Ukraine war briefing: US envoy to meet Zelenskyy, Europe leaders in Berlin

14 Dec, 03:08. AU edition

Residents stand in line to fill up bottles with fresh drinking water after critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile and drone attack in Odesa, Ukraine, said Ukrainian authorities. Photograph: Nina Liashonok/Reuters

White House official confirms Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Zelenskyy and European leaders this weekend.

Donald Trump’s special envoy will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders in Berlin this weekend, the White House said, as Washington presses for a plan to end the war. Germany said earlier on Saturday that it would host US and Ukrainian delegations over the weekend for talks on a ceasefire, before a summit involving European leaders and Zelenskyy in Berlin on Monday. Zelenskyy also confirmed that he will personally meet with Donald Trump’s Steve Witkoff in the series of meetings: “Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace – a political agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation late on Saturday.
Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov reaffirmed Friday that Moscow will give its blessing to a ceasefire only after Ukraine’s forces have withdrawn from parts of the Donetsk region that they still control. Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard troops would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarised zone under a prospective peace plan – a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine.
Russia attacked five Ukrainian regions overnight, targeting the country’s energy and port infrastructure, according to Zelenskyy, who said the attacks involved more than 450 drones and 30 missiles. With temperatures hovering around freezing, Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said more than a million people were without electricity.
An attack on Odesa caused grain silos to catch fire at the coastal city’s port, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and reconstruction minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. Two people were wounded in attacks on the wider region, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.
Germany has said it will send a group of soldiers to Poland to help with a project to fortify the country’s eastern border as worries mount about the threat from Russia. Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Moscow, announced plans in May last year to bolster a long stretch of its border that includes Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The main task of the German soldiers in Poland will be “engineering activities,” a spokesperson for the defence ministry in Berlin said late Friday.
About 480 people were evacuated Saturday from a train traveling between the Polish city of Przemysl and Kyiv after police received a call concerning a threat on the train, Karolina Kowalik, a spokesperson for the Przemysl police, said. Nobody was hurt and she didn’t elaborate on the threat. Polish authorities are on high alert since multiple attempts to disrupt trains on the line linking Warsaw to the Ukrainian border, including the use of explosives in November, with Polish authorities saying they have evidence Russia was behind it.
Ukraine’s navy accused Russia of deliberately attacking a civilian Turkish vessel carrying sunflower oil to Egypt with a drone on Saturday, a day after Moscow hit two Ukrainian ports: “Russia delivered a targeted strike using a drone against the Turkish vessel ‘VIVA’, which was en route to Egypt carrying sunflower oil,” Ukraine’s navy said on social media. None of the 11 crew were wounded and the ship was able to continue its journey, it added.
Ukraine received 114 prisoners released by Belarus on Saturday, Kyiv’s PoW coordination centre said. The centre’s statement said that the released captives would receive medical attention, and those Belarusian citizens who so wished would subsequently be transported to Poland or Lithuania.