A report in the US has revealed what appears to be a leaked call between Vladimir Putin’s aide and Donald Trump’s go-to man for Ukraine talks. Russia has now responded – while Trump told reporters Moscow is “making concessions” and Ukraine is “happy”. Listen to Trump100 as you scroll.
Wednesday 26 November 2025 07:16, UK
At least 18 people were injured overnight after strikes on a high-rise apartment block in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to local officials.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said it rescued 10 people from danger, and further information on the number of victims is being clarified.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones in the Belgorod and Voronezh regions from 8pm to 11pm local time.
We can bring you more from Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov now, who has been speaking to state TV in Russia.
He said a preliminary agreement has been reached for US special envoy Steve Witkoff to visit Moscow next week.
He will also be joined by some representatives from the US administration, Ushakov added.
It comes after Donald Trump said in a post on social media last night “there are only a few remaining points of disagreement”.
“I have directed my special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with president Putin in Moscow,” he said.
“At the same time, secretary of the army Dan Driscoll will be meeting with the Ukrainians.
Witkoff has visited Moscow several times this year for talks with Vladimir Putin, with his most recent trip being in August.
We’ve heard from the Kremlin this morning in response to a new Bloomberg report that claimed one of Donald Trump’s own envoys advised Russia on how to best approach him over the topic of the Ukraine peace plan.
Russian diplomat Yuri Ushakov has said that the leak of his telephone conversation with US special envoy Steve Witkoff to American media is an attempt to hinder the search for peace in Ukraine.
It is done “probably to interfere,” he told Russian state TV.
“It is unlikely that this is done to improve relations. They are now being built, being built with difficulty, through such contacts, including by phone.”
Ushakov added that he speaks to Witkoff a lot, but these conversations are not public.
What was in the report?
The report said that special envoy Steve Witkoff spoke to Ushakov on 14 October.
Bloomberg reports that the conversation lasted around five minutes and in it Witkoff gave Ushakov advice on how Putin should broach the topic of peace in Ukraine with Trump.
It claims his guidance involved suggesting Moscow set up a Trump-Putin call before Zelenskyy visited the White House the week after.
Bloomberg reports that Witkoff said:
“Zelenskyy is coming to the White House on Friday. I will go to that because they want me there, but I think if possible we have the call with your boss before that Friday meeting.”
Donald Trump has claimed Russia is “making concessions” in talks to end the Ukraine war – and that Kyiv is “happy” with how talks are progressing.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew out to his Florida estate for Thanksgiving,Trump said “we’re making progress” on a deal and said he would be willing to meet with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy once they are close to an agreement.
He also said his previously announced deadline of Thursday, which is Thanksgiving, was no longer in place – and that the White House’s initial 28-point peace plan, which sparked such concern in Kyiv, “was just a map”.
Asked if Ukraine had been asked to hand over too much territory, Trump suggested that “over the next couple of months [that] might be gotten by Russia anyway”.
Moscow’s concessions are a promise to stop fighting, “and they don’t take any more land”, he said.
“The deadline for me is when it’s over,” he added. “And I think everybody’s tired of fighting at this moment.”
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Yesterday, Donald Trump said he was sending some of his top offiicals to Moscow and Kyiv to try and finalise negotiations around a potential peace deal.
It came after a weekend in Geneva where US and Ukrainian delegations worked on changes to a previous US-Russia peace plan.
We have yet to hear too much from Moscow on its take on the peace deal, but initial soundings seemed like it was laying groundwork to reject it.
And while diplomatic developments have claimed many of the headlines, fighting on the frontlines continues.
Overnight attacks continue to be a regular feature of the war and Russia are pushing to take key targets like Pokrovsk.
Follow the latest here throughout the day.
That’s all for now of our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Scroll down to catch up in detail and we’ll sum up the toplines here.
‘Soon’
The US president says he’s sending his officials to Moscow and Kyiv to meet with the respective governments with the hope of “finalising this peace plan”.
Steve Witkoff is going to speak to Putin and army secretary Dan Driscoll is meeting the Ukrainian side (he’s expected this week, Kyiv says).
It marks a continued effort by Washington to maintain momentum around its efforts to end the war.
Trump also says he will meet with Putin and Zelenskyy “soon” but only when the peace deal is done or in its final stages.
However, our US correspondent David Blevins explains why caution may be needed…
Witkoff ‘doing his job’
A new report in Bloomberg says that US special envoy Steve Witkoff gave Russia advice how best to approach Trump over a Ukraine peace plan.
In what our US correspondent Mark Stone describes as a “remarkable report”, Witkoff reportedly suggested Moscow set up a call with Putin ahead of Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House the next week.
Watch Stone’s analysis on that here…
Coalition of the willing
The coalition of the willing met today virtually, in a meeting attended by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
They agreed with the US top diplomat to accelerate work on security guarantees and reiterated their support for Trump’s peace plan.
‘A positive direction’
Sir Keir Starmer says that Zelenskyy has indicated that large parts of the peace plan “can be accepted”.
He was one of the chairs of the above meeting of the self-styled coalition of Ukraine’s allies.
Similarly, officials from Ukraine told Reuters Kyiv agrees with the “essence” of the peace deal.
And what’s Russia saying?
Unusually, we’ve not heard much from Russia today on the diplomatic efforts.
But according to our partner network NBC News, US-Russia talks are under way.
Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov (once reportedly out of favour) said “channels of communication” were open with the US.
But, seemingly laying the ground for refusing or delaying the deal, he adds that if the “spirit of Anchorage” (Putin and Trump’s meeting in Alaska in August) is removed then Russia would take issue with the proposals.
Seven killed in Kyiv
Russia’s overnights attacks continued heading into today.
At least seven people were killed in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
A further 21 people were injured in the missile and drone attack.
Watch a summary of today from our international correspondent Alex Rossi here…
After a Bloomberg report earlier (see our 22.22 post) that envoy Steve Witkoff advised Russia how best to approach Trump, one US politician is calling for him to be fired.
Republican representative Don Bacon says Witkoff “fully favours the Russians” and adds he believes he can’t be trusted.
Because of this, Bacon calls for him to be fired.
Read his full statement, shared on social media, here:
“For those who oppose the Russian invasion and want to see Ukraine prevail as a sovereign & democratic country, it is clear that Witkoff fully favours the Russians. He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired.”
The British Ministry of Defence says that Russia is pushing forward with an effort to gain greater control and censor the flow of information in the country.
In its latest intelligence update on the war in Ukraine, it says new proposed amendments to Russia’s communications law would let the internal security service, the FSB, cut off individual telecom subscribers without a court order, based on “state security”.
The draft has cleared a government commission and builds on the 2019 Sovereign Internet Law, which enabled Russia’s isolation from global networks, as well as helping domestic traffic control and surveillance.
The defence ministry adds that the federal executive agency responsible for the “monitoring, controlling and censoring” of Russian mass media has also expanded its powers.
It goes on to say:
“Independent outlets warn of growing surveillance, with Telegram infrastructure firms reportedly being linked to Russian intelligence.”
According to a new Bloomberg report, one of Donald Trump’s own envoys advised Russia on how to best approach him over the topic of the Ukraine peace plan.
It says that special envoy Steve Witkoff spoke to Yuri Ushakov, a Russian diplomat, on 14 October.
Bloomberg reports that the conversation lasted around five minutes and in it Witkoff gave Ushakov advice on how Putin should broach the topic of peace in Ukraine with Trump.
It claims his guidance involved suggesting Moscow set up a Trump-Putin call before Zelenskyy visited the White House the week after.
Bloomberg reports that Witkoff said:
“Zelenskyy is coming to the White House on Friday. I will go to that because they want me there, but I think if possible we have the call with your boss before that Friday meeting.”
It adds that Witkoff also suggested that Putin compliment Trump on his peace efforts in the Middle East.
Watch our US correspondent Mark Stone’s latest on the report…
‘This story proves one thing’
Kremlin investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev responded to a post of the story on X with one word: “Fake.”
Meanwhile, White House communications director Steven Cheung told Bloomberg: “This story proves one thing: special envoy Witkoff talks to officials in both Russia and Ukraine nearly every day to achieve peace, which is exactly what President Trump appointed him to do.”
Sir Tony Brenton, a former UK ambassador to Russia, tells The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee that Donald Trump is now likely making up his mind between the Ukrainian and Russian visions of peace.
He adds that Kyiv and Moscow are caught in a “slow-motion race to hold Trump’s ear”.
Sir Tony also agrees with our correspondents (see Mark Stone in our 20.06 post and David Blevins in our 19.20 post) that it’s unlikely things will be “settled immediately”.
Watch him speaking here…
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