US offers Ukraine ‘platinum’ NATO-style security guarantees in ‘breakthrough’ & Kyiv blows up $400m Russian submarine with underwater drones

Day 1,391.


Today, we assess what some are calling a “breakthrough” in talks
between Europe, Ukraine, and the United States, after reports
that Washington is offering Kyiv security guarantees equivalent
to NATO’s Article 5. But is the proposal all it appears to be –
and would Vladimir Putin ever accept it? We then report a first
in military history: the sinking of a submarine in port by a
drone, before examining internal pressures within Russian
society, and reflecting on what Moscow has done to the Ukrainian
city of Mariupol, reopening its destroyed theatre with a
performance many see as shockingly insensitive.


Contributors


Francis Dearnley (Executive Editor for Audio). @FrancisDearnley
on X.


Roland Oliphant (Chief Foreign Analyst).
@RolandOliphant on X.


James Kilner (Russian Analyst). @jkjourno on X.


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CONTENT REFERENCED:


US tells Ukraine: Take our ‘platinum’ security guarantees or lose
them (The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/12/15/germany-witkoff-and-kushner-far-from-ideal-negotiators/ 


Ukraine ‘blows up £300m Russian submarine’ with underwater drones
(The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/12/15/ukraine-blows-up-300m-russian-submarine-underwater-drones/ 


The bedroom farce at the centre of a Russian war-crime propaganda
plot (Roland Oliphant on Maruipol in The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/11/mariupol-theatre-putin-ukraine-plans/ 


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