A revamped peace initiative crafted jointly by the United States and Ukraine emerged Monday, replacing the uproar-inducing 28-point outline circulated days earlier with a far more balanced 19-point framework, according to multiple reports. The newly drafted proposal sharply departs from the earlier document that had sparked intense criticism for tilting heavily toward Moscow’s demands.
Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya said that negotiators on both sides came away “positive” after reshaping the proposal. This latest draft drops the suggestion of capping Ukraine’s troop levels and removes language offering sweeping amnesty for atrocities committed during Russia’s invasion, the Financial Times reported.
Kyslytsya emphasized that the new version bears virtually no resemblance to the earlier leaked text, which had placed lopsided burdens on Kyiv while asking little of Moscow. The details remain mostly under wraps, but Ukrainian officials made clear that the reworked plan drastically shifts the balance.
“Very few things are left from the original version,” Kyslytsya told the outlet about the revised document. “We developed a solid body of convergence, and a few things we can compromise on.”
The abandoned 28-point draft had insisted Ukraine shrink its armed forces from roughly 900,000 service members to 600,000, and even required Kyiv to surrender the entire Donbas region—territory Russia has repeatedly tried and failed to seize for over a decade.
That earlier proposal also demanded that Ukraine permanently forfeit aspirations for NATO membership, offering in return only ambiguous security assurances that critics warned would do nothing to deter another potential Russian onslaught.
Following Sunday’s discussions in Geneva between Ukrainian representatives and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Kyslytsya confirmed that any plan to slash Ukraine’s military strength “was no longer on the table.”
US and Ukrainian officials similarly agreed to remove the blanket amnesty provision for Russian war crimes. The updated framework, according to the FT, would instead aim to address “the grievances of those who suffered in the war.”
Still, major questions remain unresolved. Russia’s territorial demands—and its insistence that Ukraine be permanently barred from joining NATO—have yet to be negotiated. Those thorny issues, Kyslytsya noted, will ultimately require direct talks between Trump and Zelensky, with Washington preparing to present the revised document to Moscow in the coming days.
“It’s on the Russians to show if they are genuinely interested in peace or will find a thousand reasons not to engage,” Kyslytsya said.
Earlier Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the original 28-point outline as something that could “form the basis for a final peace settlement” with Ukraine. He remarked that its terms largely reflected discussions he held with Trump during their Alaska summit earlier this year, signaling Moscow’s readiness to continue negotiating.
Whether the Kremlin will view the updated plan as acceptable remains an open question. Kyiv’s input has significantly reshaped the contours of the agreement, leaving Moscow to decide how far it is willing to bend.
Trump, who has repeatedly said that the initial 28-point plan was not a “final offer,” characterized the Geneva meetings as encouraging—hinting that “something good just may be happening” as his administration presses ahead in pursuit of an elusive peace.
{Matzav.com}
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir made a deeply personal appearance last night at a wedding in Kfar Chabad — the wedding of a young man whose life he saved as an infant more than two decades ago.
Zamir attended the wedding of Menachem Kirshenzhaft, a resident of the village. Twenty-two years earlier, during Zamir’s tenure as commander of the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade, he thwarted a terror attack and eliminated the gunman, an encounter that saved the life of baby Menachem and his family.
The original attack occurred on October 24, 2003. The family of Rabbi Yigal Kirshenzhaft, a Chabad shliach, was driving near the community of Neve Dekalim when, at around 9:30 p.m., a terrorist opened fire on their vehicle from the side of the road.
Rabbi Kirshenzhaft later described the frightening moments in an interview with Arutz Sheva. The car was carrying his family and several hitchhikers when suddenly, “about a hundred meters after entering the Gush, gunfire erupted toward the vehicle from the shoulder of the road. We heard the shots and bullets started flying inside the car. The windows shattered and I yelled to my wife,” he recalled.
The family continued driving for another hundred meters as the barrage continued. The rabbi’s wife was lightly injured, as were three of their children. Their one-year-old son was struck lightly by shrapnel. “The entire baby seat next to the window that shattered was filled with fragments,” the rabbi said at the time.
Ynet reported that Zamir raced to the scene in a military jeep with additional soldiers, located the terrorist hiding behind a bush, and fatally shot him. Since that night, Zamir has remained in contact with the Kirshenzhaft family.
At the wedding, Zamir told the family emotionally: “I’ve had many encounters with terrorists, but this was a miracle from Heaven. The entire vehicle was riddled with bullets while the whole family — including the baby who is now the groom — was inside, and no one was hurt. So that today we can stand here and celebrate Menachem’s wedding.”
{Matzav.com}
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Four years after the deadly terror attack near the community of Chomesh, a military court has convicted one of the terrorists involved in the murder of Yehuda Dimentman Hy”d as part of a plea bargain arranged with the Military Prosecution.
As outlined in the agreement, the defendant admitted to murdering Dimentman and to trafficking in military equipment. In return, prosecutors removed the charges relating to the attempted murder of Dimentman’s two friends, who were wounded during the shooting.
The December 2021 ambush occurred just outside Chomesh in the northern Shomron. Dimentman, a resident of Shavei Shomron, was heading home from yeshiva with two fellow students when terrorists lying in wait opened fire at close range. He was killed instantly, and his two companions were injured.
According to the indictment, the attackers had prepared an ambush for the car carrying Dimentman and his friends, firing from close range into the vehicle. The document also reveals that the terrorists planned to abduct Dimentman’s body and hide it along a side trail near the village of Burka, a plot that security forces ultimately prevented.
Dimentman leaves behind his parents, eleven siblings, his wife Atia, and their nine-month-old son, David.
The shooting also wounded two other Israelis — Avia Antman and Neriya Shlomo Feldman — one moderately and the other lightly.
Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal organization, who represents the Dimentman family, issued a forceful statement condemning the attacker:
“This is a vile terrorist who acted to harm the existence of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. The terrorist did not act in a vacuum but came from a society of murderers. It is time to expel the Islamic enemy from the land to prevent any possibility of the terrorist’s release in the future. We will demand in court that he be required to pay substantial compensation, thereby deterring future attackers.”
{Matzav.com}
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that a central element of President Donald Trump’s peace blueprint — the requirement that Ukraine and the world formally accept Russia’s control over some of the land it seized in the east — is stopping the negotiations cold. Addressing Sweden’s Parliament, he said that one portion of the plan essentially asks Ukraine to sign away part of its sovereign territory.
Zelenskyy emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants legal recognition to what he has stolen, to break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty,” adding that “that’s the main problem. You all understand what that means.” The Ukrainians’ refusal to bless any territorial carve-outs remains their largest sticking point with the U.S. proposal.
The dispute comes after U.S. and Ukrainian officials spent the weekend in Switzerland examining the full 28-point framework and even explored whether Zelenskyy should head to the U.S. this week as Trump aims — roughly — for a Thanksgiving-time breakthrough. Trump has insisted that the timeline is adjustable, noting that the proposal was “not my final” version.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who traveled to Geneva for the talks — painted a cautiously upbeat picture, saying “very, very meaningful” progress was made with both the Ukrainian and European representatives. He described the day as “probably the most productive day we have had on this issue” since Trump returned to the White House in January, while warning that he didn’t want to “declare victory or finality” yet. Negotiators, he said, still have unresolved points to hammer out.
European leaders echoed that mix of optimism and lingering concern. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said there were still “major issues which remain to be resolved” even as he praised the headway made in Geneva.
According to a Sunday night statement from the White House, American and Ukrainian officials have “drafted an updated and refined peace framework,” though Moscow complained Monday that the new draft had not yet been shared with them. Putin said late last week that the American plan could form the basis for a settlement, but cautioned that if Kyiv rejected it, Russian troops would continue pushing forward.
The blueprint, which U.S. officials say holds Trump’s full support, triggered sharp anxiety among several of Washington’s European partners, who view the document as tilting too far in Russia’s direction.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Olga Stefanishyna, underscored that point during an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” saying her government had not signed on to all portions of the proposal.
{Matzav.com}
Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced Monday that its operatives had come across the body of a hostage while conducting excavation work in an area north of Nuseirat in central Gaza. The group said it “found” the remains earlier in the day, echoing details first reported by Al Jazeera. Despite the claim, neither Islamic Jihad nor Hamas issued any immediate statement about transferring the body back to Israel.
According to Israeli authorities, three murdered hostages are still being held somewhere in the Gaza Strip: Dror Or, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, and Thai citizen Sudthisak Rinthalak. Their remains have been unaccounted for since the terror groups seized them, and Israel has been pressing for their return.
Over the weekend, Arabic-language outlets reported that Hamas and Islamic Jihad had launched renewed efforts to track down the final three bodies. The reports indicated that both organizations were scrambling to locate them, and that the process had accelerated in recent days.
Video circulating online showed Islamic Jihad fighters overseeing digging operations in Nuseirat, with excavators — some marked with Egyptian flags — working near them. Those images underscored the scope of the search efforts underway in the center of the Strip.
Al Jazeera said the searches began Friday, with teams expanding into multiple locations after earlier attempts failed to yield results. The operations have reportedly grown more urgent as pressure mounts to fulfill commitments made in negotiations.
Meanwhile, the Saudi outlet Asharq al-Awsat reported that Hamas was conducting an additional search in the Zeitoun area, south of Gaza City, focused on recovering another body believed to be held there. The group has been combing through several neighborhoods as part of its efforts.
Under the terms of the current ceasefire framework, the terror groups are obligated to return all bodies they are holding. They have claimed that repeated searches have not yet succeeded in locating the last of the remains — assertions Israeli officials have openly questioned.
The most recently recovered slain hostage was Meny Godard, who was murdered and taken captive from Kibbutz Be’eri. His body was returned on November 13, marking the last confirmed transfer prior to this latest announcement.
{Matzav.com}
