Yet the EU wants Ukraine to keep fighting, approving on Dec. 19 a $105 billion loan to Ukraine, a mistaken fear for all of Europe’s safety, the core motivator. As Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk put it: "Now we have a simple choice: either money today or blood tomorrow. And I'm not talking about Ukraine only, I'm talking about Europe.”

Russia said it did not want to hold negotiations with “a megaphone” after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dropped Kyiv’s demand to join the NATO alliance, though Moscow also said the issue is a cornerstone of the peace negotiations ...

Nato should "double down" on Arctic security to defend the region from Russian aggression, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has told the BBC. On a visit to British forces in northern Norway, she said the alliance should establish a combined operation - known as Arctic Sentry - to defend the region, just as it does in the Baltic Sea.

Moscow’s forces continue to advance regardless of all attempts to stop them, General Valery Gerasimov has said