Key developments on Dec. 9:
- Zelensky 'may consider' deployment of foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine to ensure ceasefire
- Ex-chief of Russian-run Olenivka prison allegedly killed in car bombing in occupied Donetsk
- Trump 'formulating a concept' to end Russia-Ukraine war
- Russia claims bodies of Il-76 crash victims given to Ukraine, Kyiv says examinations ongoing
- Russia’s defense spending surges to record levels, media reports
- Russian military suppliers exploit loophole to source US microchips
Ukraine "may consider" French President Emmanuel Macron's proposal to deploy foreign peacekeepers on its territory but only after getting a clear understanding of the NATO membership timeline, President Volodymyr Zelensky said after meeting German opposition leader Friedrich Merz on Dec. 9.
The president also said he plans to call U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss a NATO membership invitation for Ukraine.
"I'm telling you frankly: We can work on Emmanuel's (Macron) proposal. He proposed that troops of this or that country could be present on Ukrainian territory to guarantee security while Ukraine is not in NATO," Zelensky said following talks with Merz in Kyiv.
According to recent media reports, the U.K. and France are considering the deployment of peacekeepers to Ukraine following a possible ceasefire, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also not ruling out the possibility. Merz called Baerbock's statement irresponsible, saying that ending the war is currently the most pressing matter.
European troops overseeing a peaceful post-war situation in the country were reportedly included in a peace plan of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's team.
"But first, we must have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will be in the EU and NATO," Zelensky commented.
Ukrainian officials have stressed that NATO membership is the only path toward a just and lasting peace. While acknowledging that the country cannot become a full member amid the full-scale war, Kyiv asked the allies to at least extend an invitation now as a clear signal of support.
Martin Fornusek
Ex-chief of Russian-run Olenivka prison allegedly killed in car bombing in occupied Donetsk
A car exploded in Russian-occupied Donetsk on Dec. 9, seriously injuring two people inside, Russian state media reported.
The Russian Telegram channel Mash claimed that Serhii Yevsiukov, the former head of Russia's notorious Olenivka prisoner of war (POW) camp in the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast, was killed in the blast.
The claims could not be independently verified as there has been no official confirmation that Yevsiukov was killed in the bombing. Ukraine did not comment on the incident.
Yevsiukov was wanted by Ukraine on murder, torture, and war crime charges. The Olenivka camp, notorious for the torture and abuse of Ukrainian captives, was hit by an explosion in June 2022, killing over 50 Ukrainian POWs and injuring more than 150. Kyiv called this a deliberate Russian war crime.
Russian state news agencies reported that a Toyota SUV exploded in central Donetsk, seriously injuring two people inside the vehicle who were also family members. The man's leg was torn off by the blast, RIA Novosti reported, without revealing his identity.
The explosion occurred on the side of the driver, the state news agency TASS reported.
Martin Fornusek
Trump 'formulating a concept' to end Russia-Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin should seek an end to the war as he lost 700,000 people to hostilities, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said in comments for the New York Post published on Dec. 8.
"I’m formulating a concept of how to end that ridiculous war," Trump told the news outlet following his trip to Paris, where he met Zelensky for the first time since the former's reelection.
"He (Zelensky) wants to have a ceasefire... He wants to make peace. We didn’t talk about the details," Trump said in a phone interview.
Speaking about Putin, Trump said that "when you lose 700,000 people, it’s time. It’s not going to end until there’s peace." The U.S. president-elect previously said on Truth Social that Russia had lost 600,000 soldiers during the war in Ukraine.
Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan. 20, pledged to end the war within 24 hours following his reelection and bring both sides to the negotiating table. In a media interview published on Dec. 8, the president-elect said Kyiv could expect a possible reduction of U.S. assistance.
The contours of Trump's plan to end the war remain unclear, but suggestions circulating within his team entailed freezing the war along the current front lines and postponing Ukraine's NATO aspirations.
"(W)hen we talk about effective peace with Russia, we must first and foremost talk about effective guarantees for peace," Zelensky said on X after his talks with Trump.
Martin Fornusek
Russia claims bodies of Il-76 crash victims given to Ukraine, Kyiv says examinations ongoing
Russia has transferred the bodies of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) allegedly killed in a plane crash over Russia’s Belgorod Oblast in January, Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova claimed in an interview with state-run RIA Novosti published on Dec. 9.
A Russian Il-76 military cargo plane crashed in Russia's Belgorod Oblast on Jan. 24, with the cause of the incident unclear. Moscow alleged that 65 Ukrainian POWs were on board the plane during the fatal crash. Ukraine has not confirmed this claim and called for an international investigation, a proposal that Russia refused.
A spokesperson for Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs told the Kyiv Independent that Russia had handed over several bodies during the latest exchange, but the efforts to identify them are still underway.
"During the latest repatriation activities, the remains of the deceased were transferred to Ukraine from (Russia), but they require additional identification," spokesperson Petro Yatsenko said. Ukraine repatriated the bodies of 502 fallen soldiers in late November.
"As of now, specialized institutions are trying to establish whether the remains of these individuals really belong to Ukrainian service members within the framework of criminal proceedings," Yatsenko added.
Boldizsar Gyori
Russia’s defense spending surges to record levels, media reports
Russia’s spending on “national defense” reached an unprecedented $43 billion in the third quarter of 2024, The Moscow Times reported on Dec. 9.
From July to September, the Russian government spent an average of $3.29 billion per week, or $19.6 million per hour, on military maintenance and arms purchases, based on an exchange rate of 100 rubles per dollar.
Both open and classified defense expenditures soared. Publicly disclosed spending totaled $13.81 billion, up 71% from the previous quarter, while classified spending surged 131% to $29.47 billion.
This marks an 80% increase compared to the second quarter and a 53% year-on-year rise.
This single-quarter defense expenditure is nearly triple Russia’s annual higher education budget of $15.46 billion and about 15 times the yearly budgets of regions such as Irkutsk ($2.7 billion) or Novosibirsk ($3.33 billion).
Spending on military salaries, including substantial bonuses for contract workers, rose by 26% year-over-year to $6.14 billion.
Additionally, expenditures on “military cooperation with foreign countries,” potentially including Iranian drones and North Korean munitions, reached a record $1.73 billion in Q3.
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a federal budget on Dec. 1 with record defense spending over the next three years.
In 2025, military expenditures will reach 13.5 trillion rubles ($126 billion), or over 6% of GDP, exceeding combined spending on education, healthcare, social policy, and the economy.
While military spending is projected to decline slightly in 2026 and 2027, it will remain substantial at 12.8 trillion rubles ($114.9 billion) and 13.1 trillion rubles ($122.4 billion).
Tim Zadorozhnyy
Russian military suppliers exploit loophole to source US microchips
Russian suppliers to the military-industrial complex exploited a loophole to order microchips from Texas Instruments (TI) despite international sanctions, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 9.
Russian distributors allegedly integrated TI’s online store into their trading platforms, enabling customers in Russia to access semiconductor inventories and prices, and place orders.
These orders were reportedly fulfilled through intermediaries outside Russia.
Websites like getchips and altchips, blocked in the U.S. and Europe but accessible in Russia, were primarily used to facilitate these transactions.
The availability of TI products on these platforms mirrored data from TI’s proprietary application programming interface (API), suggesting Russian distributors accessed the company’s technical coordinates to process orders.
Between August 2023 and August 2024, a large Russian distributor reportedly processed over 4,000 orders for thousands of TI products worth nearly $6 million.
Around $4 million in orders were for Russian military firms. Goods were routed through Hong Kong and other intermediaries before reaching Russia, with distributors applying a 40% markup to cover shipping and payment costs.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
(Updated: )
