No peace in Ukraine until goals are achieved'

Russian President Vladimir Putin vows that there would be no peace in Ukraine until his goals are achieved and said those objectives remain unchanged at a year end news conference.

Giving rare detail on what Moscow calls its "special military operation", Putin dismissed the need for a second wave of mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine.

He said there are some 617,000 Russian soldiers currently there, including around 244,000 troops who were called up to fight alongside professional Russian military forces.

1146 GMT — German chancellor voices support for opening EU membership talks with Ukraine

Germany will actively support opening EU membership talks with Ukraine, says Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of a key EU summit, Scholz said decisions taken by European leaders should give a strong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Germany strongly supports the European Commission’s proposal (to start accession talks with Ukraine), and here we’ll also actively work toward reaching a good European understanding, and a common decision,” he said.

1115 GMT — Poland trying to convince Hungary about Ukraine's EU accession, says minister

Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk is trying to convince Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban to support starting European Union accession talks with Ukraine, says Warsaw's EU affairs minister.

"Yesterday there was a short conversation with Prime Minister Orban," Adam Szlapka told reporters in Brussels. "We are fighting for things to end with a good agreement, a very clear signal should come from the European Union and I hope such a signal will come."

1049 GMT — 'Real risk' Putin won't stop with Ukraine: NATO chief

There is a "real risk" that Russia will not stop with Ukraine if it achieves military victory there, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned.

"If Putin wins in Ukraine, there is real risk that his aggression will not end there. Our support is not charity. It is an investment in our security," he said.

"The only way to reach a just and lasting solution is to convince President Putin that they will not win on the battlefield," Stoltenberg continued.

"And the only way to ensure that President Putin realises that he is not winning on the battlefield is to continue to support Ukraine."

0848 GMT — Hungary hesitant about Ukraine's seat in EU, open for aid

Hungary would back granting long-term financial aid to Ukraine outside of the European Union budget, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said while reiterating his opposition to start accession talks with Kiev.

Orban spoke on arriving at a summit of EU leaders, where all other EU countries want to provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros in budget support through 2027 and advance Kiev's membership bid as the country's war with Russia drags on.

Orban said there was no time pressure to decide on more financial aid to Ukraine because short-term support was already secured.

For longer-term backing, he said it needed to be fixed outside of the bloc's joint coffers.

He also said Ukraine had met 3 out of the 7 conditions the EU had set to launch accession negotiations.

0751 GMT — Russia puts Ukraine's army spy chief on 'wanted' list

Russia put the head of Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR), Kyrylo Budanov, on its "wanted" list on Thursday, accusing the agency he heads of attacks inside its own territory.

Russia added 37-year-old Budanov to the interior ministry list of people wanted for criminal offences.

Moscow accuses Budanov, who has led the GUR since 2020, of having organised a 2022 attack that partially destroyed the bridge linking Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it annexed, to Russia.

Ukraine said late last month that it suspected Russia of having poisoned Budanov's wife, Marianna Budanova, using mercury and arsenic.

Budonova is an adviser to the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko.

The Kremlin dismissed the accusation. "Ukraine blames Russia for everything," said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

0751 GMT — Slovakia unblocks road crossing with Ukraine, Kiev says

Slovakia has unblocked the movement of lorries across its border with Ukraine after three days of restrictions, Ukraine's border service said on Thursday.

Slovak hauliers blocked truck traffic from Ukraine on Monday, demanding the introduction of transport permits for Ukrainian vehicles. Protesters on the Polish-Ukrainian border had the same demand.

"As of 19:30 (17:30 GMT) December 13, the Slovak side partially resumed crossing operations to enter its territory," the border service said on Facebook.

The service said 28 trucks were cleared to leave Ukraine at the Uzhhorod crossing on Thursday morning.

Due to an almost month-long blockage of the Polish-Ukrainian border by Polish hauliers, a significant number of lorries have used Slovakian border crossings to cross into the EU.

0650 GMT — Russia drone attack on Odessa region wounds 11

Russia launched 42 drones and 6 missiles at Ukraine's southern regions overnight with air defences destroying 41 drones, but missiles killed one civilian, Ukrainian military said on Sunday.

"The defenders of the sky managed to shoot down 41 out of 42 Shahed-136/131 attack drones. The vast majority of them were shot down in Odessa region," Ukrainian Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not independently verify the air force's report.

There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Ukrainian military said wreckage of downed drones damaged more than a dozen buildings in the southern city of Odesa and 11 civilians, including three children, were injured.

0605 GMT — US: Ukraine conflict damages Russian economy

The conflict in Ukraine is significantly impacting Russia's economy, raising domestic prices, and forcing Moscow to devote a third of its budget to defence, the Financial Times has reported, citing a draft text from the US Treasury Department.

Russia's economy would have expanded by over 5% if Putin had not launched the war in Ukraine, the newspaper reported quoting Rachel Lyngaas, the chief sanctions economist at the department.

Lyngaas added that the country was underperforming other energy exporters, including the United States.

The US Department of the Treasury did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Moscow was spending more than $100 billion, or almost a third of its total expenditures on defence in 2023, according to the FT report.

0358 GMT — Russia downs Ukraine's drones in vicinity of Moscow

Russian air defences have downed two hostile drones over Moscow morning, the city's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with no casualties or damage reported.

Separately, the RIA news agency cited Russia's defence ministry as saying a total of nine drones have been destroyed over the Moscow region and the adjacent Kaluga region. It did not provide a breakdown.

0100 GMT — Russia notes declining US support for Ukraine: Kremlin

Russia is watching as US military support for Ukraine declines and Kiev suffers setbacks on the battlefield, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said in interviews made public.

Peskov was speaking to Russian media after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy completed talks in Washington to secure more than $60 billion in new military assistance, held up by disputes in Congress.

"The Kiev regime promised them that if you give us $100 billion, we will have a victory on the battlefield," Peskov told the daily Izvestia.

"The Americans now understand that they were duped. There is no victory on the battlefield and, to be sure, Ukrainian forces are rapidly losing their positions. This is an inevitable process."

With substantial funding up in the air, Peskov referred to Biden's announcement of a $200 million aid allocation, saying it was "quite a modest sum in their thinking". "This, of course, puts the Kiev regime in difficulty and we are going to be following this situation," he said.

2315 GMT — EU set for summit showdown on Ukraine with Hungary's Orban

European Union leaders will head into a high-stakes summit for Ukraine, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocking both the start of EU membership talks and $54 billion in financial aid for Kiev.

The summit comes at a crucial time in Ukraine's war against Russia's offensive, after a counter-offensive failed to make major gains and with the Biden administration so far unable to get a $60 billion aid package for Kiev through Congress.

If EU leaders give a green light to membership talks and the four-year financial package, Kiev will be able to claim a geopolitical victory. Failure to agree would likely be greeted by Moscow as a sign of faltering Western support for Ukraine.

All of the EU's 27 national leaders except Orban have backed the start of accession talks.

For our live updates from Wednesday (December 13), click here.