{"id":672688,"date":"2026-01-04T05:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T05:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/672688\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T05:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T05:49:11","slug":"ukraine-war-briefing-ukraine-will-fight-on-if-peace-talks-fail-zelenskyy-vows-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/672688\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war briefing: Ukraine will fight on if peace talks fail, Zelenskyy vows | Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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    The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says he hopes for a leaders\u2019 summit in the US by the end of January to discuss proposals on how to end the war with Russia<\/strong>. Security advisers from Ukraine\u2019s top allies met in Kyiv on Saturday for talks on a US-brokered plan to end the war, days after Kyiv announced a deal was \u201c90%\u201d ready. Officials from 15 countries including the UK, France and Germany as well as representatives from Nato and the EU joined the meeting. The US special envoy Steve Witkoff also joined virtually, a Ukrainian official said, although the US military attack on Venezuela earlier in the day overshadowed proceedings.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Next week, the talks will continue during a European leaders\u2019 meeting in Paris and then with US negotiators.<\/strong> \u201cAnd after that \u2026 we will be preparing for a meeting in the United States at the leadership level. We would like all of this to happen in January, by the end of January,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Diplomatic efforts to end the war have gained pace in recent weeks, although both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory<\/strong>. Russia, which occupies about 20% of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country\u2019s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal. But Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow and said it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Speaking at a press conference on Saturday evening, Zelenskyy said that if diplomacy to end the war failed, his country would continue to defend itself<\/strong>. \u201cIf Russia blocks all of this \u2013 and as I said, it depends on our partners \u2013 if our partners do not compel Russia to stop the war, there will be another path: to defend ourselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    While the US may be making positive noises about a peace deal, exhausted Ukrainians remain wary<\/strong> after nearly four years of war, the Guardian\u2019s Shaun Walker reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Saturday\u2019s meeting capped a week marked by deadly strikes<\/strong>, as well as a Russian claim \u2013 denied by Ukraine<\/strong> \u2013 that Kyiv had launched drones at a residence of Vladimir Putin in an unsuccessful attack. Russia accused Kyiv of firing drones at a hotel and cafe in the Moscow-held part of Ukraine<\/strong>\u2019s southern Kherson region early on Thursday, killing what it said were 28 people celebrating the new year. Ukraine<\/strong> says it was a military gathering.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    A woman and three-year-old child died in a Russian missile strike on Ukraine\u2019s second largest city of Kharkiv late on Friday<\/strong>, according to the region\u2019s governor. And early Saturday, Russian bombardment of a Kyiv-held part of the southern Kherson region left two people dead, according to the region\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Russia on Saturday condemned the US attack on Venezuela and called for the release of its leader, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/strong>, who was grabbed during an audacious military operation in Caracas. \u201cWe strongly urge the American leadership to reconsider its position and release the legally elected president of the sovereign country and his wife,\u201d the Russian foreign ministry said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    In a series of statements, the ministry called for dialogue between Washington and Venezuela\u2019s government and expressed \u201csolidarity\u201d with Venezuela\u2019s people<\/strong>. It stopped short, however, of offering immediate military or financial assistance to its ally.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    \u201cThis morning, the United States committed an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This is deeply concerning and condemnable,\u201d<\/strong> the ministry said in a statement. \u201cThe pretexts used to justify such actions are untenable. Ideological hostility has triumphed over businesslike pragmatism.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Moscow is one of only a handful of countries to congratulate Maduro on his disputed re-election in 2024. Venezuela is Russia\u2019s closest partner in South America and a major buyer of Russian military hardware.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says he hopes for a leaders\u2019 summit in the US by the end…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-672688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115835264234432140","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}