These are important developments since day 1,379 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Published December 4, 2025
Here’s what happened on Thursday, December 4th.
finding
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian troops have captured the village of Cherbon in Zaporizhzhya region in southeastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said it attacked a Russian oil depot in the Tambov region and another oil depot in the Oryol region on Tuesday. It added that the attack caused a fire at the scene. A Ukrainian GUR military source also confirmed to Reuters that the missile struck the Druzhba oil pipeline in central Russia’s Tambov region, which also supplies Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
peace negotiations
US President Donald Trump said the path forward for peace with Ukraine is uncertain after a “pretty good” meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump aide Jared Kushner spent hours in the Kremlin but departed without seeing any progress towards ending the war. President Trump said that Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner briefed him on the meeting, and that they told him that his impression of President Putin was that he “wanted to make a deal.” But Trump added that he “doesn’t know” what will come out of the meeting “because it takes two people to tango.” He added that the U.S. government is already “coordinating pretty well with (Ukraine).” Asked if it was correct to say that Putin had rejected the US government’s proposal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disagreed. “Yesterday, for the first time, a direct exchange of views took place,” Peskov said. “Some have been accepted, others have been marked as unacceptable. This is a normal working process to find compromises.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed that his team was preparing for talks in the United States and that dialogue with President Trump’s envoy would continue. “A dignified peace is possible only by taking Ukraine’s interests into account,” he said. An anonymous White House official confirmed to Reuters that Witkoff and Kushner will meet with Ukrainian officials in Miami on Thursday.
united nations
Ninety-one countries in the United Nations General Assembly, including the United States, are backing a resolution calling on Russia to “ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly removed or expelled” from Ukraine since Russia began the war in 2022. Russia and 11 other countries voted against the resolution, which was drafted by Ukraine, Canada and the European Union, and 57 countries abstained. Prior to the vote, Russia called on all countries to oppose the resolution. “Each vote on the resolution is support for lies, war and conflict. A vote against is a vote for peace,” said Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Maria Zaborodskaya.
Ukraine situation
Ukraine’s parliament has approved a budget for 2026 that allocates nearly one-third of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to national defense. The vote, which came amid a political crisis in Ukraine following recent corruption scandals, was seen as a litmus test for parliament to pass key decisions at a critical stage in the war. “This is an important signal of Ukraine’s resilience and ensuring a stable financial supply for next year’s demands,” Zelensky said. “The priorities are clear: ensuring our country’s defense, social planning, and ability to rebuild our lives after a Russian attack.”
sanctions and military aid
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has proposed an unprecedented use of frozen Russian assets and international borrowing to raise 90 billion euros ($105 billion) for Ukraine. Chair Ursula von der Leyen said the commission “proposes to cover two-thirds of Ukraine’s financial needs for the next two years, amounting to 90 billion euros.” “The rest will be covered by international partners,” he added. However, Belgium, whose Brussels-based financial institution Euroclear is the main holder of Russian assets, has raised various legal concerns. Von der Leyen said the proposal took into account Belgium’s concerns, but the Brussels government did not “share that assessment” and “it is unacceptable to be asked to bear the risks of such an operation alone,” a senior official told Reuters. The EU also agreed to phase out Russian gas imports by the end of 2027, as part of the EU’s efforts to end decades of dependence on Russian energy. Under the agreement, the EU will permanently halt imports of Russian gas and move toward phasing out Russian oil. Liquefied natural gas imports will be phased out by the end of 2026, and pipeline gas imports will be phased out by the end of September 2027. Both Hungary and Slovakia are considering legal options to challenge the order. Both EU countries remain heavily dependent on gas and oil supplies from Moscow and fear more expensive alternatives will damage their economies. More than two-thirds of NATO members have so far committed to providing $4 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine through the Ukraine Priority Request List (PURL), an effort to supply Kiev with weapons purchased from the United States, according to the alliance’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Outside of NATO, Australia and New Zealand have also agreed to contribute to the PURL initiative, Rutte said.
defense of europe
Germany has become the first European country to deploy the Arrow air defense system, built to intercept intermediate-range ballistic missiles such as Russia’s Oreshnik. The system was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in cooperation with the US Missile Defense Agency and will be used as an upper layer of Israeli missile defense. “Who could have imagined that just 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the Jewish state would be defending not only Germany but all of Europe through the technology it developed,” said Ron Prosser, Israel’s ambassador to Germany. Romania’s military has blasted a maritime drone it identified as a Ukrainian-developed Sea Baby, saying it was endangering navigation in the Black Sea. However, Ukraine’s SBU Security Service said that all Sea Baby maritime drones that were engaged in operational missions in the Black Sea region had been captured and none had entered Romanian waters. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the attacks on Russian-linked tankers in the Black Sea in recent days “very frightening.” Ukraine has claimed some of these attacks. Fidan said the attack threatens regional security and shows the scope of the war is expanding. He added that strikes within Turkiye’s exclusive economic zone violate safety of navigation and affect trade, and said Turkiye, Romania and Bulgaria were considering measures to strengthen security.
