RUSSIA – Welcome to today’s Russia-Ukraine war latest news. On Thursday, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that any time is good for the settling of the Ukraine conflict in a press briefing.

Peskov said Russia remains open to a peaceful settlement, provided it leads to the elimination of the root causes of the conflict.

“Any time is the best for peaceful settlement. Settlement through peaceful politico-diplomatic means,” he said.

Peskov confirmed that Russia and the US maintain contacts but noted that a full-fledged consultation process on Ukraine is not underway. “The process that could be called consultations — no, it is not happening,” he stressed.

Addressing statements by Airbus head Rene Obermann on the need to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Europe – allegedly to protect against Russian defensive systems in Kaliningrad – Peskov criticized the remarks.

He said they indicate that Europeans are losing “restraint and thoughtfulness in their approaches.”

He emphasized that the Kaliningrad region is an integral part of Russia and that “everything necessary” will be done to defend it.

Asked to confirm media reports on a 28-point plan between Russia and the US for resolving the situation in Ukraine, Peskov said he had nothing to add.

“I can only repeat what we’ve already said repeatedly yesterday. We can’t add anything new to what was discussed in Anchorage. There are no novelties in this regard,” he said.

Peskov also said that there are still no plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet Army Secretary Daniel Driskoll and Chief of Staff of the Army Randy George, who are currently visiting Kyiv.

About the use of artificial intelligence (AI), Peskov said the Kremlin uses such tools to process large amounts of data. However, he added that Putin does not use AI in his work.

Russia Claims Control of Vesele Village in Zaporizhzhia

Russia claimed on Thursday that its forces have taken control of another village in Ukraine.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that Vesele village in the Zaporizhzhia region was taken over by the Vostok (East) group of forces.

Russian forces also struck 146 areas, destroying two US-made HIMARS launchers and hitting Ukrainian military energy infrastructure, logistics depots, long-range drones, and temporary bases used by the Ukrainian military and foreign mercenaries, the ministry said.

It also claimed to have repelled Ukrainian air raids overnight, saying four UK-made Storm Shadow missiles and 119 drones were shot down.

In a separate statement, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry claimed to have hit an oil refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region and a section of railway with oil products in the Perm region overnight.

It also said that an electric power station was damaged in the Kursk region, causing power outages.

Ukraine Intercepts 106 Russian Drones

Ukraine Air Force on Thursday said that they had intercepted 106 Russian drones out of 136 launched.

“Starting at 18:00 on Wednesday, November 19, the enemy launched 136 strike UAVs of the Shahed and Gerbera types, as well as other types of drones, from the directions of Kursk, Oryol, Millerovo, Bryansk, Shatalovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk (Russia), and Hvardiike (temporarily occupied Crimea). About 80 of these were Shahed drones.” Ukrainian Air Forces said.

“The air attack was repelled by Ukrainian aviation, surface-to-air missile troops, electronic warfare units, UAV units, and mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Defense Forces,” they added.

Preliminary Ukrainian data indicate that as of 08:30 on Thursday, November 20, air defense had shot down or suppressed 106 UAVs over northern, southern, and eastern Ukraine.