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Zelensky shoots down US proposal to designate Donbas as a ‘free economic zone’
Alex Croft,Bryony Gooch,Namita SinghFriday 12 December 2025 04:00 GMTComments
CloseTrump says US will attend Ukraine peace talks with Europe but doesn’t want to ‘waste time’
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The US will send a representative to participate in talks in Europe on Ukraine this weekend, Donald Trump has said, while warning that he doesn't want to waste “a lot of time”.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said: "We'll be attending the meeting on Saturday in Europe if we think there's a good chance. And we don't want to waste a lot of time if we think it's negative."
Trump has grown weary of multiple meetings and “extremely frustrated with both sides of this war”, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky raised serious concerns about the US's proposal to designate the contested Donbas region as a “free economic zone”.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Zelensky questioned how such an arrangement would function.
"If one side's troops have to retreat and the other side stays where they are, then what will hold back these other troops, the Russians? Or what will stop them disguising themselves as civilians and taking over this free economic zone? This is all very serious.”
Europe must prepare for war with Russia, warns Nato secretary general
Europe should prepare for war ‘like our grandparents endured’, warns Nato chief
Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte said Europe is already Russia’s next target and ‘we are already in harm’s way’Bryony Gooch12 December 2025 03:45In pictures: Zelensky arrives at the Special European Council to discuss continued support for Ukraine and European defence
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on as he arrives at the Special European Council to discuss continued support for Ukraine and European defence at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 6, 2025 (AFP via Getty Images)Bryony Gooch12 December 2025 03:30US offer of Donbas ‘free economic zone’ draws scepticism from Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelensky raised serious concerns about the US's proposal to designate part of the contested Donbas as a “free economic zone”.
The Donbas – a heavily industrialised area encompassing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – sits at the centre of the latest draft peace plan.
Washington’s earlier proposal, leaked last month, had urged Ukraine to pull back from the areas it still controls in the region, a condition president Volodymyr Zelensky labelled “unacceptable”.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at Palazzo Chigi prior a meeting with Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Rome on 9 December 2025 (AFP via Getty Images)After consultations with European partners, including a meeting in London with Sir Keir Starmer this week, Zelensky said he has now sent a revised, 20-point counter-proposal to Washington.
The updated framework envisages Ukrainian forces withdrawing without Russian troops moving forward, leaving a neutral corridor.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Zelensky questioned how such an arrangement would function. "If one side's troops have to retreat and the other side stays where they are, then what will hold back these other troops, the Russians? Or what will stop them disguising themselves as civilians and taking over this free economic zone? This is all very serious.
"It's not a fact that Ukraine would agree to it, but if you are talking about a compromise then it has to be a fair compromise."
Namita Singh12 December 2025 03:21Trump 'extremely frustrated' with lack of progress in Ukraine peace talks
US president Donald Trump is “extremely frustrated” with Russia and Ukraine over the lack of progress in peace talks, said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
She said discussions continue and the US could send a representative to those discussions as soon as this weekend "if there is a real chance of signing a peace agreement”.
But she added that it's "still up in the air whether real peace can be achieved."
Trump took office in January suggesting he could solve Russia's war in Ukraine quickly but has spent months complaining bitterly.
"And he's sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting," Leavitt said.
"He doesn't want any more talk. He wants action."
Namita Singh12 December 2025 03:15Watch: Ukrainian sea drone hits Russian shadow fleet tanker in Black Sea
Ukrainian sea drone hits Russian shadow fleet tanker in Black SeaAlex Croft12 December 2025 03:00Russia urges UK to reveal what British soldier killed in Ukraine was doing
Moscow has urged the UK to disclose what a British soldier killed in Ukraine was doing there, accusing London of helping Kyiv carry out "acts of terrorism".
The UK Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that the soldier, Lance Corporal George Hooley, died in Ukraine while observing Ukrainian forces test a new defensive capability away from the frontline.
Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the British government should not deceive its citizens by claiming that British soldiers sent to Ukraine were only advisers or instructors.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Getty )She accused British forces of helping Kyiv "carry out terrorist attacks and extremist tasks" on London's direct orders.
Zakharova did not set out evidence to back up her accusations of alleged wider UK involvement.
Alex Croft12 December 2025 02:00Europe must integrate more deeply during Trump era, says Polish minister
Europe must integrate more deeply and strengthen itself militarily during the Trump administration, Polish justice minister Waldemar Zurek said on Thursday.
Mr Zurek’s government, led by prime minister Donald Tusk, is at loggerheads over a number of domestic issues with president Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist endorsed by Trump.
They also differ on matters of security, with Tusk advocating a stronger role for the European Union in defence, in contrast to Nawrocki who says this would undermine the crucial role of the United States on Nato's eastern flank.
A U.S. strategy document published last week said Washington should focus on "cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations" while also saying Europe should take primary responsibility for its own defence.
Alex Croft12 December 2025 01:01Hungary's Orban says Trump strategy grasps Europe's 'civilisation-scale decline'
The Trump's administration’s new National Security Strategy shows that America understands Europe's "civilisational-scale decline", Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban wrote on X on Thursday.
In the document, Trump called on the United States to reassess its relationship with Europe, a continent which faces "civilizational erasure" and must change course.
The document caused shock across Europe, but Orban, a long-time Trump ally, called it "the most important and most interesting document of recent years".
He said it showed Washington had grasped that Europe reached an "economic dead end" and that its values, democracy and free market were all in danger.
Orban also said the US administration understood that Europe needed to rebuild its relationship with Russia "at a strategic level".
"America has a precise understanding of Europe’s decline. They see the civilisational-scale decline that we in Hungary have been fighting against for fifteen years. At last, we are not fighting against it alone," he said.
Trump US Hungary (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)Alex Croft12 December 2025 00:00Europe-US talks expected this weekend, says Merz
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said he expects talks with US officials to take place this weekend, discussing a proposal put forward by the European side for peace in Ukraine.
In a call on Wednesday, "we made a proposal to [Donald Trump] that we would finalise the documents together with the American government over the weekend," Mr Merz said.
"If we now proceed with this process as we envisage, there will be talks with the American government over the weekend," he added at a press conference with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte.
Alex Croft11 December 2025 23:02Watch: Zelensky says he discussed with Ukrainian parliament ways of holding election
Zelensky says he discussed with Ukrainian parliament ways of holding electionAlex Croft11 December 2025 22:02Newer1 / 4OlderMore about
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