Zelenskyy confident US will not ‘betray’ Ukraine.

Ukrainian president suggests his country could mobilise 500,000 more people in order to fight Russian invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed confidence that the United States and other Western countries will continue to support Ukraine in its battle to repel Russia’s invasion.

Speaking during an end-of-year news conference on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said that financial assistance plays a crucial role in the country’s efforts to drive back Russian forces that poured over the border in February 2022. He also suggested that Ukraine could mobilise 500,000 more people in order to fight on.

“We are working very hard on this, and I am certain the United States of America will not betray us, and that on which we agreed in the United States will be fulfilled completely,” Zelenskyy said.

The address comes as support for Ukraine in Western countries comes under greater pressure, with conservatives in the United States expressing doubts about continued assistance and stalling the passage of a substantial aid package.

Leaders in the US Senate said on Tuesday that the package was not likely to move forward before the end of the year.

Zelenskyy, who has previously warned that such delays benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that a Trump victory in the 2024 US elections could have “a very strong impact on the course of the war” if he pursued a policy towards Ukraine that was “more cold or more economical”.

The Ukrainian leader also said that he was sure that the European Union (EU) would move forward with a 50-billion-euro ($55bn) aid package of its own, despite opposition from Hungary, whose right-wing government has raised objections to further assistance for Ukraine.

“I’m confident that we have already achieved all this,” Zelenskyy said. “The question now is one of a certain matter of time.”

However, support for Ukraine has become a divisive issue in Western countries after a long-awaited counteroffensive over the summer failed to win back substantial territory and the war grinds on.

The Russian invasion, which has been accused of including war crimes, has devastated Ukrainian cities, displaced millions of people, and killed at least 10,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Zelenskyy said that he is weighing the possibility of mobilising an additional 500,000 troops, adding that he had asked the military for more details on this “very sensitive matter”.

Speaking on Tuesday, Putin said that Russia was open to negotiations with Ukraine, the US, and Europe but added that Russia “will not give up what is ours”.

“The West isn’t abandoning its strategy of containment of Russia and its aggressive goals in Ukraine,” Putin said. “Well, we also aren’t going to abandon the goals of the special military operation.”

Zelenskyy claims ‘victory’ as EU agrees to open Ukraine membership talks

Moment of celebration turns bittersweet as Hungary carries through on threats to block financial aid for Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed a “victory” for Ukraine and Europe after European Union leaders agreed to open membership talks with Kyiv, but the mood was soured just hours later when Hungary carried through on threats to block crucial financial aid to Ukraine.

European Council President Charles Michel, host of the summit in Brussels, announced Thursday’s agreement on membership talks in a social media post, calling it “a clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent”.

Zelenskyy welcomed the decision as “a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens,” he said in a post on X.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said it was “a strategic decision and a day that will remain engraved in the history of our union”.

“These countries belong to the European family,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

The EU also agreed to open talks with Moldova and granted EU candidate status to Georgia. Michel said the block would also advance a membership bid by another hopeful – Bosnia and Herzegovina – once it reaches “the necessary degree of compliance” with criteria.

Hungary blocks funding
But the mood changed early on Friday when Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced he had blocked a proposal to revamp the EU budget to include 50 billion euros ($54bn) in financial aid to Kyiv as it battles to remove Russian troops from its territory.

For weeks, Orban had been promising to block the membership deal and the funding, which he said were not in the interests of Hungary or the EU.

While Orban had agreed not to be in the room for the membership vote – allowing it to pass – the other EU nations were unable to overcome his resistance to the budget proposal put forward by Michel.

“We still have some time. Ukraine is not out of money in the next few weeks,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters on leaving the talks. “I am fairly confident we can get a deal early next year, we are thinking of late January.”

However, on Friday, Orban told Hungarians in an interview on state radio that Budapest could yet put a stop to Ukraine’s membership talks and he will not give a nod to the funding package unless Brussels releases billions of euros to Hungary that it has frozen due to rule of law concerns.

It is widely believed that Orban has been complicating the EU’s efforts to help Ukraine not only because he is close to Putin but also as a way to force Brussels to release the frozen funds, which total more than 30 billion euros ($32.8bn).

Stressing that membership talks would be long and complex, the Hungarian leader slammed the “bad decision” to invite Ukraine to launch the process.

“Hungary bears no responsibility for this. We can halt this process later on, and if needed, we will pull the brakes, and the ultimate decision will be made by the Hungarian parliament,” he said.

He also appeared to set out a clear quid pro quo regarding the funding.

“I’ve always said that if someone wants to amend the budget law and they want to for several reasons, this is a great opportunity for Hungary to make it clear that it should get what it deserves – not half, then a quarter, but it must get the whole thing,” Orban said.

While insisting that Hungary is not a pro-Russian country, the Kremlin on Friday praised Budapest for being prepared to defend its own interests.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned that Ukraine and Moldova could “destabilise” the EU should they join.

“Negotiations to join the EU can last for years or decades. The EU has always had strict criteria for accession, and it is obvious that at the moment neither Ukraine nor Moldova meets these criteria,” he told reporters.

“It is clear that this is an absolutely politicised decision, the EU’s desire to demonstrate support for these countries. But such new members could destabilise the EU, and since we live on the same continent as the EU, we, of course, are closely watching this.”

Zelenskyy has been rallying allies’ support for his country as concerns grow that their backing might be waning.

This week, he travelled to the United States, where he hoped to persuade Republican lawmakers to approve billions of dollars in new funding that they have blocked in Congress.

US President Joe Biden has argued that their refusal to back the new spending plays into Putin’s hands.

‘United and ready’
Ukraine launched its bid to become part of the EU after Moscow began its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and was officially named a candidate to join in June last year.

Fellow former Soviet republic and neighbour Moldova had applied at the same time as Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has breathed new life into the EU’s stalled push to take on new members as the bloc looks to keep Russian and Chinese influence at bay.

In June 2022, the European Commission set Kyiv seven reform benchmarks to complete, including tackling corruption and curbing the power of its oligarchs, before talks should start.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said the EU’s decision on Thursday showed that it “highly appreciated the reforms we have made in recent years and the implementation of all the recommendations of the European Commission”.

“A difficult path lies ahead. We are united and ready,” he said.

EU treaties oblige members to help “by all means in their power” another EU country that is a victim of armed aggression on its territory. If Ukraine becomes an EU member while the war with Russia is continuing, EU countries would have to respect that.

The EU would also acquire a long new border with Russia and Belarus with implications for security, migration and defence.

‘Nonsense’: Putin rejects Biden claim that Russia plans to attack NATO

The Russian president says Moscow has ‘no interest … to fight with NATO countries’.

The Russian president has dismissed the United States’s claims that Moscow could attack a NATO country in the future as “complete nonsense”, saying such a conflict would run counter to his country’s interests.

Vladimir Putin made the statement in an interview with Russian state TV on Sunday, weeks after US President Joe Biden warned that if Putin achieved victory in Ukraine, he might be emboldened to attack a NATO ally, sparking a third world war.

“It is complete nonsense – and I think President Biden understands that,” Putin told state television channel Rossiya.

“Russia has no reason, no interest – no geopolitical interest, neither economic, political nor military – to fight with NATO countries.”

Putin added that Biden may be trying to stoke such fears to justify his “erroneous policy” in the region.

US-Russia relations have sunk to their lowest level in decades since Moscow invaded neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

Throughout the 22-month war, the US has provided Ukraine with $111bn in weapons, equipment, and other aid, helping the Ukrainians fend off Russia’s advance and regain some territory.

Biden favours sending even more support to war-torn Ukraine, which is running short on supplies as it grinds to a bloody winter stalemate.

He has asked US Congress to approve $61.4bn in support for Ukraine as part of a larger $110bn package that includes more funds for Israel and other issues.

However, there is waning appetite in the Congress for the lingering war. Some Republican lawmakers have blocked the aid package, demanding the White House first take action on border security.

Biden on December 12 said right-wing lawmakers’ refusal to approve the package also risked handing President Putin a “Christmas gift” of victory.

“Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine,” Biden said during a news conference with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We must … prove him wrong.”

Tensions with Finland
While Putin dismissed the prospect of a direct NATO feud, he did address tensions with neighbouring Finland since it joined the alliance.

Finland, which became a NATO member in April, on Friday shut down its entire eastern border with Russia, which it accuses of orchestrating a migrant crisis on its border.

Putin said he would respond to the deteriorating ties by opening up a military zone in its northwest.

“They [the West] dragged Finland into NATO. Did we have any disputes with them? All disputes, including territorial ones in the mid-20th century, have long been solved,” Putin said.

“There were no problems there. Now there will be [problems] because we will create the Leningrad military district and concentrate a certain amount of military units there.”

Russia designates author Boris Akunin ‘terrorist and extremist’

The popular novelist has criticised Russia’s war on Ukraine and previously called Vladimir Putin a ‘deranged dictator’.

The Russian government has added the popular author Grigory Chkhartishvili – known by his pen name Boris Akunin – to a register of “terrorists and extremists” for his critical stance towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s main financial intelligence body, announced that the detective novelist had been added to the registry on Monday.

The 67-year-old is known for his historical detective novels and his longstanding criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

“Terrorists declared me a terrorist,” Akunin, who lives in exile in London, wrote on Facebook.

Separately, Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a case against the Russian-Georgian author for allegedly “justifying terrorism and publicly spreading fake information” about the military.

Russia adopted a law criminalising comments that discredit the armed forces following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin has since wielded those powers to crack down on critics.

On the day Putin sent Russian troops into Ukraine, Akunin wrote on Facebook that the Russian leader was a “psychologically deranged dictator”.

Speaking with Al Jazeera in March 2022, Akunin said that, even before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin had been “very methodically killing all the branches of democracy” in Russia.

“We see what it has brought us to eventually: Russia, Ukraine, and now the whole world is seriously discussing the possibility of nuclear war in the 21st century,” he said. “This is all Putin’s doing.”

One of Russia’s best-known publishing houses, AST, announced last week that it would no longer print or sell works by Akunin or Dmitry Bykov, another author critical of the war in Ukraine.

The decision by AST followed the release of a prank call from the Russian prankster duo known as Vovan and Lexus, who spoke with the two authors posing as Ukrainian officials.

Bykov told the duo that while he was saddened by the killing of Russian soldiers in the conflict, this was not something he blamed on Ukrainian officials.

For his part, Akunin described Russia as a global threat and said that he was not bothered by Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian cities.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 663.

Ukraine’s Air Force said it destroyed 20 Russian drones and a missile – nine of them in the southern Odesa region. The falling debris started a fire in a residential home and killed one person. The air force said a second missile “did not reach its goal”. On Saturday, Ukraine said its air defence systems shot down 30 Russia-launched drones over 11 regions of the country

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defence systems destroyed or intercepted a total of 35 Ukraine-launched drones over its Lipetsk, Volgograd and Rostov regions in Russia. It did not say what was targeted or whether there was any damage. The Ukrainska Pravda media outlet later reported that the attack – reportedly a joint operation of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ukraine’s Armed Forces – was targeting the Morozovsk airfield in the Rostov region. Several Russian military bloggers said that one bomber at the base suffered minor damage.