US offers Ukraine ‘platinum’ NATO-style security guarantees in ‘breakthrough’ & Kyiv blows up $400m Russian submarine with underwater drones
Ukraine: The Latest
Louisa Wells / Francis Dearnley
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 December 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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):
Ukraine ‘blows up £300m Russian submarine’ with underwater drones (The Telegraph):
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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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.6 | I'm Francis Dernley, and this is Ukraine, the latest. |
| 0:14.1 | Today, we assess what some are calling a breakthrough in talks between Europe, Ukraine and the United States, |
| 0:19.9 | after reports that Washington |
| 0:21.6 | is offering Kiev's security guarantees equivalent to NATO's Article 5. But is the proposal |
| 0:28.6 | all it appears to be, and would Putin ever accept it? Then we report a first in military history, |
| 0:34.6 | the sinking of a submarine in port by a drone, before examining |
| 0:39.2 | internal pressures within Russian society and reflecting on what Moscow has done to the Ukrainian |
| 0:44.8 | city of Mariupol, reopening its destroyed theatre with a performance many see as shockingly insensitive. |
| 0:53.0 | Bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory. |
| 1:02.0 | The Russian does not want peace. |
| 1:04.0 | With our help for the Ukraine, also our freedom and our European |
| 1:10.0 | Warrie. If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. |
| 1:14.3 | We are with you, not just today or tomorrow, but for a hundred years. |
| 1:19.4 | We can't as European, let's gain the Russia in Ukraine. |
| 1:23.7 | Nobody's going to break us. We're strong. Where Ukraine is. |
| 1:28.3 | It's Tuesday, the 16th of December, three years and 297 days since the full-scale invasion began. |
| 1:36.3 | And today I'm joined by our chief foreign analyst Roland Oliphant and our Russian analyst James Kilner. |
| 1:42.3 | But first, the major diplomatic news. |
| 1:49.0 | The last 24 hours has seen one of the most significant and ingenious naval operations by Ukraine in months, |
| 1:55.0 | with ramifications for warfare far beyond the Ukraine theatre. |
| 1:59.0 | But we're compelled to start today with the outcome |
... |
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