Category World News

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, demanded that Washington put more pressure on Moscow to end its conflict with Ukraine, two negotiators from Russia and the United States met in Miami.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, US President Steve Witkoff’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were in attendance for the Saturday meeting.

Dmitriev assured the reporters that the talks would continue on Sunday.

According to Dmitriev, “the discussions are going in a constructive way.” They “started earlier,” “they’re going to continue today,” “they’ll continue tomorrow.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously stated that he might also participate in the Miami discussions. He claimed that although the war has been ended, there still is still work to be done.

Rubio said, “The role we’re trying to play is to see if there is any overlap here that they can agree to, and we’ve spent a lot of time and effort]on.” It’s possible that’s not possible. I’m hoping so. I’m hoping it’s finished this month, before the year’s end.

A 20-point peace plan has been being negotiated by Trump’s envoys with Ukrainian, Russian, and European officials for weeks.

Despite US officials’ claims that progress has been made, Kyiv claims that any agreement must depend on two important issues: security guarantees and territory.

Russia has shown little evidence that it is willing to give up its expansive territorial rights in Ukraine, which it believes are well-suited to secure as the conflict progresses and political divisions break out among Ukraine’s allies.

Zelenskyy in Kyiv stated that while he is still in favor of a US-led negotiation process, greater pressure must also be placed on Russia.

Putin does not yet feel the kind of pressure that should exist, he said, “but America must clearly say, if not diplomacy, then there will be full pressure.”

The US has also suggested a new format for discussions with Russia, which would involve three-way discussions with US national security advisers from Ukraine, Russia, and the US, according to the Ukrainian leader.

Zelenskyy questioned whether the discussions would lead to “anything new,” but said he would support trilateral discussions if they led to progress in a meeting of national leaders or prisoner swaps.

I cannot be opposed to a meeting that could be held right now to allow for the swapping of prisoners of war or if a meeting of national security advisers comes to an agreement on a leaders’ meeting. A US proposal like this would be welcomed by us. Let’s see how things turn out, he said.

In Istanbul in July, the last official direct exchange between the Ukrainian and Russian envoys took place, and this was followed by little else but prisoner swaps.

Putin praised Moscow’s successes on the battlefield in an annual news conference on Friday, promising to continue with his military offensive in Ukraine.

However, Zelenskyy objected to Putin’s suggestion that Russia might halt its devastating strikes on Ukraine and allow it to conduct presidential elections.

In addition, 30 people were hurt in the Black Sea Odesa region of Ukraine as a result of a quick Russian ballistic missile strike on port infrastructure that resulted in eight fatalities.

According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, a civilian bus was struck in the attack.

In recent weeks, Russian attacks on the coast region have caused havoc,  causing bridge damage and freezing temperatures for hundreds of thousands of people.

Moscow had previously stated that it would launch additional strikes on Ukrainian ports as retaliation for its sanctions-busting oil tankers.

The security service SBU reported on Saturday that Ukraine claimed to have destroyed two Russian fighter jets at a Russian-occupied airfield in Crimea. The Caspian Sea patrol ship and a Russian oil rig were struck by Kyiv’s army, according to the country’s army.

Putin referred to Russia’s initial, full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” to “demilitarise” the nation and stop NATO from growing.

The war, which is the largest and most deadly on European soil since World War II, is an unprovoked and illegal land grab, according to Kyiv and its European allies.

On Sunday, December 21, 2018, this is how things are going.

Fighting

According to Ukrainian authorities, at least 30 people were hurt in a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s port city of Odesa, up from seven to eight.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, accused Russia of trying to encroach on Kyiv’s territory by calling the situation in Odesa “harsh.”
• In response to the Russian attacks on Odesa, the Ukrainian leader added that he is considering replacing Dmytro Karpenko as the Southern Air Command’s head.
• Russian forces attacked the nearby port of Pivdennyi on Saturday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba, hitting several reservoirs.
• On Friday, the Ukrainian military reported that its special forces attacked a Lukoil oil rig and the Okhotnik, a Russian military patrol ship, with drones in the Caspian Sea. The Filanovsky oil rig, which had been targeted twice this month, was also damaged, according to the military.
• Svitle and Vysoke, which are located in the eastern Donetsk region and the northeastern Luhansk region, were taken over by Russia’s Ministry of Defense.

Talks of diplomacy and a ceasefire

• According to Zelenskyy, the US suggested a new format for discussions with Russia that would involve three-way discussions with US national security advisers from Ukraine, Russia, and the US.
• The Ukrainian leader said he thought the talks would produce “anything new,” but that he thought the US-led discussions had the best chance of succeeding.
• He added that if trilateral discussions enabled progress in areas like prisoner swaps or a meeting of national leaders, he would support them. I cannot be opposed to a meeting that could be held right now to allow for the swapping of prisoners of war or if a meeting of national security advisers comes to an agreement on a leaders’ meeting. A US proposal like this would be welcomed by us. Let’s see how things turn out, he said.
• Zelenskyy also retaliated against Ukraine holding elections as the conflict drags on, claiming that Russian-occupied areas cannot host elections and that security conditions must first be improved before voting can take place. Zelenskyy asserted that “it is not Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, who decides when and how the elections will be held in Ukraine.”
• Zelenskyy urged European leaders to approve a plan to seize frozen Russian assets and use them to fund Ukraine’s war effort, claiming that doing so would increase Ukraine’s leverage at the table of negotiations. According to the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine will need about 137 billion euros ($161 billion) in 2026 and 2027 as the country’s economy struggles as a result of the conflict’s continued demands.
• In Miami, Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev and his US counterpart Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son of US President Donald Trump, spoke.
• “The discussions are going in a positive way. They started earlier and will continue both today and tomorrow,” Dmitriev said.
• More than 50 countries took part in a summit held in Cairo, which was attended by the Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose goal was to strengthen cooperation between Russia and African countries. In terms of security and national sovereignty, Lavrov marketed Russia as a “reliable partner” for African nations.

Weapons

• Oleksandr Kamyshin, the president of Ukraine, announced a deal with Portugal to jointly produce maritime drones, saying it would “defend Europe from the sea.”

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According to officials cited by international news organizations, the United States has seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast in international waters.

The incident occurs on Saturday, just days after US President Donald Trump announced a blockade of all Venezuelan oil tankers.

The US has seized a tanker close to Venezuela twice in recent weeks, and this is in response to President Donald Trump’s continued mounting military repression against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Under the condition of anonymity, three officials, who spoke to the Reuters news agency, did not specify the location of the operation but added that the Coast Guard was in charge.

The operations were confirmed by two officials who spoke to The Associated Press. According to one official, the tanker stopped voluntarily and allowed US forces to board it as a “consented boarding” as a result.

Heide Zhou-Castro, a journalist from Washington, claimed that the US government had not provided any official confirmation of the operation.

She said, “We are still waiting for confirmation from the White House and the Pentagon regarding the details, including which ship, where it was located, and whether or not this ship was subject to US sanctions.”

Exports have fallen sharply.

There has been a successful embargo in place since US forces last week seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuelan coast. Millions of barrels of oil have been loaded with loaded vessels that have instead been flown into Venezuelan waters without risk of being seize.

Venezuelan crude exports have fallen significantly since the first seizure.

While many vessels carrying Venezuelan oil are subject to sanctions, others from Iran and Russia are not, and some companies, particularly US’ Chevron, transport Venezuelan oil on their own vetted vessels.

According to analysts, China is the biggest importer of Venezuelan crude, which accounts for about 4% of its imports. In December, shipments are projected to average more than 600,000 barrels per day, according to analysts.

The oil market is currently well-supplied, and millions of barrels of it are waiting to be reloaded on Chinese tankers off the coast.

Oil prices are likely to rise if the embargo is lifted for a while as a result of the loss of nearly a million barrels of crude oil per day.

More than 200 military strikes on ships in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela have resulted in at least 100 fatalities as part of Trump’s pressure campaign against Maduro.

Trump has also stated that US land attacks on South America will soon begin.

According to Maduro, the US military expansion is intended to overthrow him and take control of the OPEC nation’s oil resources, which are the largest crude reserves in the world.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned Trump against a “humanitarian catastrophe” if Venezuela were to be “armed.”

Lula reiterated his opposition to US actions toward Venezuela at a summit of the South American Mercosur bloc, stating that it would set off a “dangerous precedent for the world.”