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Kyiv, Moscow to continue gas-transit talks:
By RFE/RL
Russia's state-controlled energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz say they will continue talks on the extension of a deal on gas transit from Russia to Europe through Ukrainian territory beyond the end of December, when the current 10-year agreement expires.
A new round of talks in Vienna on December 13 attended by Gazprom chief Aleksei Miller and the leadership of Naftogaz Ukraine ended without a deal.
"It is too early to talk about an approved option, but we are taking the most constructive position. Active work continues," Naftogaz executive director Yuriy Vitrenko wrote on Facebook.
Vitrenko told TASS the negotiations were "relatively successful, [but] we continue working."
Before the talks, Vitrenko had said that December 13 was the deadline for reaching a deal to "secure the long-term transit capacities of the Ukrainian gas transmission system."
After last month's bilateral talks in Vienna, Vitrenko said that Ukraine will not halt Europe-bound Russian gas supplies, even if Moscow and Kyiv failed to sign a new transit agreement by the end of the year.
"Ukraine will not cut off the gas. Ukraine has never cut off gas, and this must be understood. We have no tradition of appearing on TV screens and saying, 'We are cutting off gas now,'" Vitrenko told Germany's Deutsche Welle.
The talks in Vienna came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after meeting his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Paris on December 9 that the issue of gas transit had been "unblocked" regarding Ukraine’s 10-year contract with Russia.
Zelenskiy and Putin held talks mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel under the so-called Normandy Format to resolve the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Moscow-backed separatists. (w/Interfax and TASS)
Two more suspects in Sheremet case placed under arrest:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
A court in Kyiv has placed two more suspects in the case of the 2016 killing of prominent journalist Pavel Sheremet under arrest.
The Pechera district court ruled on December 13 that Andriy Antonenko and Yulia Kuzmenko will remain in custody until February 8, 2020. Earlier in the day, the court placed another suspect, Yana Duhar, under house arrest until the same date.
Two more suspects, Vladyslav and Inna Hryshchenko, were arrested and placed in pretrial detention in September and November, respectively, as suspects in another case.
All five suspects took part in military operations in different capacities in Ukraine's east, where government forces are fighting against Russia-backed separatists.
According to the Interior Ministry and the National Police, the group's goal was "to destabilize the political and social situation in Ukraine" by killing Sheremet.
Kuzmenko, a pediatrician and well-known volunteer, is suspected of placing the bomb under the car the night before the killing with the help of Antonenko, a musician.
Sheremet, a Belarusian-born Russian citizen who had made Kyiv his permanent home, was leaving his apartment to head to the studio where he hosted a morning radio program, when an improvised explosive device planted under the vehicle he was driving exploded on July 20, 2016, killing him instantly.
This ends our live blogging for December 13. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
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Visiting Ukrainian official says relations with U.S. remain "unshattered":
By Todd Prince
The first Ukrainian administration official to visit Washington in months says bilateral relations remain strong despite the central role Ukraine has played in the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Ukrainian deputy prime minister for Europe and Euro-Atlantic integration, Dmytro Kuleba, told a press conference on December 13 that the strategic relationship remained "unshattered."
Kuleba, who met this week with members of Congress, the State Department, and the White House, said his top priorities in the U.S. capital were to lobby the United States to impose sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline and enhance relations with NATO.
"We want NATO to be more ambitious toward Ukraine. We don't only want to receive support, we want to contribute [to missions]," he said.
As signs of the strength of the bilateral relationship, Kuleba pointed to the decision by Congress to increase annual military support to $300 million and include sanctions related to the Nord Stream project in the National Defense Authorization Act.
The Ukrainian official said he discussed with Trump administration officials a possible visit by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Washington -- not the contents of the impeachment process.
The impeachment charges against Trump are related to whether he pressured Zelenskiy during a July 25 call to investigate Trump's political opponent, Joe Biden.
Kuleba also defended Zelenskiy's decision to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week to discuss peace in eastern Ukraine, saying it is the only way to make progress.
He said the two leaders will push ahead with small measures to build trust during the talks aimed at putting an end to the fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.
He said the Zelenskiy administration's goals for 2020 will be land reform, privatization, and energy reform.