Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy says Kyiv needs NATO for survival

On the eve of a visit to Beijing, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has criticized China's support for Russia's war against Ukraine.

"Instead of shouldering responsibility for peace and security in the world as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is going against our core European interests by providing economic and military aid to Russia,"' Baerbock said before leaving for a brief visit to China.

She stressed that Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine poses an immediate threat to peace.

"The fact that we cannot simply ignore this in our relations with China is something I will also be discussing in Beijing," the minister added. 

Baerbock will meet with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Monday. One of the main topics of her planned talks in Beijing is likely to be allegations that China is supporting Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine by supplying drones or drone parts. 

Russian forces in November suffered their heaviest losses since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two and a half years ago, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

According to the figures, 45,720 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded, including 2,030 soldiers in one day. The tally of alleged Russian losses in November also includes 307 tanks, 899 armored personnel carriers and 884 artillery systems destroyed or disabled. 

The total value of Russian military equipment destroyed last month is estimated by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry at more than $3 billion (€2.84 billion).

According to a list updated daily by the Ukrainian military, Russia's total losses since the start of the war amount to over 742,000 killed or wounded. These figures cannot be independently verified.

The White House is not considering returning to Ukraine nuclear weapons it gave up after the collapse of the Soviet Union, security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

Sullivan made his remarks when questioned about a New York Times article last month saying that unidentified Western officials had floated the idea that President Joe Biden could give Ukraine the weapons before he leaves office.

"That is not under consideration, no. What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not (giving them) nuclear capability," Sullivan told US broadcaster ABC.

Kyiv inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse but gave them up under the Budapest Memorandum, a 1994 agreement that gave Kyiv security assurances from Russia, the United States, and Britain in return for the weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said an invitation to join the NATO military alliance is needed for his country's survival as it struggles to defend itself from Russian forces.

"An invitation for Ukraine to join NATO is a necessary thing for our survival," Zelensky said after holding talks with new top EU leaders in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy told a news conference that any invitation to join the alliance must apply to all Ukraine's territory.

He said the country needed security guarantees from NATO and more weapons to defend itself before any talks with Russia.

"Only when we have all these items and we are strong, after that, we have to make the very important... agenda of meeting with one or another of the killers," Zelenskyy said.

However, he accepted that NATO's defense umbrella could not apply to the parts of Ukraine that are occupied with the war still ongoing.

He also said there was still time for the United States to convince "skeptics" in Europe that Ukraine should be invited to join NATO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved budget plans, raising military spending for 2025 to record levels as Moscow pursues its war in Ukraine.

Some 32.5% of the budget posted on a government website Sunday has been allocated for national defense. That amounts to 13.5 trillion rubles (over $145 billion, €137 billion) — up from a reported 28.3% this year. The sum is equivalent to more than 6% of Russia's GDP.

Russian lawmakers had already approved the plans in the past 10 days.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022 is Europe's biggest conflict since World War II and has drained the resources of both countries.

Earlier this year, Putin said Moscow was already spending close to 9% of its economy on defense and security — the highest level since the Cold War.

The figure also includes parts of the budget that are essentially security spending but which are not classified as "national defense."

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has warned of growing confrontation between Russia and NATO, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin no longer has any scruples. 

In an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper published on Sunday, Faeser said the Kremlin had become more aggressive toward NATO members like Germany since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"Since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, we have experienced a turning point in internal security," she told the newspaper. "Russia is waging a hybrid war in Europe. It is obvious that disinformation campaigns, acts of sabotage and cyberattacks are state-controlled." 

However, Faeser urged restraint and judiciousness, saying, "We must continue to act decisively, but at the same time prudently."

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has claimed that an attempted revolution is taking place in Georgia, adding this was reminiscent of developments seen previously in Ukraine.

Medvedev said on Telegram that Georgia was "moving rapidly along the Ukrainian path, into the dark abyss. Usually this sort of thing ends very badly."

"Of course not," Medvedev told journalists when questioned about whether the ruling Georgian Dream party would agree to hold a new vote as demanded by the country's president, opposition, and the European Parliament.

Georgian Dream claimed victory in the October elections that have since been contested over alleged interference from Russia. 

Medvedev appeared to be alluding to 2014, when forces loyal to pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich killed scores of demonstrators in Kyiv. That prompted a popular uprising — the Maidan revolution — which caused Yankovich to flee.

Moscow responded by sending undercover troops to seize the Crimea peninsula and began supporting separatist forces in the Donbas region.

On Saturday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that unspecified "foreign entities" wished to see the "Ukrainization" of Georgia with a "Maidan-style scenario." 

Two of the European Union's top officials marked their first day in the post with a visit to the Ukrainian capital.

European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas arrived in the city with a strong message of support for Ukraine.

The trip comes as doubts deepen over an expected withdrawal of support from Kyiv by a new US administration led by Donald Trump.

"From day one of the war, the EU has stood by the side of Ukraine," Costa posted on X, alongside a photo of himself, Kallas and EU enlargement chief Marta Kos.

"From day one of our mandate, we are reaffirming our unwavering support to the Ukrainian people."

The pair replace former European Council president Charles Michel and the bloc's previous top diplomat Josep Borrell.

They are the bloc's top officials along with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, and are set to hold talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Their visit comes as Russia unleashes devastating barrages against Ukraine's power grid and with Kyiv's fatigued forces losing ground to Moscow's frontline offensive.

"The situation in Ukraine is very, very grave," Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, said. "But it's clear that it comes at a very high cost for Russia as well."

Officials in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson say three people died when a Russian drone struck a minibus on Sunday morning.

Kherson regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said seven others were wounded in the attack.

"The enemy struck another blow at civilians by dropping an explosive device on a minibus," Prokudin said.

"Russian military forces attacked educational institutions; and residential areas of settlements in the region, in particular, they damaged 11 private houses. The occupiers also damaged a gas pipeline, warehouses and garages, a bus, and private cars."

While Russian forces withdrew from Kherson city in late 2022, they have regularly attacked the regional capital with artillery and drones from the other side of the Dnipro River.

Ukrainian officials say four people were killed and at least 24 wounded in a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk.

Regional governor Serhiy Lysak announced the rise in the number of injured on Sunday. He said that, of the injured, 18 were hospitalized with seven of them in critical condition. 

The strike on Saturday hit the village of Tsarychanka, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the regional capital, Dnipro.

"Ordinary civilian buildings were damaged — a residential building and a shop," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address, adding that a rescue operation was underway. 

rc/wmr (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)