Rubio, Witkoff Meet With Ukraine Negotiators In Miami To Discuss Plans To End War

Three key Trump administration officials are meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Miami, Florida this weekend in a push to broker an end to the war Russia began with its 2022 invasion, while setting the stage for talks between Washington and Moscow planned later this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner plan to meet with the Ukrainian delegation to discuss portions of a proposed peace deal.

During talks in Geneva last Sunday, the sides reached agreements in principle on all but two issues: territory and security guarantees.

A senior U.S. official said the White House wants to close the gaps on those last two issues on Sunday, saying: "The Ukrainians know what we expect from them."

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian delegation lost its lead negotiator between Kyiv and Washington, according to an announcement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.

Zelenskyy said his chief of staff Andrii Yermak has resigned following a home search by anti-corruption investigators.

Government investigators had uncovered that $100 million was embezzled from Ukraine’s energy sector via kickbacks that contractors had paid.

While neither Zelenskyy nor Yermak has been accused of wrongdoing by those leading the investigation, the Ukrainian president’s political opponents have pushed for more accountability of senior leaders in Kyiv’s government.

As Jacob Burg reports for The Epoch Times, the meeting in Florida is occurring just a week after Rubio met with Yermak in Geneva, with both sides expressing positivity over a revised peace plan from Washington.

Prior to his resignation, Yermak told Axios that territorial concessions could only be negotiated at the presidential level.

But Trump said last week that he would only meet Zelensky and Putin once the parties were close to an agreement to end the war.

"The dialogue based on the Geneva points will continue. Diplomacy remains active. The American side is demonstrating a constructive approach, and in the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end. The Ukrainian delegation has the necessary directives, and I expect the guys to work in accordance with clear Ukrainian priorities," Zelensky said on Saturday.

Following Yermak's resignation on Friday, responsibility for negotiations was passed to Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the country’s National Security and Defense Council.

He has been implicated in the corruption probe but is not a suspect, according to authorities.

He was joined by first deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, an experienced diplomat and negotiator who sat at the table with the Russians in peace talks this spring that made no progress.

Umerov said on Sunday morning that talks had begun to find a “dignified peace”.

The meeting between the Ukrainian delegation and the American side on steps toward achieving a just peace has already begun in the United States.

I remain in constant contact with the President of Ukraine. We have clear directives and priorities: safeguarding Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/herwCpylWd

— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) November 30, 2025

As The FT reports, Russian forces this week continued their large-scale missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital and critical infrastructure as troops on the ground in the eastern Donetsk region pressed ahead with assaults on key strongholds.

Ukraine, meanwhile, continued its drone attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities and vessels belonging to its shadow fleet in the Black Sea, including the Russian oil terminal near the southern port of Novorossiysk that is owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

That attack on Saturday prompted a stern response on Sunday from Kazakhstan, which called on Kyiv to halt strikes on the facility that handles about 1 per cent of global oil supplies, including from Kazakhstan, where the pipeline begins.

The biggest question hanging over the US-Ukraine talks is how any proposal agreed between them might be agreed by the Russians, who have maintained a maximalist position and have expressed confidence that they currently hold the battlefield initiative in the war. Putin has shown openness to a deal only if it is done on his timeline and terms.

Earlier this week, Russia blamed the Europeans and Kyiv for spoiling the initial proposal, or what the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov described as the “only substantive thing” on the table. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned that if the revised plan “erased . . . key understandings” reached earlier between Putin and Trump, the situation would be “fundamentally different”.

Nevertheless, Zelenskyy appeared optimistic, telling Ukrainians in his evening address on Saturday that the American side was “demonstrating a constructive approach” to the talks that were set to continue on Sunday.

He added: “In the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end.”
 

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 10:30

Race To The Bottom: White House Launches 'Media Offenders' Leaderboard

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The Trump White House unveiled a scathing new website Friday, “Media Offenders,” complete with a “race to the bottom” leaderboard ranking outlets like The Washington Post as the worst for “false and misleading stories”—flagging everything from exaggerated Trump “sedition” claims to immigrant horror tales as “heinous” manipulations.

The interactive page features an “Offender Hall of Shame” logging repeat offenders and a weekly spotlight, like the current “Media Misrepresents and Exaggerates President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability,” where Democrats and “Fake News” implied Trump issued “illegal orders” to the military—contrasted with “THE TRUTH”: “Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful.”

The site pits outlets like The Washington Post (worst for bias), MSNBC, CNN, CBS News, The New York Times, and Politico in a humiliating tally of “false and misleading stories flagged by The White House.”

See it for yourself ?https://t.co/bRfpnhKjbT

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 28, 2025

Users can sign up for “Offender Alerts” delivered weekly, promising “Scroll for the Truth” on each entry.

The “Offender Hall of Shame” catalogs hits like “L.A. mother says she was taken to U.S. border, being held until she self-deports” and “Trump’s new wall: His push to oust immigrants legally in the U.S.,” debunking them with White House counters.

The spotlight today falls on “Media Misrepresents and Exaggerates President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability,” where outlets like the Boston Globe and The Independent twisted Trump’s push for accountability on Democrats’ military mutiny calls into “execution” threats.

From the site:

“THE OFFENSE”: “The media misrepresented President Trump’s call for Members of Congress to be held accountable for inciting sedition by saying that he called for their ‘execution.'”

“THE TRUTH”: “Democrats released a video calling for service members to disobey their chain of command, and in turn, implied President Trump had issued illegal orders. Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful. It is dangerous for sitting Members of Congress to incite insubordination in the United States’ military, and President Trump called for them to be held accountable.”

This counteroffensive directly exposes MSM’s scripted “talking point” directives amid the info war, where CNN, MSNBC, and NYT puppets cordinate “balanced” spins on Trump’s policies. The leaderboard’s “false and misleading stories” section catalogs such distortions, from immigrant “horror” tales to “Trump wall” exaggerations, proving the “enemies of the people” script is real.

The White House takedown also resonates with FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s November probe into BBC corruption for “rigging the news,” where he slammed “heinous” manipulation as a “threat to democracy” that erodes trust.

As Carr vowed to “expose and prosecute” such tactics, the leaderboard’s “repeat offenders” section—flagging outlets that “don’t just get it wrong – they do it over and over again”—mirrors his call for structural reforms, tying scripted bias to broader info war threats.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 09:20

VW Aims To Cut Development Costs In Half With New "Made In China" Car

Volkswagen says it can build an electric car entirely in China at roughly half the cost of producing one in Germany, helped by quicker development, lower labor expenses, easier battery sourcing and a more efficient supply chain, according to FT.

After heavy investment in its new R&D base in Hefei, which includes more than 100 labs for software, hardware and powertrain testing, the company says it can now validate software, hardware and full vehicles at the same time.

According to VW’s China technology chief Thomas Ulbrich, the facility gives engineering teams “an entirely new level of integration,” allowing them to shorten decision cycles and speed up innovation. VW says the development timeline for new Chinese EVs is about 30 per cent shorter than the traditional 50-month process.

FT writes that the carmaker intends to introduce around 30 EV models in China over the next five years as it tries to regain momentum in the world’s largest auto market, where competition from domestic EV makers has eroded its earlier dominance.

Although the strategy began as “in China, for China,” executives say the company is now considering exporting Chinese-built models and applying Chinese-led advances to its global operations.

Other European manufacturers, such as Renault, are also trying to match China’s rapid development pace by simplifying components and relying more on local engineering talent.

Still, VW stands out for the scale of its investment, committing almost €4bn in China since 2022 through efforts including its partnership with Xpeng and its funding of Horizon Robotics, with which it is developing an AI chip for autonomous-driving features.

These moves come as VW continues to cut costs in Germany, where high production expenses and weak European demand have led to a plan to reduce its domestic workforce by 35,000 by 2030.

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 08:45