Ukraine scrambled Saturday to respond to a US plan to end the war that includes many of Russia’s hardline demands, with Kyiv saying it had discussed the next steps with several key European allies.  While President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back against the 28-point plan, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has welcomed the proposal, which would force Ukraine to give up land, cut its army and pledge never to join NATO. The United States bypassed Europe with the plan, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X he had “outlined the logic of our further steps” in a call with European counterparts, including from France, Britain and the EU’s foreign policy chief.British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted separately that “Ukraine must determine its future”.European leaders are due to meet Saturday on the sidelines of a G20 summit in South Africa to make it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.US President Donald Trump has given Ukraine less than a week to sign but Zelensky on Friday pledged to work to ensure any deal would not “betray” Ukraine’s interests, acknowledging he risked losing Washington as an ally.Ukraine faces one of the most challenging moments in its history, Zelensky said in an address to the nation, adding that he would propose alternatives to Trump’s proposal.Putin said the blueprint could “lay the foundation” for a final peace settlement, but threatened more land seizures if Ukraine walked away from negotiations.Russia would gain territory, be reintegrated into the global economy and rejoin the G8, under a draft of the plan seen by AFP.- ‘He’ll have to like it’ -“Ukraine and its European allies are still living under illusions and dreaming of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield,” Putin said in a televised meeting with his security council. If Kyiv walks away, Russia claimed its recent recapturing of the Ukrainian city Kupiansk “will inevitably be repeated in other key areas of the front line”, Putin added.The Ukrainian army denies Russia has retaken Kupiansk, which Kyiv lost to Moscow the day it launched its invasion in 2022, then wrested back.Zelensky on Friday recalled how he marshalled Kyiv’s response to the Russian invasion, saying “we did not betray Ukraine then, we will not do so now”. “I will present arguments, I will persuade, I will propose alternatives,” he added.Trump said that November 27 — when the United States celebrates Thanksgiving — was an “appropriate time” to set for Zelensky to agree a deal, but he indicated it could be flexible.”He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting,” Trump told reporters. “At some point he’s going to have to accept something.”Zelensky said after talks with US Vice President JD Vance that Ukraine continues to “respect” Trump’s desire to end the war. He also held an emergency call with the German, French and British leaders.The Ukrainian leader plans to speak directly to Trump soon, his office has said.- ‘Loss of dignity’ -In Kyiv, people were divided over whether Ukraine should engage with the proposal and negotiate a better position, or reject it as a capitulation. Yanina, a 41-year-old seamstress, predicted the proposal will lead nowhere and the war will continue. “Neither us nor Russia will make concessions,” she said. Earlier this week, Russia carried out one of its deadliest attacks this year and one of the worst on western Ukraine since the invasion. The death toll in the western city of Ternopil rose to 32, regional police said, after cruise missiles slammed into apartment blocks.The Ternopil attack came as Russia batters Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of winter, and with Kyiv’s stretched troops under pressure on the front line.To end the war, the US plan envisages recognising territories controlled by Moscow as “de facto” Russian, with Kyiv pulling troops out of parts of the Donetsk region. Kyiv would also cap its army at 600,000, rule out joining NATO and have no NATO troops deployed to its territory.In return, Ukraine would get unspecified “reliable security guarantees” and a fund for reconstruction using some Russia assets frozen in foreign accounts.”The pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest. Ukraine may face a very difficult choice: either the loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner,” Zelensky said in his address.bur-ant-jc-asy/kjm/lb

US lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, an influential figure of the far right, announced Friday she is quitting her seat in Congress, one week after President Donald Trump pulled his support for the former staunch ally.In a video posted online, the 51-year-old Republican congresswoman from Georgia elected in 2020 said she had “always been despised in Washington DC and never fit in.”Greene said she did not want her supporters and family to endure “a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms.”I will be resigning from office with my last day being January 5, 2026,” she said.Greene had previously been a standard-bearer of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, but the president announced he was withdrawing all support for “‘Wacky’ Marjorie” on November 7.He followed up again the next morning with multiple posts on his Truth Social platform attacking Greene as a “lightweight” and even a “traitor” to the Republican Party.The former key political ally to Trump subsequently said she was being targeted by a wave of threats.The shock move by Greene was the clearest sign yet of a growing split in MAGA world, in churn over strong Democratic victories in this month’s off-year elections, and Trump’s chummy White House meeting earlier Friday with leftist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.The movement has been particularly riven over Trump’s flip-flop on the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose web of contacts allegedly included several American elites.”Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for,” Greene said. 

A US-European rift over the future of Ukraine is set to overshadow a G20 summit starting in South Africa on Saturday further marked by Donald Trump’s pointed absence. The Johannesburg gathering is being attended by a host of world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.But Trump is boycotting, with his government saying South Africa’s priorities — notably boosting global cooperation on trade and climate action — run counter to US policy.The US president nevertheless loomed large at the event, the first summit of the group of major economies to be held in Africa, after producing a surprise unilateral US plan to end the war in Ukraine largely in line with Russia’s goals.Following an urgent call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed that any such plan needed the “joint support and consensus of European partners and NATO allies”.On Saturday, European leaders are to meet on the sidelines of the summit to make it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.She said a follow-up meeting would be held at an EU-Africa Union summit in Angola on Monday and Tuesday.Trump has warned Ukraine it has a limited window to accept his administration’s 28-point plan, telling Fox News Radio that “Thursday is, we think, an appropriate time”.- Climate impasse -Another issue dogging the G20 summit was a deadlock at COP30 climate negotiations taking place in Brazil.Friday was meant to be the last day of those talks, which had gone on for nearly two weeks. But they threatened to drag on because petro-states were accused of resisting any reference to a fossil fuel phaseout in the final text.Despite the headwinds, host South Africa was projecting optimism that it would get backing for its G20 aims to reduce economic inequalities, shrink debt for low-income countries, secure help for clean-energy transitions and establish a critical minerals pact.”As South Africa, we are hoping that we will have the leaders’ declaration adopted, which will set a new and continuing agenda for the world, particularly the G20,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said late Friday.Political negotiators from the participating countries finalised on Friday a final draft joint text for the leaders to agree on, sources told AFP. They were not authorised to divulge the draft’s contents.It was uncertain the document would be a traditional summit statement, given the US boycott and a warning from Washington that no declaration in the name of the G20 should be issued.Ramaphosa, who has bristled at the US absence and the Trump government’s unfounded allegations of a “white genocide” in South Africa, has been joined by other leaders in stressing that the G20 was an important platform for multilateral cooperation. “Multilateralism is our best, maybe our only defence against disruption, violence and chaos. And South Africa put multilateralism to work,” Antonio Costa, European Council president, told a pre-summit press conference. The US boycott echoes Trump’s decision not to send an official delegation to the COP30.Washington has said it would send its charge d’affaires from its embassy at the end of the Johannesburg meeting only for a handover ceremony, as the United States will host next year’s G20 summit at a golf club owned by Trump in Florida.The G20 is a grouping of 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union. It represents 85 percent of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world’s population.

Months of sniping melted away Friday as New York’s incoming leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump were all smiles at a White House meeting — promising to set aside their feud and cooperate on the city’s future.Mamdani, a 34-year-old political insurgent who rocketed from obscurity to win City Hall earlier this month, had taken on Trump in a bruising war of words, likening the Republican to “bad landlords… taking advantage of their tenants.”Washington watchers were bracing for sparks to fly when the self-described Democratic socialist met the Republican leader who has in turn branded the mayor-elect a “communist” and suggested the Ugandan-born New Yorker should be deported.But the Oval Office summit was instead the embodiment of civility as a beaming Trump, 79, praised Mamdani’s historic election win, said he could do a “great job,” and called him a “man who really wants to see New York be great again.””We’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true: having a strong and very safe New York,” Trump said. Mamdani described the face-to-face as “very productive” and spoke of the leaders’ “shared admiration and love” for America’s financial capital and largest city.By dinnertime, Trump had shared multiple photographs of the White House meeting on his Truth Social platform, gushing that “It was a Great Honor meeting Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York City!”The about-face caused some conservative figures to recoil, with prominent far-right activist Laura Loomer framing the unexpected cordiality as a harbinger of political disaster.”The Democrats will have a land slide in the midterms after today,” she wrote on X. “How will the GOP campaign ahead of 2026 if Mamdani and his policies are now considered rational?”Both men hail from the Queens borough of New York City and both are masters of political theater — but their styles couldn’t be more different, with Trump thriving on bombast and grievance as Mamdani pitches affordability and inclusion.Oval Office encounters with the brash billionaire often turn into ambush theater — a lesson absorbed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who endured a public dressing-down by Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Political analysts had warned that Mamdani could be walking into a Zelensky-like situation. For weeks they had traded barbs, with Trump threatening to make life difficult for the young political upstart.- Political lightning strike -But Trump repeatedly offered his support for Mamdani — even telling reporters it was “OK” for the younger politician to have called him a “despot.””I’ve been called much worse than a despot. So it’s not that insulting. Maybe he’ll change his mind after we get to working together,” a conciliatory Trump said, adding that he hoped Mamdani would be “a really great mayor.” For his part, Mamdani noted that many New Yorkers had backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election “because of that focus on cost of living.” “And I’m looking forward to working together to deliver on that affordability,” he said.It was all a far cry from the barbs the pair had exchanged in the run-up to the meeting.Beyond mocking Mamdani’s South Asian name, the president has dangled cuts to federal funding and even National Guard deployments — a tactic he used against other Democratic cities.Mamdani’s rise has been nothing short of electric. Virtually unknown a year ago, he stormed the political barricades with a campaign promising rent freezes, free buses, and city-run grocery stores — while flooding social media with upbeat videos and dialed-up charisma.He didn’t just win — he shattered records, pulling in more than one million votes, the first New York mayoral candidate to do so since 1969.Yet the firebrand progressive set to become New York’s first Muslim mayor has shown flashes of pragmatism, soothing centrists wary of a radical shake-up.He reappointed incumbent police commissioner Jessica Tisch, a steady hand popular with rank-and-file officers, and named veteran bureaucrat Dean Fuleihan as his first deputy mayor — signs of continuity amid his promised revolution.On the campaign trail, Mamdani cast himself as part of the anti-Trump resistance, but he has since stressed his desire to work with the president on the “national crisis of affordability.”