The Kremlin is setting clear conditions for rejecting both the Ukrainian-European peace plan and a number of key proposals from international mediators. Earlier, Moscow also rejected essential elements of the 28-point peace plan proposed by the United States, although it was largely favorable to Russian interests, News.bg reports.
In an interview with Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin on December 14, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that Russia's position was “absolutely clear“ and that Moscow would express “firm objections“ if Ukraine and European countries proposed changes to the peace framework. According to him, Russia will categorically not accept clauses concerning “territorial issues“, including discussion of a demilitarized buffer zone in Donbas.
These assessments were published by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that Russia insists on specific guarantees and mechanisms for implementing a possible peace agreement. According to him, Moscow is not interested in revising the already stated European position on the subject.
On December 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting in Berlin with American representatives to continue negotiations on ending Russian aggression against Ukraine. The talks were attended by US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, former senior adviser to the US President Jared Kushner, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The parties discussed a 20-point peace plan.
Witkoff said the dialogue would continue on December 15, and Ukrainian President Dmitry Lytvyn's communications adviser told Reuters that the meetings lasted more than five hours.
According to analysts, the Russian armed forces are likely to experience increasing difficulties in maintaining large-scale offensive operations on several fronts simultaneously due to long-term shortages of human resources and military equipment. In recent weeks, President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military leadership have stepped up their rhetoric about alleged advances along the front line, with the emphasis on the Vovchansk, Kupyansk, Siversk, Pokrovsk-Mirnograd and Gulyaipole directions.
As early as November 27, Putin hinted that Russian forces would quickly turn the offensive near Gulyaipole into a broader operational breakthrough towards Zaporizhia. However, analysts emphasize that to achieve tangible results, Russia will need to concentrate significantly more troops and equipment in each of these directions. The alternative is to limit offensive operations to one priority front, which would undermine the Kremlin's information efforts to present the situation as an imminent collapse of Ukrainian defenses along the entire line.
Ukrainian military observer Konstantin Mashovets noted on December 13 that the Russian Eastern Group, operating in the Aleksandrovka and Gulyaipole areas, would be forced to regroup or receive additional forces and resources from other operational directions in order to continue its offensive.
According to him, the possible start of large-scale fighting for the so-called Fortress Belt - Ukraine's main fortified defense line in the Donetsk region, built since 2014 - would further drain Russian resources. Offensives against the fortifications of the Fortress Belt, as well as against Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, would require the full commitment of troops and equipment from the Western, Southern, and Central Military Districts, which would limit the possibilities for actions in other directions, such as Velikiy Burluk or Orekhov.
Mashovets adds that Russia's deep structural problems - including economic difficulties during the war and limitations of the defense-industrial complex - further reduce its ability to conduct several major offensives simultaneously. As a result, Moscow will likely be forced to concentrate even more forces and lower the priority of other sections of the front if it wants to exploit the tactical advance near Gulyaipole or try to fully seize control of the Donetsk region.
It is precisely because of these limitations that the Kremlin continues to make territorial claims to the unoccupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson regions, as it currently lacks the military potential to seize them by force.
At the same time, Ukraine's long-range strike campaign continues to undermine Russia's oil refining capabilities and weaken the military potential of Russia and the occupied territories. On December 14, the General Staff of Ukraine reported a strike on the Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, which caused explosions and a large-scale fire.
Geo-tracked video footage released the same day showed serious fire on the territory of the facility. According to the Ukrainian military publication Militarny, the refinery has a processing capacity of 6.25 million tons of oil per year and produces gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum products.
The Ukrainian General Staff also reported strikes on the Uryupinsk oil refinery in the Volgograd region, where explosions and fires were also recorded. The governor of the region, Andrey Bocharov, said that the fire was caused by debris from drones.
On December 14, the Russian opposition publication „Astra“ reported that Ukrainian forces had probably also attacked the „Slavneft-YANOS“ refinery in Yaroslavl - one of the largest oil refineries in the country. „Militarny“ added that local Telegram channels had reported explosions in the area of the plant.
A day earlier, the governor of the Yaroslavl region, Mikhail Evraev, had issued a warning of a possible drone strike in unspecified parts of the region.
There was also information about a strike on the „Dorogobuzhskaya“ thermal power plant in the Smolensk region, which led to power outages. In parallel, Ukrainian forces have struck Russian military and energy infrastructure in the occupied territories. According to the General Staff of Ukraine, on December 14, two Russian PMM ferry-bridge complexes, as well as the Kasta-2E2 and 96L6E radar systems, were destroyed in the occupied Crimea.