Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his country “does not see readiness on the part of Ukraine” negotiate a peace agreementagain accusing the country he ordered a full-scale invasion almost four years ago of continuing a war he refuses to even acknowledge is a war.
Putin has said he is willing to negotiate a negotiated end to what he calls a “special military operation” but only on his own terms, insisting, as he has for years, that Ukraine must agree to massive formal confiscation of occupied territories and some degree of national demilitarization – both conditions Kyiv has rejected.
The Russian president said his forces had “completely seized the strategic initiative” in the conflict and would occupy even more territory along the roughly 600-mile front line in eastern Ukraine by the end of the year.
“Our troops are advancing along the entire line of contact, faster in some areas, slower in others, but the enemy is retreating in all directions,” Putin said during a lively, wide-ranging news conference at the end of the year that became the hallmark of his tenure.
Alexander NEMENOV/AFP/Getty
His remarks came as Ukraine announced a dramatic new blow to Russia and as divisions among European countries over how to continue to support Kyiv, fueled by many believed by Moscow's pressure tactics, were exposed.
Most recently, Putin blamed the war on both Kyiv and its supporters in Europe. The Russian ambassador is ready to meet again for talks with Trump administration officials in Florida this weekend. The White House is pushing hard for a negotiated settlement to the conflict, which President Trump vowed to quickly end when he took office.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Monday. called The proposals being discussed with the US are “very workable”, suggesting they could be finalized within days, allowing US officials to discuss them with their Russian counterparts.
Ukraine announced a drone strike on a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker in the Mediterranean Sea
Ukraine defended itself with the support of the US and its European partners, and as Putin spoke in Moscow, Kyiv announced a major expansion of its wartime resistance, for the first time allegedly attacking an oil tanker said to be part of Russia's sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” in the Mediterranean.
Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said in a statement Friday that it “for the first time struck a tanker belonging to the Russian 'shadow fleet' in the neutral waters of the Mediterranean Sea,” calling it “an unprecedented special operation at a distance of more than 2,000 km.” [1,200 miles] from the territory of our state.”
The SBU said it used aerial drones to disable the Oman-flagged oil tanker Qendil, which it said was empty at the time and thus “did not pose any threat to the environmental situation in the region.”
Handout/Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) 
The SBU shared a black-and-white video of the alleged strike, apparently filmed by a drone, which showed several explosions on the deck of the tanker.
“Russia used this tanker to circumvent sanctions and earn money that went towards the war against Ukraine,” an SBU source told CBS News. “Therefore, from the point of view of international law and the laws and customs of war, this is an absolutely legitimate target for the SBU. The enemy must understand that Ukraine will not stop and will strike at it anywhere in the world, wherever it is.”
Ukraine has long been target tankers and infrastructure in Russian ports and on land as part of its efforts to undermine Moscow's war funding, but only this month did Kyiv admit to attacking ships outside Russian territorial waters. CBS News reported the first such strikestargeting tankers off the coast of Turkey and West Africa just over a week ago.
The SBU said the new strike knocked out Qendil, a ship tracking site. MarineTraffic.com confirmed As of Friday afternoon, it was in the eastern Mediterranean. According to MarineTraffic, the ship, which was not included by the US Treasury on the list of ships of the Russian shadow fleet subject to sanctions, was traveling from the Indian port of Sikka to the Russian port of Ust-Luga.
The US government has imposed sanctions against many ships and maritime companies. an attempt to deal with the Russian shadow fleetvessels with often unclear registration and ownership that Moscow is allegedly using to evade heavy Western sanctions on its energy products, providing vital revenue for its war effort.
The Trump administration accuses several major oil producers, including Russia, Venezuela and Iran, of operating a global fleet of such ships, and just last week the US military seized a sanctioned 20-year-old oil tanker after it left a port in Venezuela, sources told CBS News.
Armed personnel arrived in helicopters and boarded the vessel, which was authorized by the US Treasury three years ago for his alleged role in an oil smuggling network that helped finance the Iranian army and its proxies in the Middle East.
Officials in Moscow did not immediately respond to the Qendil strike.
Despite disagreements, EU agrees financial lifeline for Ukraine
Meanwhile, the European Union overnight proposed a support package for Ukraine worth more than $100 billion, but the bloc failed to come to terms with leaders' proposals to use frozen Russian assets for this purpose.
Unable to agree on the details, the EU ultimately took out an interest-free loan for Ukraine against its own budget, intended to finance the country's military and economic needs for two years.
EU leaders wanted to finance the aid package with frozen Russian assets, but the idea was always met with resistance among some members – especially in Belgium, where most of the protected Russian money is kept.
In his speech on Friday, Putin renewed threats that there would be serious consequences for European countries that decide to use Russian money imposed as part of sanctions against Moscow.
He said any such move would be “a robbery in broad daylight.”
“Why can’t this robbery be carried out? Because the consequences can be serious for the robbers,” he said on Friday.
In recent months, Russia has repeatedly been accused of waging hybrid warfare against Ukraine's European partners, including a series of unclaimed drone incursions, including around airports and military bases, violations of European and NATO airspace by Russian military aircraft, and other acts of alleged sabotage targeting vital infrastructure.
“If Europe left today without an agreement, we would not only have failed Ukraine, but also ourselves,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said on Friday, positively assessing the agreement reached.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also welcomed the agreement on an “interest-free loan” for Ukraine and leaving room for the use of Russian assets in the future.
Michael Kappeler/PhotoAlliance/Getty 
“These funds are sufficient to cover Ukraine's military and budgetary needs for the next two years,” Merz said, noting that frozen Russian assets will remain frozen until Russia pays reparations to Ukraine for the massive damage caused during the war.
“If Russia does not pay reparations, we will – in full compliance with international law – use Russian immobilized assets to repay the loan,” the German leader said.
The Ukrainian government welcomed the deal but made clear that Kyiv still believes Russia needs to access the frozen assets to support its defense.
“Indeed, there are times when one should remember that “the best is the enemy of the good,” said Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislitsa. “It was a long night for European leaders, but they were able to achieve real results.”
