As the Moscow visit by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner ends without results, the future of Trump’s Ukraine peace plan remains uncertain.

Timothy Ash notes that the way the process is unfolding—and the low level of trust in the actors involved—raises serious questions about whether the plan is feasible at all.

Witkoff’s trip, joined by Kushner, has already exposed major cracks.

After “constructive” but fruitless talks, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed no compromise had been reached, and the pair quietly abandoned plans to continue on to Kyiv.

Ash argues that Trump and Witkoff fundamentally misunderstand the war.

They assume territorial concessions—Donbas, Crimea, and areas Russia occupies in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia—could end the conflict.

But Putin’s 2021 essay made clear that his goal is not land but domination: he rejects Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign nation.

Any ceasefire extracted on these terms would simply serve as a pause before a renewed push to subjugate the whole country.

In Ash’s view, Trump is chasing a quick, ego-driven diplomatic “win” that might temporarily halt fighting but would ultimately embolden aggression and destabilize Europe’s post-1975 security order.

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Putin:

Russia proposed that Ukraine withdraw its troops from Donbas and refrain from starting military actions, but Kyiv prefers to fight.

Putin:

Russia will in any case “free” Donbas and Novorossiya — by military or other means.

Putin:

The American side divided the 27 points of the peace plan into four packages and suggested discussing them separately.

Netanyahu:

We can break out for peace accords not only with one country… including Islamic countries outside the region.

Netanyahu:

I will come to New York.

Netanyahu:

Iran sees us as only a stepping stone to striking the U.S. with long-range, nuclear-armed missiles.

So when we fight, we’re not only defending Israel—we’re defending the free world from the barbarians.

Netanyahu:

You say we committed war crimes—I committed war crimes. Whatever.

But no army has done more than Israel to keep civilians out of harm’s way.

Netanyahu:

I think Churchill would have been accused of stupendous war crimes.

We don't carpet-bomb. We don't do Dresden. We don't do any of that.

Netanyahu:

We recognize that we have a battle for the truth.

You know, they just buy these bots, put them into the cell phones—cell phones that are, by the way, produced by Israel, many of them—and they just brainwash entire generations of youth.

And yes, we have a problem there. And we’ll have to fight this battle and use all our inventiveness, all our creativity, to fight this battle.

Netanyahu:

It was clear to me that we were not only fighting Hamas — we were fighting Hezbollah, we were fighting the Assad regime, we were fighting the militias in Iraq, we were fighting the Houthis, we were fighting Iran.

And we did. We won this war. We won this war, but it’s never-ending. It’s like, you know, if you have cancer and you take it out, it can still come back — certain types of cancer — but if you don’t take it out, you die. So we took it out.

Macron’s visit to China aims to convince Beijing to invest more in France and share its advanced technologies, helping French industry catch up.

After decades in which Europe transferred technology to China, the situation has reversed.

China now leads in areas such as batteries, solar power, and electric vehicles.

Source: BFMTV

At least two Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces were forcibly transferred to a camp in North Korea, legal expert Kateryna Rashevska told a U.S. Senate subcommittee on Dec. 3.

She said a 12-year-old boy from occupied Donetsk and a 16-year-old girl from Simferopol were taken to the Songdowon camp, 9,000 km from home, where they were exposed to militarized training and propaganda.

India will pay about $2 billion to lease a nuclear-powered attack submarine from Russia, finalizing a pact after a decade of stalled talks.

Indian officials visited a Russian shipyard in November, and the vessel is expected to be delivered within two years, though delays are possible.

The leased vessel—larger than India’s current nuclear attack subs—will be used only for training, not wartime operations, and will stay with the Navy for 10 years.

A previous Russian-leased submarine was returned in 2021.

Source: Bloomberg

Namibia: The African Development Bank plans to provide about $1.78 billion over the coming years to support transport, energy and water projects, according to a bank spokesperson.

Sudan: Doctors Without Borders says 10,000 people fleeing mass violence in and around El Fasher have taken refuge in the town of Tawila seeking safety.

Russia has imposed new limits on Apple’s FaceTime video-calling service.

Netanyahu announced that he has decided to appoint Major General Roman Gofman, his military secretary, as the next head of the Mossad.

Gofman will assume his position in June 2026, when Dedi Barnea completes his five-year term.

Mali: Russia’s cultural diplomacy agency Rossotrudnichestvo said work is underway to open a Russian Science and Culture Centre in the country.

Indians are getting ready to welcome Putin.

He appears to be quite popular in the country.

BREAKING: Yasser Abu Shabab, the commander of the Gaza militia east of Rafah — who had cooperated with Israel in recent months and heads an organization calling itself the Popular Forces — was killed by assassins.