US and Ukrainian officials met for around four hours of talks in Florida, but US secretary of state Marco Rubio said more work remains to be done towards ending the war. Meanwhile, Russia again hit Kyiv in a deadly overnight attack. Follow the latest.
Sunday 30 November 2025 21:10, UK
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It’s “clear there is still quite a gap” between Moscow and Kyiv, our US correspondent David Blevins has said.
Speaking after US secretary of state Marco Rubio described talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Florida as “very productive”, Blevins said: “The two sides are still far apart.
“We’ve had this 28-point Trump brokered peace plan largely aligning with Russian aspirations, revised down to a 19-point peace plan with the intervention of the Europeans in talks in Geneva.
“But there’s no history of Vladimir Putin ever compromising, and therefore there is no suggestion right now that he’s about to buy into the revised version when he meets President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow in the early part of the week.”
Speculation Moscow is floating idea of giving US businesses access to its $2trn economy
Blevins added: “I think the worst mistake anyone could make right now would be to view these negotiations through the lens of traditional diplomacy and geopolitics, because Donald Trump is the transactional president.
“He styles himself on having mastered the art of the deal. But that’s the business deal more than the political deal.
“There’s been lots of speculation in recent days that Moscow is floating the idea of giving US businesses access to its $2trn economy.
“That’s the sort of deal that would appeal to President Trump, and the sort of deal that would make Ukraine very nervous. And that might explain why Marco Rubio today has been at great lengths to reassure the Ukrainians that their sovereignty is not for sale.”
Watch his analysis here:
A meeting between US and Ukrainian officials in Florida was “very productive”, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said, but more work remains to be done towards ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week, when [Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve] Witkoff travels to Moscow, although we’ve also been in touch in varying degrees with the Russian side, but we have a pretty good understanding of their views as well,” he said.
US and Ukrainian officials talked for roughly four hours.
Later this week, Trump’s special envoy, Witkoff, will travel to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he held talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen about continuing to resist Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a post on X, the Ukrainian leader said: “Ursula is paying close attention to the need to strengthen our resilience amid Russia’s constant strikes on our infrastructure and the energy sector.”
Zelenskyy also tweeted to say he had spoken to NATO secretary general Mark Rutte.
“These are important days, and much can change. We are coordinating closely, and in our efforts – and in the efforts of all our partners – it is our joint measures and shared positions that will be extremely effective,” he said.
It comes as talks between a Ukrainian and US delegation continue in Florida (see 16.57 post for the latest).
Turkey has condemned Ukraine’s sea drone attacks on two Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea.
Its foreign ministry said the attacks on the Kairos and Virat vessels took place inside Turkey’s exclusive economic zone.
Spokesperson Oncu Keceli said they “posed serious risks to navigation, life, property and environmental safety in the region”.
He said Turkey is holding talks with the “relevant parties” to prevent the spread of the war in Ukraine across the Black Sea, and to protect Turkey’s economic interests.
What happened during the strikes?
Ukraine said it used naval drones to hit the tankers off Turkey’s Black Sea coast late on Friday afternoon. Crew members from both vessels were reported to be safe.
Both ships are part of Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, which are used to evade sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Watch: Ukrainian drones attack Russian shadow fleet ships
Ukraine and Norway have agreed to produce drones together, Ukraine’s defence minister Denys Shmyhal has announced.
He said Ukraine will share its experience and innovations after nearly four years of war, while Norway will provide a “strong production base, as well as research and development cooperation with leading Norwegian institutions”.
Both Ukraine and Russia have used drones to devastating effect during the war.
For European manufacturers, Ukraine presents a trove of frontline data on drone performance and new systems can be tested in combat almost immediately.
These images show the aftermath of a Russian overnight drone and missile strike in the city of Vyshhorod, in the Kyiv region.
The attack killed one person and wounded 19 others, including four children, local officials said, when a drone hit a nine-story apartment block.
It is difficult to forecast the outcome of the Ukraine war peace talks because “small changes can lead to large outcomes”, one of Kyiv’s negotiators has said.
“As a weatherman would say, there’s the inherent difficulty in forecasting because the atmosphere is a chaotic system where small changes can lead to large outcomes,” Kyiv’s first deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, who is part of the delegation in Miami, wrote on X.
He later said it had been a “good start” to the meeting, describing it as “very engaging and so far constructive”.
Earlier, we brought you remarks from US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Ukraine’s security chief Rustem Umerov, as negotiations got underway (see 15.27 post for more info).
What happens after the talks?
Last week, Donald Trump said he would send his envoy Steve Witkoff and perhaps his son-in-law Jared Kushner to Moscow this coming week to meet with Vladimir Putin about his peace plan for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, in comments published today on Russian state TV, said Putin would see Witkoff before Thursday, when the Russian leader departs for India.
Russia’s president has an interest in taking an adjusted US peace proposal seriously, France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said in an interview.
That’s because “he’s facing military setbacks”, Barrot told French newspaper La Tribune Dimanche when asked whether Russia could have the final say on the latest US effort.
He said:
The Russian army’s advance in eastern Ukraine is coming at a colossal cost, with more than 1,000 Russian soldiers killed daily on the front lines… Vladimir Putin must accept the ceasefire or risk exposing Russia to further sanctions that will cripple its economy, as well as renewed European support for Ukraine.”
Barrot was hopeful that the EU would agree on using approximately £120bn in frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine at the next leaders’ summit on 18 December.
Peace talks between US and Ukrainian officials will be a path to leave the country “sovereign, independent and prosperous”, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said.
Speaking as the much-anticipated talks began in Florida, Rubio said he expected the talks to yield “more progress” towards a deal to bring the nearly four-year war to an end.
“This is not just about ending a war. This is about ending a war in a way that creates a mechanism and a way forward that will allow them to be independent and sovereign, never have another war again, and create tremendous prosperity for its people,” he said.
“Not just rebuild the country, but to enter an era of extraordinary economic progress.”
He added: “This is not just about peace deals. It’s about creating a pathway forward that leaves Ukraine sovereign, independent and prosperous. We expect to make even more progress today.”
Ukrainian delegation thanks Trump
Speaking opposite Rubio, Ukraine’s security chief Rustem Umerov said the delegation was “working to secure real peace for Ukraine”.
He thanked Donald Trump’s “initiative for peace” and said he was thankful to the US president’s team.
“We are discussing about the future of Ukraine, about the security of Ukraine, about no repetition of aggression of Ukraine, about prosperity of Ukraine, about how to rebuild Ukraine”, he said.
“We’re thankful for the efforts of the United States and its team in helping us. US is hearing us, US is supporting us, US is walking beside us, and we’re thankful for all that has been done.”
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were also present at the talks, which are taking place at a private club near Miami.
Watch their remarks as talks get underway here:
Poland’s far-right president, Karol Nawrocki, has cancelled a meeting with Viktor Orban after the Hungarian prime minister met Vladimir Putin in Moscow last Friday.
Nawrocki had been due to meet with Orban next Thursday but decided to limit his visit to Hungary to a wider summit of Eastern European leaders, his office said.
“Europe’s security depends on solidarity action, including in the field of energy,” Marcin Przydacz, head of Nawrocki’s international policy office, wrote on X.
Orban had discussed energy security with Putin on Friday, as Hungary continues to import Russian oil despite Western sanctions.
The Polish-Hungarian disagreement reflects a rift both within Europe and also within the hard right.
Nawrocki’s allied Law and Justice party belongs to the pro-Ukrainian party family of Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, while the rival alliance of Orban’s Fidesz is closer to Russia.
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