Democratic Senator Peter Welch: Congress rejected Trump’s 28-point “peace plan” because it looked like a surrender to Russia.

The plan required Ukraine to give up territory it still controls — that’s unacceptable. 1/ Peter Welch: Some in Trump’s team lean toward Russia, but he wants a deal. A sanctions bill now has 85 co-sponsors — almost never happens in the Senate.

Any peace agreement must ensure Russia cannot resume aggression. Ukraine needs real security guarantees. 2/

Germany’s Merz says frozen Russian assets for Ukraine must be a shared EU risk — and Belgium cannot be left carrying the burden alone — Reuters.

Merz writes in FAZ that EU states must incur an equal share of the risk, as a function of their respective economic performance. 1/ After the European Commission proposed using or borrowing against frozen Russian state assets to raise €90B for Ukraine.

Belgium, which holds the largest share of these assets, has resisted without legal guarantees. 2/

Trump’s new National Security Strategy drops shared values and replaces them with raw power.

It calls this flexible realism. In practice it rewrites alliances, revives 19th-century spheres of influence and alarms every major US partner — The Economist. 1/ Released quietly on Dec 4-5, the NSS declares America’s alliances are not built on common values but on what works for America.

It rejects the idea that democracies bind together around principles. It presents power, not ideals, as the core of US policy. 2/

France shows Europe how to build a fully autonomous defense industry. It has domestic analogues for every major US system: from fighters and ships to Patriot-clsss air defense and space programs.

No other European state maintains such technical capability — Ukrainska Pravda. 1/ France’s defense model began with Colbert, who built state arsenals and an “army of engineers,” enabling output of 750 muskets a day by the late 18th century.

Modern structure came after WW2: in 1961 de Gaulle created the DGA to centralize all defense programs. 2/

Kellogg: Russia and its allies can field about 100 fifth-generation fighters. The U.S. can deploy 400 in Europe.

It’s a warning to Russia: if you want to dance with us, we’ll dance. And as a former KGB officer, Putin understands the optics. 1/ Kellogg: When we talk about Ukraine today versus a year or two ago, we’re in the last 10 meters of a military objective. It's the hardest part, where the friction of war really sets in. 2/

After the $100M Energoatom corruption scandal, NYT investigated how Ukraine’s oversight system actually works.

Government set rules and procedures for supervisory boards that limited their ability to operate — delaying appointments, leaving seats vacant and revising charters. 1/ In 2021-2022, the Energy Ministry pushed CEO Ukrenergo [state energy company] Volodymyr Kudrytskyi to hire loyalists with little energy-sector experience.

When he refused, the ministry shaped the new board to secure government control over key votes. 2/

The US public support for Ukraine shows its record: 62% want Ukraine to prevail over Russia, 64% support sending US weapons — up 9 points from last year.

Bipartisan gains: 59% Republicans, 75% Democrats — Reagan Institute. 1/ NATO favorability hits an all-time high at 68%, with strong bipartisan support for Article 5 mutual defense.

Nearly 2/3 say the US military must be sized to win two simultaneous wars — including against Russia and China. 2/

Politico reports how Russia keeps raising an army after roughly 1M killed or wounded.

A nationwide market of freelance headhunters now supplies soldiers, strengthens Putin at the table and alarms European governments tracking his growing force. 1/ Over 80 Russia’s regional governments run a recruitment bazaar.

Telegram ads sell frontline contracts with bonuses up to $50,000, debt relief, free childcare and university spots for soldiers’ kids.

In a country with sub-$1,000 monthly wages, cash drives enlistment. 2/

Ukraine fights blind in Pokrovsk.

Russia now infiltrates cities from within, mixing with Ukrainian troops and erasing any front line — The Telegraph.

Russia enters Pokrovsk in groups of 3-5. They wear civilian clothes, move on bikes, and pass Ukrainian units at close range. 1/ Ukraine cannot control all gaps. Drones watch every movement. But fog allows up to 40 Russian infiltrators per day.

Around 300 infiltrators entered by late November. The number may be higher. Their lifespan is short, but not zero. 2/

Europe is quietly preparing for a scenario it has avoided saying out loud: that Ukraine may be pushed to accept territorial concessions if it wants the war to end — El País.

Macron, Merz, Rutte, Stubb — Ukraine cannot be left in the hands of the US and Russia. 1/ In Brussels, security envoys from France, Germany, Finland, Italy and the UK met Ukraine’s Umerov.

Several European representatives gave to understand that peace may be impossible without a large part of the sacrifices Russia demands. 2/

I didn’t expect any different… US pressured EU to block €90bn Ukraine loan tied to frozen Russian assets.

US officials tell EU capitals they need these funds for a future deal with Moscow, not for Ukraine’s wartime budget, writes Bloomberg.

1/ The EU holds €210bn in frozen Russian assets and wants to use part of this sum to finance Ukraine’s military and economic needs for 2026–2027 years.

EU aims to approve the plan at a leaders’ meeting this month.

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NYT: Zelenskyy’s government made Energoatom’s supervisory board unable to function and then blamed the board for not stopping a $100M kickback scheme.

The board was structurally blocked from acting and the government used it as a scapegoat. 1/ The government approved a charter that required 3 votes out of 4 to appoint or dismiss top managers. Then it launched the board with only 4 members and one seat intentionally left vacant.

A 2-2 split format could not change top managers or challenge political deals. 2/

UK prepares to transfer £8bn in frozen Russian funds to Ukraine — The Times

EU, Canada and others also are working to unlock a wider £100bn package for Kyiv.

1/ NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss releasing frozen Russian assets. The UK forces the EU to unlock €90bn held mainly in Belgium’s Euroclear.

Belgium resists because the sum equals almost one-third of its GDP and could trigger legal claims.

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Richard Blumenthal: Kidnapping children is more than a war crime. It is literally genocide. The goal is the destruction of Ukrainian identity.

We need to pass the bill on sanctions, recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, and also try to use frozen Russian assets. 1/ Lindsey Graham: You can’t fairly end this war without accounting for every child taken by Russia.

Congress must judge if the deal is good or bad and assess security guarantees that “must outlast the Trump administration. 2/

Kelin, Russia Ambassador to UK, on peace: We stand for diplomatic solution, but we don’t want on our border a puppet state created by Western governments, adversarial to us, where the Russian language is discriminated and the Russian Orthodox Church has been ousted. 1/ Q: Most of the world would say you guys started this fight.

Kelin: That is not true. It is said by those who do not want to learn history. Things started in 2014 after the illegal turnover of the legal government in Kyiv by people based on Nazi ideology. 2/

Brussels is attempting the biggest financial strike on Russia since 2022: a plan to leverage €210bn in frozen Russian state assets and turn them into a long-term Ukraine war loan - using emergency powers that bypass Hungary’s veto, the FT reports. 1/ The European Commission wants a “reparations loan” backed by up to €210bn of immobilised Russian central bank assets.

The first tranche(€90bn) would fund Ukraine’s budget for 2026–27. Kyiv would repay only after Russia pays reparations. 2/

Europe is rearming at a speed not seen in decades.

SAFE, the new €150bn EU defence fund, already filled: 19 states applied, Poland alone asks for €43.7bn, writes The Economist.

1/ SAFE + the National Escape Clause open a massive spending channel.

NEC lets states add 1.5% of GDP to defence over four years, unlocking roughly €650bn.

This is the spine of “Readiness 2030”.

2/

Alexander Stubb writes in FA the post-1945 order is collapsing. The world is shifting from rules to hard multipolar power.

Three blocs — West, East, South — now drive geopolitics. Middle powers like Brazil, India, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey decide outcomes.

1/ He warns the West has 5–10 years to prove it can act without double standards, share real power and treat the global South as an equal partner. If it fails, the next order will run on deals, not rules and small states will get crushed.

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Germany spent decades preaching pacifism

Now it is buying tanks, building suicide drones, deploying troops abroad and committing €460 billion to rearmament

Isaac Stanley-Becker in The Atlantic shows how a nation built on “never again” is preparing for war again. 1/ Lt. Gen. Freuding says the old U.S.-led order is “really cut off.”

During Trump’s freeze on Ukraine weapons, Germany received no warning. German officers now hunt for information through their embassy because their Pentagon contacts have gone silent. 2/

Rutte: If it takes too long for Russia to compromise in the peace talks, we’ll keep the weapon flow to Ukraine going, thanks to the U.S., Europe, and Canada.

Sanctions are also biting Russia. Together, they will pressure Putin and change his calculus. 1/ Rutte: I'm glad the U.S. president broke the deadlock with Putin and started the peace process.

Last night's talks were important, but I won’t comment on every step. We’re closely coordinating with the U.S. More steps are to come. 2/

Russia enters new US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil with serious economic cracks.

KSE Institute shows oil earnings in October fell to $13.1B, as Moscow sold barrels at $54, far below global prices.

1/ Russia’s budget hole keeps widening.

January–October deficit hit 4.2T rubles and will likely break the revised 5.7T target in December’s spending surge.

The Kremlin now borrows at record speed: 4.5T rubles in domestric government bonds already, up 135% year-on-year.

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