Russia-Ukraine updates: Attacks intensify as Moscow mulls revised US plan

For more on the latest version of US President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, read this.

For more on how Europe is rethinking its defence at sea in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, and why new peace proposals are sharpening that urgency, read this.

And all of our latest coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine can be found here.

This live page will soon be closing. Here are the day’s main developments:

• Ukraine’s military said it recorded 216 combat clashes today and said “fierce battles” are ongoing in the strategic town of Huliaipole in the southeastern region of Zaporizhia for “every metre” of land.
• US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week to discuss the latest version of a Trump-backed proposal now modified with Ukrainian input.
• Russia has expressed caution about the status of the talks with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it’s “premature” to suggest a deal is imminent.
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has meanwhile reiterated his call for further sanctions on Russia, insisting they must continue “as long as Russia blocks all peace efforts”.
• Zelenskyy also said Ukraine’s military is intensifying efforts to expand domestic air-defence production, warning that his country cannot rely solely on foreign supplies as Russian missile and drone attacks continue.
• Authorities in Ukraine’s Kherson region said a Russian drone attack has injured a 56-year-old man in the Dniprovskyi district.
• Russia’s military said its air defences “intercepted and destroyed” more than 20 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Russian forces have killed a woman and a young child in a drone attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to local authorities.

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, said in a post on Telegram the strike took place at about 7:40pm (17:40 GMT) on Wednesday in the city’s Korabelnyi district. He said Russian troops dropped explosives from a drone onto a car, killing a 34-year-old woman and a six-year-old child instantly.

A 50-year-old man who was also in the vehicle was injured and taken to hospital with a concussion, blast trauma, a closed head injury and shrapnel wounds to the head, neck, back and arm, officials said.

Kherson continues to face near-daily Russian shelling and drone attacks from positions across the Dnipro River, with residential areas frequently targeted.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is planning to travel to Moscow on November 28 for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a report from the Hungarian outlet Telex.

The publication said it had learned that Orban is expected to hold talks with Putin in the Russian capital on Friday. If it goes ahead, it would mark Orbán’s first in-person meeting with Putin since July 2024, when he visited Moscow on what he described as a “peace mission”.

Telex noted that the Hungarian leader has continued to maintain dialogue with Moscow despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, often putting him at odds with other EU member states.

Ukraine’s military says it recorded 216 combat clashes over the past 24 hours, describing some of the most intense fighting in weeks.

In its evening update, the army said Russia carried out 41 air strikes, dropping more than 100 guided bombs, and launched more than 3,100 kamikaze drones along with nearly 3,000 artillery attacks on Ukrainian positions and towns.

Heavy battles were also reported across multiple fronts, with intense fighting and major clashes in Slobozhansky, Kupiansk, Lyman, Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk, Huliaipole and Orikhiv.

Lyman and Pokrovsk saw the heaviest activity, with dozens of Russian assaults in each city, the army added.

Ukrainian forces also said Russia suffered “significant losses”, noting 126 Russian troops killed or wounded in the Pokrovsk area alone, and reported destroying drones, vehicles and artillery systems.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says its military is intensifying efforts to expand domestic air-defence production, warning that Ukraine cannot rely solely on foreign supplies as Russian missile and drone attacks continue.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said he chaired a meeting of his military staff on Wednesday that focused on boosting Ukraine’s capacity to shoot down incoming Russian missiles and drones.

“Production will be increased accordingly. Our Ukrainian production is our guarantee of protection,” he said. “Ukrainians cannot depend on whether something can be sourced from the global market or from partners’ stockpiles.”

There’s little sign of peace in Ukraine, but transatlantic diplomatic efforts to end the war are intensifying.

Ukraine and its European allies are vying with Russia to sway US President Donald Trump in forging a deal.

Can one be reached or will the war go on?

Watch Al Jazeera’s Inside Story to join the conversation:

This update comes via the Russian Ministry of Defence’s official Telegram channel.

It said that between 4pm and 8pm Moscow time today (13:00-17:00 GMT), Russian air defences “intercepted and destroyed” 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

It gave the following breakdown:

• Eight UAVs were shot over the Belgorod region
• Three UAVs over the Kursk region
• One UAV over the Crimea region

Senior Ukrainian security official Rustem Umerov, a key figure in peace negotiations with Moscow and Washington, has been questioned as a witness by anticorruption investigators probing Ukraine’s biggest wartime graft scandal, two local media outlets report.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) of Ukraine invited Umerov to testify as part of its probe of Timur Mindich, the suspected ringleader of a $100m kickback scheme involving the state nuclear energy company, the outlets quoted Umerov’s press office as saying.

They did not say when Umerov had been questioned.

Umerov’s spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Reuters, and a NABU spokesperson said the agency would not comment on the reports.

Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, led Kyiv’s delegation to peace talks with Russian representatives in Turkiye this spring. Reuters reported this week that he had also met US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami this month to discuss a peace proposal.

Ukraine’s defence minister says Finland has joined an international coalition aimed at boosting Kyiv’s naval capabilities, a move he described as an important step toward strengthening regional security.

Denys Shmyhal said he welcomed the decision by Finnish Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen to join the Maritime Capability Coalition, which supports Ukraine in developing equipment and systems to protect its territorial waters.

“This step strengthens maritime security and helps Ukraine further develop the capabilities needed to protect our waters,” Shmyhal wrote in a post on X.

He added that cooperation with Finland and other partners is essential as Ukraine seeks to counter ongoing Russian naval attacks and ensure safer routes for exports.

“Unity between our nations makes us all stronger and brings a just peace closer,” he added.

Here are the latest developments:

• Slovenia has backed diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine, warning that any settlement must avoid legitimising changes to borders “by force” as it would set a “dangerous precedent”.
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has reiterated his call for further sanctions on Russia, insisting they must continue “as long as Russia blocks all peace efforts”.
• Authorities in Ukraine’s Kherson region say a Russian drone attack has injured a 56-year-old man in the Dniprovskyi district, adding that the man suffered shrapnel wounds to his leg and is in moderate condition.
• Ukraine’s military reported 144 clashes along the front line, adding that border areas in the northern regions of Sumy and Chernihiv came under Russian artillery fire, and several small towns and villages were hit.
• Belarus has offered to host peace talks on Ukraine in Minsk, saying the conflict “demands complex solutions”.
• Russia’s military said its air defences “intercepted and destroyed” 10 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) earlier today.

A senior Russian diplomat has said Moscow will not make major concessions in any potential peace plan for Ukraine, signalling limited room for compromise ahead of expected talks with the United States, according to Reuters.

Moscow’s latest remarks indicate it is preparing to enter talks while maintaining firm red lines, even as the US and European countries step up diplomatic efforts.

Earlier, we reported that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was “premature” to suggest a deal is imminent.

Russian forces have shelled the village of Chornobaivka in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, injuring a 70-year-old man, according to local officials.

The Kherson regional military administration said the strike hit the village at about 5:20pm (15:20 GMT) on Wednesday. Medics treated him at the scene.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian forces reportedly used a drone to attack Chornobaivka, injuring an elderly woman.

Ukraine’s foreign minister says Kyiv is working with Canada on new measures to increase pressure on Russia, including additional sanctions and coordinated steps at the United Nations.

Andrii Sybiha said he spoke with Canada’s foreign minister, Anita Anand, to thank Canada for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s participation in the latest meeting of the “coalition of the willing”, a group of states supporting Ukraine.

Sybiha said the discussion focused on “peace efforts, the outcomes of our most recent work with the US and next steps”, adding that Ukraine “will use every opportunity to bring peace closer”.

He said both sides agreed to step up efforts to tighten pressure on Moscow, including additional sanctions, new resolutions at the UN and moves that would permit the “full use of immobilised Russian assets” for Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction.

“We are grateful to Canada and all partners who support our peace efforts,” Sybiha wrote, thanking Anand for her “personal engagement and solidarity with Ukraine”.

As Washington and Kyiv negotiate a peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Al Jazeera’s Linh Nguyen looks at how Ukraine has been adapting to conflict by blending gamification with military strategy.

Watch below:

Russian forces have shelled a residential area of the southern city of Kherson, wounding a 31-year-old woman, according to local officials.

Kherson’s regional military administration said the attack hit the city’s Tsentralnyi district at around 16:20 local time (14:20 GMT).

In a statement on Telegram, it said the woman “came under the enemy strike” and suffered a concussion, trauma and a closed head injury.

Kherson, which Ukraine recaptured in late 2022, continues to face regular Russian shelling from positions across the Dnipro River. Local authorities say residential neighbourhoods, medical workers and emergency crews are frequently targeted.

Moldova displayed a Russian drone that fell on its soil outside its foreign ministry as it summoned Moscow’s envoy over the crash, in an overt criticism of Russia’s conduct in its war in neighbouring Ukraine.

The small ex-Soviet republic, wedged between Ukraine and NATO member Romania, has repeatedly seen violations of its airspace since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has expelled dozens of diplomats and employees of the Russian embassy.

After summoning Oleg Ozerov, the Russian ambassador to Chisinau, Moldova’s foreign ministry placed the crashed drone in front of its headquarters. The ministry later published a video on social media of Ozerov exiting the building and passing by the drone marked with a red “Z”.

The foreign ministry said it had handed Ozerov “a note of protest regarding the illegal overflight”, deeming it “totally unacceptable” and “a serious violation of the sovereignty” of Moldova.

🇲🇩@MoldovaMFA summoned Russia’s appointed ambassador and delivered a protest note after six Russian drones illegally violated Moldova’s airspace. Such actions gravely breach our sovereignty & endanger national & regional security. We demanded steps to prevent any recurrence. pic.twitter.com/Rbt5RUfEvF

— Mihai Popșoi (@MihaiPopsoi) November 26, 2025

Baltic foreign ministers have issued strong statements after a meeting of EU foreign ministers earlier today.

• Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said peace talks must begin with “firm conditions for the aggressor, not the victim”, insisting Russia must be held accountable for war crimes and withdraw its forces from all Ukrainian territory. Tsahkna added that Ukraine must remain free to choose its own path, including joining NATO and the EU. “Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security,” he said.
• Latvia’s Foreign Ministry said its priority at the EU meeting in Kyiv was ensuring Ukraine has “self-defence capabilities” and securing a “lasting peace” that protects Ukraine’s sovereignty and prevents further Russian attacks.
• Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry warned that the EU “cannot afford hesitation”, saying decisions on frozen Russian assets and Ukraine’s path to EU membership will shape the bloc’s future security.

AJ Defence Editor Alex Gatopoulos breaks down grey zone warfare and why NATO is accusing Russia of acts of sabotage: