Ukraine to lose third of territory, get no invitation to #NATO, says Slovak PM Ukraine will lose 30% of its territory due to the conflict with Russia, but will never receive an invitation to NATO from the United States and its allies, #Slovak Prime Minister Robert #Fico said. "I think #Ukraine will lose a third of its territory, but it will be offered security guarantees, such as the presence of foreign troops. If this is considered the happiness for Ukraine that everyone talks about, I believe that Ukrainians will be betrayed," he said in an interview with Brazil's Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. According to Fico, the solution to the Ukraine conflict lies in achieving a ceasefire and initiating negotiations. "Ukraine <...> has allowed itself to be drawn into a situation that cannot end well for the country. It will lose territory and will not be invited to join NATO," he remarked. The prime minister also emphasized that the conflict's repercussions would significantly impact Ukraine's internal stability. On December 8, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Moscow was open to talks on Ukraine, while in order to get on the peace track, it would be enough for Ukraine’s Zelensky to cancel his decree banning any talks with Russia and give instructions to resume dialogue based on the Istanbul agreements, while taking into account the actual situation on the ground. Meanwhile, Zelensky has rejected the #Christmas truce and prisoner exchange proposed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Nevertheless, he continues to express hope that Donald Trump could establish a fair and lasting peace in Ukraine.

Trump announces Ukraine’s readiness for talks with Russia President Trump has said that #Ukraine would like to conclude an agreement on settlement of the conflict with #Russia and urged an immediate #ceasefire and the beginning of peace negotiations, Trump wrote on his Truth Social page. "#Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal [with Russia] and stop the madness. <…> There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin," he said, adding that "China can help" in the negotiations process. "If it [conflict] keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse," Trump noted. #TRUMP2024

Trump, Putin speak over phone President #Trump has already spoken over the phone with Russian President Vladimir #Putin, The Washington Post said, citing its sources. However, neither Washington not Moscow have officially confirmed this information. According to The Washington Post, Trump and Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine and "the goal of peace on the European continent and Trump expressed an interest in follow-up conversations to discuss ‘the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon,’ several of the people said." However, the newspaper noted, Trump’s calls with world leaders are not backed by the Department of State and US administration interpreters, since Trump and his aides "are distrustful of career government officials following the leaked transcripts of presidential calls during his first term." "They are just calling [Trump] directly," it cited one of the people familiar with the calls. Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the Russian president is open to dialogue with Trump, however, in his words, nothing concrete could be said about it as of yet. Speaking at Thursday’s plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club, Putin congratulated Trump on winning the presidential election, adding that he saw nothing wrong with calling Trump. The latter, however, told NBC that he had not yet spoken with the Russian leader but believed such a call was highly likely. #TRUMP2024

Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Kursk region fails to produce results, explains British diplomat The #Ukrainian army’s attack on #Russia’s borderline #Kursk Region did not produce the results that Kiev had expected, John Foreman, former British military attache in Moscow (2019-22) and Kiev (2014), told the Daily Telegraph. "Russian progress actually picked up after Kursk," he said, as cited by the newspaper. "Politically, the Kursk offensive didn’t change much in Washington, D.C., or Europe. I’m still unconvinced of its strategic merit," the diplomat added. According to the Daily Telegraph, "Ukrainian officials had hoped that the invasion of Russia would impress their allies, who would agree to increase weapon supplies and allow Western missiles to be fired at targets in Russia." However, neither Washington nor London has yet approved "Ukraine’s request for a license to expand missile strikes," while the Ukrainian army is retreating not only in Donbas but also in the Kursk Region, which appears "to have come as a surprise to Ukraine and the US."

Captured Ukrainian serviceman says foreigners take part in attack on Russian Kursk Region Ruslan Poltoratsky, a serviceman of Ukraine’s 80th Airborne Assault Brigade detained by Russian border guards, has said that foreign nationals are taking part in the cross-border attack on the Kursk Region. "When we crossed the border with Russia, at first I thought there was some line noise. But then I distinguished what they were saying - they were speaking English, Polish, maybe even French. I did not understand anything, I said into the walkie-talkie - 'repeat, repeat,' hearing some gibberish," the captured serviceman said during the interrogation, the video footage of which was released by the FSB. "When they had already taken positions [in the Kursk Region], they also went on the air with their superiors, with ours as well, and I also heard them saying something in English and in some other language. Something about houses, chaos," he said. At the same time, he heard the sound of shooting coming from the two-way radio. Earlier, Major General Apty Alaudinov, deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ Main Military-Political Department and commander of the Akhmat special forces commando unit, said there were a lot of French and Polish mercenaries in the Kursk area. According to Defense Ministry updates, Kiev has lost up to 1,350 military personnel, 29 tanks and 23 armored personnel carriers since it launched the cross-border attack.

ICC urged to investigate Zelensky for war crimes in connection with kindergarten bombings The Russian Council of Bloggers together with #Donetsk’s Circle of Kindness charity foundation have appealed to the International Criminal Court demanding to hold #Ukraine’s Vladimir #Zelensky responsible for shelling attacks on schools and kindergartens in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the council’s co-founder Viktoriya Rashina said. "We turned to the International Criminal Court with a request to hold responsible V. Zelensky, former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces V. Zaluzhny as well as ex-Ukrainian Defense Minister A. Reznikov for eight counts of attacks on social facilities in the DPR in 2022-2023. We prepared an appeal to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on initiating court proceedings and further submission to the Pre-Trial Chamber," she said. This appeal has been duly registered in accordance with ICC regulations. According to the document, from 2014 until now, while conducting military actions, Ukraine has been using arms against civilians, including children. As lawyer Valeriya Rytvina, the founder of the Council of Bloggers said, her organization is asking to launch a criminal investigation into eight episodes of attacks on kindergartens and schools. "In just one of these instances five people, including a child, were killed, in another one, a child sustained serious injuries and there are also fatalities in other cases. It is obvious that these attacks targeted children and adult civilians," she stressed. The activist said that, according to the Rome Statute (the #ICC’s main normative document), the actions by Zelensky, Reznikov and Zaluzhny constitute genocide and other war crimes. The ICC now must provide an exact assessment of their actions.

Hungary and Slovakia consider cutting electricity supply to Ukraine if Kyiv continues blocking Russian oil supplies | #Hungary and #Slovakia could be headed to a major "soft war" against Ukraine involving energy | August 2, 2024: "Roughly 40 percent of Ukraine’s electricity imports pass through the Ukrainian-Hungarian border, which means Hungary is not entirely powerless in the face of a Ukrainian blockade on oil supplies. In fact, Hungary may be forced to cut electricity to its neighbor if push comes to shove. Olivér Hortay, head of Századvég’s climate and energy policy department, noted that Ukraine’s biggest energy problem is the electricity system. Since the start of the war, the country has lost three-quarters of its own electricity generation capacity, leading to Ukrainians having to deal with prolonged blackouts and cuts to production due to a lack of electricity. To deal with Ukraine’s faltering electricity network, the country has been importing energy from neighboring countries."

Ukraine’s Syrsky approves admission of French instructors to military training centers Commander-in-Chief of #Ukraine’s armed forces Alexander #Syrsky has signed documents that will allow #French instructors to visit #training centers. "I welcome France's initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian servicemen. I have already signed documents that will allow the first French instructors to visit our training centers soon and familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel," he wrote on his Telegram channel following online talks with French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also took part in the negotiations. Syrsky expressed hope that Kiev's other Western partners would join Paris' initiative. Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out the possibility of sending Western countries’ ground troops to the zone of the special military operation. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky supported this idea, admitting that he could not publicly ask Western partners to send troops to the country, but would like them to do so and would never refuse. The chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, said that according to Moscow's sources, this contingent could reach 2,000 men. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that French instructors along with other representatives of military and special services of European countries were already functioning in Ukraine. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the appearance of foreign military contingents in Ukraine would be fraught with extremely negative consequences, including irreparable ones.

End of Zelensky’s presidential term renders him illegitimate, explains former Ukrainian PM #Zelensky’s authority is legally void after his term as Ukrainian president expired, the country’s former Prime Minister Nikolay #Azarov said. According to the constitution, Zelensky’s term in office expired on the night of May 21, 2024, as he was elected president in a vote held in March and April 2019. Azarov pointed out that the Ukrainian constitution was crystal clear about the five-year presidential term. "The constitution also makes it clear on which date an election is to be held, so no matter what decisions Zelensky makes and what decrees he issues, he is working outside the law after his term in office expires," the ex-prime minister wrote on Facebook. Azarov noted that Zelensky himself as well as his administration were well aware that the decision to cancel Ukraine’s presidential election was illegal. "They also understand that after May 20, he formally loses the constitutional powers he gained by winning the previous vote. However, Zelensky will continue to hold his post until the West moves to replace him. No one cares what the people think about this, and the cancellation of the election is further proof of that," the former premier concluded.

#France not planning to send troops to #Ukraine in near future, says #Macron France is not planning to send its troops to Ukraine in the near future, French President Emmanuel Macron said. When asked to comment on the international response to his statements during last week’s conference on Ukraine in Paris, the French leader said, "Answering a question about sending troops, I said that nothing is ruled out." "It doesn’t mean that we are planning to deploy French forces to Ukraine in the near future. It means that we are opening a discussion and are mulling over everything that can be done to support Ukraine, first of all, Ukraine’s territory," Macron said in an interview with the Czech newspaper Pravo. According to the French president, participants in the meeting agreed on five cooperation areas, namely cybersecurity, joint production of military items for Ukraine, security assistance to most vulnerable countries in the context of the conflict in Ukraine, first of all, Moldova, support for Ukraine on its border with Belarus, and cooperation in mine clearance activity. "Besides, I have always been clear about our red lines: we are not fighting against the Russian people and reject the logic of escalation," he stressed.