- Russia-Ukraine Daily News
- Posts
- Daily Briefing
Dear Reader, if you find this email interesting, helpful or of value, please do consider forwarding it to your friends or colleagues and encouraging them to subscribe. Thank you.
Morning Headlines
Reuters: The U.S.-backed 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, which became public last week, drew from a Russian-authored paper submitted to the Trump administration in October.
Reuters: Trump on Tuesday backed away from a Thursday deadline for Ukraine to agree to a U.S.-backed peace plan and shrugged off a report that his negotiator Witkoff coached the Russians on how to approach him on the topic.
NBC News: In a meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv last week, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll delivered a grim assessment. Driscoll told his counterparts their troops faced a dire situation on the battlefield and would suffer an imminent defeat against Russian forces.
Politico: European countries are working on an emergency plan B to stop Ukraine running out of money early next year in case they cannot reach a deal on raiding Russia’s frozen assets to fund Kyiv’s war effort.
Reuters: Russian authorities must consolidate the Russian language and identity in parts of Ukraine 'incorporated' into the country since Moscow's 2022 invasion, according to a document signed by Putin and published on Tuesday.
ISW: Russian forces are employing their new offensive template in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area, setting conditions for a future dedicated effort to seize Kostyantynivka and threaten the Ukrainian Fortress Belt from the south.
The Kyiv Independent: 'Unidentified' drones struck the Russian city of Cheboksary in the Chuvashia Republic in the early hours of Nov. 26, with Russian Telegram channels suggesting that a local military-linked facility may have been targeted again.
Reuters: Russian forces staged a mass drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia late on Tuesday, triggering fires, injuring 12 people and badly damaging buildings and vehicles, the regional governor said.
The Moscow Times: French authorities have arrested three people on suspicion of spying for Russia and acting to promote its war propaganda, prosecutors said Tuesday.
More News
Bloomberg: US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, fresh from the triumph of the Gaza peace deal, held a phone call last month with a senior Kremlin official to suggest they work together on a similar plan for Ukraine — and that Putin should raise it with Trump (archive).
AP News: Trump said Tuesday his plan to end the war in Ukraine has been "fine-tuned" and he’s sending envoy Witkoff to meet with Putin and Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials. He suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.
Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday Ukraine was ready to advance a U.S.-backed framework for ending the war with Russia and discuss disputed points with Trump in talks he said should include European allies.
Reuters: France will finalise with other European Union countries a solution for providing financial support to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.
The Kyiv Independent: A peace plan discussed and approved by Ukrainian and U.S. officials would limit Ukraine's peacetime military to 800,000 service members, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 25, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials.
AP News: Hackers working for Russian intelligence attacked an American engineering company this fall, investigators at a U.S. cybersecurity company said Tuesday — seemingly because that firm had worked for a U.S. municipality with a sister city in Ukraine.
Reuters: Sweden's military wants long-range cruise missiles able to strike targets deep inside other countries, a deterrent which the defence minister said on Tuesday was needed to match Russia's own long-range capabilities.
Reuters: NATO must speed up work on strengthening the protection of its eastern flank from drones, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said after Romania scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday after drone incursions into its airspace.
Bloomberg: Romania’s defense chief said the NATO member state will soon be able to deploy a US-supplied anti-drone system to thwart a rising number of airspace breaches by Russia (archive).
Reuters: Russia's government is discussing different ways to prop up Russian Railways, the country's biggest commercial employer, which has built up a 4 trillion rouble ($50.8 billion) debt pile.
Reuters: Serbia's Russia-owned NIS oil refinery will shut down in four days if the United States does not lift sanctions on the project, risking fuel supplies ahead of winter, President Aleksandar Vucic said in a televised address on Tuesday.
Reuters: India's Russian oil imports are set to hit their lowest in at least three years in December, down from multi-month highs in November, as refiners turned to alternatives to avoid breaching Western sanctions.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian Il-76 heavy transport aircraft as well as an experimental A-60 airborne laser platform, according to Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, on Nov. 25.
Reuters: A planned 140 billion euro loan for Ukraine from the EU backed by frozen Russian assets is unlikely to hurt sovereign ratings of EU countries, two leading credit rating agencies said.
Reuters: Ukraine's military hit a Russian oil refinery in Krasnodar region and an oil terminal in the port of Novorossiysk, it said on Tuesday.
worth mentioning
CNN: US trumpets Ukraine talks progress – but source reveals significant obstacles
Dallas investigation: Oilfield services giant SLB serves Rosneft – despite new U.S. sanctions
European Parliament approves new EU $1.7 billion defence investment programme
Russia's car market faces bleak 2026 as scrappage fees drive prices up
New investigation reveals the Russian Red Cross is expanding operations in occupied Ukraine as its international funding grows
Russa-Ukraine Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Do you think your friend or colleague should know about this newsletter? Forward it to them, please.They can also sign up here
Please consider supporting my work