Putin says US peace plan could form basis for end to Ukraine war – as it happened

If you’re just joining us, here’s a summary of key moments of the day so far:

• Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said that a draft peace plan proposed by the US could become the basis of future agreements, but it still needed some further work. But in a sign that he may not quite be that keen on nuanced give-and-take negotiations with Ukraine, he suggested that once Ukrainian troops withdraw from their positions in key areas, then the fighting will stop, but that if they do not then Russian forces will achieve their objectives by force.

• Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Ukrainian membership of Nato would be unacceptable, as she blamed the alliance for trying to draw Ukraine into its structure and pose a threat against Russia, Reuters reported.

• Italy’s defence minister said that it will become clear in the next weeks if Russian president Vladimir Putin has any interest in making peace with Ukraine, and that the war was costing Russia dearly, despite its increase in defence spending. Guido Crosetto, a co-founder of right-wing premier Giorgia Meloni’s ruling party, also said European countries should not ignore the importance of Russia, as well as Ukraine, moving away from a war economy to normal activity once the conflict ends.

• France will introduce voluntary military service aimed mainly at young people aged 18 and 19 as concerns grow across Europe about the threat from Russia.

• Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Ukraine will need strong armed forces and security guarantees after any peace deal with Russia is agreed and Kyiv should not be forced to surrender territory.

• The Danish government has set up a “night watch” in the foreign ministry, reminiscent of the Night’s Watch of Game of Thrones, to monitor Donald Trump’s pronouncements and movements while Copenhagen sleeps. The position is understood to have to been introduced in the aftermath of the diplomatic row between Copenhagen and Washington over Greenland this spring, when the US president threatened to take control of the Arctic island.

• Any peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine that includes an amnesty for war crimes could encourage other authoritarian leaders to attack their neighbours, Ukraine’s only Nobel peace prize winner has warned. Oleksandra Matviichuk said the leaked 28-point US-Russia plan did not account for “the human dimension” and she supported president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s efforts to rewrite it in dialogue with White House.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has sent his best wishes to US president Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, on Thanksgiving. In what appears to be a pretty direct response to Trump’s recent criticism that Ukraine has not shown enough gratitude, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainians “deeply appreciate all the support, which has saved so many lives in Ukraine and helps us defend our independence each day.”

Elsewhere, European nations agreed to increase spending on space over the next three years by about 30% to €22.1bn, part of an effort to try to catch up to the US, China and private firms zooming ahead in the space race, Reuters noted.

The European Space Agency had asked its 23 nations to provide money to fund launches, satellites and other research programmes for the next three years, up from €16.9bn in 2023-2025.

The new funding agreement highlights the importance of space, including as a rapidly growing economic sector and for security and defence purposes, he said.

in Paris

France is to introduce voluntary military service of 10 months aimed mainly at young people aged 18 and 19, as concern grows in Europe about the threat from Russia.

In a speech to troops in Varces-Allières-et-Risset in the French Alps, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said the service would begin by mid-2026 and help France respond to “accelerating threats” on the global stage.

Almost 30 years after France scrapped conscription, Macron said he would not go back on that decision, but added: “We need mobilisation.”

“France cannot remain idle,” Macron said. He believed French youth had a “thirst for engagement”, saying there was a young generation “ready to stand up” for their nation.

Under the new military service, men and women, mostly aged 18 and 19, could volunteer to sign up for 10 months. They would be paid a minimum of €800 (£700) per month and receive food and accommodation, as well as a 75% discount on rail travel. They would be deployed “only on national soil”, Macron said.

A minority with specific qualifications, for example in engineering or medical skills, could be aged up to 25.

The president’s announcement comes after controversy over comments from Gen Fabien Mandon, France’s armed forces chief, who last week caused uproar when he said France needed to steel itself for possible future losses against Russian aggression.

“What we lack ... is the strength of character to accept suffering in order to protect who we are,” Mandon said, adding France must “accept losing its children”.

Ukraine will need strong armed forces and security guarantees after any peace deal with Russia is agreed and Kyiv should not be forced to surrender territory, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said at a press conference with his Estonian counterpart.

“Ukraine needs strong armed forces, and if a peace agreement is reached ... Ukraine will continue to need strong armed forces and reliable security guarantees from its partners,” said Merz, according to a Reuters report.

The most important guarantee, he said, was a well-equipped Ukrainian army.

“That is why we are also discussing the future target size of the Ukrainian army,” Merz said, adding it was too early to discuss any deployment of international troops.

Italy’s defence minister said that it will become clear in the next weeks if Russian President Vladimir Putin has any interest in making peace with Ukraine, and that the war was costing Russia dearly, despite its increase in defence spending, AFP reported.

Guido Crosetto, a co-founder of right-wing premier Giorgia Meloni’s ruling party, also said European countries should not ignore the importance of Russia, as well as Ukraine, moving away from a war economy to normal activity once the conflict ends.

“We hope that this time Russia will truly want to sit down at the table and negotiate. Looking at what’s happening, I’m not optimistic,” he said, noting that Russia was still recruiting troops and boosting defence investment.

He also cautioned that Europe, as well as helping Ukraine rebuild, should not turn a blind eye to Russia’s postwar transition or else risk a resumption of conflict.

“Remember what happened in Europe when, after the first world war, veterans returned home and created the conditions for the rise of nazism and fascism,” he said, referring to the rise of dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Russian affairs reporter

Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the outline of a draft peace plan discussed by the United States and Ukraine could serve as a basis for future negotiations to end the war, but insisted that Ukraine would have to surrender territory for any deal to be possible.

“In general, we agree that this can be the basis for future agreements,” Putin said, noting that the version of the plan discussed by Washington and Kyiv in Geneva had been shared with Moscow. “We see that the American side takes our position into account in some areas,” he added. “But in other points, we clearly need to sit down and talk.”

The Russian president’s largely hard line remarks suggested that, despite White House optimism, there is little sign of movement on the core sticking points needed to end the war.

Speaking to reporters during a working visit to Kyrgyzstan, Putin said Russia would halt its offensive only if Ukrainian forces withdrew from unspecified areas currently under Kyiv’s control.

“If Ukrainian troops leave the territories they occupy, then we will stop fighting,” he said. “If they don’t, we will achieve our aims militarily.”

He also repeated his claim that Ukraine’s leadership is “illegitimate”, arguing that this made it legally impossible to sign a binding agreement with Kyiv and that any future settlement would require broader international recognition.

Putin confirmed that US special envoy Steve Witkoff would travel to Russia early next week, and dismissed accusations that Witkoff had shown bias towards Moscow during peace discussions, calling them “nonsense”.

Witkoff, a longtime Trump business associate and property developer, has faced criticism in Europe and the US after a leaked phone call revealed him advising a senior Kremlin aide on how Putin should handle negotiations with Trump.

Russia’s recent negotiating tactics echo those it has used since Trump’s re-election: the Kremlin signals a willingness to explore potential peace deals, while showing no inclination to retreat from its maximalist demands – most of which are viewed in Kyiv as unacceptable and tantamount to capitulation.

“I see nothing at the moment that would force Putin to recalculate his goals or abandon his core demands,” Tatnaya Stanovaya, an independent Rusisan political analyst, wrote on X.

“Putin feels more confident than ever about the battlefield situation and is convinced that he can wait until Kyiv finally accepts that it cannot win and must negotiate on Russia’s well-known terms,” the analyst added.

Several of those terms appeared in the original 28-point plan developed by US and Russian officials and leaked last week.

They would require Ukraine to voluntarily cede territory that Moscow has failed to seize militarily. Kyiv would also be expected to accept reductions or a halt to US military assistance, while any future deployment of western troops to Ukraine – including those envisioned under the Franco-British “coalition of the willing” – would be explicitly banned.

We are getting some news lines from Reuters as Russia’s president Vladimir Putin was speaking in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he said that a draft peace plan proposed by the US could become the basis of future agreements, but it still needed some further work.

But in a sign that he may not quite be that keen on nuanced give-and-take negotiations with Ukraine, he suggested that once Ukrainian troops withdraw from their positions in key areas, then the fighting will stop, but that if they do not then Russian forces will achieve their objectives by force.

He also described the Ukrainian leadership as illegitimate and therefore not in a position to sign any peace deal. He also repeated his demand for the international community to recognise Russian gains in Ukraine, a strict red line for Kyiv.

Putin also said he was surprised by US sanctions against Russian oil companies, and argued they were destroying the country’s relations with the US.

In a pointed warning to Europe, he also said that any move to confiscate Russian assets would be “a theft of property” and would have a negative impact on the global financial system with Russia prepared to retaliate.

But, on the plus side, he insisted that Russia had no plans to attack Europe, calling any such suggestions “ridiculous.”

Meanwhile in Finland, the country’s guard said it had apprehended a man suspected of illegally crossing Finland’s eastern border from Russia, which has been closed for two years, AFP reported.

The man was detained in the southeastern border town of Imatra in the afternoon after a search operation involving border guard vehicles, dog patrols and a helicopter.

The border guard did not disclose the person’s nationality but said it had opened a preliminary investigation into a suspected state border crime.

Nordic correspondent

The Danish government has set up a “night watch” in the foreign ministry, not to keep out the wildlings and White Walkers like the Night’s Watch of Game of Thrones, but rather to monitor Donald Trump’s pronouncements and movements while Copenhagen sleeps.

The night watch starts at 5pm each day and at 7am a report is produced and distributed around the Danish government and relevant departments about what was said and took place, the Politiken newspaper reported.

The position is understood to have to been introduced in the aftermath of the diplomatic row between Copenhagen and Washington over Greenland this spring, when the US president threatened to take control of the Arctic island.

Politiken said the initiative was one of several examples of how Danish diplomacy and the country’s civil service have had to adapt to the new reality of the second Trump administration.

A source close to the foreign office told the Guardian: “It is fair to say that the situation in Greenland and the time difference between Denmark and the United States was quite an important factor introducing this arrangement during the spring.”

in Kyiv

Any peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine that includes an amnesty for war crimes could encourage other authoritarian leaders to attack their neighbours, Ukraine’s only Nobel peace prize winner has warned.

Oleksandra Matviichuk said the leaked 28-point US-Russia plan did not account for “the human dimension” and she supported president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s efforts to rewrite it in dialogue with White House.

“We need a peace, but not a pause that provides Russia a chance to retreat and regroup,” the Kyiv-based human rights lawyer said. A durable settlement must include Nato-like guarantees for Ukraine, she added.

Matviichuk is the head of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, which was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2022, and she has been influential in arguing that Russia has developed a “genocidal character” because the international community has not restrained it enough.

Comments such as hers reflect widespread sentiment in Ukraine. Even after nearly four years of attritional fighting, with power cuts frequently following Russian attacks, there is little appetite to accept territorial concessions, and few Ukrainians believe there can be a permanent end to the war without an effective security framework.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sent his best wishes to US president Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, on Thanksgiving.

In what appears to be a pretty direct response to Trump’s recent criticism that Ukraine has not shown enough gratitude, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainians “deeply appreciate all the support, which has saved so many lives in Ukraine and helps us defend our independence each day.”

“We are very glad that our relationship is constructive and look forward to further positive progress in diplomacy – to finally end for good Russia’s war against our people,” he continued.

“We sincerely hope that dignified peace and guaranteed security will become our joint achievement,” he ended.

Meanwhile, we are getting some new lines from Russia on what would and wouldn’t be acceptable to Moscow in a potential peace deal on Ukraine.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Ukrainian membership of Nato would be unacceptable, as she blamed the alliance for trying to draw Ukraine into its structure and pose a threat against Russia, Reuters reported.

Separately, deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko also said that any presence of western troops from countries involved in the Coalition of the Willing would be “absolutely out of question.”

Grushko also dismissed EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas’s suggestion that the settlement could include a limit on commitment to limits Russian military spending.

Angela Giuffrida in Rome and Ruth Michaelson in Damascus

Pope Leo is making his debut overseas trip as leader of the Catholic church, travelling on a six-day mission of peace and unity to Turkey and Lebanon in what the Vatican said was expected to be a “demanding” schedule packed with meetings with political and religious leaders amid heightened Middle East tensions.

The Chicago-born pontiff, who was elected in May, arrived on Tuesday in Turkey, a country with a Muslim majority and home to an estimated 36,000 Catholics.

Leo will first meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara. He will also meet Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians, for celebrations of the 1,700th anniversary of a major early church council in Nicaea, now İznik, which settled ideological disputes.

Leo’s arrival is especially anticipated in Lebanon, where many fear a deepening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah after an Israeli strike earlier this week on a neighbourhood in southern Beirut that killed four Hezbollah operatives and one of the group’s most senior military commanders.

Leo’s predecessor, Francis, who died in April, had planned to visit both countries but was unable to because of ill health.

Setting out his plans, Macron says that while the decision to abandon compulsory national service in the 1990s was right as the end of the cold war changed the perceived level of danger, the new, evolving threats “lead us to make new decisions.”

He says that while there is no return to conscription, France needs a new model of “mobilisation.”

The volunteers, recruited among 18- and 19-year-olds, will start the service next summer with one-month training sessions and a nine-month assignment to domestic activities, with first recruitment drive expected to start in January.

He wants 3,000 people to take part in the first intake in summer 2026, with numbers gradually growing to 10,000 by 2030 and 50,000 by 2035.

He says the service, supported by a €2bn budget, is inspired by the similar services in other European countries, including Norway.

“At a time when all our European allies are moving forward in the face of a threat that weighs on us all, France cannot remain inactive,” he says.

But he also sets out clear boundaries of the new national service with volunteers not to serve overseas; a clear response to speculation about a future French peacekeeping force in Ukraine, and one that he wants to be guaranteed in law.

He says the new voluntary service is meant to support the professional army and its growing ranks of reservists, offering a further pool of trained people that can respond to new and emerging hybrid threats.

But Macron insists that France is well prepared to face these dangers and has “no reason to fear,” even if it is prudent to prepare for the challenges ahead.

“Fear never prevents danger. The only way to avoid it is to prepare for it,” he says.

France’s Emmanuel Macron is now speaking in Varces-Allières-et-Risset, confirming his plans for a new voluntary national military service to be launched by next summer, open to 18- and 19-year-olds.

I will bring you the key quotes shortly.

Meanwhile, a court in Russia convicted eight people on terrorism charges over an attack on a bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea that is a key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine, AP reported.

The court sentenced all of the defendants to life in prison.

The October 2022 attack on the bridge came when a truck bomb blew up two of its sections and required months of repairs. The blast killed the truck driver and four other people in a car nearby. Moscow decried the attack as an act of terrorism and retaliated by bombarding Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, targeting the country’s power grid over the winter.

The Ukrainian Security Service, known as the SBU, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ukraine’s and the US negotiating teams will meet soon, foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said, adding that Kyiv would focus on specific steps in peace proposals.

“Our expectations are concrete results. Concrete results so that progress can be made,” Sybiha told a news briefing in comments reported by Reuters. “It is extremely important for us, and Ukraine has demonstrated this repeatedly, to achieve a truce.”

A US group has identified several obscure but potentially key sanctions it says could seriously disrupt Russia’s war effort in Ukraine after last month’s targeting of the Kremlin’s biggest oil firms.

Previous rounds of sanctions have been applied to Russian energy companies, banks, military suppliers and the “shadow fleet” of ships carrying Russian oil.

But Dekleptocracy, a civil society group that researches Russia’s war economy, says chemicals used to make mechanical lubricants and military-grade tyres are a vulnerability that US, UK and EU policymakers could exploit.

Kristofer Harrison, the group’s president and a former US state department expert on Russia, described the targets as “weedy and specific”, unlike the microchips and oil companies that generally draw the attention of governments and agencies. But they are hard to replace and essential to Moscow’s ability to field tanks and fight, Dekleptocracy says.

“A lubricant shortage would seriously damage Russia’s war machine,” it wrote in its latest report.

Only a handful of companies worldwide make chemical additives for mechanical lubricants – motor oil for tanks and cars. Almost all of them stopped selling the chemicals to Russia at the start of its full-scale invasion, leading to widespread shortages and complaints from motorists.

Dekleptocracy found that one Chinese company, Xinxiang Richful, now satisfies a large part of Russia’s demand, supplying up to eight million kilograms a year. Richful recently set up an office in Virginia.

Blocking it, as well as a few smaller suppliers, would create a mechanical lubricant shortage in Russia, the group says.

Xinxiang Richful did not respond to a request for comment.

DeKleptocracy also found that Russia has little domestic capability to make vulcanisation accelerants and other substances needed to produce military-grade tyres.

Turkey’s defence ministry said that a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia must be achieved first before any discussions can take place on possible troop deployment for a potential reassurance force, Reuters reported.

On Tuesday, French president Emmanuel Macron said the force would have French, British and Turkish soldiers. Ankara, which has maintained cordial ties with both Moscow and Kyiv during the war, has said it was open to discussing such a deployment but only if its modalities were set.

“First, a ceasefire must be established between Russia and Ukraine. Afterward, a mission framework must be established with a clear mandate, and the extent to which each country will contribute must be determined,” the ministry said at a press briefing when asked about Macron’s comments.

In the last few minutes, the Russian foreign ministry has said it summoned Poland’s top diplomat to Moscow to let him know it would close the Polish consulate general in Irkutsk from 30 December.

The decision comes as a “retaliatory measure” after Poland’s closure of the Russian consulate in Gdańsk after a rail sabotage attack earlier this month, which Warsaw blamed on the Russian intelligence services, calling it an act of “state terrorism.”

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, insisted that Ukraine can still successfully defend itself, pushing back on the narrative “peddled by Russia,” as he insisted that it’s not Kyiv, but Moscow, who must face pressure to agree to peace.

His comments come as European governments continue to plan how they could influence the US-led peace talks on ending the Russian war on Ukraine ahead of further crunch talks expected as early as next week, with the legally tricky issue of somehow using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine still remaining close to the top of the list.

But there is also growing focus on Europe’s own defence.

Later today, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, will unveil proposals for a new voluntary military service to boost the country’s defences without having to return to regular conscription. Under plans, France will see the number of its reservist grow to 100,000 by 2030.

The new volunteers would not serve in overseas missions like a potential peacekeeping deployment to Ukraine, Macron is expected to stress in a bid to quash domestic criticism of the idea.

The issue of ramping up national – and European – military and potential participation in the future Ukraine mission is also likely to come up during talks between Germany’s Friedrich Merz and Estonia’s Kristen Michel in Berlin.

I will bring you all the key updates throughout the day.

It’s Thursday, 27 November 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.