Russia has contradicted Donald Trump on whether or not Moscow is making concessions in peace talks. And Trump’s envoy is under pressure over a leaked recording. Meanwhile, there are “fierce battles” raging at the frontline. Listen to The World below as you scroll through the latest.
Wednesday 26 November 2025 19:30, UK
Trump has suggested that Ukraine and Russia are getting closer to a deal, but at the same time pushed back at meeting leaders from either country.
US correspondent James Matthews doubts whether the American president is entirely in control of the process.
In the latest episode of the Trump 100 podcast, he explains:
“We’ve seen him not for the first time short of a coherent strategy, one that demonstrates a strength and a consistency of the US, something that Russians would respect and that would reassure the rest of us.”
Matthews adds that while no one’s asking the president to publicly lay out his plan, everyone was “looking for a sign that he’s in control of events”.
Listen to the full episode below as our correspondents discuss why Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is coaching Putin on how to deal with the president…
Listen on your preferred podcast app via this link.
Donald Trump has dispatched officials to Moscow and Kyiv to try to finalise negotiations over a potential peace deal.
It comes as representatives from the US, Russia and Ukraine all met in Abu Dhabi earlier this week – for what were dubbed “secret” talks.
Our experts from across the world have written about who is negotiating the peace deal on behalf of each nation…
US correspondent Mark Stone profiles the army secretary on the up.
Security and defence editor Deborah Haynes writes about one of Ukraine’s best, and youngest, commanders.
And Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett explains who Putin’s Ukrainian-born point man in America is.
Watch a breakdown of the trio here as well…
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has spoken to Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the EU Commission, today.
Zelenskyy posted on X about the conversation, saying he thanked her personally for her “clear position and messages of support for Ukraine” in a speech at the European Parliament in Brussels today.
“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,” Zelenskyy said.
He added they discussed frozen assets – many of which are held in EU nations. There’s ongoing debate about whether these assets could be used to help fund Ukraine’s defence.
Zelenskyy said: “We discussed the current diplomatic situation and the European Union’s work on a decision regarding the use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s defence.”
Rustem Umerov, a senior Ukrainian official and key figure in peace negotiations, has reportedly been questioned as part of an anti-corruption investigation in the country.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is looking into Timur Mindich, the suspected ringleader of a £75m+ ($100m) kickback scheme involving the state nuclear energy company.
As part of that probe, the bureau invited Umerov to give evidence, according to two Ukrainian media reports, quoting Umerov’s press office.
Umerov has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
The sources did not say when Umerov had been questioned.
Umerov’s spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.
Who is Umerov?
Umerov is the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council.
He led Kyiv’s delegation to peace talks with Russian representatives in Turkey this spring and was defence secretary until a cabinet reshuffle in July.
Reuters reported this week, citing sources, that he had also met US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami this month to discuss a peace proposal.
Umerov has also been part of the Ukrainian team negotiating with the US to modify its original peace plan. He was in Geneva, Switzerland, to revise the proposal with the US last weekend.
Why is the anti-corruption investigation important?
The political crisis around corruption allegations in Ukraine has been putting pressure on Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government.
Seven people have been charged. Five of them are currently in detention.
Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers were dismissed over the scandal, although both denied any wrongdoing.
Mindich, the suspected ringleader of the corruption scandal, is a former business partner of Zelenskyy in his days as a television star – and Mindich fled Ukraine shortly after the probe was made public on 10 November.
Last night, Bloomberg reported that Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff advised the Russians on how best to approach the US president about a Ukraine peace deal.
It led to one Republican representative calling for him to be fired, and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov saying the call was confidential and its leak was “unacceptable” today.
This afternoon, one of Vladimir Putin’s closest officials and Trump’s own son have waded in on social media to defend Witkoff.
‘Classic negotiation techniques’
Donald Trump Jr quoted a post from a Republican strategist claiming that what Witkoff was doing was “classic negotiation techniques to butter up his counterpart”.
Trump Jr, in his own post, says:
“It’s almost like these media and deep state morons have never successfully negotiated a deal in the real world. It’s pretty obvious that nearly all of Witkoff’s critics want any sort of Ukraine peace deal to fail so they can continue this war endlessly. Enough is enough!”
Kirill Dmitriev, investment envoy for Vladimir Putin, then quotes this social media post, saying: “True.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Germany is also reconsidering its security – and its defence minister Boris Pistorius has said today that alliances are becoming less dependable.
Pistorius said the latest negotiations seeking to end the war in Ukraine had demonstrated that global power structures are changing.
“The geopolitical chessboard is changing rapidly, its patterns, its arrangement,” he said.
“Alliances are shifting faster than would have been conceivable before.
“As Germans in the European Union and in NATO, this means that we must redefine our position on this geopolitical chessboard, redefine our role in the coming years, because we don’t know which alliances we can still rely on in the future and how long they will last.”
More from Sweden now, which has urged the European Union to move forward with a 20th sanctions package against Russia.
“A 20th package of sanctions must hit Russian energy revenues even harder, as they are the main source of funding for the war,” Maria Malmer Stenergard, Sweden’s foreign minister, told reporters today.
Stenergard said she would welcome the United States also introducing further sanctions on Vladimir Putin.
As we’ve been reporting, EU foreign ministers met virtually today – with Ukraine high on the agenda.
Poland has struck a deal for three submarines to bolster its defences in the Baltic Sea.
The £2bn agreement with Swedish defence firm Saab will see the first A26 submarine arrive by 2030.
Warsaw has been ramping up investments in Poland’s armed forces to counter what it sees as a growing threat from Russia.
The UK had lent its support to the Swedish bid, after rival offers came in from Germany, Italy, France, Spain and South Korea.
Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s envoy, is back in the headlines today, as we’ve been reporting.
It’s all because of that Bloomberg report, which alleges Witkoff advised a senior aide to Vladimir Putin on the best way to handle the US president in negotiations.
Witkoff has met Putin several times, with another meeting planned in December. He has repeatedly said he thinks he has a “friendship” with the Russian leader, and insists he wants peace.
Witkoff, who has a background in property deals, also played a role in brokering the Gaza ceasefire earlier this year.
Tap below for a more in depth look at the man Trump is trusting with so many of his foreign policy priorities…
The Kremlin insists there’s “nothing scary” in a leaked conversation between Russian minister Yuri Ushakov and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Those calling for the resignation of Witkoff are trying to derail the “modest momentum” towards a peace deal, says spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
“There will be many who won’t stop at anything to derail this process.
“Leaving aside whether this is true or not, there’s nothing scary there.”
He adds: “I would not exaggerate the destructive significance of these leaks.”
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