Peace, fronts, financial issues What was decided in Berlin - and what was not
Europe wants to set up a protection force for Ukraine with US support - as part of possible peace guarantees. The most important points of the Berlin meeting at a glance.
16.12.2025, 02:40
16.12.2025, 09:04
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- In Berlin, European states and the USA discussed security guarantees and a possible protection force for Ukraine.
- They made progress on future assistance commitments, but remained divided on the issue of possible territorial cessions to Russia.
- The USA is now to coordinate the results with Moscow, while the EU will decide on how to deal with frozen Russian assets.
A final declaration from the Ukraine talks in Berlin states that a protection force led by Europe and supported by the USA should strengthen the Ukrainian armed forces and ensure the security of airspace and seas - including within Ukraine. The force is one of several commitments made by the participating states in the event of a peace agreement.
In addition to Chancellor Merz, representatives from France, Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden as well as EU Council President Costa and Commission President von der Leyen signed the agreement. The USA does not want to deploy ground troops, but emphasizes its commitment to surveillance and conflict prevention. Russia rejects the deployment.
The Europeans also assure Ukraine of "continued and substantial support" for its armed forces. The document concludes two days of negotiations in Berlin on the US peace plan - without Russian participation.
The most important questions and answers about the Berlin meeting at a glance:
What is the most important outcome?
Details of the content are not known. However, all sides involved publicly rated the negotiations as progress. This applies above all to the security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. "What the USA has put on the table here in Berlin in terms of legal and material guarantees is truly remarkable. This is very important progress," said Chancellor Merz, for example.
US President Trump said in Washington that they were now "closer" to a solution than before. He had held talks with the Europeans and Selenskyj. "It seems to be going well." At the same time, the US President qualified: "We have been saying this for a long time, and it is a difficult matter."
Zelenskyi seems to have come to terms with the fact that joining NATO is unrealistic. The issue now is how to achieve a guarantee of assistance from the NATO states that is similar to Article 5 of the NATO treaty. According to this, an attack on one state is treated as an attack on all states. However, it is still rather unclear what this could mean in detail.
Where has there been no progress?
On the most difficult issue of possible territorial cessions by Ukraine to the aggressor Russia. Selensky spoke of the "different positions" of the warring parties and expressed the hope that the USA, as mediator, could bring about a consensus. Although there are approaches to a solution, there is still no real movement in sight after the meeting in Berlin.
One of Russia's core demands for a ceasefire is that Ukraine also gives up those cities in the Donetsk region that are strategically important for the country's defense and that Russia has not yet been able to conquer. Zelenskyi rejected such gifts to the "aggressor state" and referred to the country's constitution, which does not permit such cessions of territory.
What happens now?
The USA will now feed back the results to Russia, which was not at the table in Berlin. When and how this will take place is still unclear. The high-ranking US official also mentioned a meeting with working groups and military personnel at the weekend "possibly" in Miami in the US state of Florida - but it remained unclear whether this would be a purely internal US meeting or whether other countries would also be involved.
What Russian reaction can be expected?
By late evening, there were no official reactions from Russia to the statements made by the Europeans and Americans on the talks with Selensky. However, the Kremlin had already stated before the start of the negotiations that "hardly anything good" could be expected from Ukraine's European allies in the negotiations and that previous proposals from the EU had already been unacceptable to Russia.
Russia has so far categorically rejected the deployment of troops from NATO states to monitor a ceasefire and warned that troops from the military alliance would be seen as a military target and destroyed. A referendum proposed by Selensky on the territorial cessions demanded by Russia, which the Europeans would support, also met with rejection in Moscow.
Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, presented it as Russian territory. Although Russia had already annexed the four regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, it still does not control them completely, and this annexation is not recognized internationally anyway.
What do the Europeans have to settle?
The Europeans still have the most difficult part of the week ahead of them. On Thursday, a decision is to be made on the use of the Russian state assets frozen in the EU, which amount to around 185 billion euros. A great deal is at stake here - for the EU, Ukraine and also for Merz personally.
The Chancellor has placed himself at the forefront of those in favor of such a move. For him, it is the first major test as a leader in Europe. He therefore increased the pressure once again on Monday and declared the decision to be a "key issue" for the EU: a "no" vote would "massively damage" Europe's ability to act for years to come.
For Ukraine, a no vote would mean that the support of its allies would gradually dry up. And US President Trump is no longer willing to spend money on the war anyway.
Putin will follow the decision closely. The Kremlin is warning of the far-reaching consequences of such "theft" and is threatening to take countermeasures. From the Russian point of view, this is also likely to shatter the chances of a ceasefire.
Is a ceasefire possible before Christmas?
Probably not. But Chancellor Merz called on Putin to at least lay down his arms over the holidays. "Perhaps the Russian leadership has a shred of human decency and will at least leave the population alone with this terror for a few days over Christmas."
