• EU leaders announced a multi-billion dollar funding plan for Ukraine’s economy and military for the next two years – with the package funded by borrowing cash, rather than tapping into frozen Russian assets held in the bloc. The deal, struck early Friday, offered a lifeline to Ukraine, which was rapidly running out of money.
• Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin hosted his end-of-year news conference where the Russian president signaled there’d be no compromise on Ukraine. He said the EU’s plan to funnel frozen Russian assets to Ukraine was “robbery.”
• Russia’s top economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev is expected to travel to Miami for a briefing on the results of peace talks between the US, Ukraine and Europe held in Berlin this week, a Russian source with knowledge of the trip told CNN.
Kyiv will be relieved that the European Union reached a deal early Friday to help fund Ukraine’s defense against Russia through 2027, according to a Ukrainian lawmaker and an economist.
“A financial disaster has been avoided. The decision is extremely important for Ukraine,” Danylo Hetmantsev, a member of Ukraine’s parliament and chair of its committee on finance, taxation and customs, told CNN.
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