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Morning Headlines
Reuters: A meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Florida on Sunday was "very productive," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, adding that work still remains towards ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
Politico: Trump’s drive to secure peace in Ukraine must not let Putin off the hook for war crimes committed by Russian forces, a top EU official has warned, effectively setting a new red line for a deal.
The Kyiv Independent: NATO is weighing a shift toward a more assertive response to Russia’s cyber operations, sabotage, and airspace violations, the alliance’s top military official told the Financial Times.
ISW: The Kremlin continues to advance a false narrative that Ukraine’s front line and political stability are on the verge of collapse in an effort to convince the West to capitulate to Russian demands that Russia cannot secure militarily.
30.11.2025
Politico: Rep. Don Bacon underscored on Sunday that he feels the White House is sending "mixed signals" on its stance about helping to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and said he wished the Trump admin would be less obscure. "I just don't see that moral clarity coming from the White House," Bacon said.
Reuters: India plans to start discussions toward the purchase of Russian fighter jets and a missile defense shield during Putin’s visit this week, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
The Kyiv Independent: Polish President Karol Nawrocki cancelled a meeting with Viktor Orban after the Hungarian prime minister travelled to Moscow to discuss energy ties between Russia and Hungary, Nawrocki's office said on Nov. 30.
Defence Blog: Ukraine has for the first time used a domestically produced interceptor drone to destroy a Russian Geran-3—known internationally as the Iranian Shahed-238—during an overnight attack.
The Telegraph: Facing sanctions, soaring inflation and labour shortages, Russia is relying on one of the oldest and most stable commodities to shore up its wartime economy. And Putin’s mercenaries are accused of murdering and torturing their way through central Africa to get their hands on it (archive).
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine and Norway agreed to jointly produce drones, with the pilot production line to be launched in 2026, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Nov. 30.
Reuters: Kazakhstan told Ukraine on Sunday to stop attacking the Black Sea terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which handles more than 1% of global oil, after a major drone attack halted exports and seriously damaged loading infrastructure.
The Kyiv Independent: A Russian drone attack killed a man and injured 19 people in the town of Vyshhorod in Kyiv Oblast overnight on Nov. 30, local authorities reported.
29.11.2025
RBC-Ukraine: Russian troops are conducting assaults without helmets or body armor in the Lyman direction. New footage from the Donetsk frontlines shows Russian soldiers attacking Ukrainian positions with no basic protection, with most dying before reaching forest lines or trenches.
The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Paris on Dec. 1 to discuss Ukraine's path to peace with French President Emmanuel Macron, the French government said in a statement on Nov. 29.
Reuters: Moldovan authorities said on Saturday that Russian drones had entered the country's airspace, posing a threat to aviation, in the third such incident in nine days.
The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal and military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov on Nov. 29 and ordered a revision of Ukraine's core defense documents.
AFP: South African police have arrested four Russia-bound men at Johannesburg's airport suspected of having signed up to fight for the Russian army, the force said on Saturday.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian Sea Baby naval drones struck two sanctioned Russian oil tankers, Kairos and Virat, on Nov. 28, disabling vessels tied to the Kremlin's shadow fleet, Security Service of Ukraine said on Nov. 29.
Reuters: A Russian attack on Ukraine killed six people and wounded dozens, officials said on Saturday, while emergency crews restored power to more than 400,000 households in Kyiv after strikes on the grid.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's military targeted the Afipsky Oil Refinery in Krasnodar Krai — one of southern Russia's largest refineries — overnight on Nov. 29, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported.
Reuters: The January-September net income of Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft fell by 70% year-on-year to 277 billion roubles ($3.57 billion) amid high interest rates, cheaper oil and a stronger rouble, the company said on Friday.
WSJ: Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are negotiating with Russian officials to ensure U.S. businesses—and Trump’s friends—are in position to make a killing once the war ends, according to an exhaustive Wall Street Journal report published Friday (archive).
28.11.2025
Kyiv Post: Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces say they wiped out three major Russian air-defense systems in just three days, inflicting an estimated $60 million loss on Moscow.
Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to skip a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels next week, two U.S. officials said, in a highly unusual absence of the top U.S. diplomat from a key transatlantic gathering.
Ukrainska Pravda: A Ukrainian prisoner of war was struck with a rifle butt and executed by Russian forces on the Pokrovsk axis. An investigation has been launched.
The Moscow Times: Putin on Friday signed a major tax overhaul that will raise Russia’s value-added tax to 22% from 20% next year, a move aimed at closing the fiscal gap created by soaring military expenditures and falling oil and gas revenues amid Western sanctions.
The Telegraph: The United States is poised to recognise Russia’s control over Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian territories to secure a deal to end the war. The Telegraph understands that Trump has sent his peace envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to make the direct offer to Putin in Moscow (archive).
Bloomberg: Norway is likely to keep aid for Ukraine close to current levels beyond next year, a senior opposition lawmaker signaled, citing a low chance of peace anytime soon (archive).
Reuters: Russia's state communications watchdog threatened on Friday to block WhatsApp entirely if it fails to comply with Russian law, news agencies reported.
Reuters: Poland has detained two Ukrainians and three Belarusians on charges of acting on the orders of foreign intelligence services, prosecutors said on Friday, as Warsaw warns of Russian attempts to destabilise countries backing Kyiv.
Reuters: Russia failed on Friday to win enough votes to rejoin the U.N. shipping agency's governing council despite urging countries to back its nomination for a seat it lost in 2023.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces struck the Saratov oil refinery, a drone storage facility at an airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea and other military targets overnight on Nov. 28, Ukraine's General Staff reported.
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