Ukraine at War Update for Dec. 10 – Zelensky Praises Trump’s ‘Resolve’, But...

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that he was grateful for US President-elect Donald Trump’s “strong resolve” to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine after he met with Trump in Paris last week. Still, he later added that there was little point in discussing Ukrainian matters with the once and future president until he held power in Washington.

AFP noted that French President Emmanuel Macron hosted three-way talks with Zelensky and Trump at the Elysée Palace on Saturday after the unveiling of the newly renovated Notre Dame Cathedral, but it wasn’t until Zelensky’s online remarks this week that the new foreign policy began to take shape.

“The most important thing is to work together on how to end this war. That is our top priority. During the meeting in Paris, this was exactly what we focused on,” Zelensky said in a post early Tuesday on social media platform X.

“I reiterate my gratitude to President Macron for organizing it, as well as my deep gratitude to President Trump for his strong resolve to bring this war to a fair end,” Zelensky added.

Zelensky will discuss a NATO invitation with US President Biden as President-elect Trump has no legal authority “at this point”

Zelensky said on Monday that he will call US President Joe Biden to discuss an invitation for Ukraine to join the NATO alliance.

“As for the NATO invitation, it’s still difficult to discuss it with President Trump at this point, because he is not yet in the White House and does not have the legal authority to make decisions,” Zelensky said about the incoming president-elect, who has called him a “beggar” and “the world’s greatest salesman” for his relentless pursuit of Western arms.

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“By the way, I am planning to call President Biden soon, if he is available, and raise the issue of the invitation to NATO,” Zelensky continued, “as his position is crucial given that he is the current US president. There is no point in discussing matters with President Trump that are beyond his control while he is not yet in the White House.”

State media outlet Ukrinform also reported that Zelensky “also thanked the US for its latest security assistance package to Ukraine.”

“This is significant support, and it means a lot to us,” Zelensky said. “We also discussed the possibility of a pause: a situation where Ukraine is not yet in NATO, or even if we receive an invitation.

“What would happen during that time? Who will guarantee our security?” Zelensky continued. “And I will be honest with you: We need to consider and work on Macron’s position. Do you remember his proposal about having troops from a certain country present in some Ukrainian territories to ensure our security while Ukraine is not in NATO? …

“We must have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will join the EU and when it will become part of NATO,” concluded Zelensky.

Russia continues to face “staggering war costs due to corruption and economy,” ISW says

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reported over the weekend that Russia has spent more than $200 billion on the war in Ukraine and suffered at least 700,000 casualties since February 2022, numbers nearly coinciding with Kyiv’s official figures, which assert that 745,000 Russian men have been either lost or injured since the beginning of the war.

With the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) reportedly losing a foothold in the east and southeast of the country they are defending against Moscow’s nearly three-year-old full-scale invasion, the Institute for the Study of War, (ISW), a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank, noted that Moscow is still struggling to keep its front lines steady as the Kremlin’s coffers have faltered.

The Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation reported on Monday that Russia’s liquid assets in its National Welfare Fund dropped from $140 billion in February 2022 to $53.8 billion by December 1, 2024, the ISW noted.

 The UCCD noted that Russia “increasingly relies on Chinese yuan reserves and gold sales to cover its budget deficit and is committing a third of its national budget for 2025-2027 to defense spending, indicating an unsustainable prioritization of the war at the expense of economic stability,” the ISW reported.

Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov claimed on Sunday that corruption crimes, including bribery, “increased by nearly 30 percent in 2024 over 2023, with Russian authorities having disciplined over 30,000 Russian officials for corruption violations in 2024.”

The uptick in economic pressures on Moscow stemming from the war, “paired with widespread corruption, labor shortages, and inefficiencies in Russia's DIB,” the ISW said, will likely “compound the cost of Russia’s war and further undermine its ability to effectively sustain DIB operations while maintaining economic stability.”

The ISW has previously stated that Russia’s economic trajectory is “unsustainable in the mid- to long-term” and will “increasingly strain its capacity to wage war against Ukraine.”