This liveblog is no longer being updated. You can follow our coverage of the war in Ukraine here.
European Commission to move ahead with proposal to use Russia’s frozen assets for Ukraine
The European Commission plans to make a legal proposal this week to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, while also leaving open the possibility of borrowing on financial markets or mixing the two options, four sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
EU leaders agreed in October to meet Ukraine’s “pressing financial needs” for the next two years but stopped short of endorsing a plan to use 140 billion euros ($162 billion) in frozen Russian sovereign assets in Europe as a loan for Kyiv, due to concerns raised by Belgium.
Most of the Russian assets frozen in Europe are in the accounts of Belgian securities depository Euroclear, and the Belgian government has repeatedly raised concerns about legal risks.
Under the Commission’s plan, Ukraine would only need to repay the loan if Russia pays reparations for damage caused by waging war against its neighbour.
Kremlin says ‘no compromise’ yet on territory after Ukraine talks with US
The Kremlin said late Tuesday that “no compromise” had been reached yet on the key question of territory in Ukraine after hours-long talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“So far we haven’t found a compromise, but some American solutions can be discussed,” top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in response to a journalist’s question about occupied Ukrainian territories.
Still, Ushakov said, “the conversation was very useful and constructive,” though “a lot of work lies ahead both in Washington and in Moscow.”
Putin and US negotiators hold high-stakes Ukraine talks in Moscow
Top US negotiators vying to end the war in Ukraine met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in high-stakes talks happening as Moscow pressed battlefield advances.
Putin, who received US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin, signalled earlier that his forces were ready to fight on to achieve Russia’s initial war goals. FRANCE 24’s Antonia Kerrigan reports.
Italy to postpone decree on military aid to Ukraine, sources say
Italy’s government is set to delay the approval of a decree that would allow Rome to prolong military supplies to Ukraine into next year, sources close to the matter said on Tuesday.
The hold-up comes amid tensions within Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition government over support for Ukraine against Russia’s full-scale invasion, now approaching its fourth anniversary.
Meloni has pledged to help Ukraine resist Russian aggression to the end, but her deputy Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party, has questioned the rationale for continued support
Zelensky fears US could lose interest in Ukraine peace efforts
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he was afraid the United States could lose interest in the Ukrainian peace process and that Russia’s goal was to bring this about.
“Yes, I am afraid. If somebody from our allies is tired, I’m afraid,” Zelensky told an event in Dublin when asked if he was concerned the US could lose interest in the peace process.
“It’s the goal of Russia to withdraw the interest of America from this situation.”
Zelensky says speed of peace talks, US interest cause for some optimism
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he had some optimism around peace efforts due to the speed of the process and the United States’ interest in finding a solution.
“A little bit optimism was in my words because of some speed of negotiations, and from the American side, their interest in it. It showed that America is not withdrawing now from any kind of diplomatic way of dialogue and it is good,” Zelensky told an event during a visit to Dublin.
Putin warns Europe: if you want war, then Russia will defeat you
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned European powers that Russia was ready to fight if they started a war and that their defeat would be so absolute that there would be no one left to negotiate a peace deal.
Nearly four years into the Ukraine war, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, Russia has failed to conquer its much smaller neighbour. FRANCE 24’s International Affairs editor Philip Turle explains.
Putin starts Ukraine talks with Witkoff and Kushner in Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday started talks on the Ukraine settlement with US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin, according to a state TV broadcast.
“So pleased to see you,” Putin told Witkoff and Kushner, sitting alongside translators.
NATO chief dismisses concerns about US commitment to the alliance
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte brushed off fresh concern Tuesday about the United States’ commitment to the military organization on the eve of a meeting of allied foreign ministers focused on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend Wednesday’s meeting, which will unfold during high-stakes negotiations in Moscow and elsewhere in Europe on Ukraine’s future. His rare absence at the US-led alliance comes after President Donald Trump’s 28-point proposal to end the almost four-year war dismayed European allies and Canada last month.
The administration’s draft plan suggested that NATO would not expand further — a longtime Russian demand — and that Ukraine would not be admitted, breaking with a yearslong promise to Kyiv that it has a place at the organization’s table.
Ukraine says still fighting in Pokrovsk, city claimed by Russia
Ukraine said Tuesday its army was holding on in Pokrovsk, an important logistics hub in the eastern Donetsk region that Moscow claimed to have captured after months of intensive fighting.
The Russian defence ministry had posted a video a day earlier claiming to show Russian soldiers raising their country’s flag over a central square in Pokrovsk.
“Search and assault operations and the elimination of the enemy in urban areas continue in Pokrovsk,” the Ukrainian military’s eastern command wrote on social media.
It also said—without explicitly denying Moscow’s claim—that Russian troops who planted a flag in the town’s centre had been beaten back.
Putin says ‘we are ready’ if Europe wants war with Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow was “ready” for war if Europe seeks one, accusing the continent’s leaders of trying to sabotage a deal on the Ukraine conflict before he met with US envoys.
The comments came as US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Moscow for high-stakes talks on ending the nearly four-year war, which were preceded by days of intense diplomacy.
“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin told reporters in Moscow.
“They have no peaceful agenda, they are on the side of war,” he added, repeating his claim that European leaders were hindering US attempts to broker peace in Ukraine.
He added that European changes to Trump’s latest plan to end the war “aimed solely at one thing—to completely block the entire peace process and put forward demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia”.
Zelensky calls for peace, Putin defiant ahead of US-Russia talks
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and special envoy headed to the Kremlin Tuesday for high-stakes talks on Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for an end to the fighting and a “dignified peace”.
Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff were due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin after days of frenzied diplomacy from Florida to Geneva to Abu Dhabi left Washington “optimistic” it could help end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
They are expected to present Putin with a new version of US plan to end the war, hammered out in recent days after an earlier version raised fears in Kyiv and elsewhere in Europe that it made too many concessions to Moscow.
A Ukrainian delegation could then meet with Witkoff and Kushner as soon as Wednesday, potentially in Brussels, a senior Kyiv official told AFP.
Putin threatens to ‘cut Ukraine off from the sea’ after attacks on tankers
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Tuesday to sever Ukraine’s access to the sea in response to drone attacks on tankers of Moscow’s “shadow fleet” in the Black Sea.
“The most radical solution is to cut Ukraine off from the sea, then piracy will be impossible in principle,” Putin said in televised remarks.
He said Russia would intensify strikes on Ukrainian facilities and vessels, and would take measures against tankers of countries that help Kyiv.
On Saturday, a Ukrainian security official said Ukrainian naval drones hit two sanctioned tankers in the Black Sea as they headed to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets.
Putin says Russia will take steps against tankers of countries that help Ukraine
Moscow will take measures against tankers of countries that help Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
Putin called recent attacks on tankers near Turkey piracy and said Russia would intensify strikes on Ukrainian facilities and vessels.
A Russian-flagged tanker loaded with sunflower oil reported a drone attack off the Turkish coast on Tuesday, but its 13 crew members were unharmed, Turkey’s maritime authority and the Tribeca shipping agency said. Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the incident.
Putin says Moscow does not want war but if Europe wants a war, then Russia is ready
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia did not want a war with European powers but that if Europe did want a war then Russia was ready right now to fight.
Putin said that European powers were making demands on a possible peace settlement for Ukraine that Moscow considers absolutely unacceptable.
Ukraine’s Zelensky urges to ‘end the war’, not just ‘pause’ in fighting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday urged a complete end to his country’s war with Russia and not just a “pause” in the devastating fighting since February 2022.
“Our common task is to end the war, not just to achieve a pause in hostilities. A dignified peace is needed. For this to truly happen, everyone must be on the side of peace,” he told a joint press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin.
NATO’s Rutte says he expects new contributions to Ukraine arms aid program
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Tuesday that he expected new contributions from allies to the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, a Ukraine arms funding mechanism, in the coming days.
He also said he welcomed US-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine and that he was confident that these would eventually “restore peace in Europe”.
US delegation to meet Putin in latest bid to end Ukraine war
As high-stakes war discussions unfold, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, are meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today, where the Kremlin insists it is open to peace talks but maintains its war objectives must still be met, casting doubt on its willingness to end the conflict.
Ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with leaders of the UK and France, as well as Witkoff, and is now in Dublin for trade and security talks with Irish officials. Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Russia claims to have seized the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk, a statement Ukraine has dismissed as political posturing aimed at shaping the negotiations. Professor of International Politics at Clinton Institute, University College Dublin, Scott Lucas joins us for more.
No consensus yet on Ukraine’s NATO membership, Rutte says
NATO Chief Mark Rutte repeated on Tuesday that the consensus needed for Ukraine to join the alliance is not there at the moment.
“The practical situation is, as you know, that there is consensus required by all allies for Ukraine to join NATO. And right now, as you know, there is no consensus on Ukraine joining NATO,” he told reporters.
