U.S. President Donald Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy said a deal to end the Ukraine war was “really close” and depended on resolving just two major issues but the Kremlin said there had to be radical changes to some of the U.S. proposals. Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a “peacemaker” president, says that ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two has so far been the most elusive foreign policy aim of his presidency. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who is due to step down in January, told the Reagan National Defense Forum that efforts to resolve the conflict were in “the last 10 metres” which he said was always the hardest. The two main outstanding issues, Kellogg said, were on territory – primarily the future of the Donbas – and the future of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is under Russian control. “If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,” Kellogg said on Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. “We’re almost there.” “We’re really, really close,” said Kellogg. After President Vladimir Putin held four hours of Kremlin talks last week with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said “territorial problems” were discussed. That is Kremlin shorthand for Russian claims to the whole of Donbas, though Ukraine is still in control of at least 5,000 square km (1,900 square miles) of the area. Almost all countries recognise Donbas as part of Ukraine. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that handing over the rest of Donetsk would be illegal without a referendum and would give Russia a platform to launch assaults deeper into Ukraine in the future. Ushakov was quoted by Russian media on Sunday as saying that the United States would have to “make serious, I would say, radical changes to their papers” on Ukraine. He did not clarify what changes Moscow wanted Washington to make. Zelensky said on Saturday that he had had a long and “substantive” phone call with Witkoff and Kushner. The Kremlin has said it expects Kushner to be doing the main work on drafting a possible deal. Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who served in Vietnam, Panama and Iraq, said the scale of the death and injuries caused by the Ukraine war was “horrific” and unprecedented in terms of a regional war. Kellogg said that, together, Russia and Ukraine have suffered more than 2 million casualties, including dead and wounded since the war began. Neither Russia nor Ukraine disclose credible estimates of their losses. Russia currently controls 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, all of Luhansk, more than 80% of Donetsk, about 75% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. A leaked set of 28 U.S. draft peace proposals emerged last month, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow’s main demands on NATO, Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine’s army. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton suggested Sunday that the Trump administration might soon begin to “murder” Americans. Moulton, who is running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, made the radical claim during an appearance on CNN in which he suggested that the administration’s actions against narcoterrorists in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean may be replicated against Americans. “The President of the United States and his secretary of Defense are conducting murder on the high seas. They’re committing murder and Americans should care,” said Moulton. “None of us like drug traffickers, but we have laws that say that drug traffickers don’t get summarily executed, and if it’s happening off the coast of America with people that we don’t know, just give it time before Donald Trump starts doing the same kind of thing to people we do know right here at home.” The administration has declared major drug cartels in South America as terror groups, and positioned roughly 15,000 troops in the Caribbean Sea to combat narcoterrorists trafficking fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States. The U.S. military has destroyed roughly two dozen boats and submarines in international waters that the administration said were trafficking illicit drugs. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Democrats ramped up criticisms of the Trump administration’s war on drugs after a report from The Washington Post last month claimed that War Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a “kill them all” order carried out against survivors of a destroyed drug-running vessel. Top military officials have contested the report. Adm. Mitch Bradley said in a closed-door hearing in Congress last week that Hegseth never gave such an order. In one September incident that has become the basis for Democratic claims of war crimes, Bradley made the call to send a follow-up strike against a vessel that he deemed was still a threat. Democrats have pushed to have the classified video of the follow-up strike made public. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has seen the video, appeared on NBC News on Sunday and said he had “no problem” with releasing it as long as doing so does not risk national security. “I will say that the [Department of War] may have valid concerns about revealing what we know about tactics and techniques that these cartels are using or about our sources or methods,” said Cotton. “I would trust Secretary Hegseth and his team to make the decision about whether they can declassify and release the video. But again, there’s nothing remarkable on that video in my opinion.”

X has surged in popularity after the European Union announced last week that it had fined the social media platform for violating transparency rules and other regulations. Elon Musk, who purchased X in 2022, has celebrated X’s surging popularity and mocked the European Union’s attempts to punish the free speech platform. Musk has touted rankings that show X has become the most downloaded app across Europe since the EU announced its action against Musk’s platform. Now number 1 in every EU country! https://t.co/tQOpiPVRkw — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2025 “X is seeing record-breaking downloads in many countries in Europe,” Musk posted on Sunday. “The European Union is not DEMOcracy–rule of the people–but rather BUREAUcracy–rule of the unelected bureaucrat!” Musk added in a post several minutes later. The European Commission, the main governing body of the European Union, announced on Friday that it had fined X the equivalent of about $140 million for “non-compliance with transparency obligations under the [Digital Services Act].” The commission said that X’s “blue checkmark” stamp on accounts, which is given to those accounts that pay for verification, is deceptive. The commission also accused X of illegally blocking researchers and governments from accessing parts of its data. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. In a response from X’s head of product, Nikita Bier accused the commission of hypocrisy, exploiting a bug in X’s platform for advertisements to extend the reach of the commission’s video announcing its action against X. Bier said that X has since cut off the commission’s access to X’s Ad Composer tool for using it to deceive users. “The irony of your announcement: You logged into your dormant ad account to take advantage of an exploit in our Ad Composer — to post a link that deceives users into thinking it’s a video and to artificially increase its reach,” Bier posted. “As you may be aware, X believes everyone should have an equal voice on our platform. However, it seems you believe that the rules should not apply to your account. Your ad account has been terminated.” Bier’s response was reposted by Musk. The commission’s action against Musk has riled top officials in the Trump administration, deepening a divide between the United States and Europe over regulation and speech. “The European Commission’s $140 million fine isn’t just an attack on [X], it’s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments. The days of censoring Americans online are over,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage,” said Vice President JD Vance a day before the fine was announced.

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton has no objections to releasing the full video of the U.S. military strike on a drug boat that has become central to Democratic claims of war crimes committed by the Trump administration. The Arkansas senator appeared on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” on Sunday and defended the actions taken by the U.S. military to curb the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States, specifically striking vehicles used to ferry drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. One incident in September has sparked accusations from Democrats that War Secretary Pete Hegseth committed a war crime after a second military strike was ordered on a drug boat that was not destroyed by an initial missile. The accusations against Hegseth began after The Washington Post reported that the War secretary gave an order to “kill them all.” Top military officials have since testified to Congress that no such order was given, and Republican lawmakers who have seen the mission order have said that no such language exists in the order that would direct military personnel to commit war crimes. Senate Republicans, including Cotton, have also reviewed the footage of the second strike on the drug boat and said that the strike did not constitute a war crime because the vessel, though damaged and capsized, still represented a valid military target and could have been used to call in additional narcoterrorists. Cotton said Sunday that he would have “no problem” releasing the video to the public, though the military may have national security reasons for not wanting the footage public. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. “I personally don’t have any problem with” releasing the footage, Cotton said. “It’s not gruesome. I didn’t find it distressing or disturbing. It looks like any number of dozens of strikes we’ve seen on Jeeps and pickup trucks in the Middle East over the years.” “I will say that the department may have valid concerns about revealing what we know about tactics and techniques that these cartels are using or about our sources or methods,” he added. “I would trust Secretary Hegseth and his team to make the decision about whether they can declassify and release the video. But again, there’s nothing remarkable on that video in my opinion.” Adm. Mitch Bradley testified to Congress last week, denying that Hegseth gave a “kill them all” order. Bradley said that while Hegseth was present to watch the first strike delivered against the drug boat in September, the War secretary left to attend to other matters. Bradley gave authorization for the second strike after assessing that the vessel was still a threat. Hegseth’s orders at that point had not specified what to do if a drug boat was not completely destroyed in an initial strike, according to reporting from The New York Times. Democrats have continued to push the story, alleging that Hegseth authorized a war crime and should be held accountable. Lawmakers have also pushed for release of the video depicting the second strike on the boat and suggested that service members who take part in illegal orders could be formally punished.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said a second military strike on a damaged drug boat in September constituted a “war crime” before checking what video evidence or after-action reports show. Duckworth appeared on CNN on Sunday and accused the Trump administration, particularly War Secretary Pete Hegseth, of committing a war crime in the Caribbean over a report in The Washington Post last month. The senator made the strong accusation before admitting that she has not seen the classified video or military reports on the controversial strike. Top military officials have denied the Post’s report, and additional reporting from The New York Times undercuts the Post report’s claim that Hegseth issued a “kill everybody” order. The Illinois senator suggested that U.S. service members who participate in the “illegal” strikes may be subject to legal accountability in the U.S. or through the International Criminal Court, which the United States is not a party to. “Everything that they’ve done has been illegal. It’s illegal under international law, it’s illegal under the Geneva Convention, and it certainly is even illegal under domestic law. It was essentially murder with that double-tap strike,” said Duckworth. “It is a war crime. It’s illegal. However you put it, it’s all illegal.” Duckworth said she made her assessment without watching classified video of the strike that has been shown to some lawmakers. Duckworth said that all of her knowledge on the strike has come from “just what’s been available in the media.” 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. “I’ve not seen the actual video. I’ve requested to be able to see the actual video. I’ve also actually asked to see the after-action reports from the pilots and the drone operators, as well as the intelligence debrief that all pilots and drone operators conduct after they have completed a mission,” she said. The Washington Post reported on November 28 that Hegseth ordered the U.S. military to “kill them all” in relation to narcoterrorists who ferry drugs through international waters in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Adm. Frank Bradley, who oversaw the September operation in question, testified to lawmakers last week that the Post’s account of the strike is inaccurate. Top military officials have denied that Hegeth ever gave such an order, and that Bradley’s official orders, which have been reviewed by some lawmakers, did not include that wording. Bradley reportedly told lawmakers during his testimony, not delivered publicly because of the sensitivity of the subject, that each of the 11 people on board the vessel had been confirmed by intelligence as narcoterrorists. Bradley also said that he authorized the second strike on the vessel and that Hegseth had left soon after the first strike was delivered.