Category World News

Despite peace efforts, both nations have more attacks.

Russia says it supports a “essence” of a US strategy to end its conflict with Russia, as Donald Trump claimed that progress was being made toward reaching a deal and that he would send his special representative to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

After US and Ukrainian negotiators met in Geneva two days earlier to discuss Trump’s initial peace plan, which had been perceived by Ukrainians as a Russian wish list for Kyiv to cede territory to Moscow, impose its military, and renounce its commitment to NATO, diplomatic activity erupted on Tuesday.

The proposed proposal, which appears to address concerns of Ukraine and its allies in Europe, has since been modified.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed “sensitive points” at a video conference of the so-called coalition of the willing, a group of 30 countries supporting Ukraine.

A Ukrainian official earlier claimed Kyiv was “the framework’s essence” and that the official was backing it. Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, who led the Geneva negotiations, added that the security guarantees Ukraine was seeking appeared “very solid” in response to that feeling of momentum.

Trump acknowledged at the White House that the Ukraine war was “not easy,” but he added that “we’re close to reaching a deal.”

He said, “I expected that to be a simpler [deal], but I believe we are progressing.”

Later, he stated on his Truth Social platform that he would send envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow to resolve “a few” remaining issues with the agreement.

He stated that he would like to meet with Putin and Zelenskyy “soon,” but only when the deal to end the conflict is done, or at least in its final stages.

Russia appeared unconvinced of progress after firing a deadly barrage of missiles at Kiev’s capital the previous night.

The modified plan, which is still unpublished, should reflect the “spirit and letter” of an agreement reached between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their Alaska summit earlier this year, according to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Lavrov warned that “if the spirit and letter of Anchorage are lost in comparison to the fundamental agreements we have established, then the situation [for Russia] will fundamentally change.”

According to Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, who is a journalist from Moscow, there was a lot of “uncertainty” at the Kremlin despite alleged “behind-the-scenes interactions” between US counterpart Steve Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who reportedly worked on Trump’s plan’s initial stage.

She claimed that the revisions to the peace plan did not make the Russian side happy.

The so-called European version, according to Shapovalova, allows Kyiv to join NATO and doesn’t restrict the size of its armed forces, in contrast to the 28-point initial American plan presented by Donald Trump, which included 28 points.

However, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had earlier expressed his satisfaction at a meeting with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, the country’s capital, by stating that “the discussions are going well and we are still optimistic.”

There are “a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that need to be resolved,” according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who spoke to X on X.

According to Kimberly Halkett, a reporter for Al Jazeera from Washington, DC, “it’s unclear when those discussions will take place, who will be involved, and what they will look like.” Given the upcoming November 27th American Thanksgiving holiday, she continued, it was obvious that they would not be coming soon.

Macron urges “pressure” on Putin.

Leaders of the coalition of the willing, who have pledged to guarantee any ceasefire, quickly adopted security guarantees and a reconstruction plan for Ukraine as the US struggled to close the stalemate between Ukraine and Russia.

The leaders of the US and coalition nations convened a task force to “solidify” security guarantees at the video meeting co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in attendance.

Trump hasn’t stated whether he will provide support for Ukraine’s post-ceasefire “reassurance force.” Although the force’s formation would rely on US military muscle, the plan would involve European allies who would train Ukrainian troops and provide sea and air support.

Macron claimed in a statement following the video call that, contrary to what had been stated in the US plan’s initial draft, discussions in Geneva had established that there should be no limitations on the Ukrainian army.

A political and legal impasse in a Europe seeking funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction, according to him, will be “finalized in the coming days” with the European Commission.

There isn’t a consensus on how to proceed despite the fact that Western nations froze about $300 billion in Russian assets in 2022, primarily in Belgium. Some people support the asset’s seizing, but others, like Belgium, remain cautious due to legal concerns.

According to reports, Trump’s strategy would divide the assets between US-Russian investments and reconstruction.

Macron criticised Russia, arguing that Moscow should be subject to “continued pressure.” He made reference to Russia’s overnight attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, which resulted in seven fatalities and damaged the heating and power systems, saying “on the ground, the reality is quite the opposite of a willingness for peace.”

Santiago Uribe, the brother of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, was given a 28-year prison sentence and three-month prison term for aggravated homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime while leading a paramilitary group.

A three-judge panel in Antioquia’s northwestern province on Tuesday declared that Uribe “formed and led an illegal armed group” in the wake of the verdict.

Under Uribe’s leadership, the organization allegedly carried out a “plan to systematic murder and extermination people who were unfavorable.”

Uribe has denied having any connections to paramilitary organizations. His team of attorneys intends to file an appeal.

The lower court was cleared last year, but the decision was overturned. The Supreme Court of Colombia will now decide the case in its entirety.

The Uribe family’s alleged paramilitary ties are the latest twist in a long-running criminal investigation.

During Colombia’s six-decade-long internal conflict, critics have accused Uribe and his brother, the former president, of maintaining ties to organizations that committed grave human rights violations.

Activities that occurred on and around the La Carolina cattle ranch owned by the Uribe family in Antioquia were the subject of Tuesday’s conviction.

The 12 Apostles, a far-right paramilitary group formed by ranchers in the early 1990s to combat leftist rebels, specifically the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), were well-known in their 307-page ruling.

The 12 Apostles, which the court called a “death squad,” killed “undesirables” including sex workers, drug users, people with mental illnesses, and suspected leftist sympathisers, according to the court’s description of The 12 Apostles as a “death squad.”

According to the ruling, the paramilitary group held meetings at La Carolina as well as training and distribution of weapons on-site.

According to the judges, those were “acts that led to crimes against humanity.”

The court found Uribe responsible for ordering the murder of Camilo Barrientos, a bus driver who was fatally shot near La Carolina in 1994 for being a suspected rebel collaborator, and describing him as the leader of The 12 Apostles.

The militia “enjoyed the cooperation of agents of the State, both through action and inaction,” according to the ruling on Tuesday.

In the late 1990s, Uribe was first questioned about his involvement with The 12 Apostles, but the investigation was canceled in 1999 because there was no conclusive proof.

In 2010, Colombian authorities detained Uribe on suspicion of homicide, and they opened an investigation in 2016.

The lower court’s decision was announced years later, in November 2024, despite the trial’s conclusion coming out in 2020. Jaime Herrera Nino, the judge who was in charge of the case at the time, ruled that there was insufficient evidence and acquitted Uribe.

That conclusion is overturned by Tuesday’s decision. Even at the highest levels of power, human rights advocates applauded the ruling as a step toward accountability.

The sentence is very significant, according to Laura Bonilla, a Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (Pares) deputy director in Colombia. It illustrates the extent of paramilitarism’s influence on Colombian society.

The complexity of the case, according to Gerson Arias, a conflict and security investigator at the Colombian think tank Ideas for Peace, reflects the various power structures involved.

He claimed that because paramilitarism was deeply rooted in society’s upper echelons, it would take years to fully understand what transpired.

Therefore, it is likely that many of our collective paramilitarism-related knowledge is still awaiting clarification and discovery.

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, the defendant’s brother, served there from 2002 to 2010.

The former president was found guilty earlier this year of paying former paramilitary officers to cover up his involvement with them.

Following a court’s ruling in October, the court overturned the evidence’s finding that it had been gathered through an unlawful wiretap. In the prosecution’s arguments, it also cited “structural deficiencies.”

In Colombia, the former president has pledged to form a coalition to oppose a left-wing government in the 2026 elections. He continues to be a powerful figure in right-wing politics.