Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
Ukraine has received positive signals on resuming US military aid, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said (18:45), with additional talks continuing on securing additional Patriot systems for Ukraine, which could be paid by Germany and Norway, among others (18:51).
Zelenskyy earlier said that Russian daily attacks on Ukrainian cities amounted to “terrorism” as he said Russia’s Vladimir Putin “wants our people to suffer” (11:40).
The development comes hours after US state secretary Marco Rubio told Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov that US president Donald Trump was “disappointed” with the lack of progress on ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine in what both sides described as a “frank” conversation (14:48).
Meanwhile some of Europe’s most senior political leaders lined up to declare their support for Ukraine at a high-profile conference in Rome (11:21, 11:36, 12:00, 12:06, 12:11, 12:12, 12:15, 12:20).
Countries of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” have agreed on key parts of their post-ceasefire plans for Ukraine, as they operationalise the proposed peacekeeping force, with a new headquarter in Paris (17:38). French president Emmanuel Macron said the force would be capable of policing a ceasefire, if one is agreed (17:54).
Lithuania’s political leaders were briefly taken to shelters after alarm was raised over an unidentified object violating the country’s airspace from Belarus, Lithuanian media reported (14:04). Defence minister Dovilė Šakalienė confirmed it was a “Gerbera”, a decoy drone intended to imitate the more dangerous Shahed drones (17:12).
Increased Russian activity – including sabotage planning, attempted sanction evasion, state-backed cyber-attacks and disinformation – made 2024 “one of the most challenging in the modern history of the Czech Republic in terms of security,” the head of the country’s security services Michal Koudelka said (10:43).
Elsewhere,
French president Emmanuel Macron repeatedly blamed Brexit for aggravating Britain and France’s problems with irregular migration, “the opposite effect of what Brexit promised” (18:01, 18:10).
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen easily survived the no confidence vote in the European parliament in Strasbourg, with 175 votes in favour, and 360 votes against (12:34).
The EU and the US are no closer to announcing a deal after a phone call between EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and the US trade representative Jamieson Greer, it has emerged (13:15).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Zelenskyy also confirmed Bloomberg’s reports from earlier this week (£) that he could replace the country’s ambassador to the US.
He said he was considering Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, for the job.
He said the new ambassador’s top task will be to strengthen Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s aggression.
