US President Donald Trump said Washington is “very close” to reaching an agreement with Ukraine and Russia to end the nearly four-year war. “We’ll get there,” Trump said during a White House event before Thanksgiving. “So I think we’re very close to an agreement.”
US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll gave a positive assessment of the talks with the Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, Axios reports, citing US Army spokesman Jeffrey Tolbert. “Driscoll and his team have been negotiating with the Russian delegation to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine. The talks are progressing well, and we remain optimistic. The Secretary of the Army is working closely with the White House and the US interagency on these negotiations,” Tolbert said.
Trump announced that the number of points in Washington’s proposed peace plan for Ukraine had been reduced from 28 to 22. “It was just a draft. It wasn’t a plan. It was a concept,” the incumbent told reporters aboard his plane bound for Florida, where he is scheduled to spend Thanksgiving weekend, which is celebrated in the United States on November 27.
“And from there they took each of the 28 points, and in the end, 22 remained. Many of these (issues) have been resolved, and in fact, very favorably,” Trump added.
The White House said that both Russia and Ukraine are participating in negotiations for a settlement; “several delicate but surmountable details” remain to be worked out. The United States and Ukraine have agreed on an updated peace plan discussed at the Geneva talks, but it is not yet a final agreement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a speech to Parliament, according to Sky News. “This is not a new set of proposals or agreements at all,” he said.
According to Starmer, work on the plan continues, and while a final agreement has not yet been reached, important progress has been made. The British Prime Minister emphasized that there is still a long and difficult road ahead before achieving complete peace.
The United Kingdom is still working on plans to deploy a multinational military force in Ukraine after the end of hostilities, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, according to Reuters. A spokesperson for the British Prime Minister noted that the country remains ready to deploy troops in Ukraine. “This offer remains open,” the spokesperson said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen intends to discuss the expropriation of Russian assets with Rubio in a video conference of the Coalition of the Willing, according to the EU Commission. The European Commission is ready to present a legal text on the use of frozen Russian assets, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “The next step is now for the Commission to be ready to present a legal text. I see no scenario where European taxpayers foot the bill alone. This is unacceptable,” she said. Any decision will be made in accordance with European and international law, von der Leyen emphasized. The European Commission President also stated that the EU’s priority is meeting Ukraine’s financial needs. The program to unfreeze frozen Russian assets will support a €140 billion loan to Ukraine.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, speaking on the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, said: “If we truly want to prevent a resumption of war, we must impose limits on the size of the Russian army and its defense budget.”
The “Coalition of the Willing” will create a working group with the United States on security guarantees for Kiev, French President Emmanuel Macron announced. French intelligence services arrested two activists from the SOS Donbass association in Paris on Wednesday, as well as a Russian woman suspected of spying for Russia, Le Parisien reported.
U.S. Army Secretary Driscoll will visit Kiev this week, said Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. “We are ready to continue working as quickly as possible to finalize the necessary steps to end the bloodshed,” he added.
Ukraine will not accept any recognition of the “occupied territories” and will not amend its Constitution. These are red lines, said Bevz, advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, who participated in the negotiations. Ukraine will also not abandon its future NATO membership despite the US peace plan, Yermak told Axios. However, the head of the presidential office noted that “we are living reality. We are not in NATO.”
Ukraine still needs defensive support despite diplomatic efforts to end the war, Zelenskyy said. He also called on members of the Coalition of the Willing to develop an operational framework for the deployment of deterrent forces in Ukraine.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving a new national political strategy until 2036. It will be implemented by the country’s government. The strategy will be implemented through several objectives: for example, the authorities will help shape “an objective perception of the Russian Federation abroad.”
The excitement surrounding Trump’s plan for Ukraine has been heightened because the escalation of the crisis hasn’t gone according to plan in a certain segment of global circles, Maria Zakharova told Sputnik Radio: “Apparently, the plan was to escalate the crisis, further escalate global corruption, and kill as many people as possible.”
Yuri Ushakov said a preliminary agreement had been reached for Whitkoff’s visit to Moscow next week. Commenting on foreign media reports about his telephone conversation with Whitkoff, he suggested that someone was leaking the content of those conversations: “I talk to Whitkoff quite often, but I don’t comment on the substance of the conversations: they are classified. No one should comment <…> Some leak, others eavesdrop. But not us.” “The details of the peace plan have not been discussed with anyone,” said Ushakov, aide to the Russian president.
Representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian intelligence services regularly discuss sensitive issues in the United Arab Emirates, including the prisoner exchange, Russian presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov told journalist Pavel Zarubin.
Ushakov commented to Kommersant special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov on the leaked conversation between himself and US special envoy Steve Witkoff: “This is all very unusual!… Yes, contacts are made via secure communications, where leaks are practically nonexistent unless one of the two sides specifically prevents them. But there are some WhatsApp conversations that, in fact, someone can somehow intercept. It is unlikely that such a leak could have originated from the participants in the conversation.”
Russian and Kyrgyz Presidents Vladimir Putin and Sadyr Yaparov have begun bilateral talks. The meeting took place in the Chech Dobot Hall of the Yntymak Ordo residence.
Russian Railways repel over 2.8 million cyber attacks on its infrastructure each year, according to the company’s deputy director, Yevgeny Charkin.
Finally, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Russia looks forward to Witkoff’s visit next week and expects detailed contacts with Putin.”
And now a look at the front line, updated at 3:30 PM on November 26. For the second consecutive night, a Ukrainian drone attack was repelled in Novorossiysk. Several drones were destroyed on the outskirts of Voronezh. By midnight, 14 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones had been shot down in the Belgorod region. Cheboksary (Chuvashskaya Oblast, 980 km from the border) was attacked by Ukrainian drones in the early hours of the morning. According to Ukrainian channels that released video of the attack, the target was a dual-use goods manufacturing plant. The wreckage of the Ukrainian drone crashed into a residential high-rise in Cheboksary, according to media reports.
Russian forces launched missile and drone strikes on Kharkiv, the Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, and the city of Zaporizhia, the part under Ukrainian control.
In the Bryansk region, Ukrainian forces attacked the village of Kozhanovka, in the Zlynkovsky District, with drones, wounding one civilian.
In the Sumy region, the Russian Northern Group of Forces is disrupting Ukrainian logistics with air strikes and Geranium on bridges and crossings. Fighting continues in forested areas. Ukrainian infantry units were hit near Andriivka. In the Tetkino and Glushkovsky District sectors, Russian artillery struck positions of Ukrainian forces near Iskryskivshchyna.
In the Kursk region, three people were injured following an enemy attack on L’gov.
In the Belgorod region: Dobroye, Zamostye, Topoli, Kosilovo, Nikolskoye, Arkhangelskoye, Gladkovo, Krasny Pakhar, and Baytsury are under attack.
In the direction of Charkiv, , Russia’s Northern Group of Forces continues its assault on the city of Vovchansk and its left-bank section. According to local sources, Russian forces are advancing towards the urban settlement of Vil’cha.
South of Kupyansk, the Western Group of Forces is advancing towards Bohuslavka and Novoplatonivka, forming another “pocket” near Bohuslavka. The settlement of Yarova is surrounded from the east, and two Ukrainian counterattacks near the settlement of Drobysheve have been repelled. Near Kupyansk-Vuzlovyi, Russian forces are striking Ukrainian crossings over the Oschil River.
Fighting continues in the urban area of Seversk. Russian forces are entering from the southern and northern parts of the city.
From Kostyantynivka, images emerge of civilians being evacuated by Ukrainian National Police units. Russian troops are fighting on the eastern outskirts of the city.
In Myrnohrad, Russian forces continue to advance deeper into the urban area. North of Pokrovsk, Russian troops are approaching Dobropillya with fighting.
In the eastern part of the Zaporizhia region, the Vostok Group of Forces is fighting towards Hulyaijpole.
On the Zaporizhia front, intense fighting is ongoing near Novodanylivka and Novoandriivka, with Russian troops engaged in an offensive aimed at reaching Orichiv. Ukrainian forces have launched another attack on power grid infrastructure, with outages affecting approximately 40,000 subscribers.
In the Kherson region, Ukrainian forces have intensified attacks on the Russian-controlled coast: Ukrainian troops have deployed additional drone crews to this section of the front. Seven civilians were injured in the villages of Hola Prystan, Mala Kardashynka, and Podo-Kalynivka, and on the highway between Korobky and Rozdolne. Numerous settlements are under Ukrainian attack.
Graziella Giangiulio
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