When it comes to Ukraine peace talks, Donald Trump is “sick of meetings just for the sake of meetings”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday.
Leavitt added that the White House may send a representative to meet with European and Ukrainian officials this weekend if it feels like a meeting is “worthy” of the US’s time, adding that Trump is “extremely frustrated with both sides of this war”.
“He wants this war to come to an end, and the administration has spent more than 30 hours [on] this just in the past couple of weeks, meeting with the Russians and Ukrainians and the Europeans,” Leavitt said.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been under immense pressure from Trump to sign up to the US peace plan. In recent days Trump has attacked Zelenskyy, claiming he “has not even read” the draft peace plan, suggesting he lacks legitimacy and Ukraine should hold an election.
Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian negotiating team had sent their revised plan to Washington on Wednesday, and that questions over territory and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant were two of the remaining sticking points.
Leavitt said Trump was “aware” of Ukraine’s updated peace proposal, but offered no further comment.
Zelenskyy skeptical of US plan for ‘free economic zone’ in Donbas region
The US wants Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donbas region, and Washington would then create a “free economic zone” in the parts Kyiv currently controls, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
Previously, the US had suggested Kyiv should hand over the parts of Donbas it still controlled to Russia, but the Ukrainian president said on Thursday that Washington had now suggested a compromise version in which Ukrainian troops would withdraw, but Russian troops would not advance into the territory.
US lawmakers condemn seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker
Senior Democratic lawmakers and at least one Republican have condemned the US seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker off the nation’s coast, with one saying Donald Trump is “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.
There is growing, at least somewhat bipartisan unease in Washington over the administration’s escalating military posture in the region. Trump has accused Venezuela of facilitating drug trafficking, and increased the US military presence in the Caribbean to a level not seen in decades.
Indiana Republicans rebuke Trump by rejecting redrawn electoral maps
Indiana Republicans have rejected an effort to redraw the state’s congressional map, a stunning rebuke of Donald Trump and Republican efforts to reconfigure the state’s congressional districts to add two more Republican-friendly seats.
The measure failed 19-31, with 21 Republicans joining 10 Democrats in rejecting the new maps. Republicans currently hold seven of Indiana’s nine congressional districts. The new map would have favored Republicans in all nine districts.
Senate rejects dual healthcare bills as Obamacare tax credits expiration nears
The US Senate on Thursday rejected competing proposals to address the imminent expiration of subsidies for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, greatly increasing the chances that healthcare costs will soon rise to unaffordable levels for millions of Americans.
Protesters interrupt Noem hearing with Exorcist quote
Protesters briefly interrupted the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, during a Capitol Hill hearing, evoking a quote from the film The Exorcist.
As Noem delivered her opening remarks before the House committee on homeland security, two protesters disrupted the session, with one yelling: “Stop ICE raids! The power of Christ compels you! End deportations, the power of Christ compels you!”
Grand jury again declines to indict Trump critic
The department has attempted to twice file new charges against James after a judge dismissed an indictment against her after determining the prosecutor handling the case had not been properly appointed.
It’s an embarrassing blow to the Trump justice department as the president has sought retribution against one of his political rivals.
Critics blast Trump plan to vet visitors’ social media
Free speech advocates have accused Donald Trump of “shredding civil liberties” and “censorship pure and simple” after the White House said it planned to require visa applicants from dozens of countries to provide social media, phone and email histories for vetting before being allowed into the US.
What else happened today:
Kilmar Ábrego García has been freed from an immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania after a federal judge in Maryland ordered his release on Thursday. Ábrego was released shortly before 5pm ET, his attorney told the Associated Press. He plans to return to Maryland, where he has lived for many years with his US citizen wife and child after first entering the country illegally as a teenager.
South Carolina health officials have reported an “accelerating” measles outbreak in the state in the wake of Thanksgiving travel and a lack of vaccinations, with hundreds of people in quarantine.
The US’s sharpening ideological polarization is affecting a wider and much more junior cross-section of the country’s armed forces and challenging the military’s ability to remain above the political fray, a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff has said.
The US’s southern border is poised to become more militarized following an announcement by Trump administration officials that armed forces would now oversee 760 acres of public land for a three-year period.
As the US’s top vaccine officials come under pressure from lawmakers and former leaders, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it will release information “soon” about changes to regulations following unconfirmed claims of deaths after Covid vaccination.
Mike Lindell, a pillow salesman and election conspiracist, announced he is running for governor of Minnesota.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 10 December 2025.
