Weekend Briefing

Here's what you need to know to start your week

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Morning Headlines

AP News: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with European leaders in London on Monday, in a show of solidarity, after Trump accused him of not reading the latest peace proposal and as the Kremlin praised America’s new harder posture towards Europe.

Reuters: U.S. lawmakers on Sunday unveiled an annual defense policy bill authorizing a record $901 billion in national security spending next year, billions more than Trump's request, and provides $400 million in military assistance to Ukraine.

Bloomberg: A Russian liquefied natural gas export facility delivered its first shipment to China since being sanctioned by the US in January, the latest sign of increased energy cooperation between Beijing and Moscow (archive).

Reuters: At least seven people were injured when Russian drones struck an apartment block in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region, Governor Oleh Hryhorov said on Monday.

07.12.2025

Reuters: Meloni reaffirmed Italy's solidarity after what she called a fresh wave of "indiscriminate" Russian strikes on civilian targets and announced the dispatch of emergency supplies to support Ukraine's energy infrastructure and population.

Sky News: Trump's eldest son has said his father may walk away from the Ukraine peace process, claiming the issue is not a priority for Americans, and signalling Europe needs a better plan.

The Kyiv Independent: Amid an ongoing Russian offensive, Ukraine has liberated a village in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState and Ukraine's military reported.

The Guardian: Three more British MEPs from Nigel Farage’s bloc are alleged to have “followed the script” given to a colleague who was being bribed by an alleged Russian asset, according to prosecutors, as a police investigation into the affair continues.

Ukrinform: China is consolidating its position as Mongolia’s key economic partner, rapidly expanding purchases of Mongolian coal and financing new logistics routes that deepen Ulaanbaatar’s dependence on its southern neighbor while simultaneously reducing Russia’s role in regional trade.

The Kyiv Independent: 'Unidentified' drones struck Russia's Rostov and Saratov oblasts overnight on Dec. 7, with Ukrainian Telegram media channel Exilenova Plus reporting explosions near an airfield and oil depot in the city of Engels in Saratov Oblast.

AP News: A new Russian military unit that replaced the Wagner mercenary group is carrying out abuses including rapes and beheadings as it teams up with Mali‘s military to hunt down extremists, dozens of civilians who fled the fighting have told The Associated Press.

ISW: The Kremlin appears to be increasingly leaning on India to alleviate domestic labor shortages and is setting conditions for India to support drone production for Russia’s war effort.

Reuters: China and Russia held their third round of joint anti-missile drills on Russian territory in early December, China's defence ministry said late on Saturday.

The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces launched a large-scale overnight attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure on Dec. 7, targeting the central city of Kremenchuk and Chernihiv and Kyiv oblasts, killing at least one man, officials reported.

06.12.2025

CNN: Talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators over a proposed peace deal with Russia ended in Miami this weekend, with few new developments and lingering questions over security guarantees and territorial issues, according to Ukrainian officials.

Reuters: French President Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to London on Monday to meet Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy as well as the British and German leaders, to discuss the situation in Ukraine and ongoing negotiations under U.S. mediation.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian hackers launched a massive cyberattack on a Russian company responsible for shipping sanctioned goods and military components, wiping out 165 terabytes of critical data, Ukraine’s military intelligence said on Dec. 6.

France 24: Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine have targeted critical infrastructure, including energy sites and railways, triggering heating and water outages for thousands of households, Kyiv said on Saturday.

The Guardian: The Swedish navy encounters Russian submarines in the Baltic Sea on an “almost weekly” basis, its chief of operations has said, and is preparing for a further increase in the event of ceasefire or armistice in the Ukraine war.

Reuters: A protective shield at the Chornobyl nuclear plant in war-torn Ukraine, built to contain radioactive material from the 1986 disaster, can no longer perform its main safety function due to drone damage, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday, a strike Ukraine has attributed to Russia.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces scored another "successful hit" on Russia's Ryazan Oil Refinery overnight on Dec. 5-6, the General Staff has confirmed, marking the ninth such strike on the refinery this year.

ISW: Russian forces are attempting to completely deny Ukrainian tactical- and operational-level logistics to the Pokrovsk direction using drones to achieve effects of battlefield air interdiction.

05.12.2025

The Kyiv Independent: Russian troops reportedly shot dead a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier who had surrendered in the Siversk direction, Ukraine's military and the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Dec. 5.

Reporters Without Borders has joined the Media Freedom Rapid Response and several Ukrainian and international media organisations in opposing amnesty for crimes committed against journalists as part of a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

AP News: The deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Friday that the court’s investigation into the invasion of Ukraine cannot be halted by peace talks but could be deferred by the U.N. Security Council.

The Kyiv Independent: European leaders privately insisted they alone should control decisions over immobilized Russian assets during a recent call with President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to a transcript obtained by the Kyiv Independent, even as the U.S. reportedly lobbied European countries to block plans to lend the cash to Ukraine.

Reuters: The Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia's war in Ukraine.

Novaya-Europe: The UK government has said it is prepared to transfer £8 billion (€9.2 billion) worth of Russian assets that were frozen in the country in 2022 to Ukraine, The Times reported on Friday.

Politico: Russia's frozen state assets in the EU are better suited as a bargaining chip to achieve peace in Ukraine instead of financing a €165 billion reparations loan for Kyiv, according to the chief executive of Euroclear.

Reuters: Hungary's state-owned MVM group will be able to supply the country with enough gas even if imports from Russia are halted, although prices will likely rise, its chief executive told Reuters.

Reuters: Sweden will phase out development aid to five countries in coming years and use the money to increase support for Ukraine, the government said on Friday.

Reuters: The United States wants Europe to take over the majority of NATO's conventional defense capabilities, from intelligence to missiles, by 2027, Pentagon officials told diplomats in Washington this week, a tight deadline that struck some European officials as unrealistic.

Bloomberg: The US lobbied several countries in the European Union in an effort to block EU plans to use frozen Russian central bank assets to back a massive loan to Ukraine (archive).

Ukrainska Pravda: Russian troops have executed a Ukrainian prisoner of war in the settlement of Sviato-Pokrovske, the Bakhmut district, Donetsk Oblast.

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