BBC News Briefing

1 December, 2025

Sofia has long brown hair and brown eyes and is wearing a green top.

Sofia Lotto Persio

Hello. Diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war in Ukraine have intensified ahead of US special envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to the Kremlin. My colleague Laura Gozzi has the details. In Sudan, Africa correspondent Barbara Plett Usher hears harrowing stories from those who fled violence in el-Fasher. And finally, meet the couple still together, 40 years after meeting on a TV dating show.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Ukraine territory 'most difficult' issue

Zelensky and Macron walk side by side. Zelesnky is wearing a black shirt and blazer. Macron is wearing a three piece blue suit and tie with a white shirt.

Macron said that the territorial question could "only be finalised by President Zelensky" . Credit: EPA/Shutterstock

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv's priorities in peace talks to end the war with Russia are maintaining Ukraine's sovereignty and securing strong security guarantees. He said "the territorial issue is the most difficult" of the contentious points. Russia wants Ukraine to retreat from the areas it still holds in the embattled eastern Donbas region, which Kyiv maintains it will never do. Special envoy Witkoff, who attended two days of talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida, is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. They will be joined by US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

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Trump releases fraudster executive David Gentile

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Alina Habba disqualified as New Jersey prosecutor

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AT THE SCENE

Al-Dabbah, Sudan

Survivors recall terrifying escape

A group of women in al-Dabbah wearing long flowing robes and holding receptacles stand outside in a desert-like setting. Behind them can be seen white tents and a lorry.

Millions of people have been displaced by the war - some made the long trek to al-Dabbah. Credit: Ed Habershon/BBC

Fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) conquered the city of el-Fasher in Sudan's western Darfur region in late October, after an 18-month siege. Some of those who escaped are now housed in a tent camp in the deserts of northern Sudan, in army-controlled territory. The BBC team was monitored by the authorities throughout the visit.

Barbara Plett Usher, Africa correspondent

We found Abdulqadir Abdullah Ali wandering around the camp, located in the desert about 770km (480 miles) north-east of el-Fasher. He was trying to register his family for a tent. The 62-year-old walks with a heavy limp, after suffering serious nerve damage to his leg during the long siege, because he could not get medicine for his diabetes.

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When fighters from RSF finally captured the city, he said he felt no pain as he ran. "They were shooting at the people - the elderly, the civilians, with live ammunition, they would empty their guns on them," he told us. "Some of the RSF came with their cars. If they saw someone was still breathing, they drove over them." The RSF told the BBC it rejected accusations of systematic abuses against civilians.

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US role: President Trump has pledged to work with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to end the violence in Sudan.

Historical context: Why reports of mass killings in Sudan have echoes of its dark past.

RSF commander: Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as "Hemedti", has emerged as a dominant figure on Sudan's political stage.

A man with short grey hair is submerged in a frozen lake with only his arms and head over the water. He is in a square of water which has been created in the ice.

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SOMETHING DIFFERENT