A revised version of a peace proposal was discussed in Moscow, after the Ukrainian leader said the current proposal “looks better” than the initial plan that had 28 points. DW has the latest.
Rubio says progress made in talks with Russia
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Washington has made “some progress” in talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Rubio told Fox News that talks have focused on identifying terms Kyiv could accept while securing its long-term security.
“What we have tried to do, and I think have made some progress, is figure out, what could the Ukrainians live with that gives them security guarantees for the future,” he said.
Rubio said the US hopes the agreement would allow Ukrainians “not just to rebuild their economy, but to prosper as a country.”
Kremlin says talks concluded, no compromise found
Hours-long talks between the Russian government and US envoy Steve Witkoff, along with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, drew to a close, with no clear solutions to the conflict.
The Russian government said that no compromise had been reached on the critical issue of territory in Ukraine.
“So far we haven’t found a compromise, but some American solutions can be discussed,” top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists.
“There were some points we could agree on,” Ushakov added, but “the president did not hide our critical, even negative, stance on a number of proposals.”
But Ushakov praised the talks, adding that “the conversation was very useful and constructive,” however “a lot of work lies ahead both in Washington in Moscow.”
Zelenskyy says what matters is that ‘nothing is decided without Ukraine’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to social media soon after the US negotiators arrived in the Kremlin on Tuesday, saying Ukrainians need “clarity” in any potential peace accord, including guarantees that Russia would not launch “yet another invasion.”
“The United States says that a lot of blood has been shed and it’s enough. And we fully support them. But we must end this war in a way that prevents Russia from coming back a year later with a third invasion,” he said. “They did not achieve their goal of occupying our country. But I am not sure their objectives have changed.”
The Russians started the war, and there is no other way to put it. The whole world is a witness. They came with aggression to destroy us. We stopped them. Europe helped, America helped. Russia failed to occupy Ukraine first and foremost because of the strength of the Ukrainian…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 2, 2025
The Ukrainian president said there would be no “simple solutions” to ending the war.
“What matters is that everything is fair and transparent. That there are no games played behind Ukraine’s back. That nothing is decided without Ukraine — about us, about our future,” he wrote.
Territories and frozen assets were among the most difficult questions, he said, as well as security guarantees.
“We could on strong security guarantees from the United States and Europe, and some other leaders,” he said.
There will be no simple solutions to ending this war. We understand what is happening. We understand who we are dealing with. The issue is not the difficulty of making decisions. I am capable of making them. What matters is that everything is fair and transparent. That there are…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 2, 2025
NATO official says Pokrovsk ‘95%’ in Russian hands
A NATO official briefing reporters in Brussels on condition of anonymity on Tuesday said that according to his information, Russia controlled “95%” of Pokrovsk.
This comes as Russia claims total control of the city while Ukraine says its forces are still fighting in the north.
The NATO representative said Ukraine was “conducting an orderly withdrawal” as Russian forces controlled “the vast majority of the city.”
In response to a question from DW’s Xenia Polska, he said it was important to note that taking Pokrovsk was something Russia had expected to achieve more than a year ago.
“It has spent a lot of Russian lives in the pursuit of this goal. It destroyed much of the city in the process, and it’s been very, very slow progress to get here,” he said. “But the during that timeframe, the Ukrainians have been able to take measures so that the fall of Pokrovsk will not have the same strategic impact that it would have had, had this occurred on the Russian timeline.”
He estimated, based on previous NATO estimates of Russia sustaining around 360,000 casualties a year, with so much of the fighting centered around Pokrovsk this year, that Russia would have lost “several hundred per day” in the area.
How Europeans have little say in US-run Ukraine peace talks
The EU and Britain are trying to protect Ukraine’s interests, and their own, as the US leads negotiations to end Moscow’s Ukraine war. But Washington has been keeping European allies at arm’s length.
Source : https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-us-envoy-witkoff-meets-with-putin-in-moscow/live-74975564
