Russia rejects compromise on occupied Ukraine regions, Kremlin says

Russia will not accept any “compromise” regarding the occupied territories of Ukraine, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

Ryabkov stated that Moscow has not scaled back its demands and wants to retain control over five Ukrainian regions: Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Aside from annexed Crimea and almost all of the Luhansk region, Russia does not control the entirety of any of the other three areas of Ukraine. In Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, Moscow forces do not have control of the regional capitals either.

As the European leaders vowed to protect Ukraine against Russia in the future, including via military means, the Kremlin now also demands security guarantees for Moscow.

The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow will not accept it if “Kyiv signs peace agreements and then begins to sabotage them”. Ukraine has never committed an act of aggression against Russia.

Peskov also falsely claimed that a NATO representative had “arrived to Ukraine and infiltrated Ukrainian government,” “triggering" Russia’s war against Ukraine. NATO representatives are not members of the Ukrainian government or part of Ukrainian institutions.

The alliance forces also had not been in Ukraine before or since Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022.

The Kremlin also said on Tuesday that Russia is unlikely to participate in any possible Christmas truce.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested on Monday in Berlin that Russia could pause its attacks during the holidays, which could eventually lead to the opening of negotiations for a genuine truce.

Zelenskyy said that Kyiv supported the idea of a ceasefire, including strikes on energy infrastructure, during the Christmas period.

But Moscow rejected the idea with Peskov saying, “We want peace. We don’t want a truce to give Ukraine a breathing space and prepare for a continuation of the war.”

“We want to stop this war, achieve our goals, secure our interests,” the Kremlin spokesperson said.

Progress made on many issues, Zelenskyy says after Berlin

Following the Ukraine-US talks in Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said significant progress had been made following the first direct negotiations between him and US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Zelenskyy noted that US negotiators had “many meetings with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in Russia” before meeting with Kyiv’s officials.

“I always wanted this team to come to Ukraine, but I was prepared that if it did not work out for various reasons, we would be able to have a long conversation and try to understand each other.”

Zelenskyy said that Trump’s team “have heard” Ukraine and Kyiv’s positions, which they will now present to Russia.

“To be honest, I don't know how the aggressors will perceive this,” he added.

What will happen now?

From Berlin Zelenskyy went to the Netherlands on Tuesday, telling the parliament there that this is “the most intense and focused negotiations for peace” since early 2022.

"Americans want a quick conclusion. Quality within this speed is important to us. If speed and quality align, we fully support it," Zelenskyy said earlier, explaining that Kyiv will finalise its part of the documents “today or tomorrow".

“Then the United States will hold consultations with Russia in the coming days, followed by consultations with the US president,” Zelenskyy explained.

“After that, our negotiating teams will meet in the United States, perhaps even over the weekend. After this meeting, we’ll see what’s next and consider a leaders’ meeting, at least with the US president," he continued.

What if Moscow rejects the plan?

Moscow has repeatedly said its demands to Ukraine and any possible settlement remain the same.

The US-Ukraine talks in Berlin have been largely criticised and dismissed in Moscow. The Kremlin keep insisting that it won’t stop its war against Ukraine until the so-called “root causes” are addressed.

According to Moscow, the “root causes” include Ukraine's aspirations to join both the EU and NATO as well as NATO's alleged violation of commitments not to expand eastwards, the Ukrainian government's alleged discrimination against ethnic Russians and what Putin calls the "denazification" of Ukraine.

Putin and Russia have used these false arguments to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but failed to provide evidence for any of these allegations.

Moscow's demands incorporated in the initial 28-point draft included amnesty for Russian forces for all acts committed since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

According to all parties to the talks, the draft has been amended and now reflects the positions of Kyiv and Brussels.

Zelenskyy said on Monday that if Russia rejects the latest plan altogether, he believes the US will “increase sanctions and provide more weapons, specifically air defence systems and long-range weapons.

“I think this is a reasonable request. The logic is clear: if the Americans are ready to give Ukraine security guarantees and enforce strong measures if Putin violates them, then how is that different from asking for guarantees if Putin refuses to end the war?”

Russia has recently intensified its assaults on the ground and its aerial attacks, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

According to the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, at least 226 civilians were killed and 952 injured across Ukraine in November in Russian attacks,“ with the use by Russian armed forces of powerful long-range missiles and drones in densely populated urban areas "accounting for more than half of all civilian casualties.”

Overnight attacks frequently involve hundreds of drones and missiles.

“Millions of families now endure prolonged periods without electricity, heating and water, hardship that deepens as the days grow shorter and temperatures drop,” the UN mission stated.

According to the latest survey bythe Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), conducted from 26 November to 13 December, 63% of Ukrainians continue to say they are ready to endure the war as long as necessary.