(LONDON and KYIV, Ukraine)– Russian President Vladimir Putin said a U.S. delegation is expected to arrive in Moscow in the first half of next week to discuss the latest American proposal to end the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference during a visit to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Thursday, Putin said no draft peace agreement had been agreed to in recent talks between the U.S. and Ukraine, only a list of issues to be discussed.
Putin also said it was “pointless” to sign any documents with Ukraine’s current leadership, alleging that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lacked legitimacy to do so.
In a series of hardline statements — his most extensive comments on the latest U.S.-proposed peace plan to date — Putin repeated some of Russia’s most hardline demands, including that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from territory Moscow claims. Putin ruled out signing any ceasefire deal before Ukrainian troops withdraw.
“If Ukraine’s troops leave the territory occupied, then military action will stop. If they won’t leave then we will achieve that by armed force,” Putin said.
He also said recognition of Russia’s occupation of Crimea, Donbas and a swath of eastern and southern Ukraine must be part of negotiations with the U.S.
Putin projected confidence about Russia’s battlefield position, claiming there was a “positive dynamic” everywhere on the front. The president said Russia was “ready in principle” to “fight to the last Ukrainian.”
Ahead of Witkoff’s expected trip to Moscow next week, Putin said the latest American peace proposals “can be the basis for future agreements.”
“Overall, we see that the American side is taking into account our position, which was discussed before Anchorage and after Alaska,” he added, referring to his August summit with Trump. “In some areas, we definitely need to sit down and seriously discuss specific issues,” Putin said.
Putin also answered questions about a leaked recording of a purported phone call between President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, in which Witkoff appeared to be offering Ushakov advice on how Moscow could present its own peace plans to Trump.
“This may be some kind of fake news,” Putin said. “Maybe they really did eavesdrop. Actually, this is a criminal offense; eavesdropping is illegal in our country. It’s not about us. It’s about the battle of opinions between the collective West and the U.S. over what needs to be done to end the hostilities.”
(WASHINGTON) — Two National Guardsmen were ambushed Wednesday in the nation’s capital in what officials are calling a targeted shooting.”
The suspected gunman has been identified by law enforcement as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal. He will be charged with three counts of assault with the intent to kill while armed and criminal possession of a weapon, officials said during a press conference on Thursday.
“You picked the wrong target, the wrong city and the wrong country and you will be sorry for the violence and the evil you perpetrated in our nation’s capital,” Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters.
Lakanwal is believed to be from Afghanistan and came to the United States in 2021 under the Biden administration, law enforcement sources said. He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, according to the sources.
When asked Thursday about when the suspect was granted asylum, FBI Director Kash Patel did not answer, instead referring to the statement from DHS Secretary Kristin Noem.
Gunman previously worked for the CIA The suspect previously worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, “which ended in 2021 following the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
“This individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here,” Ratcliffe said.
Sources said the FBI is currently investigating the shooting as a potential act of international terrorism, suggesting authorities are trying to determine if it may have been inspired by an international terrorist organization.
Patel said officials are looking into whether the suspect had any associates overseas.
Drove across the country to the nation’s capital Officials said the suspect has a wife and five children. He drove from his residence in Washington state to the nation’s capital prior to the shooting and targeted the Guardsmen, officials said.
“Somebody drove across the country to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
A search warrant was conducted at the suspect’s home in Bellingham, Washington, where officials found “numerous electronic devices,” Patel said.
Patel added that this is a “coast-to-coast investigation.” Officials are interviewing individuals at the suspect’s home and in San Diego, where the alleged shooter has ties, Patel said.
Guardsmen were ambushed by the suspect Pirro said the gunman, who “opened fire without provocation, ambush style,” struck one of the victims, leaned over and shot the individual again. The suspect then shot the other Guard member “several times.”
The weapon used in the shooting was a .357 Smith &Wesson revolver, officials said.
The suspect allegedly got shot by a third member of the National Guard and then was subdued, but officials did not say how many shots were fired at or by the suspect.
In an address on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump confirmed that the suspected gunman is believed to have entered the U.S. from Afghanistan.
“It was a crime against our entire nation,” he said. “It was a crime against humanity.”
Trump said the shooting “underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation” and the U.S. “must now reexamine every single alien from Afghanistan who has entered our country under Biden and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”
The Guard members, a woman and a man deployed from West Virginia, were conducting “high visibility patrols” at the time of the attack, according to law enforcement officials.
They are being treated at area hospitals and are in critical condition, officials said. The condition of the suspect has not been released.
Pirro said that the suspect’s charges could change depending on the conditions of the victims. If the two Guard members do not survive, Pirro said the suspect will be charged with first-degree murder.
A motive has not immediately been determined; however, Bowser said the individual “appeared to target” the Guard members.
“What we know is that this is a targeted shooting and one individual appeared to target these guardsmen,” according to Bowser.
Patel said the case is being carried out as an attack on a federal law enforcement officer, adding that the victims are “heroes.”
The National Guard was deployed to the nation’s capital as part of President Trump’s federal takeover of the city in August. According to the most recent update, there are 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.
(WASHINGTON) — Federal officials on Thursday morning revealed more details about the attack that left two National Guard members in critical condition in an apparent “targeted shooting” near the White House.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital, identified the two wounded members of the West Virginia National Guard as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24.
The shooting took place around 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday near the Farragut West Metro station.
Pirro said the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, allegedly drove cross-country from Washington state to target the guard members.
She said the suspect, an Afghan national, ambushed the guard members, opening fire with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver.
“One guardsman is struck, goes down, and then the shooter leans over and strikes the guardsman again. Another guardsman is struck several times,” she said.
Other National Guard members quickly responded and helped subdue the suspected shooter after he was shot by a guard member, she said.
Brigadier General Leland D. Blanchard II, commander of the D.C. National Guard, was emotional as he talked about the struggles Beckstrom and Wolfe’s families were facing as other Americans celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Regardless of the outcome, we know that their lives, their family lot, their families, lives are all changed forever because one person decided to do this horrific and evil thing,” he said.
Pirro said that the suspect will be charged with several counts, including assault with intent to harm and criminal possession of a weapon. She noted that those charges could change depending on the fate of the wounded guard members.
The suspect’s motive is still unclear, according to officials, speaking at a news conference.
FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters the probe is “ongoing investigation of terrorism.”
Investigators searched the suspect’s Bellingham, Washington, home and interviewed tenants for more information, according to Patel. Patel also said interviews were taking place in San Diego, but declined to provide further details.
He noted that the FBI received confirmation from the Department of Defense and CIA “that the subject had a relationship in Afghanistan with partner forces.”
“We are fully investigating that aspect of his background as well, to include any known associates that are either overseas or here in the United States of America,” Patel said.
Lakanwal, who Pirro said had a wife and five children, came to the United States in 2021 under the Biden administration, Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a statement Wednesday evening.
He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted that status in April of this year, under the Trump administration, according to three law enforcement sources.
“He previously worked with the USG, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar that ended in 2021 following the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement.
“[The suspect] would have been vetted against classified and unclassified holdings when he came here and as part of the asylum process,” said ABC News contributor John Cohen, former head of intelligence for the Department of Homeland Security and a former U.S. counterterrorism coordinator.
“He was actually granted asylum under the Trump administration … This does raise the question whether the administration is focusing enough on terrorism threats versus civil immigration enforcement.”
The White House was briefly put on lockdown on Wednesday but the order was lifted at about 5 p.m. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are spending Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
The National Guard was deployed to the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s federal takeover of the city and crime crackdown in August. According to the most recent update, there were 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.
On Tuesday, during the traditional turkey pardoning at the White House, Trump touted his administration’s takeover of D.C. streets. He said it was “one of our most unsafe places anywhere in the United States. It is now considered a totally safe city.”
“You could walk down any street in Washington and you’re going to be just fine. And I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank you for the job you’ve done here is incredible,” Trump said at the event.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Authorities are set to hold a press conference Thursday morning after two National Guard members from West Virginia remain in critical condition after a gunman opened fire on them in an apparent “targeted shooting” near the White House, officials said.
The gunfire broke out around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, when the unidentified suspect rounded a corner, near the Farragut West Metro station in Washington, D.C., raised his arm with the weapon and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll said.
Other National Guard members quickly responded to the shooting and helped subdue the suspected shooter, Carroll said.
“They heard the gunfire and they actually were able to intervene and to hold down the suspect after he had been shot on the ground,” Carroll said of the responding Guard members.
Law enforcement officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, are scheduled to hold a news conference at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is expected to be present.
The White House was briefly put on lockdown on Wednesday but that the order was lifted at about 5 p.m. President Donald Trump and the first lady are in Florida, where they are spending Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago club.
The suspected gunman has been identified by law enforcement as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
Lakanwal is believed to be from Afghanistan and came to the United States in 2021 under the Biden administration, the sources said. He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, according to three law enforcement sources.
Several sources told ABC News that the FBI is investigating the shooting as a potential act of international terrorism, suggesting authorities are trying to determine if it may have been inspired by an international terrorist organization.
The National Guard was deployed to the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s federal takeover of the city in August. According to the most recent update, there were 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.
On Tuesday, during the traditional turkey pardoning at the White House, Trump touted his administration’s takeover of D.C. streets. He said it was “one of our most unsafe places anywhere in the United States. It is now considered a totally safe city.”
“You could walk down any street in Washington and you’re going to be just fine. And I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank you for the job you’ve done here is incredible,” Trump said at the event.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(LONDON and KYIV, Ukraine) — Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared last week to be cautiously optimistic on the U.S. 28-point peace plan to end his invasion of Ukraine, but statements made by his emissaries in the days since then have led some analysts to believe he thinks he can get a better deal.
“I believe that it could also form the basis for a final peace settlement, but this text has not been discussed with us in detail,” Putin told his Security Council on Friday.
Momentum has appeared to be building as U.S., European, Ukrainian and Russian representatives met first in Geneva, Switzerland, and then in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. U.S. President Donald Trump has now said a deal could be “very close” and has ordered his envoy Steve Witkoff to travel to Moscow next week to present the plan to Putin.
But despite the diplomatic flurry and public optimism, many close observers of Russia still doubt Putin is actually ready to take a deal now or sees much need to compromise.
“I see nothing at the moment that would force Putin to recalculate his goals or abandon his core demands,” Tatiana Stoyanova, founder of R.Politik and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center wrote on X.
“He feels more confident than ever about the battlefield situation and is convinced that he can wait until Kyiv finally accepts that it cannot win and must negotiate on Russia’s well-known terms,” Stoyanova said. “If the Americans can help move things in that direction — fine. If not, he knows how to proceed anyway.”
Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who quit in protest after Russia’s 2022 invasion, also told ABC News he thought it “most likely” that this latest round of negotiations will fizzle out with the combatants still far apart on key issues, as has been the case with previous efforts.
The new 19-point plan negotiated with Ukraine this week is highly unlikely to align with Moscow’s goals, Bondarev said. Even the original 28-point plan that Russia helped draw up with Witkoff “wasn’t fully acceptable to Russia in the first place,” he said, pointing to the Kremlin’s apparent hesitance to commit to the initial blueprint.
“Now it’s even less acceptable,” he said. “So, of course, they would not accept it.”
But Bondarev didn’t rule out entirely that Putin might lunge for a deal that contains many of his demands.
“Of course, we can and we should be ready for any surprises from the Kremlin,” he said. “They can still surprise sometimes.”
The original 28-point U.S. proposal that heavily favored Russia was revised down to 19, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials, during the Geneva negotiations.
Some of the most unacceptable points to Kyiv have been removed, according to sources familiar with the discussions, including a cap on Ukraine’s army and a war crimes amnesty. But it is not entirely clear what the new plan includes and the most intractable issues, including Ukraine ceding more unoccupied territory remain.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday again downplayed hopes for a deal, saying it was “too early to say” whether the warring parties are close to an accord. Russia’s deputy foreign minister has since said Moscow will not make any major concessions.
Previous rounds of talks have resoundingly failed. And, while the U.S. has been projecting hope, it’s unclear how serious Russia — which has been eking out battlefield gains — is about making peace.
“Putin does not want an agreement,” John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said at an Atlantic Council event on Tuesday. “The only agreement he wants is diktat — a Ukrainian surrender. Otherwise, he wants to continue fighting.”
“I suspect if Ukraine had accepted those dreadful 28 points, Putin would come back for more,” Herbst said. “He realizes those 28 points reflected great flexibility moving his direction on the part of the United States, and he would say, ‘See what else we can get’.”
Putin’s long march The Kremlin has indicated that the new peace plan was discussed at the summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska in August.
Putin left Alaska with Trump’s endorsement of the “fantastic relationship” between the two presidents, having successfully neutralized Trump’s previous demand he agree an immediate ceasefire and pushing off the threat of more American sanctions, while gaining the prospect of potentially lucrative bilateral economic cooperation.
Despite a nominal commitment to peace talks, as summer turned to fall, Russia only intensified its frontline offensives and expanded its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure, according to information released by Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Russian forces have captured some 350 square miles of Ukrainian territory — roughly the same area as the German capital of Berlin — since Trump and Putin sat down together in Alaska, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War think tank.
Putin has for years said that any peace deal in Ukraine must reflect the “new territorial realities” of Russian occupation of large chunks of the country. As Russian troops edge forward, Putin appears to be trying to entrench those territorial realities.
That new territory is a tiny sliver of the roughly 44,600 square miles — nearly 20% — of Ukraine controlled by Russian forces. But despite the slow rate and reportedly high human cost of Russia’s advance, independent military analysts worry it reflects a growing momentum for Moscow.
A high-profile advance around the destroyed Donetsk city of Pokrovsk and an unexpected local breakthrough on Ukraine southern Zaporizhzhia front have further burnished the Kremlin’s propaganda campaign promoting what they claim as an inevitable Russian victory.
Relentless Russian drone and missile strikes continue to kill civilians and wreak havoc on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, particularly the energy grid. Concentrated strikes on power stations and natural gas infrastructure have precipitated rolling blackouts in many parts of the country — including in Kyiv — as winter bites.
Zelenskyy’s government has also been rocked by a corruption scandal that has seen two cabinet ministers removed from their posts and figures close to the president investigated.
Bondarev said he believes Russia is repeating its strategy of delay and obfuscation. Putin is “playing for time,” he said, and “outsmarting” his Western adversaries.
“Putin says we need to remove the root causes of the war,” Bondarev said. “You cannot remove these root causes of the war just by signing some memorandum. You need to work it through. It takes a lot of experts, meetings, coordination — so it may take months. And at the same time, he will be fighting.”
“With each new tiny victory — every new village occupied, every square kilometer occupied — the Russian position will be more and more robust, less and less flexible,” Bondarev said.
Red lines “People’s expectations for how long a process like this will take are wildly exaggerated,” Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, told ABC News this week.
“I think even in the best case we are talking about months not weeks,” Charap added.
Still, Charap said, the new push by the Trump administration was positive, noting it had jumpstarted negotiations and for the first time produced a framework document that at least included almost all the core issues of the conflict.
“You have to give them credit, they have certainly shaken up the stasis which had set in,” he said. “There are conversations happening that weren’t happening a week ago.”
Ukrainian lawmakers and analysts told ABC News there remains little hope in Ukraine that Putin can be trusted to abide by the terms of any peace deal. That is why Kyiv’s demands for Western security guarantees, NATO membership and more military aid have been so central to the Ukrainian negotiating position.
Still, Yehor Cherniev — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chairman of his country’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly — told ABC News that the framework established with the U.S. “is a good signal and it’s good progress in our peace negotiations, because before we were stuck.”
But some “red lines” remain, Cherniev said, “as before, about the concession of our territories or of or our sovereignty.” Ukrainian officials have said they want to leave such thorny topics to a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy at the White House.
“I have doubts that Russia will agree with this,” Cherniev added.
Oleksandr Merezhko, another member of parliament and the chair of its foreign affairs committee, told ABC News he believes “Putin will reject this peace plan and will reiterate his maximalist demands.”
“He is not interested in peace or ceasefire — he is only interested in our surrender,” Merezhko said. “We should insist not on a ‘peace treaty’ but on a ceasefire agreement.”
Zelenskyy has consistently urged more pressure on Russia twinned with more muscular Western military aid for Kyiv. Trump has often threatened a tougher line on Moscow, but — according to Daniel Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland — it is unclear if he is willing to deliver.
“In the end, Trump is going to have to stare down Putin to get his deal in any kind of decent form,” Fried said at an event Tuesday.
But Bondarev said he sees little hope of an imminent change in U.S. strategy, suggesting that any disunity within the administration will only further strengthen Moscow’s hand.
“Western diplomacy has never tried to get the initiative, to first elaborate its own agenda and impose it on Russia,” the former diplomat said. “They only follow what Russia is doing. You can never prevail if you just follow your adversary and let him lead.”
“Trump mentioned that ‘it takes two to tango,'” he added. “But there is someone in every couple who leads and someone who follows.”
(LONDON) — The death toll from the massive fire at a residential apartment complex in Hong Kong rose to 55 as of Thursday, as search and rescue efforts continued.
Fifty-one of the deceased victims died at the scene, fire department officials said in a press conference, while four more people died in hospital.
There are currently 76 people being treated in hospital, with 15 in a critical condition and 28 in a serious condition, the officials added.
Fires are still burning in three of the seven affected buildings in Tai Po district, officials said, with all remaining blazes now under control. Seven of the eight buildings in the complex were impacted by the fire, officials said.
Three men associated with the construction firm in charge of the renovation at the housing complex have been arrested and are under investigation in connection with the fire, Hong Kong police said during a press conference early Thursday morning.
Police suspect the mesh used during the renovation was not up to standard, and the company installed a large amount of Styrofoam in the windows and the outer walls which acted as an accelerant once the fire began, police said.
The mesh and the Styrofoam were found in the one building that wasn’t impacted by the fire, police said.
More than 140 fire engines and over 800 firefighters and paramedics were deployed on Wednesday to respond to the fire, with drones also in use, officials said.
Some 279 people have been reported missing, Hong Kong leader John Lee said during a press briefing earlier Thursday.
“The fire has resulted in many casualties, including a fireman who died in the line of duty,” Lee said in an earlier statement posted to social media. “I express my deep sadness and my deep condolences to the families of the dead and the injured.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences and sympathies to the victims’ families and those affected in a statement.
He said he ordered authorities to “do everything possible to ensure search and rescue operations, medical treatment for the injured, and post-disaster relief, and to provide necessary assistance to relevant departments and local authorities to minimize casualties and losses.”
Ethan Browne and dad Jackson Browne during “Raising Helen” Los Angeles Premiere – Arrivals at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, United States. (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage)
Singer/songwriter Jackson Browne’s eldest son, Ethan Browne, has died, according to a statement posted on the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s website.
“It is with deep sorrow that we share that on the morning of November 25, 2025, Ethan Browne, the son of Jackson Browne and Phyllis Major, was found unresponsive in his home and has passed away,” read the statement. “We ask for privacy and respect for the family during this difficult time. No further details are available at this moment.”
Ethan Zane Browne, a model and actor, was 52. At the age of 6 months, he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone with his dad. His mother Phyllis died by suicide in 1976.
Browne has one other son, Ryan Browne, with his second wife, model Lynne Sweeney, who he married in 1981. They divorced in 1983.
Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (ABC/Randy Holmes)
The music of Foo Fighters will be celebrated during the Cleveland Browns’ upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame game.
Huntington Bank Field’s Dawg Pound Drive will feature a Foo-themed stage and branded drinks, and will feature a performance by a classic rock cover band. You’ll also be able to take a photo with a smashed Foo-branded guitar, which nods to the Browns’ pregame guitar smash tradition.
Rapper Big Boi, who’s part of the Rock Hall’s 2025 class of inductees as a member of Outkast, will perform at halftime.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame game, which will feature the Browns taking on the visiting San Francisco 49ers, takes place Sunday.
Meanwhile, another 2025 Rock Hall inductee, Jack White, will be performing during halftime when his hometown Detroit Lions take on the visiting Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day. White was inducted as a member of The White Stripes.
Foo Fighters will perform at Huntington Bank Field in August as part of their 2026 U.S. stadium tour.
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts perform at The Creative Coalition’s Benefit Gala Concert: Our Future, Our Freedom at Ramova Theatre on August 21, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by London Entertainment/Getty Images)
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are set to open for My Chemical Romance on their 2026 European tour that celebrates the 20th anniversary of their 2006 album, The Black Parade.
Each show will feature a different supporting act, depending on the night. Jett and the band have been announced for MCR’s July 10 performance at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The show takes place just one day after Joan Jett and the Blackhearts wrap their opening slot on Sammy Hagar‘s Best of All Worlds U.K. tour, which launches July 4 in Manchester and wraps July 9 at London’s O2 Arena.
Next up for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, they’ll be in New Zealand in January for several shows. They’ll return to the U.S. for a Las Vegas residency at the House of Blues starting Feb. 13. A complete list of dates can be found at JoanJett.com.
Kehlani in ‘Out the Window’ music video (Courtesy of Atlantic Records)
Kehlani has released the music video for her song “Out the Window.”
The video finds her singing in a phone booth; in a red room performing choreography in red attire; and dancing in the rain as she belts out the track’s lyrics.
“But, baby, I want you/ I’m focused, it’s overdue/ Don’t throw it out the window,” Kehlani sings in the chorus. “The late nights, the half truths/ I was reckless, let me prove to you/ I’ll throw ’em out the window.”
