Nov 13, 2026, 02:30 PM UTC

U.S. negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have concluded two days of trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi involving Ukrainian and Russian officials. The envoys expressed intent to establish a "new framework" for diplomatic progress despite Moscow rejecting European calls for an immediate ceasefire. Kushner and Witkoff are set to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before traveling to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who cited a window of opportunity for progress by year-end.

European officials, including representatives from the E4 group, NATO, and the European Commission, conducted parallel meetings with Ukrainian delegates. Italian sources emphasized the necessity of European involvement and structured diplomatic formats to prevent strategic advantages for Moscow.

Separately, data reportedly breached from Russia's statistical agency by Ukrainian and Belarusian hackers indicated over 412,000 Russian military fatalities.

Sources: ANSA, Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero, Il Sole 24 Ore, La Repubblica

U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held separate meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ireland following two days of trilateral discussions in Abu Dhabi. While the Abu Dhabi talks concluded without an immediate breakthrough, negotiations focused on post-war European security structures to lower tensions between Russia and NATO.

Following the bilateral sessions, President Zelenskyy and U.S. envoys confirmed that European representatives will directly join the next round of peace negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the preliminary talks as "very productive," though he noted substantial work remains. Negotiators emphasized that European participation is vital to reaching a lasting continental security agreement.

Sources: BBC News, France24, Politico Europe (Defense), Sweden Herald, The Guardian.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned that humanity faces "one of the deepest existential crises in human history" during the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) World Leaders Climate Action Summit in Antalya. Addressing delegates, Erdoğan urged global leaders to choose immediate action over complaint, stating that Turkey undertook the COP31 presidency to foster global hope.

The two-day leadership segment brought together over 100 heads of state and government, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Western European presence remained limited, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen joining leaders from Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Malta, and Slovenia. Parallel events hosted by the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications focused on empowering women and youth in international climate governance.

Sources: Anadolu Ajansı (Anadolu Agency), Bianet, Cumhuriyet, Daily Sabah, TRT Haber.

American envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have indicated that European allies will join future diplomatic negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict in Ukraine. The development follows high-level talks involving Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin.

Kushner urged European nations to select a unified delegate to participate in upcoming meetings, highlighting that broader postwar security frameworks require European involvement alongside territorial considerations. Russian leadership has reportedly consented to the expanded format, while Ukrainian officials expressed support for Europe's inclusion in future sessions. Negotiators also noted potential progress toward a significant prisoner exchange despite remaining deep divides between Kyiv and Moscow.

Sources: Der Spiegel, DW, FAZ, ORF, Tagesschau

Engineers at Microsoft continue working to fully restore services after a major technical failure disrupted Microsoft 365 platforms globally. The outage, which began on Thursday evening, affected millions of users across more than 70 countries, impacting applications including Outlook, Teams, Word, and Copilot.

Monitoring site Downdetector recorded nearly 130,000 reports of disruptions at its peak. Microsoft confirmed that the incident was caused by an internal glitch rather than a cyberattack. According to company officials, a process handling secure connections became overwhelmed, causing servers to freeze under traffic. Although engineers are implementing configuration changes and rolling back network updates, initial recovery efforts were hampered when restored servers became unresponsive again after traffic resumed. The company is currently prioritizing recovery for life, safety, and government services.

Sources: The Guardian, The Herald, STV News, Cyprus Mail, BBC News