‘Scariest thing for Russia is when we are together,’ Zelenskyy tells Poland’s Tusk
Jakub Krupa
And back to our last agenda item for today, Poland’s Tusk has just met with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Warsaw, with a few words for the press.
(They literally also saw each other in Brussels yesterday.)
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Polish prime minister Donald Tusk at the Chancellery of the prime minister in Warsaw, Poland. Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Welcoming his guest, Tusk repeated his earlier line that while he was satisfied with the EU deal agreed last night (13:14), “it could be better,” but added:
“Always something could be better, more efficient, but I am really satisfied (that) at least we delivered what we promised.”
Zelenskyy said in response that Russia was hoping to “cancel” the EU’s funding for Ukraine and “delay everything or even postpone meeting on this topic,” but Europe “showed leadership” as he welcomed the €90bn loan agreed last night.
Tusk also paid personal tribute to Zelenskyy, telling him that “your fight is our common fight,” and adding: “you are a hero not only in Ukraine, but here in Poland [we] also treat you as a hero.”
When Zelenskyy tried to play it down, Tusk added: “I know what I’m saying.”
In later comments in their own respective languages, Tusk repeated his comment from yesterday that Ukraine’s fight against Russia safeguards Poland’s independence which could otherwise come under threat if Russia was allowed to win the war.
Responding, Zelenskyy struck the same tone saying:
“The scariest thing for Russia is if we are together. Because they definitely cannot defeat the two of us.”
Updated at 10.56 EST
Key events
1d ago
Closing summary and best wishes for Christmas & New Year period
1d ago
US ‘made good progress’ in Ukraine talks, but ‘ways to go’ with ‘hardest issues’ discussed last, Rubio says
1d ago
Ukraine’s finance minister urges partners to keep working on reparations loan
1d ago
Ukrainian, American, European teams to hold fresh talks in US today
1d ago
‘Scariest thing for Russia is when we are together,’ Zelenskyy tells Poland’s Tusk
1d ago
Belgium’s de Wever greeted as hero by his cat on Instagram
1d ago
EU’s Ukraine loan may have been Plan B, but don’t underestimate its significance to the bloc
1d ago
Highly choreographed Putin’s presser repeats hardline tone on Ukraine
1d ago
Italy’s Meloni, Denmark’s Frederiksen welcome EU decision on Ukraine funds
1d ago
Poland’s Tusk says ‘not fully satisfied’ with Ukraine decision, but ‘better to have something’ than nothing
1d ago
Russia is not going to attack Europe, Putin says
1d ago
Zelenskyy welcomes EU decision on funding as ‘signal to Russians’
1d ago
Zelenskyy, Poland’s Nawrocki address media after Warsaw talks
1d ago
Zelenskyy meets Poland’s Nawrocki in Warsaw
1d ago
Putin says ball in west and Ukraine’s court to move on ending war
1d ago
Belgium’s de Wever hails ‘stable, legally robust’ solution on Ukraine funding as he shows frustration with pro-Russian accusations
1d ago
Putin calls EU reparations loan idea ‘robbery’ and warns about consequences
1d ago
EU summit secures money for Ukraine, but politically its outcome is more complicated – snap analysis
1d ago
Putin blames Ukraine for continuing war
1d ago
Russia’s Putin begins annual year-end news conference
1d ago
Hungary’s Orbán calls EU loan for Ukraine ‘extremely bad decision’ and ‘lost money’
1d ago
Ukraine loan turned out ‘exactly as I promised,’ Czech Republic’s Babiš says
1d ago
Spain’s Sánchez backs EU decision on loan as right politically, legally and morally
2d ago
Opening summary
Show key events only
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Closing summary and best wishes for Christmas & New Year periodJakub Krupa
… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!
EU leaders have pledged a €90bn loan for Ukraine to meet urgent financial needs, but failed to agree on the preferred option for many of securing that loan against Russia’s frozen assets in the bloc (10:46, 15:44).
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed the move, saying it sent “a signal to the Russians that there is no point in continuing the war” as Ukraine had the means to defend itself (13:03, 16:14).
Belgium’s prime minister Bart De Wever hailed “a stable, legally robust and financially credible” solution adopted by the EU leaders as a result of late-night compromise after his country repeatedly declined to back the preferred proposal for an assets-backed reparations loan (11:51) – getting praise from his cat (15:57).
Most EU leaders have welcomed the compromise solution and offered their cautious backing for the scheme, agreed at an all-night meeting in Brussels (8:44, 9:23, 11:20, 13:14, 13:30, 14:26)
Leaders of the three central European countries which, in a EU first, opted-out of the new mechanism have welcomed the fact they are not part of the new mechanism (9:28, 9:35).
Ukraine says it has attacked a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker with aerial drones 1,250 miles (2,000km) from its borders, in the first such strike in the Mediterranean Sea since Moscow’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.
Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin struck a familiar hardline tone on the war in Ukraine in his at times bizarre (13:50) end-of-year press conference.
Putin insisted that Russia was not a threat (13:08) and was open to a peace deal under certain maximalist conditions (12:13), and it was Ukraine and the west’s fault there isn’t one (10:21) – and their responsibility to move towards it (11:57, 15:03).
The Russian leader also said the EU’s original plan for using frozen Russian amounts would have amounted to a “robbery” as he repeated his warnings about a possible legal challenge (10:55).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
As I sign off for Christmas, please accept my best wishes for the Christmas and New Year period to all of you, wherever you read this blog from.
In the meantime, if you have any tips, comments or suggestions, or just want to send your Christmas wishes, you can email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Thank you for 2025, and see you in 2026!
The Guardian lens on 2025: how we covered a year of turmoil and hope – videoShare
Updated at 12.30 EST
US ‘made good progress’ in Ukraine talks, but ‘ways to go’ with ‘hardest issues’ discussed last, Rubio says
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has been answering questions from journalists in the last half hour, and he was asked about the latest on Ukraine.
He said the US administration invested “a tremendous amount of time and energy” in ending this war, and is “trying to figure out what can Ukraine live with and what can Russia live with.”
“[We want to] sort of identify what both sides positions are and see if we can sort of drive them towards each other to some agreement,” he said.
“A negotiated settlement requires two things, both sides to get something out of it, and both sides to give something. And we’re trying to figure out, what can Russia give and what do they expect to get? What can Ukraine give and what can Ukraine expect to get? In the end, the decision will be up to Ukraine, and up to Russia will not be up to the United States.”
He added that “this is not about imposing a deal on anybody,” but trying to find where interests can “overlap.”
“I think we’ve made progress, but we have ways to go, and obviously the hardest issues are always the last issues.”
Updated at 11.50 EST
Ukraine’s finance minister urges partners to keep working on reparations loan
Ukraine’s finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said on Friday that the European Union’s €90bn euros loan was in itself insufficient to fully cover the country’s financial needs, urging partners to continue work on a reparations loan, Reuters reported.
“The reparations loan is a systemic, long-term solution. It will ensure sustainable defense capabilities and protect Europe from future conflicts,” Marchenko was quoted by the finance ministry’s statement during his address to finance ministers from the G7 countries.
The risks to Europe from a potential defeat of Ukraine far exceed the risks of introducing the reparations mechanism.
ShareUkrainian, American, European teams to hold fresh talks in US today
Negotiators from Ukraine and its European allies will hold a new meeting with US officials in the United States on ending the Russian war, top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said.
“Today, in the United States, together with Lt Gen Andriy Gnatov, we will begin another round of consultations with the American side. At the invitation of the American side, European partners are also involved in this format,” Umerov said on social media.
Share‘Scariest thing for Russia is when we are together,’ Zelenskyy tells Poland’s TuskJakub Krupa
And back to our last agenda item for today, Poland’s Tusk has just met with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Warsaw, with a few words for the press.
(They literally also saw each other in Brussels yesterday.)
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Polish prime minister Donald Tusk at the Chancellery of the prime minister in Warsaw, Poland. Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Welcoming his guest, Tusk repeated his earlier line that while he was satisfied with the EU deal agreed last night (13:14), “it could be better,” but added:
“Always something could be better, more efficient, but I am really satisfied (that) at least we delivered what we promised.”
Zelenskyy said in response that Russia was hoping to “cancel” the EU’s funding for Ukraine and “delay everything or even postpone meeting on this topic,” but Europe “showed leadership” as he welcomed the €90bn loan agreed last night.
Tusk also paid personal tribute to Zelenskyy, telling him that “your fight is our common fight,” and adding: “you are a hero not only in Ukraine, but here in Poland [we] also treat you as a hero.”
When Zelenskyy tried to play it down, Tusk added: “I know what I’m saying.”
In later comments in their own respective languages, Tusk repeated his comment from yesterday that Ukraine’s fight against Russia safeguards Poland’s independence which could otherwise come under threat if Russia was allowed to win the war.
Responding, Zelenskyy struck the same tone saying:
“The scariest thing for Russia is if we are together. Because they definitely cannot defeat the two of us.”
Updated at 10.56 EST
Jakub Krupa
Look, I know that our Europe Live coverage can sometimes wander in mysterious directions, but I have to admit that I didn’t have
someone proposing during Putin’s live press conference (13:50) and
the Russian president discussing aliens (11:57) and
the feeling of being in love (15:03) as well as
De Wever’s ‘dacha in St Petersburg’ jibe (11:51) and
his cat’s public display of affection on Instagram
on my bingo card for today’s blog.
ShareBelgium’s de Wever greeted as hero by his cat on Instagram
Jennifer Rankin
in Brussels
Following the EU summit in Brussels where Belgium fought off a plan for a reparations loan, prime minister Bart De Wever is greeted as a hero by… his cat on Instagram.
Maximus is a popular Instagram account with tongue-in-cheek observations on life in the prime minister’s residence from the point of view of his cat.
The entry posted on Friday shows Maximus the cat congratulating the prime minister, telling him he is a hero.
Screengrab from Maximus’s Instagram account @maximustp16 Photograph: Maximus instagram
De Wever thanks the cat and says he did his best. The joke is that the cat is thinking that flattering De Wever will earn him more food and petting.
The post does not reference the EU summit or Ukraine. But it is not too hard to guess that De Wever is pretty pleased with the outcome. The posts are put up by his team and reflect his deadpan humour.
After the summit ended last night, he used cats as a metaphor to explain why he saw the agreement as a good one.
”Ukraine has its money. Maybe not the way they wanted it. Maybe not the way they were pushing for…. You should not complain about the colour of the cat. If it can catch a mouse, it is fine.”
ShareEU’s Ukraine loan may have been Plan B, but don’t underestimate its significance to the bloc
Jon Henley
Europe correspondent
The EU’s failure to agree a “reparations loan” to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets was a political blow to the bloc’s big beasts, but the last-gasp alternative it devised will do the job – and marks a potentially significant first.
European Council President Antonio Costa (C), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R) and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen (L) hold a joint press conference after EU Leaders Summit in Brussels, Belgium. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
After a marathon 16 hours of talks, EU leaders early on Friday agreed to fund Ukraine, which risked running out of money by next April, with a much-needed €90bn (£79bn) loan. But the solution they came up with was not the one most had wanted.
More than two months ago, the European Commission floated a plan to provide a loan to Kyiv secured against some of the €210bn of Russian central bank assets frozen in Europe, most of which are held at the Euroclear clearing house in Belgium.
It looked neat, it was – EU lawyers argued – legally watertight, and appealed for two main reasons: it involved no new common borrowing, and there was a certain moral satisfaction in seeing Russian money help Ukraine fight off Russian aggression.
There was an obstacle, however. The Belgian prime minister, Bart De Wever, argued that Moscow, which saw the plan as theft, would retaliate, and that courts in Russia-friendly jurisdictions, such as China, could order Belgian assets to be seized.
For weeks, De Wever held out, resisting heavy pressure in particular from the commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, and her compatriot Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, for whom the “reparations loan” was Plan A, with no Plan B.
The alternative – joint borrowing – may have appealed to some southern EU countries but was strongly opposed by Berlin and its frugal northern European allies, who did not fancy underwriting more debt for already overburdened fellow member states.
Up until the start of Thursday’s EU summit, leaders and diplomats were convinced De Wever – whose popularity has soared at home – would cave. Instead, he demanded unlimited cash support from every EU member in the event of any Russian claim.
That was too much. And so, backed principally by Italy’s Giorgia Meloni but also increasingly by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Plan B – using unallocated funds in the EU budget as collateral for a collective loan for Ukraine – won the day.
Objections that a eurobonds alternative required unanimity were overcome, in a historic and potentially far-reaching move, by securing the backing of Eurosceptic Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic in exchange for exemption.
The result was first and foremost hugely important for Ukraine, which will also get its much-needed cash sooner than under Plan A. It was a political loss for von der Leyen and Merz – although the German chancellor expressed delight with the deal.
They can go home and boast to their populist bases that the taxpayers of, respectively, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia will not be asked to stump up anything for Ukraine’s defence.
Friday’s deal once again laid bare the deep divisions that so often hobble the EU’s decision-making, and underlined how far it still has to go to create a fully united Europe that can can act effectively and decisively in a hostile world.
But the bloc did manage to pull together an agreement for an existentially important end. It may even, analysts suggested, have found a new path forward. This was a “huge deal for EU”, said Guntram Wolff, of the Bruegel economic thinktank.
“If you want to do EU foreign policy, you need EU resources and debt. The European Council delivered,” he said, adding that the summit also marked, significantly, the first time that a decision on new EU debt had been reached without unanimity.
ShareHighly choreographed Putin’s presser repeats hardline tone on Ukraine
Pjotr Sauer
Russian affairs reporter
Vladimir Putin’s annual end-of-year press conference has ended, with the Russian president announcing little that was new despite the event stretching on for more than four hours.
Russian president Vladimir Putin attends his annual end-of-year press conference and phone-in in Moscow, Russia. Photograph: Alexander Kazakov/Reuters
The carefully choreographed event, a fixture of Russia’s political calendar, allows journalists and hand-picked members of the public to put questions directly to the president, projecting an image of openness while the agenda remains tightly controlled.
Putin struck his familiar hardline tone on the war in Ukraine, reiterating the Kremlin’s determination to continue fighting until all of its conditions are met. He offered few details on what those conditions might be, instead referring back to a speech he delivered in June of 2024, in which he demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the entirety of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions – a non-starter for Kyiv and not a proposal currently under discussion with Washington.
As in recent months, Putin also used the appearance to court favour with Donald Trump, praising the US for a new security strategy that excludes Russia as a threat and agreeing with the US president’s decision to sue the BBC.
Domestically, the conference also serves as a pressure valve, with questions often touching on living standards and social benefits. But such concerns are typically reframed as temporary hardships on the road to victory.
A TV screen broadcasts Russian president Vladimir Putin’s annual end-of-year press conference and phone-in, in a cafe in Simferopol, Crimea, Russian-occupied Ukraine. Photograph: Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters
When one questioner asked why food prices – “even buns in the cafeteria” – were rising while their parents’ wages were not, Putin responded by insisting inflation was already easing. “Prices are not just slowing,” he said. “They have fallen – I don’t recall the exact figure, but by more than 10%, almost 16%.”
True to tradition, the call-in show was also used by Kremlin political technologists to present a more human side of the Russian leader.
Asked whether he was collecting material for future memoirs, Putin replied that he was not, adding that his faith lay “in God, who is with us and who will never abandon Russia”.
Moments later, when asked whether he was in love, Putin smiled and said that he was.
Updated at 09.09 EST
Ukraine says it has attacked a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker with aerial drones 1,250 miles (2,000km) from its borders, in the first such strike in the Mediterranean Sea since Moscow’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.
Friday’s strike off the coast of Libya, which reportedly caused critical damage, took place on the day of Vladimir Putin’s annual end of year press conference.
It came amid an escalating maritime conflict over the shadow fleet, a term used to describe vessels used by Russia, Iran and Venezuela to evade sanctions with deceptive practices.
The reportedly critical drone strike is the first in the Mediterranean since the full-scale invasion began as maritime conflict grows. Read more here:
Updated at 09.05 EST
Czech president Petr Pavel said on Friday it was important that European Union leaders found agreement on financial help for Ukraine as it fights against Russia, calling it essential for Ukraine’s survival.
Leader of ANO political movement Andrej Babiš, left, is sworn in as the country’s new prime minister by Czech Republic’s president Petr Pavel at the Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic. Photograph: Petr David Josek/AP
Pavel has urged the new Czech government led by prime minister Andrej Babiš to keep up support for Ukraine, although Babiš joined Slovakia and Hungary’s leaders on Friday in gaining an opt-out from the financial costs of the EU plan.
Updated at 09.05 EST
Jakub Krupa
I’m still keeping an eye on Putin’s presser, but nothing particularly important to tell you about.
Although there was this guy who proposed to his girlfriend as part of his question, so there is always that.
Journalist Kirill Bazhanov holding a placard reading “(I) want to get married!” attends Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow. Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 09.08 EST