The US is reportedly holding secret talks between Russia and Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates, the latest in negotiations over a controversial US peace plan. Meanwhile, Ukraine hit Russia with one of its “longest major attacks” overnight and Moscow targeted Kyiv. Follow the latest.
Tuesday 25 November 2025 07:08, UK
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Romania has scrambled fighter jets after drones breached its airspace, the Romanian defence ministry says.
The breach was detected near the NATO member’s border with Ukraine.
The two nations share a roughly 380-mile border over land and sea.
At least six people have been killed in Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv last night, according it its mayor.
Vitali Klitschko added another nine people were injured.
A residential building in the central Pechersk district and another in Kyiv’s eastern district of Dniprovskyi were badly damaged.
“I was lying in bed. There was a powerful explosion and glass rained down on me,” says resident Liubov Petrivna.
“The window shattered completely, showering me with glass.
“The entire apartment, everything that was there, was shattered.”
American, Ukrainian and Russian officials have begun talks in Abu Dhabi, according to reports.
US army secretary Dan Driscoll arrived on Monday for peace talks a Russian delegation, US media says.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief was also at the meeting, the FT reports.
The talks are yet another moving part in a “bewildering” peace process that has taken place over the last week.
US correspondent Mark Stone is here to talk us through it…
Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine’s capital early this morning, striking residential buildings and energy infrastructure.
Video footage showed a large fire spread through multiple floors of a nine-story building in the Dniprovskyi district of Kyiv.
At least four people were injured, the head of Kyiv city administration, Tymor Tkachenko, said.
A residential building in the central Pechersk district was also badly damaged, mayor Vitalii Kitschko said.
Energy infrastructure had been hit, said Ukraine’s energy ministry, without specifying what type or the extent of the damage.
A major Ukrainian drone attack has killed three and injured 16 across two Russian cities and a Black Sea port, local officials say.
Rostov-on-Don governor Yuri Slyusar said a paint shop, a warehouse, four apartment buildings and 12 houses were damaged in the attack, which left at least three dead.
Unverified video footage on Telegram showed what sounded like a drone flying directly into a large residential apartment block in Novorossiysk – home to a major oil port – and exploding in a ball of flame.
Seven apartment buildings had been hit there, said Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
“Overnight, the Krasnodar region was subjected to one of the longest major attacks by the Kyiv regime,” he said, adding an apartment building at Tuapse, a town beside an oil export terminal, had been damaged.
Some 249 Ukrainian drones were downed over Russian regions overnight, the Russian defence ministry said.
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine, as Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepare to hold talks over a controversial peace plan.
US and Ukrainian officials have held discussions in Geneva about the 28-point proposal drawn up by America and Russia, which has since been countered by an amended deal drafted by Kyiv’s European allies.
Military analyst Michael Clarke explained the differences between the plans here…
The White House said there were still a “couple of points of disagreement” as of Monday night, but spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said there was a “sense of urgency” to strike an agreement.
Trump had earlier given Kyiv until Thursday to agree to the plan, but US secretary of state Marco Rubio downplayed the deadline, saying officials could keep negotiating.
Moscow, however, has already signalled its opposition to the European version of the peace plan.
It would halt fighting at present front lines, leaving discussions of territory for later, and also include a NATO-style US security guarantee for Ukraine.
Stay with us as we bring you all the latest updates from negotiations and the battlefield.
Thank you for following our live coverage of the war in Ukraine, that’s all for now.
We’ll sum up the top lines here. You can scroll down to read more detail.
White House says points of disagreement remain on Ukraine peace
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said talks to end the war in Ukraine have been productive, but there remain a couple of points of disagreement.
She said there were no plans for Donald Trump or Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet this week.
She also said the revised plan would need to be put to the Russians again.
Original peace plan ‘no longer exists’, Ukrainian negotiator says
The 28-point peace plan announced by the US last week “no longer exists”, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president’s office said.
In a post on Facebook, Oleksandr Bevz, who was part of the negotiating team in Geneva, said Kyiv had “very constructive talks with the United States”.
“Some points were removed, others revised – none of Ukraine’s concerns were left unaddressed,” he added.
Bevz said the “final decisions on the most sensitive issues” will be made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Trump.
Ukraine peace plan counterproposal ‘completely unconstructive’ – Kremlin aide
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said at first glance, the European update seems completely unconstructive and does not work for Russia.
“Many” of the provisions in the initial US plan sent to Kyiv last week seem acceptable, while some of the other provisions require detailed discussion, he added.
Trump hints ‘something good just may be happening’
It all came after Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine???
“Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening.”
His comments came after he said Ukraine’s leadership had expressed “ZERO GRATITUDE” for US efforts in a longer post yesterday.
Watch: Our defence and security analyst Professor Michael Clarke explains the main differences between US peace plan and Europe’s updated version
Rifts over the US peace proposal have exposed how the West is divided “as it’s never been before”, a former Russian diplomat has told Sky News.
Boris Bondarev, who resigned from his position in opposition to Moscow’s war against Ukraine, told our international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn the Kremlin likely reacted with “some satisfaction” to the debate over the plans.
Asked what he thought of how US and Europe have conducted themselves during the war, he concluded: “Very unprofessional. And it makes Russian diplomacy look very professional.”
Bondarev added: “Europe must stop this self-defeated thinking.
“It must start thinking about how this war should be won – not stopped, not pushed aside, not frozen indefinitely, won. Wars are either won or lost. So it’s up to you, what you would prefer.”
In this video, our defence and security analyst Professor Michael Clarke looks at the main differences between the US peace plan and Europe’s updated version.
Among those differences, he says a “fundamental difference” is on whether Ukraine has to give up land.
Under the US version, Ukraine would have to accept it has lost control of 20% of its territory, conquered by Russia, but also give up four fortress cities that have so far resisted Moscow’s advances – something Kyiv has refused to do.
The US version would also cap Ukraine’s armed forces at 600,000 troops, while the European version suggests 800,000 troops. Clarke says Ukraine currently fields around 850,000 troops.
The European plan also suggests the US guarantees Ukraine against future invasion, mirroring NATO’s Article 5 commitment.
Watch his comparison of the plans here:
A key question on the US peace proposal for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine is whether Donald Trump settles with Putin or Europe, according to our US correspondent Mark Stone.
“It is quite clear to me from European, British sources that I’ve spoken to over the past few days, that they too have been kind of bewildered,” he said about the proposal.
“It is not a done deal. And the Europeans have now been able to massage it, to change it.”
He added: “So the key question is where does Donald Trump settle on this?
“Does he settle with Putin and get fed up with the European and Ukrainian position? Or do the Europeans once again manage to pull him back in? That’s the key question.”
Stone said Trump likely won’t want anything getting in the way of Thanksgiving celebrations in the US on Thursday.
He explained: “I think we may well be in the long grass now until next week, unless Zelenskyy feels it is so important to get himself either to Washington tomorrow, unlikely given the timing, or to Mar-a-Lago over the next couple of days to hammer out some sort of a deal.”
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