NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned Russia will come for the rest of Europe if its warmongering is not checked now, just moments before Ukraine’s allies gathered to discuss US President Donald Trump’s peace push.

“We need to be crystal clear about the threat,” the military alliance leader said in a speech in Berlin on Thursday. “We are Russia’s next target. And we are already in harm’s way.”

Rutte painted a stark picture of what’s at stake for the Continent as Moscow continues to press its maximalist demands for territory and NATO restrictions in return for a vague promise to end its full-scale invasion, currently heading into its fourth winter.

“Russia has brought war back to Europe,” Rutte said. “And we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.”

Rutte’s remarks come as Europe frets over what the Trump administration may do in its ongoing talks with Russia over the war. Trump is pressuring Kyiv to make concessions that many in Europe feel will leave not just Ukraine, but the entire continent, exposed to future Russian aggression.

The prospect has sent European officials into a flurry of activity. On Thursday night, leaders from more than 30 countries that are part of the so-called coalition of the willing held their second virtual meeting this week.

“We are working to ensure that the security guarantees include serious components of European deterrence and are reliable, and it is important that the United States is with us and supports these efforts,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after the meeting.

He also said he had held a “constructive and in-depth discussion” on a document on security guarantees with American officials earlier that day, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Ukrainian allies were discussing the latest draft of a peace plan after the leaders of Germany, France and the UK spoke with Trump on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was “relatively optimistic” about progress into the weekend as the sides sought a consensus over terms.

“Above all, it’s about the territorial concessions that Ukraine is ready to make – but that’s a question that the Ukrainian president and the Ukrainian people must answer,” Merz said in Berlin after meeting with Rutte. “We made that clear to President [Donald] Trump.”

Zelensky said his team was working over the draft of the 20-point peace framework daily. Ukrainian negotiators sent a revised plan to Washington late on Wednesday. The draft wasn’t the final version, he said.

“This plan is constantly being revised and edited. It is an ongoing process that continues now,” Zelensky said.

Trump would send a representative to talks in Europe on Ukraine this weekend if there was a real chance of signing a peace agreement, the White House said early on Friday (AEDT).

“The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war, and he is sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

But she added that it was “still up in the air whether we believe real peace can be achieved”.

Trump this week also stepped up pressure on the Ukrainian leader to accept his peace plan.

Zelensky said negotiators were wrestling with the question of territorial possession. He has maintained his position that Ukraine won’t consider surrendering territory to the Kremlin and floated the prospect of allowing Ukrainians to vote on whether to hand land to the Russians.

[GUSNOTE: THE LAND IN QUESTION USED TO BE RUSSIAN AND IS MOSTLY POPULATED BY RUSSIANS...]

“The Russians want the whole of Donbas – we don’t accept that,” he told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday, referring to Ukraine’s eastern regions. “I believe that the Ukrainian people will answer this question. Whether in the form of elections or a referendum, the Ukrainian people must have a say.”

American negotiators have put forward the possibility of a “free economic zone” in the Donbas, with the Russians terming it a “demilitarised zone”, Zelensky said.

Russian officials have not publicly disclosed their proposals.

Trump this week also reinforced his call for Zelensky to organise presidential elections.

Wartime elections are forbidden by law in Ukraine and Zelensky, whose term expired last year, said on Thursday that a vote would require a ceasefire.

“There must be a ceasefire – at least for the duration of the election process and voting. This is what needs to be discussed. Frankly speaking, here in Ukraine, we believe that America should talk to the Russian side about this,” he told the coalition of the willing meeting.

Meanwhile, the warring parties continued to carry out aerial strikes. Ukrainian forces hit the Filanovsky offshore platform in the Caspian Sea, owned by Lukoil, according to a person familiar with the attack. The platform suffered at least four strikes, halting its operations, the person said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on its Telegram channel that air defences downed 287 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 40 in the Moscow region. Russian aviation authorities imposed temporary restrictions on flights at Moscow’s Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports, the state-run Tass news service reported on Thursday.

In Ukraine, energy infrastructure in the central city of Kremenchuk and in the Black Sea port of Odesa in the south came under attacks overnight, according to local governors.

Ukraine’s military said on Thursday that its forces remained in control of the eastern frontline city of Siversk, dismissing a statement by Russian commanders that its troops had seized it.

The European Union in the meantime is close to reaching an agreement on Friday to extend the bloc’s freeze on Russian assets using emergency powers – a key step towards tapping the funds to help Ukraine.

The issue has become a major sticking point in EU attempts to secure a €90 billion ($159 billion) loan for Ukraine using immobilised Russian central bank assets. All 27 EU member states currently must renew the asset freeze every six months, leading to concerns that Hungary or anyone else could veto and give Moscow a sudden claim to its funds.

This is happening against the backdrop of unprecedented tensions with the US, with Washington’s new national security strategy blasting Europe and Trump calling the continent “weak”.

Rutte said US views of its allies has been sullied by “this big irritant of the Europeans and Canadian allies not spending as much as the Americans” within NATO.

“That is now dealt with,” he added, saying the shift to Europe doing “more of the heavy lifting” was under way.

Bloomberg, Reuters, AP

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/we-are-russia-s-next-target-nato-chief-warns-europe-to-be-prepared-for-war-20251212-p5nn1o.html

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