Ukraine is willing to drop demands for NATO accession should the U.S. and Europe offer sufficient security guarantees in ongoing talks on a proposed peace deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was reported to say on Sunday. “We are talking about bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the United States — namely, Article 5-like guarantees … as well as security guarantees for us from our European partners and from other countries such as Canada, Japan and others,” Zelenskyy told journalists in a group chat, according to a report by the Financial Times. Ukraine and European leaders are working on a U.S.-drafted 20-point peace plan that includes territorial concessions to Russia. Zelenskyy has said that he hasn’t heard back from the White House on his proposed revisions to the plan. Zelenskyy’s comments come while German, British and French officials on Sunday are reportedly discussing the proposals to end the Ukraine war, ahead of a meeting on Monday that’s to include the leaders of those countries. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Zelenskyy, who will be received by Merz in Berlin on Monday.

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.

BRUSSELS — U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Wednesday slammed European NATO allies for prioritizing their own defense industry over American arms suppliers, according to three NATO diplomats. The intervention came during Wednesday’s meeting of NATO foreign ministers — which was skipped by Landau’s boss Marco Rubio. Landau, a longtime NATO skeptic who spoke first at the closed-door meeting, told ministers not to “bully” his country’s defense firms out of participating in Europe’s rearmament. He then left the room soon after for other meetings, the diplomats said, though they noted that ministers only staying for a short time was not unusual. A U.S. State Department official said: “Deputy Secretary Landau delivered two key messages. One is the is the need for Europe to turn its defense spending commitments into capabilities. The second is that protectionist and exclusionary policies that bully American companies out of the market undermines our collective defense.” The EU has moved to scale up its historically depleted defense industry amid growing warnings by countries like Germany that Russia could attack Europe by the end of the decade. Brussels has unveiled strategies in several legal proposals seeking to encourage local industry. Those efforts include the new €150 billion loans-for-arms SAFE program, but third countries like the U.S. can only supply a maximum of 35 percent of the value of weapons systems. Landau’s broadside is the latest in a long list of blows by the current U.S. administration to its historic partners, which includes pressuring the EU into accepting a humiliating trade deal to stave off tariffs. President Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed the bloc for treating the U.S. unfairly — while the EU has said Washington’s demands on trade were tantamount to blackmail.  Landau’s comments are likely to leave a bitter taste in some capitals, coming as several European countries like Germany and Poland announced millions in new cash for a NATO-backed scheme that pays U.S. defense firms to supply critical weapons to Ukraine. In total, Europe and Canada have pledged $4 billion to the scheme, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Wednesday. Trump has in the past questioned NATO’s security guarantees even if he has largely lauded the alliance’s efforts to ramp up defense spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035. Over the summer Landau posted a deleted social media comment stating, “NATO is still a solution in search of a problem.” Rubio’s absence marks the first time in more than two decades that Washington’s top diplomat hasn’t been present for a NATO ministerial meeting. “No one’s shocked by the U.S. line that Europe shouldn’t be protectionist,” said one NATO diplomat, while adding: “But what did you expect … tact or nuance from the U.S.?” NATO declined to comment. This article has been updated.

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.

BERLIN — Germany and France are expected to reach a political decision on the future of their troubled joint fighter jet project on Dec. 17, people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO. The date is emerging as the key moment to settle months of stalled negotiations over Europe’s effort to build a next-generation combat aircraft. The Future Combat Air System was launched in 2017 to replace the Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon in the 2040s. Conceived as Europe’s most ambitious defense initiative, FCAS combines a sixth-generation fighter jet with accompanying unmanned drones and a shared “combat cloud” designed to link aircraft and sensors across different countries.  But years of industrial disputes — particularly between France’s Dassault Aviation and Germany’s Airbus — have repeatedly held back progress. Spain is also a member of the consortium but its participation has been much less problematic. The target timing would allow Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron to take part in that day’s EU–Western Balkans summit in Brussels with an aligned stance on FCAS. A German chancellery spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. The French Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. While no final decision has been taken, officials and industry figures say the working expectation is that the program is likely to continue in a scaled-down or reconfigured form. France also walked out of the Eurofighter project, quitting over disputes about design authority and operational requirements, and instead developed the Rafale. | Daniel Karmann/Getty Images According to people familiar with the matter, one option is that the program would continue as an overarching framework for shared technologies like the combat cloud and sensors. The most disputed element, the fighter jet, could end up splitting into separate national airframes, meaning each country would build its own version of the aircraft instead of sharing a single design. France would rather operate a 15-ton warplane, which is light enough to land on aircraft carriers, while Germany is more inclined toward a 18-ton aircraft aimed at air superiority.  France also walked out of the Eurofighter project, quitting over disputes about design authority and operational requirements, and instead developed the Rafale. Officials said the outcome could still shift ahead of Dec. 17. But the date is now widely viewed inside government and industry as the moment of political clarity after months of gridlock over workshare and design leadership.  Following talks last week between Macron and Merz in Berlin, German air force leaders drafted a “decision roadmap” including a “mid-December” deadline to strike a deal, Reuters reported first.

Talks over British entry into a major EU defense program have been deadlocked for weeks over the question of money. Negotiators might just have found a way out. With a Sunday deadline looming, the two sides are exploring “alternative payment models” to bypass the row over the entry price for London to take part in joint procurements financed by the EU’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe loans-for-weapons program, according to an EU diplomat briefed on the negotiations. A U.K. official, also granted anonymity to speak about the ongoing talks, told POLITICO: “We are trying to find a solution” and “being flexible in our approach.” SAFE is meant to kick-start a European security renaissance, provide independence from the U.S. and give the continent the tools to defend itself against Russian aggression. The EU wants the U.K., with its large defense industry, in the tent. Britain wants in too — predicting benefits for its industry and its security. But so far, they’ve not been able to agree about cash. London has balked at the high price tag Brussels is demanding — ranging from €2 billion to €6.5 billion, but London is offering much less. While details on the alternative models being discussed are still sketchy, one idea is that the U.K. may be able to avoid the ‘sticker shock’ of a high upfront price by signing up to a more ‘pay as you go’ approach that depends on the ultimate level of U.K. participation. It might just be what’s needed to get an agreement over the line. Both sides want a deal by Sunday so that the U.K. is in the room before EU member countries submit their spending plans to the Commission on the same day. Under SAFE, outside countries can only account for a maximum of 35 percent of the value of a weapons system, but the U.K. is negotiating for a higher percentage. Canada is negotiating a similar agreement. A European Commission spokesperson said: “As a partner country, and in line with the SAFE regulation, the UK will contribute financially to take part in SAFE, in addition to an administrative fee. That contribution will reflect the benefits the UK gains from its participation.” A U.K. government spokesperson said the talks “are ongoing,” adding: “The UK is committed to a broad and constructive relationship with the EU, and we are working to implement the package agreed at the UK-EU summit in May.” ‘WE’RE IN THE CONCLUDING PHASE’ The Commission had previously suggested an earlier deadline last week to give member states time to adjust to possible U.K. membership, but London didn’t play ball. Two EU diplomats said the Commission had in recent days started sounding “more hopeful” in its briefings to ambassadors in Brussels, signalling a possible “shifting of gears.” London is hopeful, too. “We think we’re in a concluding phase, working towards Sunday deadline,” the U.K. official quoted above added. Still, the timeline could in theory flex further. One EU diplomat suggested member countries could always tweak their bids after the terms of U.K. participation become clear, even beyond Sunday. “It isn’t ideal,” but could still work, they added. However, the diplomats added that the Commission has consistently made clear in its messaging that SAFE could go ahead without the U.K. if there is no deal. But that outcome is one most in Brussels and London want to avoid. “It’s important for the narrative and future security cooperation — where do you go from here if working with U.K. on defense falls at the first hurdle?” one of the two EU diplomats added. Jacopo Barigazzi also contributed to this report. Update: This article has been updated to include responses from the European Commission and U.K. government.

The U.K. is following France and Germany in providing staff and equipment to help Belgium counter drone incursions around sensitive facilities, British Chief of the Defense Staff Richard Knighton told the BBC on Sunday. Belgium’s Defense Minister Theo Francken thanked “our British friends” for their decision to deploy an anti-drone team in Belgium, after similar moves by France and Germany were announced in recent days. Airports in Brussels and Liège were forced to suspend flights last week after unidentified drones were spotted in their airspace, and other drones overflew the port of Antwerp recently. Even Belgium’s military bases have been targeted. Incursions of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the EU’s critical infrastructure sites have escalated in recent months, with the European Commission dubbing them part of the hybrid war that Russia is conducting against the bloc. Russia denies the allegations. Belgium’s National Air Security Center will be fully operational by Jan. 1, 2026, Francken said after holding an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Belgian government asked for help from Berlin, Paris and London, which are all sending air force experts. Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the drone incursions are linked to the ongoing talks on using Russian frozen assets to help fund Ukraine’s effort to defend itself against Moscow’s all-out invasion. The assets are mostly held in Belgium’s Euroclear facility. “This is a measure aimed at spreading insecurity, at fearmongering in Belgium: Don’t you dare to touch the frozen assets. This cannot be interpreted any other way,” Pistorius said at a Friday press conference, Reuters reported. Belgium’s government did not explicitly point fingers at Moscow, but the country’s secret service has little doubt about the origin of the drones, according to VRT. Francken said on Saturday that “Russia is clearly a plausible suspect.”

Sergey Lavrov, the veteran Russian foreign minister, said he’s ready to hold an in-person meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio but insisted that Moscow’s interests need to be taken into account when discussing the war in Ukraine. “It is important to discuss the Ukrainian issue and promote the bilateral agenda,” Lavrov said in an interview with news agency Ria Novosti published on Sunday. “That is why we communicate by telephone and are ready to hold face-to-face meetings when necessary,” he added. The interview comes after the Kremlin on Friday dismissed media reports that Lavrov, a long-standing ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had fallen out of favor in the Kremlin because of a lack of results in discussions with Washington. In the interview, Lavrov said that the talks Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held in Alaska in the summer should remain the basis of a potential deal to end the aggression against Ukraine. “At the time, the Americans assured us they would be able to ensure that [Ukrainian President] Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not impede the peace process. Apparently, certain difficulties have arisen in this regard,” Lavrov said. Lavrov repeatedly attacked European leaders during the interview, arguing that “Brussels and London are trying to persuade Washington to abandon its intention to resolve the crisis through political and diplomatic means and fully engage in efforts to exert military pressure on Russia.” Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is continuing despite efforts by the Trump administration and others to encourage negotiations. Lavrov has not appeared in public since Oct. 28 as Washington scrapped a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest because he did not show a willingness to make concessions, according to a Financial Times report.

BERLIN — Friedrich Merz said the quiet part out loud back in May: Germany intends to build the Bundeswehr into “the strongest conventional army in Europe,” pledging to give it “all the financial resources it needs.” Five months later, the German chancellor aims to add the hardware to that ambition, according to new internal government documents seen by POLITICO.  The sprawling 39-page list lays out €377 billion in desired buys across land, air, sea, space and cyber. The document is a planning overview of arms purchases that will be spelled out in the German military’s 2026 budget, but many are longer-term purchases for which there is no clear time frame. Taken together, it’s a comprehensive roadmap for Germany’s long-overdue defense overhaul, anchored firmly in domestic industry. Politically, the timing tracks with Merz’s shift to a new financing model. Since the spring, Berlin has moved to carve out defense from Germany’s constitutional debt brake, allowing sustained multiyear spending beyond the nearly exhausted €100 billion special fund set up under former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s tenure. Items on the list will eventually appear, in smaller tranches, when they’re mature enough for a parliamentary budget committee vote. All procurements valued over €25 million need the committee’s sign-off. HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS The documents show that the Bundeswehr wants to launch about 320 new weapons and equipment projects over the next year’s budget cycle. Of those, 178 have a listed contractor. The rest remain “still open,” showing that much of the Bundeswehr’s modernization plan is still on the drawing board. German companies dominate the identifiable tenders with around 160 projects, worth about €182 billion, tied to domestic firms.  Rheinmetall is by far the biggest winner. The Düsseldorf-based group and its affiliated ventures appear in 53 separate planning lines worth more than €88 billion. Around €32 billion would flow directly to Rheinmetall, while another €56 billion is linked to subsidiaries and joint ventures, such as the Puma and Boxer fighting vehicle programs run with KNDS. The document foresees a total of 687 Pumas, including 662 combat versions and 25 driver-training vehicles, to be delivered by 2035. Rheinmetall is by far the biggest winner. | Hannibal Hanschke/EPA In air defense, the Bundeswehr aims to procure 561 Skyranger 30 short-range turret systems for counter-drone and short-range protection — a program fully under Rheinmetall’s lead. Along with that come grenades and rifle rounds in the millions. Diehl Defence emerges as the Bundeswehr’s second major industrial anchor after Rheinmetall. The Bavarian missile manufacturer appears in 21 procurement lines worth €17.3 billion. The largest share comes from the IRIS-T family, which is set to form the backbone of Germany’s future air defense architecture. According to the document, the Bundeswehr aims to buy 14 complete IRIS-T SLM systems valued at €3.18 billion, 396 IRIS-T SLM missiles for about €694 million and another 300 IRIS-T LFK short-range missiles worth €300 million. Together, these lines alone amount to around €4.2 billion — making IRIS-T one of the most significant single air defense programs in the Bundeswehr’s planning. Drones are also gaining ground on the military wish list.  On the higher end, the Bundeswehr wants to expand its armed Heron TP fleet operated with Israel’s IAI, aiming to buy new munitions for around €100 million. A dozen new LUNA NG tactical drones follow at about €1.6 billion. For the navy, four uMAWS maritime drones appear in the plan for an estimated €675 million, which will include replacement parts, training and maintenance. Several of the Bundeswehr’s most expensive new projects sit not on land, sea or in the air — but in orbit. The list includes more than €14 billion in satellite programs, calling for new geostationary communications satellites, upgraded ground control stations and, most ambitiously, a low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation worth €9.5 billion to ensure constant, jam-resistant connectivity for troops and command posts. The push aligns with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’ €35 billion plan to boost Germany’s “space security.” KEEPING THE CASH AT HOME One of the most politically charged plans on the Bundeswehr’s wish list is the potential top-up of 15 F-35 jets from Lockheed Martin, worth about €2.5 billion under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales system.  These would keep Germany’s nuclear-sharing role intact but also retain its reliance on American maintenance, software and mission-data access. It could also signal a further German convergence on American weaponry it cannot replace, just as political tensions deepen over the Franco-German-Spanish sixth-generation fighter jet, the Future Combat Air System. The same U.S. framework appears across other high-profile projects.  The Bundeswehr plans to buy 400 Tomahawk Block Vb cruise missiles for roughly €1.15 billion, along with three Lockheed Martin Typhon launchers valued at €220 million — a combination that would give Germany a 2,000-kilometer strike reach.  The navy’s interim maritime-patrol aircraft plan, worth €1.8 billion for four Boeing P-8A Poseidons, also sits within the foreign military sales pipeline. One of the most politically charged plans on the Bundeswehr’s wish list is the potential top-up of 15 F-35 jets from Lockheed Martin. | Kevin Carter/Getty Images All three tie Berlin’s future strike and surveillance capabilities to U.S. export and sustainment control. Together, about 25 foreign-linked projects worth roughly €14 billion appear clearly in the Bundeswehr’s internal planning — less than 5 percent of the total €377 billion in requested spending.  Yet they account for nearly all of Germany’s strategic, nuclear-related and long-range capabilities, from nuclear-certified aircraft to deep-strike and maritime surveillance systems. By contrast, nearly half of the list is anchored in German industry, spanning armored vehicles, sensors and ammunition lines. In financial terms, domestic firms dominate; politically, however, the few foreign systems define the country’s most sensitive military roles.

The EU is seeking to boost the bloc’s powers to board vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet for inspections, according to a document prepared for Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers and seen by POLITICO. The issue of ships transporting Russian oil sailing under different flags to escape EU sanctions has wide implications for the bloc as those vessels not only help to boost Moscow’s war economy but also “pose threats to the environment and to navigation safety,” according to the five-page document prepared by the European External Action Service, the EU diplomatic arm. The shadow fleet ships also are a risk for critical infrastructure and “can be used as platforms for hybrid attacks against EU territory,” the document states. The vessels are in some cases suspected to be launch pads for Russian drones used to reconnoiter critical Western sites and disrupt civilian airports. The EEAS this month initiated a discussion at the technical level on the basis of a draft declaration of the EU and its member states on reinforcing the International Law of the Sea framework, according to the EEAS document. That effort “would provide an additional tool to member states to boost the effectiveness of enforcement actions, including providing a basis to board shadow fleet ships,” the document says. The draft declaration proposes “possible bilateral agreements between the flag states and the EU on pre-authorized boardings for inspections,” the EEAS wrote in the document. The objective is to finalize the draft declaration by the end of November and to adopt it at the following meeting of EU foreign ministers. Once the declaration is be supported by member states, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas will “seek the authorization of the Council to open negotiations for bilateral agreements with identified flag states,” according to the document.    EU member states “increasingly demonstrate a renewed momentum for more robust enforcement actions tackling the shadow fleet,” according to the document, which makes the example of French soldiers that at the start of the month boarded an oil tanker, the Boracay, believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which was off the coast of Denmark when unidentified drones forced the temporary closure of several airports and also was anchored off western France for a few days. The EU “could support member states in their efforts if they agree to grant the EU the right to negotiate agreements on their behalf for pre-authorized boardings for inspections,” the document says.   The EU is already reaching out to priority flag states and coastal states that provide or enable logistical support and bunkering services to the shadow fleet and, among other actions, it also “aims to mobilize its various tools to provide support and incentives to flag states to deregister sanctioned vessels,” according to the EEAS document. Panama, the largest ship registry, “has agreed to deregister vessels sanctioned by the EU and recently decided to stop registering vessels older than 15 years,” the EEAS says in the document.   In terms of further sanctions, the EU “will continue to propose additional listings of vessels and shadow fleet ecosystem operators such as insurers and flag registries,” the document states, building on measures taken already in the current sanctions packages. And “possible additional measures could include targeting the provision of logistical support to shadow fleet vessels, such as oil bunkering,” the document says.