Ukrainian President Volodemir Zelensky said his country will not surrender territory to Russia.

That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post.

I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Tuesday, December 9th.

Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories.

Zelensky yesterday rejected a central Russian demand to end the war with Ukraine.

President Donald Trump had also incorporated that demand into his latest peace plan proposal.

After meeting with top European leaders to discuss Trump's plan yesterday, Zelensky said,

quote, under our laws, under international law, and under moral law, we have no right to give anything away.

That declaration could lead to the collapse of Trump's plan. Critics had condemned that plan as fulfilling a wish list of

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Some Ukrainian officials held out hope that the negotiations could

still end the war. But Trump's continuing pressure has fed fears that Ukraine's negotiating leverage is evaporating,

just as Putin's forces advance on the battlefield and Zelensky's government is consumed by a corruption scandal.

The Supreme Court is poised to expand President Trump's power over independent agencies.

That's number two.

Yesterday, justices heard arguments over whether Trump should be allowed to fire a Democratic

member of the Federal Trade Commission.

The court's conservative majority seemed open to allowing the firing, and their ruling, which is

expected in June or July, could have wider implications. It could limit or overturn a 90-year-old

precedent that curbs the president's power to dismiss the heads of agencies which Congress set up to be independent.

Liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor expressed her concerns to the Solicitor General of the United

States.

You're asking us to destroy the structure of government and to take away from Congress

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