Brussels/Kyiv/Moscow (dpa) – Top representatives of leading European NATO states want to speak to the Ukrainian President today Volodymyr Zelensky talk about further support options for his country. According to information from German press agency From alliance circles, the evening meeting organized by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will also discuss possible security guarantees in the event of a ceasefire Russia go.
In addition to Zelensky, the most recent people expected to attend the talks were Chancellors Olaf Scholz (SPD), the heads of state and government of FrancePoland and Italy and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. In addition, top representatives should be the European Union like EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to be there. There was no official confirmation of the date or the guest list until recently. Only a meeting between Rutte and Zelensky in the NATO Secretary General's Brussels residence was confirmed on Tuesday evening NATO confirmed.
Who could control a ceasefire?
According to dpa information, one topic in the talks could be a possible future ceasefire in the Ukraine could be monitored. One option is to station an international peacekeeping force in the country that is aspiring to join NATO and has been resisting the Russian war of aggression with Western help for almost three years.
The background to the considerations regarding security guarantees is the assumption that Donald Trump As US President could try to pressure Ukraine and Russia to negotiate. To do this, he could threaten to stop Ukraine's military aid if it refused. The Russian President Vladimir Putin He could threaten to increase military aid to Kiev again if the Kremlin chief refuses to negotiate.
New NATO-Ukraine command in Hesse begins work
Meanwhile, NATO announced the start of work for the new Ukraine command Wiesbaden a. It is called NSATU (NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine) and is intended to take over responsibility from US and international organizational units that were set up to support Ukraine shortly after the start of the war in February 2022, according to the top headquarters of the Allied Forces in Europe .
The establishment of the new NATO-Ukraine command was decided in the summer at the alliance summit in Washington. It will be responsible for coordinating arms deliveries and training activities for the Ukrainian armed forces.
Until recently, these tasks were primarily carried out by the US armed forces. At the end of 2022, they set up a unit of around 300 soldiers called the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine (SAG-U) at the European headquarters of the US armed forces in Wiesbaden. There are now supposed to be around 700 employees working for NATO, of which Germany provides around 40, including Major General Hartmut Renk, also the deputy commander. Renk explained on Tuesday that in addition to the tasks of the SAG-U, those of the international donor coordination center (IDCC) would also be taken over.
Russia will assassinate a general in the UN over the issue
Russia, which, according to Defense Minister Andrei Beloussov, must prepare for a direct confrontation with NATO and should be ready for this in the next ten years, is repeatedly warning of a further escalation in the war that the Kremlin itself started. The Russian troops received support from soldiers from North Korea, some of whom have already been killed, according to the US State Department. According to a senior military officer quoted by US media, casualties are believed to be in the hundreds.
Moscow also wants to raise the bombing of the prominent Russian general Igor Kirillov in Moscow this Friday (December 20) in the United Nations Security Council. “Those responsible for this crime must be deservedly punished and face the unequivocal condemnation of the entire international community,” said Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyansky. The UN meeting will focus on Western arms deliveries to Ukraine and their consequences for a peaceful solution to the war.
The Russian secret service SBU unofficially claimed the assassination attempt as its work. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also blames the West, which supports Ukraine in its defensive war, for the murder of Kirillov and an aide. The West has been helping Ukraine with its “criminal actions” for years, she said.
The explosion occurred on Tuesday morning when Kirillov was leaving his home and an explosive device planted in a parked electric scooter detonated. There have already been several bomb attacks against military personnel and propagandists in Russia.
Ukrainian soldiers are said to have spied for Russia
Meanwhile, a case of espionage is shaking Ukraine. On behalf of Russia, Russian soldiers are said to have spied out the movements of the F-16 fighter jet and other military secrets. Four army personnel were arrested in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office in Kiev said.
The main suspect is a soldier who is sympathetic to Russia. He recruited three comrades to collect information and told them he was working for Ukrainian secret services. The SBU secret service even spoke of a network of twelve people. Some of them had deserted from army service. There were no independent confirmations of the information.
Where the few US-made F-16 jets provided by Western countries are based and deployed is one of Ukraine's most important military secrets. Russia repeatedly hunts down the machines with missile attacks on air bases like Starokostiantyniv in western Ukraine.
