The Russian invasion

Negotiations
Trump camp lets Europe into negotiations

Ukraine's European allies are participating in Friday's peace talks in the US. This is stated by Ukraine's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov on X.

They are said to be the national security advisers of Britain, Germany and France. They were invited by the US, writes Umerov.

The recent peace talks have been held between US negotiators, envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian or Russian delegations. There are no plans for a trilateral meeting.

The US and Russia are also to hold new negotiations in Miami this weekend, writes Reuters.

Rubio: Ridiculous to say we are forcing Ukraine

To say that the US is trying to force a peace agreement on Ukraine is "ridiculous". This is what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says according to AFP.

– We cannot force Ukraine to an agreement, and we cannot force Russia to an agreement. They must want an agreement.

On Friday, the US and Ukraine will hold negotiations in which the national security advisers from Britain, Germany and France will participate. This weekend, new negotiations will be held between the US and Russia.

The world's response
De Wever in a journalistic argument: "Now I'm going to the dacha"

After the night's argument about EU support for Ukraine, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever held a press conference. There he got angry with a reporter from the news site Politico, writes TT.

In a Politico article on December 4, Belgium was called "Russia's most valuable asset" – a reference to the country's opposition to using its frozen Russian assets for loans to Ukraine.

This did not go down well with the Prime Minister, who, after his answer, rounded off the press conference with a sarcastic grin.

– Now I have to go to my dacha in Saint Petersburg, where my neighbor is (French actor Gérard) Depardieu and across the road lives (Syrian exiled ex-dictator) Assad. I think I can become mayor there.

A dacha is a Russian summer home.

Editorial: "The main thing is that Ukraine's support is secured"

Europe's security is highlighted on several of today's editorial pages. The nightmarish situation in Brussels was a defeat for the Swedish line, writes DI's Tobias Wikström in the editorial.

The EU countries could not agree on using the frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. Instead, it was decided that the support should come from a loan taken with the EU budget as collateral.

Wikström believes that we can still be satisfied with the outcome because long-term financing for Ukraine is secured.

“Almost as important was that it happened without jeopardizing European unity. The war in Ukraine and a future peace in Ukraine will cost Europe hundreds of billions of euros. Regardless.”

The fact that the EU failed to agree on using the frozen Russian assets shows that Europe still lacks crisis insight, according to Aftonbladet’s Anders Lindberg.

What’s worse, Lindberg believes, there seems to be a war fatigue around the EU leaders’ table. It’s embarrassing and Ukraine will have to pay the price, he writes.

“Because that’s how it all works: If Putin wins in Ukraine today, we’re the ones who will have hell tomorrow.”