Putin trying to negotiate an end to Ukraine war as he cannot win it on battlefield, says EU’s Kallas – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap!

• The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has cautioned that “Putin cannot achieve his goals on the battlefield so he will try to negotiate his way there,” as she called for further support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia after a meeting of EU foreign ministers (14:17, 14:23, 14:26)

• Earlier, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has also warned against “the unilateral carving up of a sovereign European nation”, as Europe scrambles to assert influence over a US effort to end the war in Ukraine (9:24, 9:24, 9:24, 9:26, 9:29, 9:33, 13:14).

• The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said that Germans “have to get used to the idea again that peace and freedom do not come for free,” as he spoke about the country’s 2026 budget, and said that “Putin must realize that he has no chance of winning this war at the expense of the European order of freedom and peace.” (9:54).

• At the same time, Russia welcomed some “aspects” of the new US plan to end the war, while saying it still required further analysis (13:53), and rejecting Europe’s “meddling” in the talks (10:56).

• Meanwhile, speculations were swirling over where the leaked conversations involving US peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Kremlin’s senior aide Kirill Dmitriev, published by Bloomberg, may have leaked from (11:02, 15:55).

In other news,

• Moldova displayed a Russian drone that fell on its soil outside its foreign ministry as it summoned Moscow’s envoy over the crash, in an overt criticism of Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine (17:09).

• The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid, after the country’s highest court rejected his final appeal (14:44).

• Poland said it was expecting 44bn from the European Union’s SAFE programme to spend on defence projects, including drones, space defence, AI, cyber and cryptosecurity, and equipment for its army and border guards, becoming the largest beneficiary of the scheme (12:40).

Moldova displayed a Russian drone that fell on its soil outside its foreign ministry as it summoned Moscow’s envoy over the crash, in an overt criticism of Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine, AFP reported.

The small ex-Soviet republic, wedged between Ukraine and Nato member Romania, has repeatedly seen violations of its airspace since Russia’s invasion of its neighbour in 2022 and has expelled dozens of diplomats and employees of the Russian embassy.

After summoning Oleg Ozerov, the Russian ambassador to Chișinău, on Wednesday, Moldova’s foreign ministry placed the crashed drone in front of its headquarters, AFP said.

The foreign ministry said it had handed Ozerov “a note of protest regarding the illegal overflight”, deeming it “totally unacceptable” and “a serious violation of the sovereignty” of Moldova.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke earlier today with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, talking about the need to keep the pressure on Russia as the US-led peace efforts continue.

Thanking von der Leyen for her comments in the European Parliament earlier today (9:24, 9:24, 9:24, 9:26, 9:29, 9:33, 13:14), Zelenskyy said:

“We see eye to eye: as long as Russia continues to rebuff all peace efforts, sanctions against it must be tightened, and defence and financial assistance for Ukraine must continue.”

He said the pair also discussed “the current diplomatic situation” – that’s the US-led peace talks – and the EU’s ongoing work on the use of frozen Russian assets.

Americans involved in the Ukrainian war effort are embarrassed and dismayed by Donald Trump’s continuing pressures on Kyiv and think his administration’s latest peace plan is tantamount to backstabbing and another catastrophic failure of US foreign policy.

“Complete bullshit and a betrayal by Trump,” said an American special forces veteran who has helped train and advise the Ukrainian military since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022. “But are you even surprised?”

As soon as Russian bombs were dropping on Kyiv in the early breaths of the war nearly four years ago, thousands of foreigners – soldiers, veterans, trainers, medics and others – poured into Ukraine to help defend what was largely seen as a collective defense of democracy against naked imperialism.

Among those international volunteers were hundreds of Americans, if not thousands, many of whom were and are Republicans who’ve had trouble squaring the animosity Trump has with the country they help.

Voices in the GOP have also railed against Trump’s latest demands on Ukraine, with Don Bacon, a Nebraska congressman, describing it as “gross buffoonery” and “pushing a surrender plan on Ukraine” that “looks like Russia wrote it.”

“Follows Russia’s talking points almost to the letter,” said the same source, who called Witkoff a “Russian sycophant”.

Another American working in the defense sector in Ukraine, agreed the latest news of a peace plan was another chapter in the tumultuous relationship between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but told the Guardian he felt bad for the diplomats at the Kyiv embassy, who he described as not “Maga” and “motivated but totally handcuffed.”

A Nato veteran who trains Ukrainian soldiers alongside former US servicemen says money is motivating the US government and called the plan “pathetic”.

Bloomberg’s scoop showing how Trump aide Steve Witkoff coached the Kremlin on the best way to get into Trump’s good graces is extraordinary for what it tells us about Witkoff’s dubious loyalties and the Kremlin’s potential influence over US negotiation efforts.

But equally interesting is the leaked material itself and where it may have come from.

Bloomberg says only that it has “reviewed and transcribed audio” of the two phone calls, without giving any hint as to the sourcing or any checks done to verify authenticity.

Given the agency’s reputation for rigorous reporting however, it can be assumed that the source was considered to be very trustworthy before a decision was made to publish.

The content of the calls provides proof of what many already suspected about Witkoff’s closeness to the Russian position in negotiations.

The question of who took the highly unusual step of leaking such sensitive audio to a news agency is more complicated.

“It’s really hard to speculate. It could be 100m different things, including somebody on the Russian side trying to hurt Witkoff’s reputation,” said Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA Moscow station chief.

Russian intelligence agencies have a long pedigree of intercepting and releasing sensitive political calls, but there is no obvious motive for Moscow to have compromised Ushakov, a key aide to Vladimir Putin, and Witkoff, Russia’s friendliest interlocutor in the Trump administration.

However, given reports of splits in the Kremlin elite over who manages relations with the US, nothing can be ruled out.

Ukraine may have the motive to make the call public – Kyiv is extremely uneasy with Witkoff’s role in negotiations and would be keen to undermine his position, as well as publicise the shocking extent of collaboration between the Kremlin and the White House adviser. But the risk of a catastrophic bust-up with the Americans if caught would probably give Ukrainian officials pause for thought.

One senior former intelligence official said that while any number of agencies could have intercepted the call, the most likely source was someone inside the US system.

“There are different ways of intercepting calls, including traditional signals intelligence methods, cyber-attacks, and having access to the devices, so anything is theoretically possible, but my strong suspicion is that this came from the US side, and if that’s the case, you have two entities who are capable of doing this, the CIA and the NSA,” said the official.

There are many people inside US intelligence agencies unhappy with the current administration and its policies on Ukraine and Russia, but leaking audio of the call would be a difficult and potentially extremely dangerous move for any disgruntled employee.

What makes the publication so surprising is that, if the interception of Ushakov’s calls was part of a longstanding penetration, releasing the information would probably cause him to change his device and communication habits, and thus would close down a fruitful intelligence window for whichever agency had obtained it.

Meanwhile, Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the country wanted the EU to progress with a 20th package of sanctions against Russia as soon as possible to keep the pressure on Moscow, Reuters reported.

Earlier this week, she also outlined Sweden’s red lines for any peace deal in Ukraine, saying Sweden would never “reward aggression” and recognise Russia’s “illegal annexation of Crimea or any other part of Ukraine’s territory.”

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid, after the country’s highest court rejected his final appeal.

Sarkozy, who was the country’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, was convicted of hiding illegal overspending for his unsuccessful re-election campaign that was shaped by vast American-style rallies.

The case was labelled the “Bygmalion” affair because of the name of the events company that organised Sarkozy’s elaborate and artfully filmed stadium gigs in front of thousands of flag-waving fans when he was fighting for re-election. He ultimately lost to the Socialist party’s François Hollande.

In a 2021 trial, the state prosecutor had highlighted Sarkozy’s “couldn’t care less” attitude in demanding one rally a day in the form of vast “American-style shows” and allowing costs to rise substantially above the legal limit for a presidential election campaign.

The prosecution said accountants had warned Sarkozy he was about to pass the official €22.5m spending cap but that he insisted on holding more events to fend off Hollande, who was gaining ground as a “Mr Normal” seeking to crack down on the world of finance.

In the end, Sarkozy’s campaign spending came to at least €42.8m, nearly double the legal limit, prosecutors said.

Sarkozy, who denied all wrongdoing, lodged an appeal process that took several years.

France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation, which focuses on whether the law has been applied correctly rather than on the facts of the case, has now upheld an earlier ruling, making Sarkozy’s conviction final.

On that last point, Kallas says that Russia’s army and its budget should be “curbed to prevent new attacks”. The focus, she says, should be on “limiting Russia so they wouldn’t have the chance to invade again”.

“A just and lasting peace in Ukraine is needed to prevent the war continuing,” she adds.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is now speaking to the media after today’s videocall with EU foreign ministers. There has been a delay in the press conference starting.

Kallas begins by saying that “it is important that we continue to support Ukraine and pressure Russia. That is what we are working on”. She says those in the meeting all “welcomed the US’s push for the war to end”.

Kallas adds:

We all want this war to end but how it ends also matters. We must keep in mind there’s one aggressor and one victim. A complete and unconditional ceasefire must be the first step … but right now, we see no indiction that Russia is ready for a ceasefire.

Russia is not winding down its military machine but ramping it up. We still need to get from a situation where Russia pretends to negotiate to a situation where Russia needs to negotiate. We are getting there.

She describes how sanctions on Russia have had an impact on its economy and notes some failures on the battlefield. Kallas adds:

Putin cannot achieve his goals on the battlefield so he will try to negotiate his way there.

Russia has seen the latest copy of a draft US plan to end the Ukraine war and views some of it positively, but wants a discussion about the other parts, the Kremlin on said Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In comments to a Russian state TV reporter, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the new draft required “truly serious analysis” and that Russia had not yet discussed it with anyone.

The plan has not yet been published.

US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday that it was a “fine-tuned” version of an earlier 28-point plan that Kyiv and Europe had rejected, and that he was sending officials to meet both sides in the hopes of finalising it.

Ushakov said of the plan on Wednesday:

Some aspects can be viewed positively, but many require special discussions among experts.

The original plan, widely criticised in Europe as heeding Moscow’s demands, would have seen Ukraine withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the US de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Luhansk regions as Russian.

Ukraine said later it had reached an “understanding” with the US and that the two sides had pared back some of the points Kyiv disagreed with after talks in Geneva.

It is not clear which points were removed and which remain, and deep differences remain in Russia and Ukraine’s negotiating positions.

Brussels correspondent

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has warned against “the unilateral carving up of a sovereign European nation”, as Europe scrambles to assert influence over a US effort to end the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to European lawmakers in Strasbourg on Wednesday, von der Leyen said Russia showed “no signs of true willingness to end the conflict” and continued to operate in a mindset unchanged since the days of Yalta – the much-criticised and misunderstood 1945 summit to settle the post-war order.

“So we need to be clear that there cannot be unilateral carving up of a sovereign European nation, and that borders cannot be changed by force. If today we legitimise and formalise the undermining of borders, we open the doors for more wars tomorrow, and we cannot let this happen.”

She welcomed Donald Trump’s efforts to find peace, describing them as “a starting point”, but made clear that Europe had many concerns about the details outlined in the original 28-point US-Russian plan.

Some of the maximalist Russia-friendly demands have since been removed, Ukraine has said, and the US president has rowed back on his Thursday deadline tied to the US holiday of Thanksgiving, amid little sign of progress on key sticking points.

Describing the situation as volatile and dangerous, von der Leyen also said she saw “an opportunity here to make real progress”, while adding that “so far we have seen no signs from Russia of true willingness to end this conflict. So we have to keep up the pressure on Russia.”

EU foreign ministers were holding a hastily arranged video conference on the situation on Wednesday.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has just announced Poland will receive €44bn from the European Union’s SAFE programme to spend on defence projects, including drones, space defence, AI, cyber and cryptosecurity, and equipment for its army and border guards.

He said that would make Poland the biggest beneficiary of the programme.

Meanwhile, we are getting reports that the US and Belarus are working on another round of prisoner release which could see “at least” 100 political prisoners held by the Minsk regime freed.

Reuters reported that US officials want to secure the release of well over 100 prisoners in a single deal, the sources said in recent days, requesting anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic conversations.

The Trump administration’s push for the biggest prisoner release so far is part of its controversial campaign to thaw relations with the authoritarian state in exchange for the prospect of sanctions relief, the agency noted.

In the largest prisoner release to date, Belarus freed 52 people in September, but the regime is understood to hold more than 1,000 political detainees.

Reuters noted that most European countries have kept Minsk at arm’s length given Belarus’ deep ties with Russia and its poor human rights record. The EU last month tightened its sanctions against Belarus.

Meanwhile, Russia has overnight conducted a mass drone attach on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, injuring 19 people and badly damaging buildings and vehicles, the regional governor said, as reported by Reuters.

Ivan Fedorov, posting on the Telegram messaging app, said the attack had destroyed shops, and damaged 31 apartment blocks and 20 private homes. He said eight people were being treated in hospital.

Ukraine’s air force said it downed 72 out of 90 drones and two ballistic missiles launched by Russia in a country-wide attack overnight.

Ushakov also told reporters that he will be in touch with US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff about the apparent leak of their phone call, saying it was “unacceptable”.

“About the leak? We will exchange opinions by phone,” he replied.

Reuters noted that Ushakov told reporters that some of what was leaked was “fake” and he would not comment on the rest because the call was confidential.

Leaking a discussion of a serious issue was “of course unacceptable”, he added.

Meanwhile, in sharp contrast to von der Leyen and Merz’s comments earlier today (9:33, 9:54), the Kremlin insisted that Europe’s involvement in the peace talks on Ukraine was “completely unnecessary.”

“The Europeans meddling in all these affairs is, as I see it, completely unnecessary,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told a state TV reporter.

Here are some other comments from Trump on Air Force One on his plans to continue negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, and his comments backing away from an earlier Thursday deadline for Ukraine to agree the deal, by saying: “The deadline for me is when it’s over.”

In case you missed it, US president Donald Trump defended his peace envoy Steve Witkoff overnight after Bloomberg reported that he allegedly advised Putin’s aide Ushakov on how to speak with Trump and conduct the talks.

Trump did not appear too bothered by it, though.

“That’s a standard thing. He’s gotta sell this to Ukraine, he’s gotta sell Ukraine to Russia. That’s what a dealmaker does … I haven’t heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation. And I would imagine he’s saying the same thing to Ukraine, because each party has to give and take,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, in some rather confusing comments coming from Russia, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, in comments reported by Reuters, that Russian and Ukrainian representatives met in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, but the peace plan … was not discussed there.

“No, the peace plan was not discussed in Abu Dhabi. The peace plan has not yet been discussed in detail with anyone,” he told a Russian state TV reporter.

Ushakov also confirmed that Russia has received “the latest version” of the US plan on Ukraine now, presumably updated after the Geneva and the Abu Dhabi talks.

Over in Berlin, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is speaking in the German Bundestag in a debate on the country’s next year budget.

He understandably talks about the need to reform the German economy, and improve its competitiveness, but the key lines for us are on Ukraine and the peace talks led by the US.

Merz says that preserving peace in Europe is one of the key guiding principles of his government, as he talks about the need to end the war in Ukraine, but not on terms that would amount to “capitulation.”

He also talks about the need to maintain unity between European countries and with the US, as “without the consent of Ukraine and without the consent of the Europeans, there will be no basis for a genuine, lasting peace in Ukraine.”

He says he welcomes Trump’s attempts to end the war, but insists that “European affairs can only be decided in agreement with Europe,” as Europe is “not a pawn, but a sovereign actor, with its own interests and values.”

Merz repeats that Russia could end the war within minutes if it truly wanted it and it is the only aggressor in this conflict.

He declares Germany will continue supporting Ukraine “for as long as possible,” and says he will support the idea of using the frozen Russian assets “available for this purpose.”

“Putin must realize that he has no chance of winning this war at the expense of the European order of freedom and peace,” he says.

The chancellor says that Germany will increase its support to Ukraine next year to the total of €11.5bn.

He then goes back to trade and the need to diversify raw material partnership and invest in cybersecurity.

But briefly coming back to the issue of armed forces, he says “we have to get used to the idea again that peace and freedom do not come for free.”

The European Commission president also adds the key principle that needs to be respected by any future peace deal as “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, nothing about Europe without Europe, nothing about Nato without Nato.”

She then talks about the need to secure the return of “each and every Ukrainian child that has been abducted by Russia,” saying Europe “will not forget them.”

She ends with some very cautious optimism on the talks as she says that “the days ahead are fraught with danger,” and “the situation is complex,” but “I believe there is also an opportunity here to make real progress.”

“So far, we have seen no signs from Russia of true willingness to end this conflict. So we have to keep up the pressure on Russia, but it is also our duty to engage with any and all efforts that can bring about a just and lasting peace,” she says.

“We know it will not be easy, but we have to find a way to move forward. We have to find a way to stop the killing, to help Ukraine rebuild and reconstruct, to return the children and reunite families. We have to find a way to provide lasting security for Ukraine and for our continent as a whole, and above all … to forge a better future, a European future, for Ukraine,” she says.

That ends her speech.

Von der Leyen also speaks about the need to secure Ukraine’s financial needs as she says “in the absence of any real intent of Russia to engage in peace talks, it is clear that we need to support Ukraine to defend itself.”

You may remember that the EU has been for months involved in discussions over the use of frozen Russian assets for “reparations loan” for Ukraine, but outstanding legal questions – particularly from Belgium, which hosts Euroclear which keeps large part of these assets – continue to block it from being progressed further. The next round of talks on this is expected at next month’s European Council summit in Brussels.

Von der Leyen says the commission is now ready to present a legal text on this, and stresses that she “cannot see any scenario in which the European taxpayers alone will pay the bill.”

Von der Leyen also says that Ukraine must be free to choose its own future, and its “European destiny” of joining the EU one day.

“This is not only a matter of destiny. This is a core and essential part of any security guarantee framework, and we will do everything we can to deliver on it together,” she says.

On the latest talks, von der Leyen pointedly welcomes Trump-led peace efforts, and says that “we know that much more effort is needed, but … thanks to the work of Ukraine, the US, and us Europeans over the last few days in Geneva, we have a starting point.”

She says the deal needs to deliver “a just and lasting peace” and “real security for Ukraine and Europe,” with no limitation on Ukraine’s armed forces, which she warns “would leave the country vulnerable to future attacks.”

“This is as much about deterrence as it is about Europe’s security, because Ukraine security is Europe’s security,” she says.

She also says the deal needs to uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty as she warns “we know that Russia’s mindset has not changed since the days of Yalta, seeing our continent in terms of spheres of influence.”

“So we need to be clear that there cannot be unilateral carving up of a sovereign European nation, and that borders cannot be changed by force. If today we legitimise and formalise the undermining of borders, we open the doors for more wars tomorrow, and we cannot let this happen,” she says.

Von der Leyen then turns to the current situation, stressing that “Europe will stand with Ukraine and support Ukraine every step of the way.”

She then blames Russia for escalating its attack despite diplomatic talks about ending the war, and warns against Moscow’s neoimperialist aspirations.

She says:

“From the start, Russia has always believed that they can outlast Ukraine, Europe and all of its allies. And it is why, every time there is serious progress towards negotiations that can bring about a real peace, the violence escalates. We have seen this before. This is a pattern, and the noises from the Kremlin in the last few days say a lot about its real intentions.

For them, Ukraine remains a first step in a much bigger game for Russia. Any peace deal is about permanently redrawing maps; it is about returning to great power relations and spheres of influence.

But for Ukraine and for Europe, any peace agreement is about creating a just and lasting peace, peace that stops this conflict and does not sow the seeds for new future conflicts.”

Opening her speech in the European Parliament, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, recalls last week’s Russian attack on Ternopil, which killed at least 34 people, including six children, and wounded almost 100 others.

She pays tribute to the victims, specifically mentioning a seven-year-old Polish girl named Amelka, who died in the “callous” attack.

“Over more than three and a half years into this war of aggression, this is the daily reality on the ground, and it shows that we can never lose sight of what Ukraine is sacrificing, what Ukraine is fighting for, its security, its freedom, its independence, because ultimately, this is what is at stake,” she said.

US president Donald Trump has said his plan to end the war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned” and he’s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to meet Vladimir Putin, and US army secretary Dan Driscoll to meet Ukrainian officials.

But, despite the usually bombastic rhetoric, it appears there are still several fundamental issues to be resolved, with Russia already signalling that it was not happy with some of the counterproposals.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will speak in the European parliament in the next few minutes to debrief EU lawmakers on the latest in these talks, with a call between EU foreign ministers to follow later this morning.

Today’s talks come after overnight revelations that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation obtained by Bloomberg.

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

It’s Wednesday, 26 November 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.