Germany is sending soldiers to strengthen Poland’s eastern border with Belarus and Russia, multiple media reported on Saturday. Several dozen German soldiers will join Poland’s East Shield from April 2026, with the mission initially running until the end of 2027, Deutsche Welle reported, citing Berlin’s defense ministry. German troops will focus on engineering work, according to a ministry spokesperson quoted in the report. The spokesperson described this as building positions, digging trenches, laying barbed wire and constructing anti-tank obstacles. The East Shield is a €2.3 billion program announced by Warsaw last year to bolster security along its eastern border.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Germany this weekend to discuss a plan to end the war with Russia, according to multiple media reports. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also are expected to take part in the meeting, according to the reports. The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the planned meeting in Berlin. U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will also attend the Berlin meeting with Zelenskyy and the European leaders, Reuters reported. The meeting is to discuss the latest version of a 20-point peace plan brokered by the U.S. just days after Ukraine handed over its revised version to Washington, according to the reports. The plan proposes a demilitarized “free economic zone” in the Donbas region where American business interests could operate. A major sticking point in the negotiations is the fate of territory in eastern Ukraine, which Kyiv refuses to cede after Moscow’s occupation.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Im Kanzleramt herrscht Ausnahmezustand: Friedrich Merz sagt kurzfristig seine Norwegen-Reise ab und fliegt stattdessen nach Brüssel, um den entscheidenden Durchbruch bei den 165 Milliarden Euro eingefrorener russischer Vermögen zu erzwingen. Mit Bart De Wever und Ursula von der Leyen soll am Abend ein Deal vorbereitet werden, der Belgien endlich überzeugt und Europas Glaubwürdigkeit rettet. Der Druck ist enorm: Ohne Einigung vor dem EU-Gipfel am 18. Dezember droht nicht nur ein finanzielles Vakuum für die Ukraine, sondern eine historische Blamage der EU. Gleichzeitig wächst in europäischen Hauptstädten das Misstrauen gegenüber den USA. Ein vertrauliches Telefonat mit Wolodymyr Selenskyj, Merz, Emmanuel Macron und weiteren Staats- und Regierungschefs zeigt, wie groß die Sorge ist, dass Washington und Moskau hinter Europas Rücken über die Zukunft der Ukraine verhandeln könnten. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

Canada has reached a final agreement to join the EU’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe program, two EU diplomats told POLITICO, marking the first time a third country will formally participate in the bloc’s flagship joint procurement initiative. The breakthrough follows months of technically complex negotiations and was communicated directly to ministers taking part in Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council; Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius informed delegations that negotiations with Ottawa had concluded.  Canada’s accession to the loan-for-weapons SAFE scheme gives Ottawa access to jointly financed defense projects and allows Canadian companies to bid into EU-supported joint procurement projects. For Brussels, securing a G7 partner strengthens the credibility of SAFE as it seeks to coordinate long-term weapons demand and ramp up Europe’s defense industrial base. Under SAFE, third countries can account for a maximum of 35 percent of the value of a weapons system paid for by the scheme; Canada will be able to have a larger share but it will have to pay a fee “commensurate with the benefits the Partner Country and its entities are expected to derive,” factoring in GDP, industrial competitiveness and the depth of cooperation with European manufacturers. Other issues tackled in negotiations covered conditions on intellectual property control and limits on non-EU inputs for sensitive systems including drones, missile-defense assets and strategic enablers. Similar talks with the U.K. broke down on Friday. The timing aligns with a major SAFE milestone: Kubilius announced on X that all 19 participating EU countries had submitted their spending plans that will be financed by low interest SAFE loans. He added that 15 members included support for Ukraine in their plans, involving “billions, not millions” — something the Commission has been keen to encourage. This article has been updated.

BRUSSELS — The EU and the U.K. failed to reach a deal on allowing Britain to take part in the bloc’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe loans-for-weapons program, three diplomats told POLITICO today. The negotiations have been very difficult, with London and Brussels clashing on how much the U.K. would have to pay to take part in joint procurements financed by SAFE. The U.K was offering only millions of euros, while the EU slashed its initial request for London to pay between €4.5 billion and €6.5 billion to a lower €2 billion. Head of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space, Timo Pesonen, told EU ambassadors this morning that there’s no deal with the U.K., one of the diplomats said. The Commission is also negotiating a similar agreement with Canada. Pesonen said he will inform about the state of play of those talks this afternoon, but that there is more optimist that a deal can be reached with Ottawa.

KYIV — After a week of pressure on Ukraine to agree to the U.S.’s contentious proposal to end Russia’s war on the country, Washington and Kyiv said talks in Geneva generated an “updated and refined peace framework” for additional negotiations. The original 28-point plan from the Trump administration alarmed Ukraine and its European allies, as did the aggressive deadline set by the White House. Sunday’s discussions in Switzerland eased some of those concerns, but more work is needed, both sides said. “Much is changing,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement late Sunday. “It is important that we have dialogue with American representatives, and there are signals that President Trump’s team is hearing us,” he added. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also optimistic about the Geneva discussions and the prospects going forward. “I don’t want to declare victory or finality here. There’s still some work to be done,” Rubio told reporters after Sunday’s meeting. “But we are much further ahead today than we were when we began this morning and where we were a week ago for certain.” U.S. President Donald Trump, who once again Sunday decried what he called “zero gratitude” from Ukraine, was pleased with the progress made in Geneva, Rubio said. “The discussions showed meaningful progress toward aligning positions and identifying clear next steps,” Washington and Kyiv said in a joint statement, which noted that Ukraine “reaffirmed its gratitude” to the U.S. and Trump. “They reaffirmed that any future agreement must fully uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and deliver a sustainable and just peace.” European Council President António Costa on Sunday called a special meeting of EU leaders about Ukraine on the sidelines of an EU-Africa Summit that starts Monday in Angola.  Even though Trump’s team said the plan was developed with input from both Ukraine and Russia, Kyiv was shown the plan only once its initial framework was set. Trump also set a deadline of this Thursday for Ukraine to agree, threatening to cut off aid and intelligence to Kyiv. The EU was sidelined from the initial development of the peace plan, which featured Europe giving $100 billion of Russia’s frozen assets toward Ukraine’s restoration, with the territories most in need of restoration remaining under Russia’s de facto rule. The plan also foresees the U.S. getting 50 percent of profits from the reconstruction efforts. Neither side gave details of how the framework changed as a result of Sunday’s talks. “There were items that we were discussing as part of the original 28, or it evolved,” Rubio said, calling the plan “a living, breathing document.” “Every day with input it changes,” Rubio said. “You get a pretty good sense of what the priorities and the red lines and the important issues are for both sides.” WHAT’S NEXT Ukraine and the U.S. agreed to continue intensive work on proposals in the coming days, in close contact with their European partners as the process advances. “It is crucial that every joint action with our partners is throughly thought out,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “We are coordinating very well and I appreciate the advice and perspectives we are sharing,” he said. “The negotiations were a step forward, but there are still major issues which remain to be resolved,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a post on X on Monday, after talking with Zelenskyy. “Any decision falling in the remit of the EU or NATO will be discussed and decided by the EU and NATO members in a separate track,” Stubb added. Washington still wants to get the peace plan finalized as soon as possible, but is less firm about a Thanksgiving deadline. “Obviously, we’d love it to be Thursday,” Rubio said, adding: “Whether it’s Thursday, whether it’s Friday, whether it’s Wednesday, whether it’s Monday of the following week, we want it to be soon.” “Our goal is to end this war as soon as possible, but we need a little more time,” Rubio said. Work continues on technical levels, with the U.S. expecting a handful of answers and suggestions from Kyiv in the next 24 hours. “Diplomacy has been activated, and that’s good,” Zelenskyy said. “First priority is a lasting peace, guaranteed security, respect for all who gave up their lives to protect Ukraine from Russia,” he said, adding that Monday will be an active day for negotiators. “We are protecting Ukraine’s interests,” Zelenskyy said.

A U.S. framework aimed at ending the war in Ukraine would leave the country more vulnerable to Russian aggression in the long term if it imposes limits on Kyiv’s armed forces, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Sunday. In a statement following talks on the sidelines of a G20 summit of major economies in South Africa, von der Leyen laid out a series of red lines in response to proposals being put forward by President Donald Trump’s White House. The American blueprint suggests Ukraine should make territorial concessions to Moscow, halve the size of its military and give Washington a 50 percent cut on profits from reconstruction. “Any credible and sustainable peace plan should first and foremost stop the killing and end the war, while not sowing the seeds for a future conflict,” von der Leyen said in the statement. According to the Commission president, the EU has three key criteria for any peace deal: “First, borders cannot be changed by force. Second, as a sovereign nation there cannot be limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces that would leave the country vulnerable to future attack and thereby also undermining European security,” she said. “Third, the centrality of the European Union in securing peace for Ukraine must be fully reflected,” said von der Leyen. “Ukraine must have the freedom and sovereign right to choose its own destiny. They have chosen a European destiny.” Allies have held crisis talks during the summit in South Africa and EU leaders are due to hold further discussions on Monday during a joint visit to Angola. European Council President António Costa has welcomed U.S. efforts to end the war but warned the current proposal is merely “a basis which will require additional work.” European capitals and Ukraine say they were effectively cut out of the development of the 28-point plan, which critics say rewards Russian aggression and would leave the door open to future invasions. Trump, meanwhile, appears to have backed away from a Thursday deadline for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept the terms of the U.S. proposal, saying the deal is “not my final offer.”

BRUSSELS — Talks between the European Commission and the U.K. on taking part in the bloc’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe loans-for-weapons plan failed to meet Friday’s deadline, three diplomats told POLITICO. Commission wanted to wrap the talks by the end of this week to give member states time to adapt their national defense spending plans that use SAFE loans to take into account greater participation by the U.K. and Canada. The deadline for capitals to do so is Nov. 30. However, EU officials said that London is under the impression that there’s no sense of urgency. One U.K. official said they did not recognize a deadline as having been imposed Friday, adding that they believed there was more time to negotiate and they would do so in good faith. The Commission has slashed the amount of money it wants the U.K. to pay to take part in SAFE. The new ask is for €2 billion, a significant drop from the original demand of between €4.5 billion and €6.5 billion. However, it’s still much more than London is willing to pay to participate in joint procurements financed by SAFE, which some officials estimate in the tens of millions of euros. Canada is also negotiating access to SAFE procurements, and those talks are going much more smoothly, EU diplomats said. Ottawa is expected to pay a few hundred million euros to join SAFE; London’s offer of only tens of millions creates a mismatch as the U.K. has a larger defense industry that is more closely integrated with other European countries, meaning it stands to reap greater benefits from SAFE than Canada. Talks are now expected to move to a higher political level, possibly at the G20 in Johannesburg. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is there along with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Esther Webber contributed reporting from London. This article has been updated.

Ukraine has “no chance” of winning against Russia’s ongoing invasion, and the EU’s continued financial support for the country is “just crazy,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said. Orbán’s comments come as hopes fade for a ceasefire anytime soon and Europe scrambles to shore up Kyiv’s finances ahead of a budget cliff-edge next year. In an interview with the CEO of German media group Axel Springer, which owns POLITICO, Orbán said financial support for Ukraine “kills” the EU “economically, financially” and is “just crazy.” Hungary has previously blocked the prolongation of EU sanctions against Russia and financial support for Ukraine, and has lobbied for an exemption from U.S. oil sanctions on Moscow. “We have burned already €185 billion, and … our intention is to to burn even more. So we finance a country which has no chance to win the war,” Orbán said. PEACE TALKS Orbán accused EU leaders of intentionally prolonging the Ukraine conflict in hopes of a getting a better negotiating position for a peace deal. “They would like to continue the war,” Orbán said. “They think … that we have to continue the war to support Ukraine more” — a position the prime minister said is “wrong, totally wrong.” “The situation and the time is better for the Russians than for us. Don’t continue; stop it as soon as we can,” Orbán said. As for peace negotiations, Orbán said he expects “a deal between the Russians and the Americans on the war and on other issues, trade, world trade, energy and other issues.” He also said that the Europeans should “open an independent communication channel to Russia.” “Let the Americans negotiate with the Russians, and then the Europeans should also negotiate with the Russians and then see whether we can unify the position of the Americans and Europeans,” Orbán said. The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. moved last month to sanction Russian energy giants Lukoil and Rosneft, and canceled a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest. Hungary has claimed it secured an indefinite exemption from the U.S. sanctions on oil and gas imported from Russia, after Viktor Orbán met with Donald Trump at the White House earlier this month. | Celal Gunes/Getty Images Hungary has claimed it secured an indefinite exemption from the U.S. sanctions on oil and gas imported from Russia, after Orbán met with Trump at the White House earlier this month. But the U.S. administration says the exemption is just for one year. In the interview, Orbán said the agreed exemption will last as long as he is in office. A national election is expected in April next year. SECURITY GUARANTEES Europe should take an approach on Ukraine “based on the European interest,” Orbán said, adding that he is “not interested” in whether Moscow is winning or losing. Orbán said he is “interested in the future of the European people, among them, the future of the Hungarians,” and “a new security system.” A postwar security arrangement for Ukraine should involve “a peace arrangement which stabilize[s] the borders, whether internationally recognized or not,” and “definitely a kind of demilitarized zone,” Orbán said. Unless a “miracle” happens, Russia will continue occupying the eastern Ukrainian territory of Donetsk after the war, Orbán said. “This is the reality, whether you like it or not,” he stressed. But he poured cold water on fears of an emboldened Russia attacking another European or NATO country. “I think it’s ridiculous to say that the Russians will attack the European Union or NATO, simply because they are not strong enough. We are far stronger,” he said.

Ukraine will import gas from Greece to help secure its energy supply for the coming winter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. The Ukrainian leader said the deal “will be another gas supply route to secure imports for the winter as much as possible.” The agreement will “cover nearly €2 billion needed for gas imports to compensate for the losses in Ukrainian production caused by Russian strikes,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. Ukraine has also prepared a deal with France for “a significant strengthening of our combat aviation, air defense, and other defense capabilities,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader is in Athens Sunday to meet with Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. After visting France on Monday, Zelenskyy will travel to Spain on Tuesday. Spain is “another strong country that has joined the partners in the initiatives that really help us,” Zelenskyy said, although he did not mention a specific deal with Madrid. “Our top priorities today are air defense, systems and missiles for air defense,” Zelenskyy said in the statement. “Full financing will be secured” for the Greek deal from Ukranian government funds, funding from European banks with guarantees from the European Commission, Ukranian banks, with help from  “European partners” and Norway, the statement said. The country is also undertaking “active work” with partners in the U.S., it said. Ukraine is also working with Poland and Azerbaijan on energy supplies, and “we very much count on long-term contracts,” Zelenskyy said.