US envoys arrive in Berlin for latest round of Ukraine peace talks with Zelenskyy : NPR
In this capture from video provided by the Ukrainian President’s Press Service on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy records video on the road entering the city of Kupiansk, Ukraine.
AP/Press service of the President of Ukraine
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AP/Press service of the President of Ukraine
US envoys arrived in Berlin on Sunday morning for a new round of negotiations aimed at reaching a deal ending the war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were spotted in central Berlin by a photographer from the German news agency dpa.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian, US and European officials would hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days.
“Most importantly, I will meet with President Trump’s envoys, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, regarding the foundations of peace – a political agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in a speech to the nation Saturday evening.
Washington has been trying for months to meet each side’s demands as Trump insists on a quick end to the Russian war and grows increasingly exasperated by the delays. The search for possible compromises has faced major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is largely occupied by Russian forces, and security guarantees for Ukraine.
“The opportunity is huge right now, and it matters for every one of our cities, for every one of our Ukrainian communities,” Zelensky said. “We are working to ensure a dignified peace in Ukraine and to obtain a guarantee – a guarantee above all – that Russia will not return to Ukraine for a third invasion.”
Serious obstacles remain. Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control and abandon its bid for NATO membership among key conditions for peace – demands that kyiv has rejected.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuriy Ushakov, told the Kommersant business daily that Russian police and national guard troops would remain in parts of Donbass in eastern Ukraine even if they become a demilitarized zone under a possible peace plan – a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine as U.S.-led negotiations drag on.
Ushakov warned that finding a compromise could take a long time, pointing out that US proposals that took Russian demands into account had been “worsened” by changes proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
“We don’t know what changes they are making, but they are clearly not for the better,” Ushakov said, adding: “We will strongly insist on our considerations.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who led European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said on Saturday that “the decades of ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”
He warned that Putin’s goal was “a fundamental change of borders in Europe, the restoration of the former Soviet Union within its borders.” “If Ukraine falls, he will not stop,” Merz warned on Saturday at a party congress in Munich.
Putin has denied plans to restore the Soviet Union or attack European allies.
Russia and Ukraine exchange air attacks As peace efforts continued, Russia and Ukraine exchanged a new round of air attacks.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched ballistic missiles and 138 attack drones into Ukraine overnight. In its daily report, the air force said 110 people were intercepted or shot down, but missile and drone strikes were recorded at six locations.
Zelensky said Sunday that hundreds of thousands of families were still without power in the southern, eastern and northeastern regions and that work was continuing to restore electricity, heat and water to several areas after a large-scale attack the previous night.
The Ukrainian president said that over the past week, Russia launched more than 1,500 attack drones, almost 900 guided aerial bombs and 46 missiles of different types on Ukraine.
“Ukraine needs peace on decent conditions and we are ready to work as constructively as possible. These days will be filled with diplomacy. It is very important that this brings results,” Zelensky said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday.
In the Belgorod region, a drone injured a man and set his house on fire in the village of Yasnye Zori, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in Uryupinsk, Volgograd region, sparking a fire, according to regional governor Andrei Bocharov.
In the Krasnodar region, Ukrainian drones attacked the town of Afipsky, where there is an oil refinery. Authorities said the explosions shattered windows of residential buildings, but reported no damage to the refinery.
