The Context

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Kiev and Moscow over the weekend in a new push to end the war in Ukraine. They held talks with President Zelensky in Kiev, their first visit since the 2022 invasion. Witkoff posted that substantive progress was made, including movement on scheduling additional trilateral talks, while Kushner described a very good dialogue. Zelensky said he expects the war to continue into another winter and repeated calls for air defences, energy and security guarantees. BBC Verify analysis showed Kyiv now has more daily air raid alerts than at any time since the invasion. In an interview, Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik expressed little hope, saying there has been no real sign Putin is ready for peace, and noted air raid sirens went off after the envoys left.

An investigation is underway into an Amazon cargo plane that overshot the runway at Miami International Airport, killing five people and injuring five others. The Boeing 767-300, operated by 21 Air, had flown from Puerto Rico. At a later press conference, the National Transportation Safety Board said the flight was arriving from San Juan with two crew members, overran runway 30, struck navigational aids, a van and a car, and came to rest about 1,300 feet past the paved surface. The NTSB recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders and said a team of 32 investigators is examining operations, aircraft performance, and systems.

In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won an historic victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was deeply shocked, and his CDU saw its share almost halved. The King authorised publication of a letter clarifying that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex remain private citizens and will not use their HRH titles. Jaguar Land Rover confirmed plans to cut 4,000 jobs, mainly in Britain, as Chancellor John Healey made his first major speech, acknowledging borrowing costs at historic highs but saying the UK was turning a corner.