The US president has reportedly approved a 28-point peace proposal developed with Russia, which requires significant concessions from Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump’s special envoy appears to have accidentally posted about the plan – as US army officials visit Kyiv. Follow the latest below.
Thursday 20 November 2025 14:54, UK
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Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, is speaking now.
She had been due to start her regular briefing for reporters at 11am UK time.
You can watch it, with translation, at the top of this live page.
The media briefing of the Russian foreign ministry is still going on, but the reports of secret Russian-American peace plans have not been mentioned yet.
Instead, a journalist asked Maria Zakharova about claims by US Senator Lindsey Graham that Donald Trump “signed off” on the bill that seeks to impose 500% tariffs on countries purchasing Russian fossil fuels.
Zakharova said she would “only comment on facts”. But she generally dismissed sanctions targeting Russia’s economy as “damaging” and “illegitimate” before launching into an elaborate dialogue on their effectiveness.
Graham had yesterday posted about renewed efforts to pass the bipartisan bill, adding later the White House sent him a statement of approval.
Away from the backroom talks, Ukraine is still ailing from yesterday’s Russian strikes in the west of the country.
Here’s a quick rundown of the latest developments on the ground:
The Kremlin has declined to comment on the Yantar ship, after UK Defence Secretary John Healey’s statement about the “spy ship” yesterday.
Healey alleged the vessel had directed lasers at an RAF pilot shadowing the ship on the edge of UK waters.
Sky News contacted the Kremlin for comment. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sky News in a written response: “We have no information regarding this incident.”
The other big story of the day is that Donald Trump has reportedly approved a “secret” peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, drawn up by the US and Russia.
But Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s special presidential envoy, declined to give any comments on the reports.
As we reported earlier, Dmitriev has apparently been key in drawing up the new peace proposal, along with Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.
While Maria Zakharova’s briefing would have normally taken place at 11am, it only started at around 1pm today.
The foreign ministry spokeswoman just revealed that she was delayed because she took part in a media info session on the international forum ‘No Statute of Limitations. Nuremberg. 80 Years’.
The event taking place in Moscow marks the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials, in which German Nazis were convicted of crimes against humanity after the Second World War.
Zakharova made a point of highlighting the exhibition space, which recreates the courtroom where the trials took place.
More now from Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, who continues to speak in a live news briefing.
She’s touching on the escalating tensions between Russia and Poland.
Yesterday, we brought you the news here that Poland will expel Russians from Russia’s sole remaining Polish consulate, in the northern city of Gdansk.
This is in response, Poland says, to two incidents of rail sabotage in the country – which it says are likely the work of foreign intelligence services, with links suggesting Russia.
Zakharova says that, following this decision, all employees of the diplomatic mission in Gdansk have to leave before the 23 December.
“There is rampant Russophobia in Poland,” she adds – and says this move by Poland is “another step to destroy bilateral relationships”.
Russia’s foreign ministry is holding a news conference.
Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova begins with a familiar Kremlin retelling of Russian and Ukrainian history.
She has been summarising Ukrainian attacks on Russia and railing against Western nations.
Zakharova also tries to delegitimise 2014 protests in Ukraine that demanded closer relations with the EU and denounced post-Soviet politics in the country.
She calls Kyiv a “totalitarian repressive regime” and accuses Ukraine of “mafia-type” corruption.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s public approval ratings are low, Zakharova also claims.
It’s just gone 1pm in the UK and Western capitals have been abuzz this morning over reports that the US has negotiated a secret peace plan with Russia, which would include some major concessions on behalf of Ukraine.
If you’re just joining us, here’s what we know so far about the plan and its circumstances, in one post.
Who negotiated it?
Donald Trump has approved the plan this week, our partner NBC News reported overnight, citing US government sources.
Negotiations were apparently held in secret and included the following figures:
What about Ukraine?
Ukraine did not take part in shaping the proposed peace plan and was not briefed on details, but was informed of the broad contours, NBC News reported.
What’s reportedly in the peace plan?
Details of the plan are yet to be confirmed, but several news organisations, including Reuters, the FT, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal and Axios, reported that it may include the following aspects:
How have the key players reacted?
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, appeared to downplay the reports. He said in a statement that ending the war requires an “extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas”, the list of which would continue to be developed.
Witkoff accidentally appeared to have posted on social media about the reports, saying Axios “must have got this from K”, before deleting the post on X.
The Kremlin has been tight-lipped, saying today it had nothing new to add and would not say whether Vladimir Putin was briefed on the plan.
UK and EU officials, including Brussels’ foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, saidany peace plan needs to be approved by Ukraine and Europeans.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy hasn’t commented directly, but said yesterday in Turkey that only Trump has the power to end the war.
A leading MP from his party, Oleksandr Merezhko, told Sky News the reported plan was the “weirdest ever” and “absolutely unrealistic”.
Watch below: Merezhko speaks to Sky News
What’s next?
Our US correspondent Mark Stone said the plan is being presented to the Ukrainians at the military level.
This comes just as a senior US military delegation is in Ukraine for talks about ending the war (see 10.28 post) and is also due to meet Zelenskyy today.
Watch Stone’s analysis below…
Russia’s defence ministry claimed this morning that its air defences shot down four Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
The long-range missiles were jointly developed by the UK and France and have a range of more than 155 miles.
Both countries have supplied them to Ukraine and lifted range restrictions on them, allowing their use for deep strikes behind enemy lines.
You can read more about the missiles in our explainer below:
The Russian defence ministry also claimed that its troops destroyed two HIMARS launchers, which can be used to launch long-range American ATACMS missiles.
Sky News could not independently verify these claims.
By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
Ukraine and Europe are concerned about reports of a new peace plan being drawn up without them.
Their fears appear to be well-founded. The plan’s proposals reportedly include two major concessions for Kyiv – that it must give up territory in the Donbas, which Russia has not yet seized, and that it must dramatically reduce its armed forces.
Sound familiar? That’s because it is. These are two of Vladimir Putin’s long-held, key demands for peace.
The ‘new’ peace plan represents the latest about-turn from the Trump administration on how it approaches the conflict.
After the failure of the Alaska summit, and last month’s fractious phone call between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (which led to the cancellation of a second summit in Budapest and US sanctions on Russian oil), it seemed like Ukraine had finally convinced Donald Trump to change tack.
Watch below: Why Trump sanctioned Russian oil
Instead of showing Moscow patience, he began applying pressure in the hope of forcing Russia to make concessions and to meet Ukraine somewhere in the middle.
But now it’s all change once again.
The key player seems to have been Kirill Dmitriev – the Kremlin’s investment envoy and a close ally of Vladimir Putin – who has operated as Steve Witkoff’s opposite number in peace negotiations.
Whenever the US special envoy has been in Moscow this year, Dmitriev has always been close by.
He is Putin’s Witkoff whisperer.
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