Kyiv delegation meets with Trump officials – DW – 11/30/2025

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff have begun their meeting with a delegation from Ukraine as they push to end the war with Russia.

DW’s Misha Komadovsky was in Florida to cover the meeting as the talks began. He saw Rubio as accepting that Ukraine should remain independent.

“We want to see an end to the killing and the death and the suffering, and the Ukrainian side too, I know they do too,” he said.

Rubio said, “They want peace, but it’s also about ensuring an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and free and with an opportunity, real prosperity.”

The Secretary of State further stated that its objective was not merely to end the war but to ensure that there would be no further invasions in the future.

Rubio said everyone wants to “create tremendous prosperity for our people, not only to rebuild the country, but to usher in an era of extraordinary economic progress.”

“Ukraine has tremendous economic potential,” he said.

Russia continued nightly drone and missile attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine on Saturday, destroying residential buildings in Kiev.

Although there are conflicting reports of casualties, one to three people were killed and 11 to 29 were injured in the attack.

Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnik reported “another enemy drone attack” and said rescue workers were evacuating residents from a high-rise building, adding that firefighting was continuing.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the enemy attack on Vyshgorod, one person was killed and 11 were injured. Among them is a child,” Kalashnik wrote on Telegram.

The Kyiv City Military Administration reported two people killed in the attacks, adding that a third victim, a woman, later died of her injuries.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko claimed 29 people were injured in the attack, adding that debris from the intercepted Russian drone had fallen on residential buildings in the capital.

Similar attacks on Friday killed three people and left nearly half a million people without power across Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron will welcome Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Monday, where the two will discuss international efforts to end Russia’s war of aggression against his country.

On Saturday, Macron’s office said the two would discuss “conditions for a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.

“We will welcome President Zelensky in Paris on Monday to take forward the dialogue,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in comments. La Tribune Dimanche Newspaper. “Peace is within reach, if (Russian President) Vladimir Putin gives up his delusional hope of reconstituting the Soviet empire by first subjugating Ukraine.”

As European and Ukrainian leaders fear the US may abandon the effort to save Ukraine, Barot threatened the Kremlin, saying: “Vladimir Putin must accept a ceasefire or impose new sanctions on Russia that will devastate its economy, as well as intensify European support for Ukraine.”

Kazakhstan reacted angrily to Ukraine’s recent targeting of a Black Sea oil terminal in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), an international operation run by Kazakh, Russian and American shareholders.

Ukrainian Sea Baby drones this weekend attacked a Russian anchorage in the CPC – which handles about 1% of global oil, but 80% of Kazakhstan’s – severely damaging it.

The CPC said a naval drone strike on the terminal on November 29 “significantly damaged” Single-Point Mooring (SPM) 2 – a floating buoy that attaches to tankers to load oil.

“Further operation of Single Point Mooring 2 is not possible,” CPC said. “Loading operations and other operations were stopped (and) tankers were withdrawn from CPC waters.”

“We believe that an attack on the CPC is an attack on the interests of CPC member states.”

Kazakhstan said it was the third attack on what it called an “exclusively civilian facility”, the operation of which is protected by the norms of international law.

“We view what happened as an action damaging the bilateral relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,” Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine’s top diplomat is in Florida for meetings with US officials on Sunday ahead of US-Russian meetings in the coming days.

US President Donald Trump – who promised to end Vladimir Putin’s nearly four-year-old war of aggression on the day he took office in January – has said he wants the war to end now and has begun to hint that he might recognize the partially occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk as Russian, leaving Ukraine and Europe to decide whether to continue to defend Ukraine or accede to Russian and US demands. Have to leave.

That regional recognition was part of the original 28-point plan initiated by Trump. Sunday’s talks will discuss a revised 19-point plan drawn up after Kiev and Europe expressed serious concerns about Trump’s roadmap.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a post on Saturday evening that his team was headed to Florida.

Notably absent from the meeting will be Andriy Yermak, who was the country’s lead negotiator in talks with the US until Zelensky resigned as chief of staff on Friday amid a corruption investigation.

The Ukrainian delegation now includes Armed Forces Chief of Staff Andriy Hnatov, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Security Council Secretary Rustam Umerov.

As Ukraine fights for its survival, Russia continues to carry out deadly drone and missile attacks overnight as it pursues negotiations; Targeting civilian infrastructure and killing and injuring non-combatant men, women and children on a daily basis.

Trump’s peace plan leaves Zelensky in a no-win situation

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Thank you for joining us this Sunday for the latest news regarding Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Today’s coverage begins with Ukrainian negotiators traveling to Florida to meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, before the Americans meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.

As Europe worries US President Trump is set to reward Putin’s aggression – by recognizing Crimea, the partially occupied Ukrainian territory in Donetsk and Luhansk as Russian – President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to travel to Paris on Monday for direct consultations with French President Macron.

Elsewhere, we’ll look at what impact drone strikes in Ukrainian waters have had on Russian oil transportation.

Stay tuned for the latest coverage throughout the day.