Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv is moving to step up pressure on Moscow with new operations targeting Russia, following a week of Russian attacks that knocked out power to Ukrainian cities as freezing temperatures set in. “Some of the operations have already been felt by the Russians. Some are still underway,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Saturday. “ I also approved new ones.” Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s actions include deep strikes and special measures aimed at weakening Russia’s capacity to continue the war. “We are actively defending ourselves, and every Russian loss brings the end of the war closer,” he said. He declined to provide details, saying it was “too early” to speak publicly about certain operations, but stressed that Ukraine’s security services and special forces are operating effectively. As part of Kyiv’s efforts to reduce Russia’s offensive capabilities, Ukrainian forces attacked the Zhutovskaya oil depot in Russia’s Volgograd region overnight Saturday, the General Staff said in a post on social media. Zelenskyy’s comments come after a week of escalating Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which left the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk without electricity and heating as temperatures plunged well below zero. In the capital, renewed attacks killed at least four people and injured 25 others. The city’s mayor urged residents who could leave to do so, as roughly half of Kyiv’s apartment buildings were left without power or heat. Russia also launched a nuclear-capable Oreshnik ballistic missile at Ukraine’s Lviv region on Thursday, striking near the EU and NATO border as part of a massive barrage.

Kyiv is in talks with the United States about a possible free-trade agreement, as Ukraine seeks to entice a reluctant Washington to provide firm security guarantees, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Such a deal would involve tariff-free trade with the U.S. and would give Ukraine “very serious cards,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Bloomberg published late Friday.  He has not yet discussed it directly with U.S. President Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said, adding that he expects to meet with Trump either in the U.S. or at the Davos conference in Switzerland, which starts on Jan. 19.  Prospects of a trade deal come as all sides start to consider more seriously how to end the war in Ukraine and how to ensure peace in the future. Europe and the U.S. presented a detailed plan for Ukraine in Paris earlier this week, including security guarantees with American backing and a promise to deploy British and French troops after a ceasefire.  But Washington did not sign on to join a multinational force for Ukraine, raising concerns about its level of commitment. The offer of a free-trade deal could act as an additional incentive for the U.S. to remain committed to protecting Ukraine after the end of the war. Zelenskyy said in the Bloomberg interview that he wants specific commitments from Washington. “I don’t want everything to end up in them merely promising to react,” he said. “I really want something more concrete.” Zelenskyy said his negotiator, Rustem Umerov, had a call on Friday with Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and that U.S. representatives have been in contact with Russia recently in “some kind of format.” Ukraine has given its views on territorial proposals, which the U.S. side will share with Russia for its own responses, Zelenskyy said.  Ukraine also is considering a plan, proposed by the U.S., to create a buffer zone between the two sides after troops pull back. “The format is difficult but fair,” Zelenskyy said. Zelenskyy added that he is not opposed to European leaders talking to Russia. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday joined French President Emmanuel Macron in calling for dialogue with Moscow. 

The leaders of the five political parties in Greenland’s parliament have a message for U.S. President Donald Trump: Leave us alone. “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” the party leaders said in a joint statement Friday.  The statement comes after Trump has become increasingly explicit about his desire to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark — a desire made more real by recent U.S. strikes in Venezuela.  “We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor,” Trump told reporters during an event at the White House on Friday. “I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we will do it the hard way,” he said. But the Greenlandic leaders pushed back, repeating their request to be left alone to manage their own affairs. “We would like to emphasize once again our desire for the U.S.’s disdain for our country to end,” they said. “The future of Greenland must be decided by the Greenlandic people.” They added that they have increased their “international participation” in recent years. “We must again call for that dialogue to continue to be based on diplomacy and international principles,” they said in the statement. Taking over Greenland would be relatively simple, according to officials and experts, though Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that doing so would spell the end of NATO. Eight of Europe’s top leaders backed Greenland earlier this week, saying security in the Arctic must be achieved “collectively” and with full respect to the wishes of its people.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart may be heading for bilateral talks on Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin “expressed readiness to engage in dialogue” with Macron on the issue, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday, according to media reports. The Elysée responded positively. “It is welcome that the Kremlin has publicly agreed to this approach. We will decide in the coming days on the best way to proceed,” the French presidency said. Macron said at last week’s EU summit in Brussels that it would be “useful” for Europe to reach out to Putin to ensure that a peace deal in Ukraine is not negotiated solely by the United States, Russia and Ukraine. “I think that we Europeans and Ukrainians need to find a framework to engage a discussion in due form,” Macron told reporters as the summit wrapped up early Friday morning. The Elysée stressed that any talks with Russia would take place in “full transparency” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies, Le Monde reported. Macron and Putin have rarely been in direct contact since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Their most recent phone communication was in July, following about three years of no contact.

Germany is sending soldiers to strengthen Poland’s eastern border with Belarus and Russia, multiple media reported on Saturday. Several dozen German soldiers will join Poland’s East Shield from April 2026, with the mission initially running until the end of 2027, Deutsche Welle reported, citing Berlin’s defense ministry. German troops will focus on engineering work, according to a ministry spokesperson quoted in the report. The spokesperson described this as building positions, digging trenches, laying barbed wire and constructing anti-tank obstacles. The East Shield is a €2.3 billion program announced by Warsaw last year to bolster security along its eastern border.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Germany this weekend to discuss a plan to end the war with Russia, according to multiple media reports. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also are expected to take part in the meeting, according to the reports. The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the planned meeting in Berlin. U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will also attend the Berlin meeting with Zelenskyy and the European leaders, Reuters reported. The meeting is to discuss the latest version of a 20-point peace plan brokered by the U.S. just days after Ukraine handed over its revised version to Washington, according to the reports. The plan proposes a demilitarized “free economic zone” in the Donbas region where American business interests could operate. A major sticking point in the negotiations is the fate of territory in eastern Ukraine, which Kyiv refuses to cede after Moscow’s occupation.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Im Kanzleramt herrscht Ausnahmezustand: Friedrich Merz sagt kurzfristig seine Norwegen-Reise ab und fliegt stattdessen nach Brüssel, um den entscheidenden Durchbruch bei den 165 Milliarden Euro eingefrorener russischer Vermögen zu erzwingen. Mit Bart De Wever und Ursula von der Leyen soll am Abend ein Deal vorbereitet werden, der Belgien endlich überzeugt und Europas Glaubwürdigkeit rettet. Der Druck ist enorm: Ohne Einigung vor dem EU-Gipfel am 18. Dezember droht nicht nur ein finanzielles Vakuum für die Ukraine, sondern eine historische Blamage der EU. Gleichzeitig wächst in europäischen Hauptstädten das Misstrauen gegenüber den USA. Ein vertrauliches Telefonat mit Wolodymyr Selenskyj, Merz, Emmanuel Macron und weiteren Staats- und Regierungschefs zeigt, wie groß die Sorge ist, dass Washington und Moskau hinter Europas Rücken über die Zukunft der Ukraine verhandeln könnten. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

Canada has reached a final agreement to join the EU’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe program, two EU diplomats told POLITICO, marking the first time a third country will formally participate in the bloc’s flagship joint procurement initiative. The breakthrough follows months of technically complex negotiations and was communicated directly to ministers taking part in Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council; Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius informed delegations that negotiations with Ottawa had concluded.  Canada’s accession to the loan-for-weapons SAFE scheme gives Ottawa access to jointly financed defense projects and allows Canadian companies to bid into EU-supported joint procurement projects. For Brussels, securing a G7 partner strengthens the credibility of SAFE as it seeks to coordinate long-term weapons demand and ramp up Europe’s defense industrial base. Under SAFE, third countries can account for a maximum of 35 percent of the value of a weapons system paid for by the scheme; Canada will be able to have a larger share but it will have to pay a fee “commensurate with the benefits the Partner Country and its entities are expected to derive,” factoring in GDP, industrial competitiveness and the depth of cooperation with European manufacturers. Other issues tackled in negotiations covered conditions on intellectual property control and limits on non-EU inputs for sensitive systems including drones, missile-defense assets and strategic enablers. Similar talks with the U.K. broke down on Friday. The timing aligns with a major SAFE milestone: Kubilius announced on X that all 19 participating EU countries had submitted their spending plans that will be financed by low interest SAFE loans. He added that 15 members included support for Ukraine in their plans, involving “billions, not millions” — something the Commission has been keen to encourage. This article has been updated.

BRUSSELS — The EU and the U.K. failed to reach a deal on allowing Britain to take part in the bloc’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe loans-for-weapons program, three diplomats told POLITICO today. The negotiations have been very difficult, with London and Brussels clashing on how much the U.K. would have to pay to take part in joint procurements financed by SAFE. The U.K was offering only millions of euros, while the EU slashed its initial request for London to pay between €4.5 billion and €6.5 billion to a lower €2 billion. Head of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space, Timo Pesonen, told EU ambassadors this morning that there’s no deal with the U.K., one of the diplomats said. The Commission is also negotiating a similar agreement with Canada. Pesonen said he will inform about the state of play of those talks this afternoon, but that there is more optimist that a deal can be reached with Ottawa.

PARIS — France’s newly appointed chief of defense is preparing the nation’s armed forces to be ready for a “shock, that would be a kind of test” from Russia. “Russia is a country that may be tempted to continue the war on our continent,” Gen. Fabien Mandon told lawmakers on the National Assembly’s defense committee on Wednesday. “The first objective I have given the armed forces is to be ready in three or four years for a shock that would be a kind of test,” he added. “The test already exists in hybrid forms, but it may become more violent.” Top generals and politicians from EU and NATO countries have warned that Moscow could attack the alliance in the coming years, with timelines varying from 2027 to 2030. Last week, the European Commission presented a roadmap to help capitals prepare for war by 2030. Traditionally, French military officers have been more reluctant than some of their European counterparts to provide timelines and speak openly about a Russian attack on NATO. In more recent months, however, the French rhetoric on Moscow has become starker, with President Emmanuel Macron saying that Europe is “in a confrontation with Russia.” “To assume that the 2022 invasion of Ukraine is the last attack and that it will not happen again on our continent is to ignore the risk facing our societies,” Mandon told lawmakers. “The Russians are reorganizing with one goal in mind: to confront NATO.” However, the French general added: “Europe is the right scale to address our challenges.” France’s rearmament push is already a signal to deter Russia, he explained: “If our rivals perceive that we are making this effort, they may renounce. If they feel that we are not prepared to defend ourselves, I don’t see what could stop them.”