Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Monday, December 16, 2024, discover the latest news around this conflict.
Trump wants to talk to Putin and Zelensky to stop the 'carnage'
US President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he wanted to talk to his Russian counterparts, Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to stop the “carnage” of the war in Ukraine, after the master of the Kremlin welcomed the advance of his troops on the front.
Donald Trump, who is due to take office in January, promised during his election campaign to end the war quickly, and has already called for a “immediate ceasefire” and talks, so much so that Europeans and Ukrainians fear that he could force kyiv into major concessions and grant a geopolitical victory to the Kremlin.
“We are going to talk to President Putin and we are going to talk to Zelensky and the representatives of Ukraine. We have to stop this, it’s carnage”Mr. Trump said Monday from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
“A large part of this territory, when you look at what happened… There are towns where there is not a building standing, it is a demolition site. So people cannot return to these towns, there is nothing left”, declared the future American president. Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that he is ready for discussions with Ukraine provided that they are based on “the realities on the ground”where Russian forces have had the advantage since the start of the year.
Russia is demanding in particular that Ukraine cede four regions that it partially occupies — those of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east and those of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south — in addition to Crimea annexed in 2014, and that kyiv renounces its ambition to join NATO. Volodymyr Zelensky has long been categorically opposed to any concession to Vladimir Putin, but has softened this position in recent months in the face of the difficulties of his army on the front and fears of a weakening of Western aid. In particular, he put forward the idea that Ukraine temporarily renounces recovering territories controlled by Russia, in exchange for security guarantees from NATO and new deliveries of Western arms.
This announcement from Donald Trump comes a few hours after the Russian president took stock of the year 2024 of the fighting in Ukraine, welcoming the pace of the advance of his troops and having “l’initiative” on the entire front at the end of this “pivotal year”.
Less numerous and less well armed, the Ukrainian forces have been losing ground for months, but at a pace that has accelerated since the fall. Russian soldiers are today notably at the gates of the strategic towns of Pokrovsk, Kupiansk and Kurakhové. “Russian troops have the strategic initiative across the entire line of contact,” assured Mr. Putin in a speech to the main executives of his Ministry of Defense.
He thus claimed the capture “of 189 localities” during 2024, a year marked in particular by the fall of the Ukrainian fortresses of Avdiïvka in February and Vougledar in October. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Beloussov told him that Russia had taken 4,500 km2 of Ukrainian territory this year, and was currently advancing “30 km2 per day”.
The Russian army again claimed Monday the conquest of a new locality, Yelyzavtivka, located about ten kilometers south of Kourakhové, an industrial town in the East which is home to a large lithium deposit.
In this context, Ukraine, which fears arriving at the negotiating table in a weak position, is trying to contain Russian troops and is demanding increased support from its Western allies. But the sustainability of this crucial assistance is not guaranteed, with the return to power of Donald Trump in January in the United States, which has until now been, along with the EU, the main donors of Ukraine.
Trump said Ukraine should expect “probably” less aid from Washington and said he was opposed to kyiv's use of Western missiles to strike Russia. The head of Polish diplomacy said Monday that it was Russia that should be “forced” to initiate peace negotiations and not kyiv, while Europe fears pressure from the future Trump administration for an agreement to the detriment of kyiv.
On Monday, the United States and its allies also denounced support “direct” from North Korea to Russia which represents “a dangerous enlargement” of the conflict in Ukraine. kyiv said on Monday that“at least 30 soldiers” North Koreans, fighting alongside the Russian army, were injured or killed Saturday and Sunday in the Russian region of Kursk, partially occupied by kyiv forces. According to Westerners, some 11,000 North Koreans are deployed on the Russian side.
Ukraine reports North Korean losses in Russian Kursk region
At least 30 North Korean soldiers fighting with Russia were killed or injured around several frontline villages in Russia's Kursk region over the weekend, Ukraine's military intelligence service said in a statement Monday. .
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Moscow had started to mobilize “a notable name” of North Korean troops to push back Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, where they launched an incursion last August.
This is the first time that kyiv has reported North Korean losses of this magnitude. Ukrainian military intelligence said the losses were recorded near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorojba and Martynovka. It was not possible to independently verify these figures.
Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops in its ranks. “Due to losses, the assault groups are replenished with reinforcements, in particular from the 94th Brigade of the Army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in order to continue combat operations in the Kursk region “, the Ukrainian agency said. Ukrainian and South Korean officials have previously said more than 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia.
