Read the daily news to learn English

French winemakers ‘battle for survival’ as minister prepares for crisis talks

French winemakers are often accused of viewing the glass as half empty. Dire warnings about the state of the sector – one of the three pillars of the country’s economy – are a hardy perennial blamed on everything from geopolitics to a drop in the number of drinkers. Before a crisis meeting with the agriculture minister on Monday, vineyard owners say an unprecedented series of setbacks, including some of the worst harvests in 70 years, has left many of them on their last legs. Jean-Marie Fabre, the president of the independent winemakers’ syndicate, said urgent action was needed to save up to a fifth of the country’s winegrowers. “They are putting their final efforts into this battle for survival. The situation is dramatic and the government has to do something,” Fabre said. “We cannot imagine that this sector that is so important for France will be abandoned, but if the government doesn’t act then it is saying the wine and spirits industry is no longer important, which would be hard to believe. It would be like the German government saying it no longer cares about its car industry.” Several thousand winegrowers turned up to a protest last weekend in the southern city of Béziers, calling on the government to come up with a rescue package to compensate for harvests hit by bad weather, rising costs and falling sales. Earlier this month the ministry of agriculture predicted this year’s production would 3.6bn litres, the same as in 2024, which was also deemed a disastrous year. Fabre said winemakers had been hit by a series of setbacks outside their control over the last five years that had weakened their businesses to the point of collapse. They were the 15% tariffs imposed on imports of wine and spirits by the US president, Donald Trump, the Covid crisis, harvests decimated by heatwaves and hail, Russia’s war in Ukraine increasing costs by a third and a dramatic slump in sales at home and abroad. A year ago, Bordeaux’s grand cru wine exports to China fell to their lowest in a decade. According to a report by the Bordeaux wine council earlier this year, exports of the region’s wine to China have halved since 2017. In July, China also imposed a 32.2% customs tax on many imports of wine-based spirits from the European Union. Only three major French companies, LVMH, Pernod Ricard and Rémy Cointreau were exempted from the duty. Damien Onorre, the president of the Aude winegrowers’ union, told Le Monde: “For three years, we have suffered droughts and heatwaves of over 40C. I have lost 50% of my production over this period. The Aude has seen its wine production almost halve to 2m hectolitres [200m litres] over the last three years.” Fabre met the agriculture minister, Annie Genevard, on 6 November to outline the industry’s demands and hopes these will result in measures at the crisis meeting on Monday. Among the winemakers’ demands is compensation for ripping up vines. Under a plan introduced last year, 27,000 hectares (67,000 acres) of vines have been uprooted at a compensation package of €4,000 (£3,500) per hectare and Fabre says another 35,000 hectares could go. In Bordeaux a similar scheme has seen 12,000 hectares of vines destroyed. The money would also be used to distill unsold wine into biofuel. The winegrowers also want to call on the European crisis reserve, which Portugal benefited from last year to fund a distillation programme, but French winegrowers say their appeal has gone unanswered. Le Monde reported a survey by FranceAgriMer, the national body overseeing food and drink production, that found 20% of French winegrowers were considering shutting their business, leading to the loss of up to 100,000 jobs. France’s wine and spirits industry has an estimated €92bn turnover a year and is one of the country’s three main industrial sectors, with aeronautics and luxury goods, directly or indirectly employing more than 440,000 people. The National Association for Agriculture Employment and Training described it as a “pillar of the economy and a source of jobs”. Monday’s meeting at the ministry comes on the eve of the International Exhibition of Equipment and Expertise for Wine Production to be held from Tuesday to Thursday in Montpellier. Fabre, a fourth generation wine grower in the small southern village of Fitou, near France’s border with Spain, produces 80,000 bottles a year at his Domaine de la Rochelierre. As the president of the independent winemakers’ association, he represents 17,000 members. “This is the last chance. People are in a fighting mood but getting to the end of their tether. They either get support or they will have to shut,” Fabre said. “We’ve never before had such a series of crisis as we’ve had over the last five years. It’s not because we’re not making good wine and it’s not due to one cause but our cash reserves are now depleted and without them we cannot survive.”

Polish PM says it would be ‘good to know’ who wrote plan to end war in Ukraine, amid concerns over Moscow involvement – live

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said in a fresh statement that Ukraine’s borders cannot be changed by force and that there should be no cap on the country’s armed forces that would leave it “vulnerable to future attack”. “Any credible and sustainable peace plan should first and foremost stop the killing and end the war, while not sowing the seeds for a future conflict,” she said in a statement. “Ukraine must have the freedom and sovereign right to choose its own destiny. They have chosen a European destiny.” The plan should also involve the country’s reconstruction, integration into the EU’s single market and eventually full membership in the bloc, von der Leyen said, adding that the “centrality” of the EU’s role must be “fully reflected” in any plan for Ukraine, amid fears that Europe has been largely sidelined from the process so far.

Gaza hospitals running out of supplies as airstrikes continue, medics say

Hospitals in Gaza are running out of essential supplies, with new waves of Israeli airstrikes killing more than 50 people and injuring more than 100 in recent days, medical and aid workers in the devastated Palestinian territory have said. Medics told the Guardian on Sunday that stocks of gauze, antiseptics, thermometers and antibiotics were running low. Mohammed Saqr, the director of nursing at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, said: “We are still suffering a severe lack of most of our supplies and medicines. We have daily crises, and the same shortages and deficiencies in supplies, and we are still exhausted as we are still receiving lots of casualties. “There isn’t much difference from the period before the ceasefire. Unfortunately, the bombing is still going on … We don’t feel there is a big change.” Humanitarian organisations have sent hundreds of tonnes of supplies into Gaza since the US-backed ceasefire came into effect last month but stocks of medicine and supplies remain insufficient. Joe Belliveau, the executive director of MedGlobal, a US-based NGO, speaking from al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza, said: “There are staff shortages, not enough ambulances … The whole health system is still on its knees, with critical shortages across the board.” Gaza’s health ministry has reported more than 300 deaths in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire, and medics say huge numbers of people are suffering the consequences of malnutrition, adverse weather conditions, a lack of shelter and new outbreaks of disease. The first stage of the ceasefire agreement, which led to a part withdrawal by Israel from about half of Gaza and the return of all living hostages held by Hamas, is now close to completion. The next stage, which received a boost when the UN security council endorsed Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza on Monday, calls for the creation of a committee of Palestinian technocrats to run the territory under the ultimate authority of the US president, and the deployment of an international stabilisation force. The continuing violence in Gaza has strained the ceasefire, though both sides say they are committed to the agreement. The office of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said five senior Hamas members were killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday, while health officials in Gaza reported at least 24 people killed and another 54 injured, including children. Analysts said Israel appeared to be using any alleged violation of the ceasefire to continue its effort to degrade Hamas’s military capabilities through killing its leaders. One of the Israeli strikes on Saturday targeted a vehicle, killing 11 people and injuring more than 20 in Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood, said Rami Mhanna, the managing director of al-Shifa hospital, where the casualties were taken. A strike targeting a house near al-Awda hospital in central Gaza killed at least three people and injured 11, while another strike on a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed three people, including a woman, medical officials said. “Suddenly, I heard a powerful explosion. I looked outside and saw smoke covering the entire area. I couldn’t see a thing. I covered my ears and started shouting to the others in the tent to run,” Khalil Abu Hatab in Deir al-Balah told the Associated Press. “When I looked again, I realised the upper floor of my neighbour’s house was gone,” Abu Hatab said. “It’s a fragile ceasefire. This is not a life we can live. There’s no safe place.” Many of the casualties were taken to Nasser hospital, the biggest of the 13 major health facilities that are still functioning in Gaza. Saqr said: “In the last attack we received 12 dead; among them were four children and two women. And among 24 injuries, 18 were women and children. We feel we are still in the war and no big difference. The situation is very hard.” The international medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières said its teams working in mobile clinics in Gaza City and Khan Younis treated at least six patients, including a 15-year-old and a 71-year-old man, with injuries caused by Israeli airstrikes and bullets. Israel’s military said it launched attacks after an “extreme violation” of the ceasefire involving an “armed terrorist” who crossed into an Israeli-held area and shot at troops in southern Gaza. It said no soldiers were hurt and that the alleged attacker had used a road on which humanitarian aid entered the territory. In other statements, the military said soldiers killed 11 militants in the Rafah area and detained six others who tried to flee through a tunnel. It said its forces killed two others who crossed into Israeli-held areas in northern Gaza and advanced toward soldiers. More food supplies are getting into Gaza since the October ceasefire but the amount is still falling short of the huge humanitarian needs as winter rains risk spoiling delivered foodstuffs, the UN World Food Programme said on Friday. Belliveau said: “We have seen malnutrition stabilise and that has really improved. The World Health Organization have had modest success getting medicine and medical supplies in but [MedGlobal] have two lorry loads that are stuck since 10 October waiting for permission from Israel.” Israel denies accusations it is deliberately obstructing aid, and accuses Hamas of stealing humanitarian assistance. Cogat, the Israeli ministry of defence agency that administers entry to Gaza, said last week: “Aid is flowing … Hundreds of trucks daily carrying food, medical equipment and shelter supplies.” The two-year war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 during a surprise attack into Israel in October 2023. The Islamist organisation is still holding the remains of three hostages. More than 69,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the ensuing Israeli offensive and in strikes since the ceasefire. The bodies of thousands more remain under the rubble.

Safe haven to sanctions: how Jersey sheltered Roman Abramovich’s billions

For decades the Channel Islands tax haven of Jersey has played a big role in moving fortunes made in some of the world’s most despotic countries into the west, attracting overseas oligarchs with a mix of low tax and high levels of financial secrecy. It is a secrecy that extends to Jersey’s relationship with the UK government. As a crown dependency, Jersey has its own parliament, but belongs to the king. The relationship between the two jurisdictions remains something of a black box, with very little public information on how the big decisions are made, or to what extent Westminster is consulted. That changed last week, when Jersey itself released the details of a two-year legal battle with Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire and former Chelsea football club proprietor. On Monday, after a gagging order was lifted, the Jersey royal courts began publishing a series of previously undisclosed judgments. Fifteen have been released so far, running to 370 pages. They reveal for the first time how, in 2016 and 2017, Abramovich and four of his closest associates were given safe harbour by the tax haven, which granted them residency under a special scheme for ultra-high net worth individuals. Abramovich’s application was approved in September 2017, the files show. It appears he approached Jersey about residency in the summer of that year. The oligarch was also granted permission by the Jersey government to relocate companies controlling the bulk of his fortune to the crown dependency, a five-mile-by-nine-mile swathe of green that sits just off the northern coast of France. Transfers of assets from his offshore network to Jersey took place in 2017, and again in 2021, months before Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine, when holdings worth $7bn (£5.3bn) were relocated, according to the judgments. In 2016, a company of which Abramovich was the ultimate beneficial owner was also granted a licence to operate in Jersey. The company’s name was anonymised but it appears to have been a family office, set up to manage his wealth. It advised on “philanthropic activities”, the acquisition of aircraft, yachts and cars, and investments in Europe and North America. The move was tacitly approved by the British government, the judgments suggest. The records show, in rarely shared detail, how London was extensively consulted on what was considered a politically sensitive matter involving a high-profile individual known for his close ties to Vladimir Putin’s regime. The judgments record at least seven background checks and four face-to-face meetings between officials in Jersey and London over several years. In none of these communications did UK officials raise objections, despite heightened sensitivity around Kremlin-linked figures after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The door remained open even after the diplomatic storm triggered by the 2018 Salisbury poisonings, a botched assassination attempt on a double agent and his daughter by Russian operatives. It was not until Russia’s assault on Kyiv that the tide turned against Abramovich, the judgments suggest. In April 2022 Jersey authorities froze $7bn of assets suspected of having been connected to him, and searched a number of premises on the island. The oligarch had by then been placed on the UK and Jersey sanctions lists. In January 2023, a court ruling revealed the raids were part of a criminal investigation by the Jersey attorney general into suspected money laundering and breaches of sanctions. It has since emerged that the money laundering investigation is focused on whether Abramovich obtained his wealth through corruption, while he was building his oil and gas business, Sibneft, during the 1990s, in Russia’s newly privatised economy. The claims rely on evidence Abramovich himself gave in a 2012 court case in London. His lawyers have denied he was involved in corruption, and they have claimed the decision to investigate him is politically motivated. A lawyer from one of the corporate entities set up to manage his wealth says the oligarch was “encouraged” to bring his assets to Jersey, and that what followed after the invasion of Ukraine was a case of “state-engendered entrapment”. In a legal fightback which began in 2023, Abramovich and associated parties have sought to overturn the asset freeze, the judgments show. Jersey’s court of appeal ruled against them this summer. In a second and more unusual case, which was also rejected by the island’s court of appeal, Abramovich sued for judicial review of the attorney general’s decision to investigate him. The move was an attempt to shut down the investigation before any charges had been brought. The rulings have been anonymised and redacted to protect the identity of Abramovich’s associates, after judges decided they had a right to privacy. The names of the companies they managed have also been removed to prevent identification. The main cases and other related disputes were originally heard in private, and the judgments left unpublished until all routes for appeal had been exhausted. Last week, Abramovich’s bid to have the Jersey court decisions overturned was rejected by the judicial committee of the privy council, bringing an end to this particular battle. One of the main levers through which the British government continues to exert influence over its colonies, the committee, which normally sits in Parliament Square in London, acts as a supreme court for the UK’s overseas territories, crown dependencies and some commonwealth countries. A ‘reputational risk’ to Jersey The decision to allow Abramovich to move his wealth to Jersey was not taken lightly. Barry Faudemer, the former head of enforcement at the Jersey Financial Services Commission, clearly had concerns. A report he prepared for ministers in late 2016, quoted in the judgments, claimed: “Abramovich’s close association with Putin raises a reputational risk to the island, particularly given the increasing perception of Russia as a rogue state intent on the use of military action to achieve its goals.” He also expressed fears that Abramovich could use a Jersey-registered company “to launder the proceeds of corruption on behalf of third parties including Putin. The island will have no oversight of the activities of the company (unregulated)”. On the other hand, Faudemer said, Abramovich already had “extensive business interests in the island”, he already had homes in the UK and US, and he had “successfully operated in the UK for many years as the owner of Chelsea football club without incident”. “Identifying evidence sufficient to support a refusal to grant a licence is likely to be problematic,” he concluded. In May 2016, a first approach about residency was made by an associate of Abramovich, who is anonymised in the judgments as XB. It was made clear that Jersey had much to gain. “These approvals were given in the knowledge that, if they were granted, [Abramovich’s] substantial wealth would be migrated to Jersey with all the financial benefits which that would bring to the island,” one judgment states, summarising the case put forward by the oligarch. Jersey’s ministers were keen to make it work, but they wanted to proceed with care. A back channel was opened between St Helier and London. Robert MacRae, then Jersey’s attorney general, approached a contact in the directorate of national security at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), as it was then known. Over the following months, as each residency application was submitted, UK officials ran checks on Abramovich and all but one of his associates, making sure they were not under investigation by any law enforcement agency. After the Salisbury poisonings, all the checks were redone, again via the FCO. In February 2019 the checks on Abramovich were repeated, with Jersey officials concerned about a “hardening of attitudes towards those with Russian connections”. There are accounts of four face-to-face meetings between UK and Jersey officials, including one between Faudermer and the UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). After each of the checks detailed in the judgment, the FCO official gave the all-clear. They also expressed an interest in continuing to receive information about those wanting Jersey residence. One email sent by the FCO official about Abramovich read: “On RA – we have no significant concerns, issues or adverse traces on this [redacted]. He in particular has a large footprint but not of significant concern or investigation. The information itself however is very helpful in building a wider picture of activity in this space and subject matter however.” No political objections from London MacRae also told officials in his own government that there were no political objections from London to opening the door to Abramovich and his billions. In a note written to the attorney general, a Jersey government official recorded: “I noted from our brief conversation the following: • You have undertaken appropriate and extensive enquiries. • As a result you have confirmed that there is insufficient evidence to prevent this application from proceeding; and that should there have been sufficient evidence the matter would have been referred to senior ministerial level within the UK government.” According to the judgments, Abramovich never took up residence in Jersey. In 2018 he secured Israeli citizenship. Abramovich is now pursuing a claim of “conspiracy” against the Jersey government. His lawyers said no charges have been brought against Abramovich since the commencement of the Jersey investigation over three years ago and there are no criminal proceedings in the jurisdiction involving him. In a statement last week they said that to their knowledge, “no progress has been made” on the attorney general’s investigation. His lawyers stressed that in the published judgments, the judges had not been required to rule on whether there had been any corruption or admission of corruption by Abramovich regarding his dealings at Sibneft, and that they had not reached any conclusions on this matter. They said the UK courts had in 2012 made no finding that Abramovich broke any law in respect of his business dealings. “There was no suggestion in our client’s defence that his acquisition of the relevant entity was achieved through corruption, and our client denies these allegations.” A spokesperson for Jersey’s attorney general welcomed the privy council’s decision, adding: “The investigation by the Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit in the Law Officers’ Department in relation to Mr Abramovich and others remains live.”

Trump says Ukraine deal is not ‘final offer’ as officials gather for Geneva summit

Donald Trump said on Saturday that his “peace plan” was “not my final offer”, after a furious backlash from Ukrainians who described it as reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 Munich agreement with Adolf Hitler. The US president told reporters during brief remarks at the White House: “We’d like to get to peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we’re trying to get it ended, one way or the other we have to get it ended.” Ukrainian and American officials will meet in Switzerland on Sunday for talks to discuss the plan. Security officials from France, Britain and Germany are expected to join them in Geneva. In the build-up to the talks, the US state department disputed claims by US senators from across the political spectrum that secretary of state Marco Rubio had told them the proposal “was not the administration’s plan” but a “wish list of the Russians”. The claim, made by figures including the independent senator Angus King, a member of the Senate foreign relations committee, was “blatantly false”, said US state department deputy spokesman Tommy Piggott. Rubio later said in a post that the proposal was authored by the US “as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations” and was based on input from both sides. Trump has given Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign the 28-point document. It calls on Kyiv to give up territory it currently controls to Russia, reduce the size of its army and relinquish long-range weapons. It also rules out a European peacekeeping force and sanctions for Russian war crimes. In a sombre address on Friday, Zelenskyy warned his country faces an impossible choice over the coming days between keeping its national dignity and losing a major partner in the shape of the US. It faces one of the most difficult moments in its history, he admitted. Speaking on Saturday, Zelenskyy said real or “dignified” peace was always based on “guaranteed security and justice”. He announced a negotiating team, appointed by presidential decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Geneva, led by his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. Another member of the Ukrainian delegation, former defence minister and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, said there would be consultations with Washington “on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement”. Hinting at red lines, Umerov added: “Ukraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests. This is another stage of the dialogue that has been ongoing in recent days and is primarily aimed at aligning our vision for the next steps.” Zelenskyy has sought to engage constructively with a White House seemingly determined to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has made clear he cannot give up Ukraine’s sovereignty or abandon a constitution that enshrines the country’s current borders. At a meeting in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council issued a joint statement pushing back on Trump’s plan, saying it needs “additional work”. It said EU and Nato members would need to be consulted on some of its provisions, which rule out Kyiv’s Nato membership and put conditions on its future EU accession. Ukrainian reaction to the text, drawn up by Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Trump’s representative, Steve Witkoff, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Commentators said it was a blueprint for another Russian invasion: not only of Ukraine but of other parts of Europe as well. Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and politician who led Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, said it invited parallels with Chamberlain’s infamous Munich deal with Hitler. Trump’s peace plan came from the same “recognisable genre”, with the victim invited “to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier”. In a Facebook post Nayyem said he was outraged by its “full” amnesty for Russian war crimes. It was an insult to people who had hidden in basements in Bucha or Mariupol – where Russian troops executed hundreds of civilians – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russia, he said. “A rather cynical agreement,” he concluded. Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Zarayskyi, 21, said Russia had been trying to control Ukraine politically and territorially “for years”. It conceded “barely anything” in the Trump agreement and continued to keep its forces on Ukrainian soil. “I think the deal is an attempt to break Ukraine and force unjust conditions on us,” he said. If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals Kyiv would be forced to give up its freedoms, he said. If it didn’t the US would most likely break off cooperation and intelligence sharing, a crucial source of battlefield information for frontline Ukrainian troops. “There is no good way out of this for now,” he remarked. Another passenger, 19-year-old Sofia Barchan, said Ukraine would “keep strong” without American support. “We will fight for as long as it takes. Our territory will remain our territory, including Crimea and the east. It belongs to Ukraine.” She said Zelenskyy was a “smart person” and predicted he would not give up Ukrainian land. Speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Olena Ivanovna said she was grateful to Trump for his peace-making efforts. She said Ukraine should be ready to give away Crimea and the eastern Donbas region temporarily if it meant keeping America as a partner. “President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people,” she said. Previous European leaders have roundly condemned the plan. Finland’s former prime minister Sanna Marin called it a catastrophe, not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians but for “all of the democratic world”. She said if the west showed weakness and ignorance – as it did in 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea – “more aggression and conflicts” would follow. The former prime minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, quoted Churchill’s definition of an appeaser as “one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”. He added: “Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe must choose again: appeasement or our values, imperialism or freedom. Another moment of truth for our [European] union.”

Ukraine war briefing: Macron says without deterrence in Ukraine plan, ‘Russians will come back’

Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that Russia would “betray” its promise and “come back” if Ukraine was forced to reduce its army, as proposed under Donald Trump’s plan. The French president was among European leaders meeting at a G20 summit in South Africa who have pushed back at the one-sided plan by Trump that aims to end the war in Ukraine: “We know that if there are no elements of deterrence, the Russians will come back and break their promises,” Macron told journalists. He also said any plan “requires broader consultation” and had to allow for peace for Ukrainians and “security for all Europeans”. Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, Donald Trump said the US proposal was not his “final offer”. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended,” the US president said. US senators critical of the plan said Saturday that US secretary of state Marco Rubio told them the peace plan Trump is pushing Kyiv to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians. Rubio later insisted the proposal was authored by Washington “as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations”. Ukrainian and American officials will meet in Switzerland on Sunday for talks to discuss the plan, after Washington sent Kyiv the plan. It calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and renounce ambitions to join Nato. It also contains some proposals Moscow may object to and requires its forces to pull back from some areas they have captured, according to a draft seen by Reuters. The US proposal “is a basis which will require additional work”, western leaders said on Saturday at the G20 summit, marked by the absence of Trump. The leaders of key European countries as well as Canada and Japan said in a joint statement: “We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force. We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.” Ukraine said on Saturday that Russian forces had attempted without success to advance to the central part of the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk by taking advantage of fog. “However, these actions were unsuccessful, and the enemy is being eliminated in the urban area,” Ukraine’s general staff wrote on Telegram. US officials have told Nato allies they expect to push Volodymyr Zelenskyy into agreeing to a peace deal in the coming days, under the threat that if Kyiv does not sign, it will face a much worse deal in future. US army secretary Dan Driscoll briefed ambassadors from Nato nations at a meeting in Kyiv late on Friday, after talks with Zelenskyy. “No deal is perfect, but it must be done sooner rather than later,” he told them, according to one person who was present. Speaking on Saturday, Zelenskyy said real or “dignified” peace was always based on “guaranteed security and justice”. He announced a negotiating team that would soon meet its US counterparts in Geneva, led by his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. He also announced talks with Ukraine’s partners on steps to end the war, reports Reuters. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had made clear in a phone call to Trump that Europe needs to be a part of any process to end the war in Ukraine. “If Ukraine loses this war and possibly collapses, it will have an impact on European politics as a whole, on the entire European continent. And that is why we are so committed to this issue,” Merz said. Leaders of eight Nordic and Baltic nations on Saturday reaffirmed their support for Kyiv by supplying arms while strengthening Europe’s defences to deter further Russian aggression. In a joint statement, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden said: “Russia has so far not committed to a ceasefire or any steps leading to peace.” It added: “Solutions that respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and that will bring Ukraine and Europe greater security and stability have our full support.” Polish president Karol Nawrocki earlier said any peace plan for Ukraine must be accepted in Kyiv. Ukraine said it had received 31 civilians on Saturday who had been freed from jail in Belarus, Kyiv’s prisoner exchange coordination committee said on the Telegram messaging app. UK prime minister Keir Starmer will not visit Washington next week, it is understood, amid reports that European leaders are considering visiting Donald Trump to discuss his plan, reports the PA news agency. The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday that its forces had captured two villages in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack targeted energy facilities in Russia’s Samara region, killing two people in the southern city of Syzran, the region’s governor said on Saturday.

Western leaders at G20 say US peace plan for Ukraine ‘will require work’

Western leaders have said the US peace plan for ending the war in Ukraine “will require additional work” at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, which Donald Trump boycotted. The draft plan, which was leaked this week, endorsed some of Russia’s demands, such as handing over areas of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, limiting its military, and relinquishing its ambitions to join Nato. Washington has given Kyiv a deadline of Thursday to respond. European leaders met on the sidelines of the summit to discuss their response to the plan. In a joint statement they said the draft “includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace”, but it is “a basis which will require additional work”. They were clear that “borders must not be changed by force”. They added that any elements relating to the EU and Nato would need their agreement, and that they “are ready to engage in order to ensure that a future peace is sustainable”. The statement was signed by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, Norway, and of the EU, as well as the prime ministers of Canada and Japan. Ukraine and the US will meet in Switzerland in the coming days to discuss Washington’s plan, a Ukrainian official wrote on social media. Speaking to reporters at the summit in Johannesburg, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the leaders were concerned about the US proposals to cap Ukraine’s military “because it’s fundamental that Ukraine has to be able to defend itself if there’s a ceasefire”. He described the Ukraine meeting on the sidelines of the summit as being between “mainly allies from the coalition of the willing” and repeated that “the consensus was that there are elements in the 28-point plan which are essential to lasting peace but it requires additional work, and we are going to engage on that”. Later on Saturday No 10 said Starmer had spoken to Trump on the phone and agreed their teams would work together on the peace plan during talks in Geneva. The call came after Starmer spoke to Zelenskyy and reiterated the UK’s “steadfast support” for Kyiv. US, Ukrainian and European national security advisers were due to gather in Switzerland on Sunday to “go through quite a bit of detail” of the framework, the prime minister said. More broadly, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, called into question the efficacy of the G20, saying that the group of the world’s biggest economies is “at risk” because of its inability to find common ground and resolve major crises. “The G20 may be coming to the end of a cycle,” warned the French leader. “We are living in a moment of geopolitics in which we are struggling to resolve major crises together around this table, including with members who are not present today.” Washington boycotted the gathering of world leaders in South Africa over several issues, including the widely discredited claim that the host country’s white minority are the victims of large-scale killings. The South African government has strenuously denied these allegations. Macron said the 19 countries were struggling to find consensus on issues such as humanitarian law and sovereignty. He pointed specifically to the US unilateral peace plan, and reiterated that “there can be no peace in Ukraine without Ukrainians, without respect for their sovereignty”. Macron said world leaders needed to recognise that “the G20 is at risk if we do not collectively re-engage around a few priorities”. He added: “We must absolutely demonstrate that we have concrete actions to re-engage this forum and provide responses for our economies collectively around this table.” Starmer agreed, saying the “road ahead is tough” but that “we need to find ways to play a constructive role again today in the face of the world challenges”. Although peace in Ukraine was the main focus, the G20 leaders also called for peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and in occupied Palestinian territory. There were concerns before the summit that Trump’s absence, alongside several other leaders including from Russia and China, would risk undermining the credibility of the G20 meeting, the first to take place on the African continent. But the summit’s host, President Cyril Ramaphosa, argued the group remained crucial for international cooperation. “The G20 underscores the value of the relevance of multilateralism. It recognises that the challenges that we face can only be resolved through cooperation, collaboration and partnership,” he said. The US will assume the G20 presidency in 2026, followed by the UK in 2027.

Jair Bolsonaro arrested after tampering with ankle tag ‘out of curiosity’

Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he tried to damage his electronic ankle monitor “out of curiosity” after he was arrested at his villa owing to suspicions he was poised to abscond. In a video released by the supreme court, Bolsonaro – who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for masterminding a military coup – can be heard admitting to a security official that he had used a soldering iron to tamper with the black tag. The video showed the device badly damaged and burned on both sides, but still attached to his ankle. Bolsonaro was arrested shortly after 6am on Saturday by federal police after a supreme court judge issued a preventive arrest warrant because he was poised to flee to a foreign embassy. The 70-year-old politician was taken to a federal police base, seven miles from the presidential palace he occupied from 2019 to 2022, when he lost the election and tried to launch a military coup. The arrest of Bolsonaro, who had been living under house arrest in the capital, Brasília, since August, was ordered by the supreme court justice, Alexandre de Moraes, as a result of fears the former president might make a run for one of Brasília’s many diplomatic compounds to avoid punishment for the failed power grab. In September, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison over a scheme to stop the 2022 election winner, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, taking office. However, the court has yet to order Bolsonaro’s imprisonment for those crimes while a series of legal procedures and appeals play out. Amid growing speculation that Bolsonaro would be imprisoned in the coming days, supporters had been planning to hold a “vigil” on Saturday night outside the luxury condominium where their leader has been living under house arrest. The protest had been called by Bolsonaro’s senator son, Flávio Bolsonaro, in a social media video: “Are you going to fight for your country or are you going to watch everything on your mobile phone while sitting at home on your sofa?” He invited Bolsonaristas to “come and fight with us”. In his ruling ordering Bolsonaro’s arrest on Saturday morning, Moraes said it was possible the vigil could be used as a diversion to help the former president escape to a foreign embassy. Adding to those suspicions, Moraes said Bolsonaro’s electronic ankle monitor had been tampered with at 12.08am on Saturday. That suggested “the convict had planned to break the ankle monitor in order to ensure the success of his escape, aided by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son”. Moraes noted how Bolsonaro, who counts the US president, Donald Trump, among his international allies, lived about 15 minutes from the US embassy. In August, Bolsonaro was accused of seeking asylum in Argentina, where another rightwing ally, Javier Milei, holds power. In 2024, Bolsonaro mysteriously spent two nights inside the embassy of Hungary. Speculation that Bolsonaro’s arrest was imminent had reached fever pitch in recent days as allies voiced outrage at the prospect of the former president being sent to a maximum security prison in Brasilía called Papuda. Lula supporters have voiced satisfaction that the ex-president appeared jail bound. “The message to Brazil, and to the world, is that crime doesn’t pay,” said Reimont Otoni, a Workers’ party (PT) congressman, noting how Bolsonaro’s plot included a conspiracy to assassinate Lula. Bolsonaro’s evangelical wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, responded to her husband’s arrest by posting an excerpt from Psalm 121 on social media. “The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore,” it said. Congressman Sóstenes Cavalcante, one of Bolsonaro’s closest allies, called the arrest “the biggest [act of] political persecution in Brazilian history”. Bolsonaro’s lawyers voiced “profound perplexity” at their client’s detention in a sparsely decorated 12 sq metre police bedroom and vowed to appeal against a decision they claimed would put the former president’s life at risk, given his “delicate” health. Talíria Petrone, a leftwing congresswoman from Rio, captured the joy among progressives, as Bolsonaro’s detractors were filmed opening bottles of sparkling wine and setting off fireworks outside the federal police HQ. “Today the alarm clock sounded different: it was the news of Bolsonaro’s arrest illuminating the morning,” she tweeted, adding: “Brazil smiles. A wonderful day.” Petra Costa, a film-maker and the director of documentaries about Bolsonaro’s attacks on Brazilian democracy, was also celebrating. “Brazil just succeeded where America failed. Bringing a former president who assaulted democracy to justice,” she wrote on Facebook.