KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is expected to give its latest peace proposals to U.S. negotiators Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, a day ahead of his urgent talks with leaders and officials from about 30 other countries supporting Kyiv's effort to end the war with Russia on acceptable terms.
As tension builds around a U.S. push for a settlement, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to President Donald Trump by phone Wednesday, according to officials.
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People walk around the Christmas tree in front of St. Sophia Monastery in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A man walks around an improvised memorial to fallen soldiers killed in the Russia-Ukraine war at Independence square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this photo distributed by the Federation Council of The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a session of The Federation Council of The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (The Federation Council of The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service via AP)
FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, looks back at the media in Downing Street, London, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pose on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street, London, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, following a meeting of the leaders inside. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Pope Leo XIV wave to journalists during their meeting in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Negotiations are at “a critical moment,” the European leaders said in official statements.
Washington’s goal of a swift compromise to stop the fighting that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 is reducing Kyiv’s room for maneuvering. Zelenskyy is walking a tightrope between defending Ukrainian interests and showing Trump he is willing to compromise, even as Moscow shows no public sign of budging from its demands.
Ukraine’s European allies are backing Zelensky’s effort to ensure that any settlement is fair and deters future Russian attacks, as well as accommodating Europe’s defense interests.
The French government said Ukraine’s allies — dubbed the “Coalition of the Willing” — will discuss the negotiations Thursday by video. Zelenskyy said it would include those countries’ leaders.
“We need to bring together 30 colleagues very quickly. And it’s not easy, but nevertheless we will do it,” he said late Tuesday.
Zelenskyy said discussions with the U.S. were scheduled later Wednesday to focus on a document detailing plans for Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction and economic development. Also, Ukraine is finalizing work on a separate, 20-point framework for ending the war. Zelenskyy said Kyiv expects to submit that document to Washington soon.
After Trump called for a presidential election in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said his country would be ready for such a vote within three months if partners can guarantee safe balloting during wartime and if its electoral law can be altered.
Zelenskyy's openness to an election was a response to comments by Trump in which he questioned Ukraine’s democracy and suggested the Ukrainian leader was using the war as an excuse not to stand before voters. Those comments echo similar remarks often made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy said late Tuesday he is “ready” for an election but needs help from the U.S. and possibly Europe to ensure its security. He suggested Ukraine could hold balloting in 60 to 90 days if that proviso is met.
“To hold elections, two issues must be addressed: primarily, security — how to conduct them, how to do it under strikes, under missile attacks; and a question regarding our military — how they would vote,” Zelenskyy said. “And the second issue is the legislative framework required to ensure the legitimacy of elections.”
Zelenskyy pointed out previously that balloting can’t legally happen while martial law — imposed due to Russia’s invasion — is in place. He has also asked how a vote could occur when civilian areas of Ukraine are being bombarded and almost 20% of the country is under Russian occupation.
Zelenskyy said he has asked lawmakers from his party to draw up legislative proposals allowing for an election while Ukraine is under martial law.
Ukrainians have on the whole supported Zelenskyy’s arguments, and have not clamored for an election. Under the law that is in force, Zelenskyy’s rule is legitimate.
Putin has repeatedly complained that Zelenskyy can’t legitimately negotiate a peace settlement because his five-year term that began in 2019 has expired.
A new U.S. national security strategy released Dec. 5 made clear that Trump wants to improve Washington’s relationship with Moscow and “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.” The document also portrays European allies as weak.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised Trump’s role in the Ukraine peace effort, telling the upper house of parliament that Moscow appreciates his “commitment to dialogue.” Trump, Lavrov said, is “the only Western leader” who shows “an understanding of the reasons that made war in Ukraine inevitable.”
Trump’s peace efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.
The initial U.S. proposal was heavily slanted toward Russia’s demands. To counter that, Zelenskyy has turned to his European supporters.
Zelenskyy met this week with the leaders of Britain, Germany and France in London, the heads of NATO and the European Union in Brussels, and then went to Rome to meet the Italian premier and Pope Leo XIV.
Europe’s support is uneven, however, and that has meant a decrease in military aid since the Trump administration this year cut off supplies to Kyiv unless they were paid for by other NATO countries.
Foreign military help for Ukraine fell sharply over the summer, and that trend continued through September and October, a German body that tracks international help for Ukraine said Wednesday.
Average annual aid, mostly provided by the U.S. and Europe, was about 41.6 billion euros ($48.4 billion) between 2022–24. But so far this year Ukraine has received just 32.5 billion euros ($37.8 billion), the Kiel Institute said.
This year, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have substantially increased their help for Ukraine, while Germany nearly tripled its average monthly allocations and France and the U.K. both more than doubled their contributions, the Kiel Institute said.
On the other hand, it said, Spain recorded no new military aid for Kyiv in 2025 while Italy reduced its low contributions by 15% compared with 2022–2024.
Jill Lawless in London, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
People walk around the Christmas tree in front of St. Sophia Monastery in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A man walks around an improvised memorial to fallen soldiers killed in the Russia-Ukraine war at Independence square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this photo distributed by the Federation Council of The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a session of The Federation Council of The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (The Federation Council of The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service via AP)
FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, looks back at the media in Downing Street, London, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pose on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street, London, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, following a meeting of the leaders inside. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Pope Leo XIV wave to journalists during their meeting in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The Trump administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials who opposed President Donald Trump’s extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor’s approval to further his immigration enforcement efforts. But he also put the decision on hold until Monday.
California argued that the president was using Guard members as his personal police force in violation of a law limiting the use of the military in domestic affairs. The administration said courts could not second-guess the president’s decision that violence during the protests made it impossible for him to execute U.S. laws with regular forces and reflected a rebellion, or danger of rebellion.
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Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.
In a briefing the day after her historic win as the first woman elected mayor of the south Florida metropolis, Eileen Higgins decried elected officials’ use of “language that is demeaning, that is cruel, that is disrespectful about the people who live in the city of Miami.”
She also called Miami “the tip of the spear of the affordability crisis in America.”
Campaigning as a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan race, Higgins on Tuesday defeated a Republican endorsed by Trump, ending Democrats’ nearly three-decade losing streak leading the Hispanic-majority city. Higgins said she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has kicked off a series of meetings with British and Australian counterparts in Washington that are aimed at moving forward with the large nuclear submarine building and technology sharing pact between the three nations known as known as AUKUS.
Ahead of the meetings, the British defense minister said he’s “all in” following a U.S. review of the deal.
“Those reviews are now done,” U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey told reporters Wednesday. He added that “all three of us are now determined to reboot AUKUS with a new commitment and a new determination in particular to deliver.”
The deal was originally inked in 2021. The Pentagon recently determined that the agreement was in the U.S. national security interest.
It includes the sale of three U.S.-built nuclear-powered submarines to Australia starting in 2032.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters outside his office in the Capitol, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
“I’m absolutely delighted that Jasmine Crockett is running for Senate in Texas,” Johnson said, eagerly rubbing his hands together.
The House GOP speaker called the liberal firebrand “the face of the Democratic Party,” and compared Crockett to New York’s new mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“Good luck with that,” he said. “What Jasmine is trying to sell will not be purchased by the folks in Texas, that is my prediction.”
He said, “I want her to have the largest, loudest microphone that she can every single day,” he said, “and we look forward to having that election down there.”
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must end California National Guard deployment in Los Angeles. Other deployments are being challenged in court. Here are the other U.S. cities where troops remain:
The Republican speaker said he missed the classified briefing with Hegseth and Rubio this week because he was working with House GOP lawmakers on their emerging health care proposals.
Johnson would not say if the video should be widely released, in part because he said he had not viewed it.
“We’ll see,” he said.
Because of his timing conflict with the classified briefing, he said Hegseth and Rubio would meet with him separately at a later date.
Marco Rubio has ordered that all diplomatic correspondence must return to the more traditional Times New Roman font.
It reverses a Biden-era shift to the less formal typeface that Rubio said was wasteful, confusing and unbefitting the dignity of official U.S. government documents.
His cable sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates Tuesday said the 2023 shift to the sans serif Calibri font was the result of misguided diversity, equity and inclusion policies pursued by his predecessor, Antony Blinken. Rubio’s cable, obtained by The Associated Press, said Blinken’s switch “was promised to mitigate accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities.”
It says the change had cost the department $145,000 but offered no supporting evidence. The cable was first reported by The New York Times.
The vice president is expected to give a speech in Allentown in the vein of Trump’s remarks Tuesday night to focus on the economy and assure voters that the administration is working to address inflation, according to his office.
On the road in Pennsylvania, Trump tried to emphasize his focus on combating inflation, yet the issue that has damaged his popularity couldn’t quite command his full attention. He meandered during his remarks, asking why the U.S. couldn’t take in more immigrants from Scandinavia and using an expletive to describe countries such as Haiti and Somalia.
A three-year extension of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits would increase federal deficits by nearly $83 billion over the next decade, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.
The Senate will vote on competing health plans on Thursday. The three-year extension of the subsidy is being pitched by Senate Democrats, but it is not expected to pass.
The CBO also estimates that enacting the Democratic plan would increase the number of people with health insurance by about 400,000 next year, 3 million in 2027 and 4 million in 2028.
Gross premiums, the amount consumers would pay before a tax credit is applied, have already been set for 2026. But CBO says they would fall by 5.7% in 2027 and 9% in 2028, because people who enroll in ACA plans would be healthier than they would be without the extension.
The Trump administration must return control of the troops to the state, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco ruled Wednesday.
Breyer granted a preliminary injunction against Trump’s extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor’s approval. He put the decision on hold until Monday.
California argued that conditions in Los Angeles had changed since Trump first took command of the troops and deployed them in June. The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops. By late October, only a 100 or so remained in the Los Angeles area. Justice Department lawyers said they are still needed to protect federal personnel and property.
The Republican administration extended the deployment until February while also trying to use California Guard members in Portland, Oregon.
Secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case can be made public, a judge ruled Wednesday, joining two other judges in granting the requests involving investigations into the late financier’s sexual abuse.
U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman reversed his earlier decision, citing a new law that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell. The judge previously cautioned that the 70 or so pages of grand jury materials slated for release are hardly revelatory.
Different judges ordered the release of records from Maxwell’s 2021 sex trafficking case and from an abandoned Epstein federal grand jury investigation in the 2000s.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act Trump signed last month created a narrow exception to rules that normally keep grand jury proceedings confidential.
According to a Harris aide, the 2024 Democratic nominee’s national tour will not focus as heavily on her defeat to Trump and her resulting campaign memoir, “107 Days.” Instead, Harris will talk about the state of the country, what she’s heard from voters during the first leg of her book tour and future solutions to national problems.
The shift could fuel speculation about her 2028 presidential ambitions. Harris announced 15 tour stops beginning Jan. 13 in New Orleans and continuing through March 3 in her hometown of Oakland, California.
That’s where she announced her unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2019. She dropped out before nominating contests began but Joe Biden tapped her as his running mate in 2020, and she was elected as the first woman to hold national office.
Rep. Haley Stevens said in a video posted on X Wednesday that the Health and Human Services secretary “has got to go.”
Stevens, who is running for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, calls Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “the biggest, self-created threat to our health and safety,” citing “skyrocketing” health care costs and the “gutting” of research.
Stevens, who represents a suburban Detroit district, is part of House Democrats’ 2019 freshman class that flipped dozens of Republican-held seats to deliver a Democratic majority that reshaped Trump’s first presidency, including twice impeaching him.
Narrowly defeating her opponent in 2020, she cruised to reelection in 2022 and 2024 after her district was redrawn and became more favorable to Democrats.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s public support for Trump and a peace prize awarded to the U.S. president are the subjects of formal complaints to the global soccer body’s ethics investigators.
FairSquare, a London-based human rights nonprofit, said Tuesday it filed requests for investigations into Infantino’s alleged breaches of FIFA’s statutory duty to be politically neutral. FIFA said its ethics committee does not comment on potential ongoing cases, and could not confirm receiving the complaint.
FIFA’s ethics code calls for a ban from soccer of up to two years for violating the duty of neutrality. But it’s unclear if FIFA’s current ethics investigators and judges will take up the case — they’re seen by some observers to operate with less independence than their predecessors a decade ago when then-president Sepp Blatter was removed from office.
▶ Read more about the FIFA leader and Trump
The outgoing comptroller of New York City is challenging U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman in a Democratic primary for a liberal district in lower Manhattan and northwest Brooklyn.
Brad Lander, a progressive ally of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, in a video and social media posts promised Wednesday to offer “courageous leadership in the face of Donald Trump’s attacks on New Yorkers.”
Lander scheduled a public speech about his campaign Wednesday evening near his home in Brooklyn. He’s been eyeing a challenge to Goldman since he lost the Democratic mayoral primary to Mamdani this summer.
Lander and Mamdani endorsed one another during the mayoral primary in an effort, as part of the city’s ranked choice voting system, to join forces against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who at the time was the front-runner.
A Dallas congresswoman opened her Senate campaign by telling voters that she “has gone toe to toe with Donald Trump.” Her Democratic primary opponent insisted that Americans are tired of “politics as a blood sport.”
The divergent approach highlights how U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are navigating a race where Democrats hope to break a three-decade losing streak in Texas. It also reflects a broader divide within the party, with some candidates continuing to focus on Trump while others barely mention his name.
Figuring out the best approach will be critical for Democrats who are seeking control of Congress next year and already maneuvering for the 2028 presidential race.
▶ Read more about how Trump features in races around the country.
The bigger question for financial markets and the economy is what Chair Jerome Powell may signal Wednesday regarding the central bank’s next steps.
This would be the third cut in a row and bring the Fed’s key rate to about 3.6%, the lowest in nearly three years. For Americans struggling with high borrowing costs for homes, cars, and other large purchases, rate cuts could reduce those costs over time — though it’s not guaranteed.
This week’s meeting could presage a much cloudier path ahead. The government shutdown delayed two months of jobs and inflation data, leaving the Fed with much less information on hiring and inflation. And with Powell’s term as chair ending in May, Trump will nominate a replacement, possibly as soon as this month, who will almost certainly push for lower borrowing costs.
The mega billionaire says the overall effort was only “somewhat successful.”
Musk made his comments to Katie Miller, a conservative operative who works for Musk and is married to Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
“I don’t think so,” Musk said when she asked on her podcast whether he’d restart the now-shuttered Department of Government Efficiency. Musk said DOGE identified billions in “zombie payments” but wasn’t able to enact his promised sweeping reduction of the federal footprint.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO, who also owns X, said he’d focus on business instead. Musk acknowledged that his businesses, especially Tesla, faced backlash because of DOGE’s unpopularity.
Things turned in his favor after he left the Trump administration. Tesla shareholders approved a pay package that could make Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
Emboldened by recent elections, Democrats are adding more Republican-held House districts to 2026 midterm target list.
Several additions result from recent gerrymandering by state legislatures: Republican Darrell Issa’s California district, North Carolina seats held by Republicans Greg Murphy and Chuck Edwards, and a newly drawn open seat in Texas.
Sacramento Democrats redrew Issa’s seat to their favor. Murphy’s and Edwards’ districts also became less solidly Republican when GOP lawmakers in Raleigh strengthened Republican chances elsewhere. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also added Florida Republican Laurel Lee’s district.
Trump won there and in the newly added Texas seat by double digits in 2024, but Democrats note that in elections across the country this year, their candidates made double-digit gains compared to the presidential election.
Republicans in Florida have found strong support from voters with heritage from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as they likened Democratic leaders to the governments they fled.
But U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican whose district is being targeted by Democrats and includes the city of Miami, said Hispanics also want a secure border, a healthy economy and some relief for “those who have been here for years and do not have a criminal record.”
“The Hispanic vote is not guaranteed,” Salazar said in a video post after Democratic wins in New Jersey and Virginia. “Hispanics married President Trump, but they are only dating the GOP.”
Democrat David Jolly, running for Florida governor, celebrated the results in Miami: “Change is here. It’s sweeping the nation, and it’s sweeping Florida.”
Voters elected Eileen Higgins by a margin of about 19 percentage points on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech in the Hispanic-majority city that may become the home of Trump’s presidential library. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.”
The victory provides Democrats with some momentum as the GOP looks to keep its grip in Florida. “Tonight’s result is yet another warning sign to Republicans that voters are fed up with their out-of-touch agenda that is raising costs,” Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin said in a statement.
Less than a week after Congo and Rwanda signed a deal in Trump’s presence in Washington that was meant to halt fighting in eastern Congo, and less than two months after he witnessed Cambodia and Thailand sign a ceasefire pact in Malaysia to end their border conflict, fighting has surged in both places.
The developments have caused international alarm, which resulted in urgent calls to halt the renewed violence.
FILE _ Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting Oct. 29, 2025, at the Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens during an event at the State Department, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump dances to music after speaking at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
