Kremlin: serious process underway for peace. Kallas: 'We want the end of the war, important is how'

"We must not reward the aggressor and we will not allow it. Russia's aggression and subsequent peace will shape European security for decades to come and have existential implications for all Europeans. We have no margin for error'. This was stated by Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, speaking today via video conference at the extraordinary summit of EU foreign ministers. In his speech, Tsahkna emphasised that the main road to peace lies in ensuring that Moscow will answer for the war crimes it has committed and that Russian troops withdraw from Ukrainian territory. The Latvian Foreign Minister, Baiba Braze, was similarly emphatic. "Ukraine must be present in all negotiations concerning it. A just and lasting peace must guarantee Ukraine's sovereignty, a strong, democratic and resilient Ukraine, as well as its foreign policy and constitutional choices, including EU and NATO membership,' Braze said, reiterating that Russia's 'goal continues to be the destruction of Ukraine's sovereignty and its complete submission to Moscow.

Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today, emphasising the need to keep up the pressure on Russia as US-led peace efforts continue. "We agree: as long as Russia continues to reject all peace efforts, sanctions against it should be tightened and financial and defence assistance to Ukraine should continue," the Ukrainian leader wrote on X, adding that they also discussed the US-led peace talks, and the ongoing work of the EU on the use of frozen Russian assets.

"Hungary will not support this initiative. Using frozen assets before a peace agreement would trigger Russian countermeasures that can cause serious damage to European companies, including Hungarian ones. This is the fundamental reality for us'. Balázs Orbán, political director of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, writes this on X. "This is why peace is essential and why the use of these assets can only be part of an agreement based on the consensus of all parties involved. We have been saying this for months,' he adds, 'yet in Brussels we seem to be talking about a wall'.

A "serious process" is underway to find a negotiated solution to the conflict in Ukraine, and many will try to make it fail. This was said by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in an interview with state television, reported by the Ria Novosti news agency. "There is an ongoing process, a serious process, and now, probably, there is nothing more important," Peskov said. In this context, he added, "there will appear many people who will have no qualms whatsoever in order to make this process fail".

The Ukrainian defence forces hit the production facilities of Russian companies that make components for the Caliber and Shahed missiles, the Ukrainian General Staff reported in a press release published on its Telegram channel.

"On the night of 26 November, units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine struck, among other things, the VNIIR-Progress plant for the production of navigation equipment and components for cruise and ballistic missiles, located in Cheboksary, in the Republic of Chuvashia," the General Staff noted.

"Everyone welcomes the initiative of the United States of America for peace. We all want this war to end, but it also matters how it ends. We must remember that there is an aggressor and a victim". This was stated by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, following the video conference between the EU foreign ministers which was also attended by her Ukrainian counterpart Andryi Sybiha. "An immediate and unconditional ceasefire must be the first step to end the war.

But we currently see no indication that Russia is ready for a ceasefire," Kallas continued, pointing out that Moscow is beefing up its military apparatus. "We have yet to get from a situation where Russia pretends to negotiate to a situation where it is forced to negotiate. We are getting there. Russia's summer offensive has failed. The US and EU sanctions are having a huge impact on the Russian economy. Energy revenues and the economy are shrinking. Russia is losing money and troops. And to increase the chances for peace, we must also increase the pressure on Russia,' the High Representative continued. "The idea that Ukraine is losing is simply false: if Russia was able to conquer Ukraine militarily, it would have already done so. Vladimir Putin cannot achieve his goals on the battlefields and will therefore try to negotiate them,' she points out.

Yuri Ushakov calls the 'leak' about his phone call with Steve Witkoff 'unacceptable'. And anticipates that he will discuss it with the White House special envoy. "We will talk about it on the phone," he said, speaking to reporters. The Kremlin's foreign policy adviser said some of the leaked content was 'fake', on the rest he would not comment since the phone call was confidential.

Further reading

'Peace for territory': the background to the Whitkoff-Ushakov phone call

26 November 2025

Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov admits that Russian and Ukrainian intelligence officials met in Abu Dhabi "to discuss sensitive issues such as the exchange of prisoners". Tass reports. "They meet occasionally and discuss what I would call very sensitive issues, including those related to the prisoner exchange," noted Putin's adviser, who claims that US Secretary Driscoll "showed up suddenly at the meeting and as far as I know, he met with Ukrainian officials and also held a meeting with our representatives, which was completely unexpected."

Oleksandr Bevz, advisor to the head of the presidential office and representative of the Ukrainian delegation to the negotiations with the United States in Geneva, told the Svoboda Live programme that the negotiating team was not authorised to deal with territorial issues, and reiterated that Kiev would not make any changes to its constitution.

"We have always reiterated that we are not authorised. And, by the way, similarly, the president has not authorised us to make any decisions in Geneva regarding territorial issues," Bevz said during the interview, as Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reports. "We have stated that Ukraine will not accept any recognition and will not make any changes to the Constitution. And these are the red lines outlined by the Ukrainian people,' the adviser added.

"The European Commission is ready to present a legislative proposal on the Reparation Loan" for Ukraine based on the use of Russian assets. This was clarified by EU executive spokeswoman Paula Pinho during the press briefing, underlining what Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this morning. Discussions are also ongoing with the member states with respect to possible proposals on the other options in the analysis document sent to the 27, she explained. "This morning in the European Parliament, von der Leyen mentioned precisely our work on the Reparation loan and indicated that the Commission is ready to present the legal text, then the legislative proposal. Discussions are ongoing with Member States on this issue, also in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper), where we are also discussing on the basis of the letter that President von der Leyen shared with Member States a few days ago", the options paper with the different hypotheses of support for Ukraine. "We are receiving feedback from member states on this basis and we expect that there will be clear feedback also regarding the legislative proposal and timing," Pinho said. "Discussions are ongoing and we expect to receive concrete feedback on this as well." As for the other options (direct subsidies, common EU debt and also a mix of the different hypotheses) "it is now up to the Member States to evaluate them. That said, the president has always been very clear from the outset that she considers the Reparation Loan the most realistic option for moving forward. And she has always insisted on the need for Russia, the aggressor, to pay for the incredible damage it is causing in Ukraine,' Pinho said. 'The Reparation loan is precisely the option that meets this demand and this requirement, which is to make Russia pay for the damage it is causing.

A Singapore-flagged tanker containing fuel refined from 'blood oil', Russian oil, has arrived in Western Australia, despite Ukrainian demands to the Canberra government to stop its importation. The Hafnia Lillesand docked at Kwinana near Perth on Tuesday, preparing to unload nearly 100 thousand tonnes of diesel at BP's terminal. The fuel was produced at India's Jamnagar refinery, with about 43 thousand tonnes of the total cargo derived from Russian crude. Australian Federation of Ukrainan Associations co-president Kateryna Argyrou expressed 'deep concern about the direct link' between Australians and the 'genocidal' Russian regime. "Despite Australia's direct sanctions on Russia, this fuel is in fact recycled Russian oil. It has been refined in India but its origins are clear," he said. "This means that the fuel we are importing indirectly funds the Russian war machine, which kills Ukrainians, destroys cities and devastates critical civilian infrastructure day after day. Every dollar the Kremlin gets from Australia is a dollar used to destroy 'Ukraine and prolongs this genocidal war,' he added.

It is in the Slovakian - and snowy - Prešov that regional and local EU representatives will take stock of Ukraine's EU integration path and the role of regional cross-border cooperation. These are the topics at the centre of the seminar that the Committee of the Regions' Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs (Civex) will hold tomorrow in eastern Slovakia, just under a hundred kilometres from the Ukrainian city of Užhorod in the Transcarpathian oblast. The 'sustainable' recovery of Kiev on the road to EU membership will be the focus of the meeting, while negotiations on the end of the war and the peace plan accelerate. It will be attended by regional authorities from Prešov and Zakarpattia, the Deputy Minister for Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine, Oleksii Riabykin, as well as representatives from the European Commission and the business community. The following day, on 28 November, Prešov will also host the 10th meeting of the Working Group on Ukraine of the Civex Commission, jointly organised by the Committee of the Regions and the Prešov Autonomous Region offices. The focus of the meeting will be the status of Ukraine's decentralisation reform and its impact on the EU accession process, as well as the role of European territories in supporting Ukraine.

The 16 October phone call between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian advisor Yuri Ushakov, leaked by Bloomberg, provoked protests among some Republican lawmakers who called on the administration to change course. The Wall Street Journal writes. "This is a major issue. And one of many reasons why these ridiculous sideshows and secret meetings need to stop," Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania) said on X. "Allow Secretary of State Marco Rubio to do his job fairly and objectively," he added, highlighting the rift within the US administration over the end of the war in Ukraine. Congressman Don Bacon (Nebraska), who has criticised the Trump administration for its handling of the negotiations, said the report shows that Witkoff must be sidelined. Witkoff 'is acting like he's in the pay of Russia,' Bacon said, 'This whole incident has been a fiasco and a stain on our country. He must be sacked'.

European countries are working on 'an emergency bridging solution' in order not to leave Ukraine without funds for next year. Politico writes this on its website, confirming what EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombovskis anticipated at the beginning of November. The 27 'are working on a contingency plan B in the event that an agreement cannot be reached on the seizure of Russia's frozen assets to finance Kiev's war effort', Politico further writes, citing European officials.

Further reading

This is why Putin does not intend to give up annexations

26 November 2025

On the Trump plan for Ukraine, 'the hope is that a point of synthesis will be found. A balance must be found between an initial proposal and the demands that have emerged as a result. The agreement is made with Ukraine, with Europe and with all the other interlocutors, without a shadow of a doubt, and it is made by trying to create all the conditions to be able to take into account the starting point: there is an invader and an invaded and there are principles that must be respected'. This was said in Lecce by the executive vice-president of the European Commission, Raffaele Fitto. 'Following this pattern, I think it would be desirable to reach an agreement to end this dramatic conflict that,' Fitto added, 'not only creates conditions for questioning fundamental principles and values, from a democratic point of view, but also has a very negative impact as a consequential effect on many aspects that also affect the everyday life of European citizens.

NATO will soon deploy a new US anti-drone system in Romania to intercept drones over the Danube Delta, said US General Christopher Donahue, commander of US forces in Europe and Africa and commander of NATO land forces.

"We have created a new system capable of shooting down these unmanned aircraft. We have already started implementing a capability that will prevent these drones from violating our airspace. This system has been tested and is in the final stage of implementation, you will see it very soon in the Danube Delta,' said Donahue, quoted by Radio Romania.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called statements that the situation in Ukraine was close to a peace agreement 'premature'. "It is too early to say," his words reported by Tass. Peskov - at the same time - confirmed that 'there are contacts' ongoing between Russia and the US.

Russian presidential foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov announced that Vladimir Putin will receive US presidential envoy Steve Whitkoff during his visit to Russia. "Most likely it will be the president who will receive him," Ushakov said. Interfax reports.

The war in Ukraine could end by the end of 2025. But the end of the war and any 'peace plan' will not change the fact that Russia will continue to pose a serious threat to Europe. This was argued by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in an interview with the Pais. Rutte noted that the war in Ukraine could be over by the end of 2025 and that he wants to 'do everything possible' to help US President Donald Trump 'make peace in Ukraine a reality'. "I fully share Trump's vision: this carnage must end," he said.

Russia did not discuss the details of Donald Trump's plan for peace in Ukraine with the US during talks in Abu Dhabi. Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser, told Tass, adding that several points of the plan require "serious analysis". Washington and Moscow are in contact, Ushakov added, but there have been no serious discussions "at the negotiating table" yet.

Ukraine: von der Leyen, legitimising new borders opens the door to new wars

Brussels, 26 Nov (LaPresse) - "We know that Russia's mentality has not changed since Yalta, when it saw our continent in terms of spheres of influence. So we must be clear that there can be no unilateral partition of a sovereign European nation and that borders cannot be changed by force. If we legitimise and formalise the weakening of borders today, we open the door to new wars tomorrow, and we cannot allow that to happen'. This was stated by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech to the plenary of the European Parliament on the Ukraine peace plan.

'Every time peace approaches from Moscow comes the escalation, new raids: for Russia, Ukraine is just one step in a larger design. For us, on the other hand, it is about ensuring a strong security structure for the whole of Europe, for a strong NATO". This was said by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at the Strasbourg plenary about the European position on the peace plan in Ukraine. "A just and lasting peace is what we all want, that is why we support it together".

The European media and politicians are trying to obstruct a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today, commenting on recent media publications about US President Donald Trump's plan and statements by European politicians.

"It's not about scoring points. It is not about strengthening one's position by attracting the masses. It is about, firstly, obstructing a political and diplomatic solution and, secondly, manipulating the situation for one's own purposes. But manipulating the situation, according to point 1, means completely obstructing any possibility of a political and diplomatic solution,' Zakharova told Sputnik Radio.

US President Donald Trump has said that there is no fixed deadline for concluding a peace agreement with Ukraine, but that progress is being made in talks with Moscow and Kiev.

Earlier this month, Trump stated that his administration considers 27 November, or Thanksgiving Day, an appropriate deadline for Kiev to accept the US-proposed peace plan to end the conflict with Russia.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Moscow next week, Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov said today.

"As for Witkoff, I can say that a preliminary agreement has been reached for his visit to Moscow next week. He and several other administration officials involved in Ukrainian affairs," Ushakov told broadcaster Rossiya 1.

"The media hype around US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Ukraine has been overblown because the escalation of the crisis has not gone according to the plans of a certain part of the international community." This was stated - as reported by Tass - by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova during an interview with Sputnik radio. "Their plan, apparently, included an escalation of the crisis, even greater global corruption, the killing of as many people as possible. The West, by staging political-diplomatic spectacles, seeks, firstly, to obstruct the political-diplomatic resolution and, secondly, to manipulate the situation to its own advantage,' the diplomat concluded.

La portavoce del Ministero degli Esteri russo, Maria Zakharova. EPA/RAMIL SITDIKOV/REUTERS / POOL / POOL

US President Donald Trump has defended envoy Steve Witkoff after the Bloomberg news agency released a transcript of his 14 October phone call with Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov (read ndr below), which shows that Witkoff gave advice on how the Russian leader should present the Ukraine plan to Trump. According to the tycoon, Witkoff's approach to the Russians during the phone call is 'standard' negotiating procedure. "He has to sell this plan to Ukraine. And he's got to sell Ukraine to Russia," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to his Florida home in the local evening on Tuesday. "That's what a negotiator does," he added. In contrast, a Republican congressman from Nebraska, Don Bacon, who criticises Trump's approach on Ukraine, said that the transcript released by Bloomberg, which has not been denied by the White House, shows that Witkoff favours the Russians. "He cannot be trusted to conduct these negotiations. Would an agent paid by Russia do less than him? He should be fired," Bacon said on social media.

A Russian night attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia left 18 people wounded - 12 women and six men. This was reported on Telegram by the governor of the Zaporizhia oblast, Ivan Fedorov, pointing out that seven residential buildings were damaged. Emergency service doctors are operating on the scene to provide treatment to the injured. Damage also occurred to a dormitory, a shop, a petrol station and a business.

The Russians are making concessions to get to the end of the conflict in Ukraine: Donald Trump said. "Well, they are making concessions. Their big concession is that they stop fighting and don't take any more land," Trump explained.

The tycoon suggested that some of the critical points in the negotiations centre on territory, "If you try to clean up the border, you can't go through the middle of a house. You can't go through the middle of a highway. So, they are trying to find a solution, it is a complicated process,' he noted.

Every day, tragic news arrives from Ukraine about the suffering of the population that, despite this, continues to show courage and resilience in the face of Russia's crimes. Any credible prospect of an end to Russia's war of aggression is welcome. But a lasting cessation of fighting must not come at any cost, especially if that cost is impunity for those who committed the crime of aggression and other crimes under international law, or a compromise with the fundamental principles of a law-based order'. So says Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard on discussions about a US-sponsored peace plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

"We urge those who are negotiating," says Amnesty International's Secretary General, "to ensure that human rights and justice for the victims will be at the heart of any agreement. No one should suffer as a result of further human rights violations arising from a peace agreement. All human rights violations must stop now and the suffering of the victims must be redressed".

Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly advised an adviser to Vladimir Putin on how to talk to the US president about the conflict in Ukraine. This is according to a telephone conversation revealed by Bloomberg.

The American news agency has in fact published the transcript of an exchange that took place on 14 October between the former businessman and Yuri Ushakov, the Russian president's diplomatic advisor, in which a future plan for resolving the conflict in Ukraine, inspired by the one announced shortly before to end the war in Gaza, is discussed.

"The closer we get to peace, the more desperate the warmongers become". Kirill Dmitriev, special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin and one of the architects of the US-Russian plan to end the war in Ukraine, wrote this on X.