LIVE – War in Ukraine: Zelensky “refuses to negotiate” with Putin, says Kremlin

Donald Trump said Ukraine should “probably” expect less aid from the United States when it returns to power, in an interview broadcast Sunday but recorded before his meeting Saturday in Paris with Volodymyr Zelensky. Find all of Donald Trump's statements about the conflict in Ukraine in the article below.

The Kremlin accuses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “refusing to negotiate” with Vladimir Putin for an end to the conflict in Ukraine, once again demanding that kyiv take into account “the realities on the ground”.

“It is the Ukrainian side that refused and still refuses to negotiate. Moreover, Zelensky by decree prohibited himself and his administration from any contact with the Russian leaders, and this position has not changed” , Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Volodymyr Zelensky announces on X a new human toll: 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the war. 370,000 were injured.

In a message published on X, Volodymyr Zelensky returns to his discussions with Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron this Saturday at the Élysée.

In particular, he recalls his desire for peace: “When we talk about effective peace with Russia, we must first and foremost talk about effective guarantees of peace.” According to the Ukrainian president, Russia suffered significant losses on the front: “more than 750,000 victims, including 198,000 killed and more than 550,000 wounded.”

But the end of the war must not come to the detriment of the Ukrainians, insists the Ukrainian president: “It cannot end with a simple piece of paper and a few signatures. A ceasefire without guarantees can be reestablished at at any time, as Putin has already done, so that Ukrainians do not suffer any more losses, we must guarantee the reliability of peace and not turn a blind eye to the occupation.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced this Sunday the capture of a new village in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine.

The village of Blahodatne, where the eastern and southern fronts meet, has been captured, the ministry said in a statement, confirming the gradual advance of Russian troops in recent months on the eastern front.

The US Department of Defense announces new military aid to Ukraine estimated at $988 million (around 934 million euros), as the Biden administration strives to accelerate its efforts towards kyiv before the arrival of Donald Trump at the White House on January 20.

The new aid includes drones, missiles for its Himars rocket launcher systems and increased assistance for critical equipment maintenance, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The day after his meeting in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump called on Sunday for an “immediate ceasefire” and negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine, he wrote on his platform TruthSocial.

“There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives have been lost in vain, too many families have been destroyed, and if this continues it could turn into something bigger, and much worse,” he wrote, asserting that Ukraine lost a “ridiculous” 400,000 troops and “many more civilians.”

Hello and welcome to this live, we will follow together the latest news on the war between Russia and Ukraine this Sunday, December 8.