Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy on surprise visit to Germany

After an EU leaders' summit decided to start accession talks with Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and thanked him for his personal efforts and Germany for its leadership.

"Germany's support for Ukraine is growing by the day. We see it and will always remember it," Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

According to several DW sources, Scholz asked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was threatening to veto the decision on starting talks with Ukraine, to leave the meeting to allow the required unanimous vote of the other 26 EU leaders. 

Germany has delivered a second Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, plus missiles, in a boost to Kyiv's efforts to fend off increasing Russian air assaults, according to an updated German government inventory of arms supplied to Ukraine.

The inventory also lists nine more more Bandvagn tracked multi-purpose vehicles, 7,390 155-calibre artillery shells, three more mobile remote-controlled mine-clearing devices and eight tankers.

Germany has played a key role in helping bolster Ukrainian air defenses with German-made IRIS-T air-to-air missile systems and Gepard anti-aircraft tanks proving highly effective.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has thus far refused to supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles which could strike Russian targets such as command posts and logistics hubs far behind the front line. Ukraine deployed similar Storm Shadow missiles provided by the United Kingdom in a devastating strike on Sevastopol in Crimea in September.

European Council President Charles Michel said the European Union has agreed to open membership talks with Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed the move as a victory for the whole continent.

"This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens," Zelenskyy said on social media immediately after the announcement.

"I thank everyone who worked for this to happen and everyone who helped," he said in a subsequent tweet. "I congratulate every Ukrainian on this day."

The Ukrainian president also congratulated Maia Sandu, his counterpart in Moldova, which will also enter membership talks with the EU.

"History is made by those who don't get tired of fighting for freedom," Zelenskyy said.

After arriving unannounced in Frankfurt on Thursday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the United States Army Garrison in nearby Wiesbaden - the US Army headquarters in Europe.

This was confirmed by his spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov who said the purpose of the trip was "to visit the military base in Wiesbaden, from where the assistance from partners is coordinated."

Zelenskyy himself took to social media to post pictures of himself meeting US troops, and wrote: "I was once again convinced of the excellent quality of US military aid to Ukraine. We critically need it for the victory! We expect that the US Congress will soon adopt the crucial decision to continue such vital support for Ukraine."

The Ukrainian president visited the US with stops at the White House and Congress on Tuesday to make the case for additional US support.

On X, formerly Twitter, Ukraine's presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak posted simply a German flag and a flexed bicep emoji.

Local police in Frankfurt confirmed that the visit had concluded and that there would be further temporary road closures and other security measures while Zelenskyy departed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise visit to Germany on Thursday, according to local police, as Kyiv tries to ensure continued Western assistance for its fight against the Russian invasion.

"Zelenskyy has appointments in the Rhine-Main area" near the western city of Frankfurt, a police spokesman in the German financial capital told the news agency AFP.

He declined to provide further details about the meetings, but police said on X, formerly Twitter, that temporary road closures were in place, among other security measures.

Where exactly Zelenskyy was headed was initially unclear. However, local media report he was driven off in the direction of the nearby city of Wiesbaden, the regional state capital, close to the US Airbase at Erbenheim, the headquarters of US troops in Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said was hopeful that Moscow and Washington could find a solution regarding the detention of two high-profile Americans.

Putin was responding to a question from reporters during an end-of-year press conference and referred to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan.

"There are contacts on this issue and dialogue is ongoing, but it's not straightforward," Putin said.

"I hope we will find a solution. But the US side should also hear us and make a decision that will suit the Russian Federation," the Russian president added.

Gershkovich was arrested during a reporting trip at the end of March in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, thus becoming the first Western reporter to be held on spying charges in Russia since the Soviet era.

Former US marine Paul Whelan has been in a Russian jail since 2018, accused of espionage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that the goals of the so-called "military special operation" in Ukraine remain unchanged and that peace would be achieved once Russia had accomplished its goals.

"There will be peace when we achieve our goals. They are not changing. I will remind you what we talked about: the de-nazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, and its neutral status," he said during his press conference in Moscow.

Regarding battlefield strength and manpower, Putin said that around 617,000 troops were in the battlefields in Ukraine.

As of Wednesday evening a total of 486,000 soldiers had signed contracts with the Russian military, Putin said and added: "Why mobilization? There is no need."

Moscow declared there would be a partial mobilization in September 2022 involving 300,0000 reservists being called up.

Tens of thousands of convicts were also recruited from Russian penal colonies by the Wagner mercenary group.

Putin said that Russian forces were strengthening positions on nearly all fronts and also said Ukraine had lost some of its best fighters, while trying to secure a foothold on the east bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region.

"I think it is stupid and irresponsible on behalf of the political leadership of the country," Putin said. "It is a tragedy, I believe, for them."

Russian President Vladimir Putin will on Thursday hold a marathon end-of-year press conference, the first since his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin has made the televised addresses most years, but it was canceled for the first time in a decade last December, as Russia forces suffered a series of setbacks.

Nearly two years into his invasion of Ukraine, Putin may be sensing a shift in fortunes following Kyiv's battle to regain ground in its counteroffensive, and difficulty securing more financial support.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would "sum up the results of the year" in the session which was set to begin at 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT).

DW's correspondent in Kyiv, Nick Connolly, says the debate over funding for Ukraine was being followed closely and that the stakes were seen as high.

"If you look at the sums, Ukraine is facing a budget deficit of about €40 billion next year, so this is massive, this basically would cover that."  

"Right now, all the money that Ukraine is raising from its citizens through taxes, that is going to the front line, that is, going to the army.

"Basically, everything else, wages, pensions, basic infrastructure repairs, that is all coming from  outside."
Connolly pointed out that, at the beginning of the war, small amounts were being pledged on a reguar basis. Now, he said, large blocks of funding were announced less frequently. 

"Now 20 months in, it is a lot more systematized and so there's a lot more jeopardy because there are fewer announcements but they are bigger so every decision is followed with a lot of tredpidation here in Kyiv."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he hoped to reach an agreement soon with Republicans who are set against providing more US military aid to Ukraine.

"Negotiations continue today between Democrats, Republicans and the Biden administration," Schumer said, adding that "real progress" had been made in talks Tuesday afternoon.

"I hope we can reach an agreement soon to pass a supplemental through the Senate," Schumer said on the Senate floor, referring to the aid package.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said she was "encouraged" by the "progress" made in the negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Congress and the White House on Tuesday to make a bid for Republicans to accept a $61 billion (€56 billion) package presented by Democratic President Joe Biden to help Ukraine keep fighting the Russian invasion.

Russia is watching as US military support for Ukraine declines and Kyiv suffers setbacks on the battlefield, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov was speaking to Russian media after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy completed talks in Washington to secure more than $60 billion (€55 billion) in new military assistance, held up by disputes in Congress.

"The Kyiv regime promised them that if you give us $100 billion, we will have a victory on the battlefield," Peskov told the daily Izvestia.

"The Americans now understand that they were duped. There is no victory on the battlefield and, to be sure, Ukrainian forces are rapidly losing their positions," he added.

With substantial funding up in the air, Peskov referred to Biden's announcement of a $200 million aid allocation, saying it was "quite a modest sum in their thinking".

"This of course puts the Kyiv regime in difficulty and we are going to be following this situation," he said.

European Union leaders are heading into a high-stakes summit over Ukraine on Thursday, with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocking both the start of EU membership talks and €50 billion ($54 billion) in financial aid for Kyiv.

The summit comes at a crucial time in Ukraine's war against Russia's invasion, after a counteroffensive failed to make significant gains and with the Biden administration so far unable to secure a $60 billion aid package for Kyiv through Congress.

If EU leaders give the green light to membership talks and the four-year financial package, Kyiv will be able to claim a geopolitical victory. Failure to agree would likely be seen in Moscow as a sign ofwavering Western support for Ukraine.

All of the EU's 27 national leaders, with the exception of Orban, have backed the opening of membership talks. But such a decision requires unanimity, and the Hungarian leader, who has close ties to Moscow, has insisted that Ukraine is not ready for such a step.

A drone attack on Ukraine's southern Odesa region injured 11 people, including three children, emergency services said.

Writing on Facebook, the services said the attack had set ablaze a car and an industrial site. Eleven buildings sustained damage.

Five people were taken to hospital for treatment. There was no indication where the attack had taken place in the region.

Video posted on the emergency services Facebook site showed rescue teams climbing up ladders to the top stories of buildings and shifting rubble on the ground. One rescue worker was cradling a baby.

Ukraine's Odesa region is frequently targeted by Russian drones and rockets.

dh/wd (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)