Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Szybiga responded to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's indignation at the EU's decision on Russian assets. He expressed his opinion on the social platform X.
The minister shared Orban's post, in which he complained about Brussels' policy.
"Bypassing Hungary and violating European law in broad daylight, Brussels is taking steps to seize frozen Russian assets - this is a declaration of war. Meanwhile, they are demanding an additional 135 billion euros from member states to fuel the conflict. Hungary will not participate in this strange Brussels scheme“, Orbán wrote.
"The most valuable frozen Russian asset in Europe“, Szibiga commented on Orbán's writing.
On December 12, European Union ambassadors adopted a decision to permanently freeze Russian assets located in Europe for an indefinite period.
The EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Maternova, said that due to the EU's decision on Friday, Russia will not be able to access the frozen assets of its Central Bank in Europe, even through the "back door“.
On the afternoon of December 14, the Russians attacked Zaporizhia with a series of air strikes, injuring 14 people, including a child, an emergency worker and a policeman, Ukrainskaya Pravda reports.
The first strike It happened around 11:00 Bulgarian time.
In one area of the city, the Russians damaged the facade of a chain store, and in another, cars caught fire as a result of the impact. Residential buildings were also hit.
A local rescuer and a police officer were injured as a result of a second strike shortly after they arrived on the scene to help contain the damage from the attack.
On the night of December 14, units of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine struck targets of Russian forces in the territories of the Donetsk region and Crimea, using FP-2 attack drones, Censor.NET reports.
As a result of the operation, a number of important logistical and military facilities of the Russian Federation were hit.
In Crimea, near the village of Yantarne, Ukrainian drones hit a Russian train carrying fuel and lubricants, which was in motion and heading towards units of the Russian army, TsN reports.
On the same day, an oil depot in the village of Bitumne was also hit.
In the Donetsk region, near Maryanovka, the Ukrainian SDF also destroyed the Russian electronic warfare station "Volna-2".
In addition, a training center for FPV drone operators was hit near Dokuchaevsk.
One of the main, if not the most important, points in the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the US, is the issue of Donbas.
The proposal to turn it into a "demilitarized zone" cannot be implemented, because Russia already has a ready-made plan on how to violate this condition. This is what political analyst and emeritus professor at the School of Slavic and East European Studies at the University of London, Mark Galeotti, writes in the pages of The Spectator.
He points out that now the Americans are trying to find an acceptable formula by which Russia can receive the rest of the Donbas. The Ukrainian leadership is concerned not only by the very fact of transferring this territory without a fight, but also by the threat that the Russian Federation will use it as a springboard for further offensives deep into Ukraine.
One of the potential solutions being discussed is the creation of a demilitarized zone: the Ukrainian army withdraws from the rest of the Donbas, but the Russian army does not enter. Public order in these cities will be guaranteed by the police. But this is not so clear, and the Americans do not seem to understand the main problem, the political analyst emphasizes.
Putin's aide, Yuri Ushakov, has already told reporters that Moscow has agreed not to deploy its troops in this demilitarized zone, and instead only the Russian police and the Russian National Guard will be there. It is this Russian National Guard that is the main problem, Galeotti writes.
The Russian National Guard is a separate law enforcement agency that reports directly to the Russian president. Unlike the Ukrainian National Guard, the Russian National Guard is not part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, although it has essentially the same functions - it is a paramilitary organization focused primarily on maintaining internal order and lawfulness in cases where the forces of the regular police are insufficient.
The Russian Guard has about 180,000 personnel. They are mainly heavily armed rapid reaction units known as SOBR, OMON and Internal Troops. The latter are closer in nature to a full-fledged army than to law enforcement agencies. For example, the 1st Separate Operational Division of the Internal Troops has its own tanks, armored vehicles and artillery.
Galeotti notes that the Russian Guard participated in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is now primarily responsible for repression in the occupied territories.
If these units enter Konstantinovka, Druzhkovka, Kramatorsk and Slavyansk under a peace agreement, they will terrorize the civilian population there, as they have done in the other occupied territories, the analyst argues. According to him, although formally the Russian Guard is a law enforcement agency, it is de facto an army. With all the risks involved.
“This is, in many ways, an example of how difficult the process of establishing peace in Ukraine is, and also an example of how illogical Trump's diplomacy is. Usually, big public statements are the result of months or years of hard work behind the scenes; now people are trying to turn general political statements into realistic plans. The idea of creating a demilitarized zone may have seemed like an elegant way to reconcile Putin's demands and Ukraine's interests, but everything is much more complicated“, the analyst summarizes.