US and Ukraine delegations meet near Miami, Florida, November 30, 2025. The Americans include Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd from L), real estate developer Steve Witkoff (1st from L), and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (3rd from L). Kyiv’s officials are led by Rustem Umerov, head of the National Security and Defense Council (2nd from R).

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: Witkoff and Kushner Confer with the Kremlin

EA on RTE: Real Estate Developer and Trump’s Son-in-Law Visit Putin

EA on RTE: Zelensky in Ireland

Wednesday’s Coverage: Nothing Happens in 5-Hour Witkoff-Kushner-Putin Talks

UPDATE 0827 GMT:

At least two abducted Ukrainian children have been transferred to a camp in North Korea, reports Ukraine’s Regional Center for Human Rights.

RCHR’s legal expert Kateryna Rashevska told a US Congressional subcommittee on Wednesday:

12-year-old Misha from the occupied Donetsk region and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol were sent to Songdowon camp in North Korea, 9,000 km from home.

Children there were taught to “destroy Japanese militarists” and met Korean veterans who in 1968 attacked the US Navy ship Pueblo, killing and wounding nine American soldiers.

Ukrainian officials have documented the abduction of at least 19,546 Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories during Moscow’s full-scale invasion. The juveniles were taken to Russia or Russian-controlled areas.

“The Regional Center for Human Rights documented 165 re-education camps where Ukrainian children are militarized and Russified. These camps exist in occupied territories, Russia, Belarus, and North Korea,” Rashevska said.

UPDATE 0817 GMT:

Australia and New Zealand are contributing to the fund for NATO countries to buy US military equipment and transfer it to Ukraine.

Canberra has pledged A$50 million ($33.1 million) for the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List. Australia will also donate $43 million of supplies and weapons, including tactical air defence radars, munitions and combat engineering equipment, and another $2 million will be provided to help Ukraine with advanced drone technologies. In coming weeks, the final group of 49 US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks gifted by Australia will be delivered.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced sanctions on another 45 Russian “shadow fleet” tankers, and financial restrictions and travel bans on more than 1,180 people and 293 entities.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet Ukraine’s top official Rustem Umerov in Florida on Thursday, two days after they conferred with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the US, confirmed the sit-down between real estate developer Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Kushner, and Umerov, the Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said:

We’re preparing meetings in the United States – after the American team returns from Moscow and following the relevant consultations in Washington.

Everything is now proceeding quite effectively – at meetings in Geneva and Florida, Ukraine was heard, and Ukraine was listened to. And that matters. We expect it will continue exactly this way.

In late October, Witkoff and Kushner worked with Vladimir Putin’s top economic advisor Kirill Dmitriev on a 28-point ultimatum to Kyiv, developing a Russian draft from the spring.

Ukraine’s European partners, supported by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, pushed back the ultimatum in meetings in Geneva and Florida. The European counter-proposal set the priority of a ceasefire based on frontlines, rather than Ukraine giving up the rest of the strategic Donetsk region to Russia. Kyiv’s membership in NATO would not be banned, and Western military assistance would not be restricted.

The Europeans also removed clauses which gave the Trump camp 50% of the profits from Ukraine’s recovery fund and compensation for any security guarantees.

On Tuesday, Putin kept Witkoff and Kushner waiting for three hours in the Kremlin. He then hosted them for five hours.

No details were given, and the Trump envoys made no comment. Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov said some American points were acceptable but others were not.

We agreed that at the level of representatives and assistants, we will continue contacts with the Americans, in particular with these two people.

As for a possible meeting at the Presidential level, that will depend on what progress we can achieve along this path.

A Kremlin official added that “so far, a compromise hasn’t been found” on Russia’s demand for more Ukrainian territory, without which the Kremlin sees “no resolution to the crisis”.