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Rubio Optimistic After Talks With Ukraine On Plan for Peace With Russia; U.S. Naming Maduro, Allies As Members Of Foreign Terror Organization; 50 Children Escape Nigeria Mass Abduction; G20 Adopts Declaration Despite U.S. Boycott; Israel Kills Hezbollah Military Leader In Beirut Strike; U.N.: $70B Needed to Rebuild Gaza Amid Extensive Destruction; China Deepens Rift with Japan by Urging Against Travel. Aired 1-1:45a ET

Aired November 24, 2025 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's great to be with you. I'm Polo Sandoval joining you live from New York. Here's what's ahead here on CNN Newsroom.

Cautious optimism at the White House after high level talks on ending the war in Ukraine appear to have made some progress.

And the U.S. turning up the heat as the Trump administration is set to officially designate Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro and his allies in the government as a terrorist organization.

And exactly what will it take to rebuild Gaza? We'll talk with an expert who says that the planning that needs to happen right now.

The U.S. says that it is making progress with Kyiv on the Trump administration's plan to end the war in Ukraine. Delegations from the U.S. and Ukraine, they met in Geneva on Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led that U.S. delegation says that the negotiations were quote, probably the most productive and meaningful yet. He added that the terms of the 28-point plan are evolving with input from Ukraine and other European allies. But he also makes it clear that Russians get a vote here too.

The concessions to Russia are concerning some of Ukraine's European allies and now Britain, France and Germany. They are drafting a counter proposal of their own to the U.S. backed plan.

According to some of the text that was obtained by news agency Reuters, the European version removes all recognition of Russian territorial concessions. It also lifts the 100-day deadline for elections in Ukraine. Additionally, it also loosens the language around NATO restrictions. And finally it increases the cap on Ukraine's post war army.

Ukraine's president is also calling the Geneva talks substantive. He says that there are some signs that President Trump's team is listening to some of Ukraine's concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Diplomacy has been activated which is good, very good. We expect that the results will be the right steps. The first priority is reliable peace, guaranteed security, respect for our people, respect for everyone who gave their lives defending Ukraine from Russian aggression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: CNN's Betsy Klein starts our coverage from the White House.

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BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is some cautious optimism here at the White House after President Donald Trump had set a Thursday Thanksgiving deadline for Ukraine to accept a U.S. backed peace proposal or risk losing U.S. support. But diplomacy appears to be picking back up. And that deadline now has some flexibility.

It was just after 9 o'clock on Sunday morning that President Trump was lashing out at Ukraine, writing in a post to social media, quote, Ukraine leadership has expressed zero gratitude for our efforts. But then just hours later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio emerging from high stakes talks with his Ukrainian counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland and said that many of the final sticking points had been resolved toward a potential peace deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

And at the core of those discussions is this 28-point peace proposal that had been the subject of criticism on both sides of the aisle here in Washington. Rubio calling it a living breathing document. Some of the provisions in an earlier draft obtained by CNN include Kyiv ceding territory to Russia, giving up any ambitions to join NATO, as well as limiting the size of its army.

But Rubio now says that many of those outstanding issues have been resolved in what he described as a very substantial way. Zelenskyy saying in a new video that he believes that Trump's team is now listening to Ukraine. But it's worth noting that any deal still needs sign off from President Trump, from President Zelenskyy as well as from Russia. And that could be a major obstacle going forward.

Secretary Rubio asked about President Trump's comments from our colleague Matthew Chance. Listen.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What are you going to tell President Trump about the attitude of the Ukrainians during this negotiation?

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Oh, it was very positive. I'm telling you. Today was the most productive day.

CHANCE: We have grateful earlier. RUBIO: Well, today and we've talked to him since. I think he's quite pleased at the reports we've given him about the amount of progress that's been made.

KLEIN: Now, along with Rubio, special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff along with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll led the U.S. delegation for these talks.

[01:05:00]

But there was another notable name on that list, and that is the president's son in law, Jared Kushner. He has been tasked with some of the thornier foreign policy negotiations for the president in his second term, though he is not officially a part of the administration. It will be very notable to watch how this moves forward in the coming days and how Kushner is involved. Betsy Klein, CNN, the White House.

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SANDOVAL: Earlier I had the chance to speak with Robert English. He's the director of Center of European Studies at the University of Southern California. Here's what he told me when I asked him if whether these talks could possibly herald the beginning of the end of Russia's war in Ukraine.

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ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR OF CENTER OF EUROPEAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: It's too soon to tell, but there are every indication that we are moving towards the end game. What's most important is that both sides, the Russian side and the Ukrainian side, have accepted this 28-point plan as a basis for negotiation, which means it's not too far from something they could accept.

They just want modifications. That means there's still significant difference between them. But we've never had any common baseline before, not even remotely so. And of course, it's the Ukrainians that are making most of the concessions, but that's in recognition of their increasingly desperate condition on the battlefield and that Trump is putting the screws to them and they really have no other choice. But they are moving closer to an agreed position.

SANDOVAL: And I'll preface my next question by reminding our viewers that really diplomats have not shared any specifics when it comes to any though any of those concessions or changes. However, what do you suspect some of those revisions of the plan could possibly be perhaps Russian withdrawals, military limits? What do you think?

ENGLISH: I suspect they have more to do with the security guarantees, the size of Ukraine's future army. Right now the Russian demand is it only be 600,000 men at arms. And the Europeans are pushing, of course, the Ukrainians as well for something more like 800,000, closer to a million. Of course, the backing from NATO allies, just what does it mean that they would be Article 5 type guarantees that we would come to Ukraine's aid in the event of a future attack. Where would NATO aircraft be based? In Ukraine or in neighboring Poland? I think these are the kinds of things they're working on. But it's

pretty clear that Ukraine has accepted it's going to lose a lot of territory and is no longer pushing for a ceasefire before there's any talks. They understand now that they're going to make these big concessions. And they're arguing about important details now.

SANDOVAL: It's great that you remind us of that. Naito's sticking point. And as we heard from the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio in Geneva say that in order for all of this to work, Russia still needs to sign on. So sort of looking into the future here, Robert, I mean, what are -- what is perhaps some of the pushback that we could see from the Kremlin when we finally get to publicly see some of the changes that have been made to the plan?

ENGLISH: Now there's where the rubber hits the road, because they could simply reject the plan. They could say it doesn't come nearly far enough to meet their demands. And that's when we'll see the Trump administration put to the test.

They are clearly putting enormous pressure on Ukraine. They're doing it publicly and they're doing it privately. They're mocking, they're threatening. And privately they're saying the aid, the intelligence support will stop. This is it.

Will Trump do the same for Putin when they go back with a version that they'd have agreed to the Kremlin? Will Trump say, if you don't sign this, those Tomahawk missiles are coming. If you don't agree, then we are going to ramp up those sanctions and hurt your oil and gas exports even more.

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SANDOVAL: Effective on Monday, the United States plans to designate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government allies as members of a terrorist organization. The Trump administration accusing Maduro of running a vast drug trafficking cartel, which Maduro denies and his government argues doesn't even exist.

The terror designation will authorize President Trump to impose new sanctions, and the White House says that it will also allow expanded options for military strikes inside of Venezuela. But legal experts say that it will not explicitly authorize the use of lethal force.

There are critics of the administration's actions on both sides of the aisle. Republican Senator Rand Paul, for example, who's been a longtime critic of the administration when it comes to this matter. He spoke out on Sunday against the U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): They want to have it both ways. They want to say, oh, we can just say these people are terrorists, they're narco terrorists, so we can blow them up.

[01:10:06] But it's extraordinary that when some of them survive, they pluck them out of the water. They don't prosecute them for drugs, they don't collect drugs, they don't tell us if they were armed or not. They just send them back to their country. Most of the time, not being Venezuela. They've sent one back to Colombia and one back to Ecuador. But nobody's making any pretense of even interviewing them to find out who's selling you the drugs. Maybe we could find out who the kingpins are if they're involved in the drug trade. Not a word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So what about public opinion on this? A CBS News poll showing that 70 percent of Americans would oppose military action in Venezuela. The same poll also finding that 76 percent of Americans say that the Trump administration has not clearly explained its position on military action in Venezuela.

And then there's 56 percent that say U.S. military action in Venezuela would not change the amount of drugs entering the United States.

I spoke earlier with Eric Farnsworth, who's actually the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who's at that agency. He's also an expert on Venezuela. I asked him about President Trump, exactly what he wants out of what's going on right now in the Caribbean.

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ERIC FARNSWORTH, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: It would seem to me, as a former diplomat, myself as a former State Department official, that now would be the best time to actually engage in the type of conversation that could lead to Maduro's departure and the departure of his regime.

The red lines would really have to be the departure of Maduro as well as the inauguration of Edmundo Gonzalez, who is the democratically elected president who has not been allowed to take office. But Venezuelans voted on July 28, 2024, for him. He won overwhelmingly over Maduro. He hasn't been allowed to take office.

But those would be the two non-negotiable demands, as far as I would see it. Now, that doesn't mean that's what the Trump administration will do. They might have their own considerations, but at the end of the day, the whole purpose of a buildup like this is to get to a democratic transition. And the only way, by definition, you can do that is for Nicolas Maduro and his top lieutenants to depart. So I think that really has to be the focus of a conversation.

SANDOVAL: Yes, like you've said it best. Only the White House truly knows exactly what it intends to do here. One of the many scenarios, Eric, and you and I have talked about, this includes maybe a US Invasion or occupation of Venezuela. You -- though you've shared that you believe that's unlikely. Why is that?

FARNSWORTH: It is an option. Of course it's an option. But I think it's unlikely for a couple of reasons. One is the fourth structure that's off the coast of Venezuela right now would not lend itself to an occupation force. It's not large enough. It's not constituted in that way. It's not to say it couldn't change over time, but right now, that's not seemingly where things are.

But I think you also now have to factor in U.S. domestic politics into that equation. I don't get the sense that the American public is looking for a new war, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, that would be lasting and that would be certainly uncertain in terms of how long it might be and the cost and that sort of thing. And so you have some domestic considerations that would have to be taken into account.

At the same time, though, I don't think the administration is in a position to stand down and not do anything because expectations have been raised. U.S. prestige and credibility have been put on the line. And something really would have to be done. Otherwise, you're really just handing Maduro and his regime a massive propaganda victory. So within those two extremes, I think that's probably where we'll find the range of options.

SANDOVAL: Yes, the administration's already poured so much time and resources into this, so we'll certainly see what happens next. Eric Farnsworth, as always, appreciate your insight.

FARNSWORTH: Great to be with you again. Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Still to come, fear spread across Nigeria after hundreds were kidnapped from a private Catholic school. And now the Pope is weighing in. We'll have the latest on the abductions next.

Plus, the G20 ending as South Africa declares it a success. And some of the world leaders there able to laugh off the lack of U.S. involvement at this year's summit.

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[01:18:44]

SANDOVAL: 50 students who were abducted from their Catholic school in Nigeria. They are now home with their families again. But 250 others, they are still being helped by their captors, the students, along with a dozen teachers, they were taken by armed bandits on Friday. Some of the students as young as 10 years old. And now Pope Leo is calling for the safe release of the rest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, LEADER OF CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): I was deeply saddened to learn the kidnappings of priests, faithful and students in Nigeria and Cameroon. I feel great pain, especially for the many young men and women who have been abducted and for their ungreased families.

I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release. Let us pray for these bro and sisters of ours and that churches and schools may always and everywhere remain places of safety and hope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And over the last several days, schools across Nigeria, they've been closing their doors as worried parents pull their children from classes. Nigeria has experienced growing wave of attacks by armed groups as well as religiously motivated crimes.

This comes as the Trump administration has been extremely critical of the African country, claiming that it isn't protecting its Christian citizens.

[01:20:03]

President Trump has previously weighed sanctions and military action in Nigeria.

The first G20 summit to be hosted on the African continent officially came to a close on Sunday in Johannesburg. Most notably was the absence of next year's hosts, the United States. The U.S. boycotted the event over discredited allegations by the Trump administration that South Africa is persecuting its white minority population. Here's CNN's Larry Madowo with wrap.

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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The final act of this G20 summit, the first on African soil, was world leaders joking and laughing at the absence of President Donald Trump. Many of them came up to congratulate President Ramaphosa on a great event. And that voice can be heard saying where is the United States? And he says they're not here. And they all laugh about it as if it's an inside joke. Many of them in their statements had supported multilateralism and criticized indirectly the transactional way in which President Trump does things.

South Africa has refused to hand over that gavel that represents the rotating presidency to the charged affair (ph) of the United States. Essentially the deputy ambassador here in South Africa, they say, consider it insulting. And so I asked the foreign minister what happens to the handover.

RONALD LAMOLA, SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION: It's ceremonial, the handover. But there could be, for example, the handover of them, of the G20 official website. There is a need for engagement between us and the U.S. how we then deal with that and other details that needs to be ironed out.

But as South Africa, as we have said, we want the transition to be as smooth as possible and we are prepared to cooperate and assist the US with that process.

MADOWO: In that CNN interview, the foreign minister here in South Africa also pushing back on the White House characterization of the leaders' declaration as shameful, saying that they did what they could because the leaders showed up here and they had business to attend to and they're very proud. They consider this a triumph, a success that South Africa was able to center the global South's demands and African leaders, African countries requirements to the rest of the world in this.

And so they don't consider it a failure that President Donald Trump didn't show up here. And they're ready and willing to discuss handing over kind of practical things like the website of the G20. But overall from here in South Africa, they consider this to have been a 10 out of 10, notes. Larry Madowo, CNN, Johannesburg.

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SANDOVAL: Well, the cleanup begins in Gaza, but what exactly will life look like in the enclave after more than two years of constant bombardment. We'll explore that question with my next guest after this break.

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SANDOVAL: Hezbollah is calling the killing of its chief of staff as, quote, a treacherous Israeli attack on southern Beirut. The Israeli military says it had killed Hezbollah's second most senior figure in the first strike on the Lebanese capital in moths. Some of these images from social media showing the damage from Sunday's attack.

Lebanon's health ministry says five people were killed and more than two dozen were injured. The IDF says that the strike was meant to prevent Hezbollah from further strengthening its capabilities and also to deliver a precise blow to those attempting to harm Israel.

Palestinians and the international community they are trying to figure out exactly what a post-war Gaza should look like. The United Nations says that around billion is likely needed to rebuild Gaza. U.N. agencies say the destruction across the enclave, it's about 84 percent. And in certain parts of Gaza, including in Gaza City, that number is up to nearly 92 percent.

Before Gaza can rebuild, it must still undertake the life threatening task of clearing out the mountains of rubble and organizations estimating that there are more than 60 million tons of debris laced with thousands of unexploded bombs in the enclave.

Earlier, I spoke with Shelly Culbertson, senior policy researcher at RAND, about the tough task of rebuilding Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHELLY CULBERTSON, SENIOR POLICY RESEARCHER, RAND: There's enormous destruction throughout Gaza, so about 90% of the population has been displaced someplace north of 70 percent of housing has been damaged or destroyed. Nearly all utilities, roads, et cetera.

The various estimates put reconstruction at this point $50 billion to $70 billion. So there is a lot to do and there's a lot that can get in the way of rebuilding well. So at the same time, it's not all completely destroyed. There still is the underlying foundation of the cities that have been there for centuries or for decades in some cases. And it's important to try to conserve what is there and rebuild on it while at the same time using the opportunity to build something better.

[01:30:00]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: There's still, Shelly, and I know you know this, there's so much uncertainty still around this conflict. There's still the strikes that have continued.

But I'm curious, what do you believe needs to be happening right now? While the political, the security issues continue to be worked out? I mean, what needs to happen in order to try to get that rebuilding started in an expedited way.

CULBERTSON: So really, rebuilding can't really start in earnest until there are political and security agreements and that there's peace on the ground so that investors are willing to put funds into it.

At the same time, we know that there are going to be a lot of challenges and barriers to rebuilding. And some of the planning and preparation to address some of those issues could be started right now.

So some of the big ones, for example, are property rights, working out a system for compensating owners, dealing with dispute resolutions. Because so much has been destroyed and a lot of new plans will have to be made.

Rubble, there's some 60 million tons of rubble that are also laced with unexploded ordnance and human remains. Estimates for clearing that have ranged between 7 and 20 years.

I think we've seen other comparable cases, like the city of Mosul after ISIS. They're still clearing rubble. So rubble can take a really long time. So it's important to have a reasonable plan for that.

Materials -- rebuilding Gaza is going to take a massive amount of construction materials. At the same time, there have been restrictions on what can enter Gaza both during the war and prior to it under what are called dual-use restrictions so that, items deemed to be -- have civil and military use are restricted. So that includes concrete, rebar, et cetera.

So something new will have to happen because an enormous amount of materials are going to need to be brought in.

Financing -- billions of dollars will need to be going into this. And that has a risk of transparency challenges, corruption, coordination. That needs to get worked through the workforce. There need to be a lot of people to rebuild this.

Gaza probably doesn't have that and will need a lot of training as well as probably importing people. So during the time when these security and political negotiations are

underway, it's also important to think about these technical steps and get those worked out so that when the security is right, the rebuilding can really kind of hit the ground running.

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SANDOVAL: Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, this growing rift between China and Japan. How controversial comments from Japan's prime minister could impact tourism in her country.

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SANDOVAL: Well, as Mexico's tourism sector prepares for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Caribbean resort town of Tulum, it is dealing with a dip in visitors this year.

Officials say that it's due to hundreds of tons of seaweed that seems to be washing up along Tulum's picturesque beaches. Believe me, it is as itchy as it is stinky.

Some also think that the strained U.S. economy could also be a factor. Americans, they make up about 60 percent of the towns tourists. Tulum not hosting any World Cup games, but it's one of several Mexican resort towns that's hoping the event will attract some more business there.

Well, war of words between China and Japan. It could soon impact tourism in the region with the Chinese government now advising its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery with more on what's behind this growing rift between these countries.

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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chinese tourists have canceled flights to Japan, and Japanese hotels have reported last-minute changes.

Why is this happening? Because China is warning its citizens against traveling here after Japan's Prime Minister made comments that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could prompt a Japanese military response.

A travel warning is a big deal, because far more Chinese tourists come to Japan every year than visitors from any other country.

MELODY XIONG, CHINESE TOURIST: I think Japan is safe. It's not about it's safe or not. It's about that you've been very unkind to China.

The government of China, of course, we want to warn our people that they are not kind to us. Maybe you should think about if you have plans to go to Japan, they might not be kind to you.

NAOKO NAKAYAMA, JAPAN RESIDENT (through translator): Japan doesn't need to beg people to visit. We have always welcomed anyone who comes.

MONTGOMERY: In the first nine months of the year, nearly 7.5 million travelers from China made the trip to Japan. In that time, Chinese tourists spent about 1.6 trillion yen, or $10.3 billion.

So, if Chinese visitors do decide to go elsewhere, Japan's tourism industry could find itself severely short of change.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN -- Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: For one group of swimmers in Siberia, there is no such thing -- no such thing as too cold. They are braving air temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius. That's 22 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.

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SANDOVAL: They say diving into the water that's just above freezing feels warm by comparison. The swimmers say that the shock of the cold water, it keeps them healthy through the brutal winter season. And in Russia's coldest region, winter can last about six months from October to April.

Well, the second "Wicked" movie has outpaced the first film with worldwide box office gains of $226 million. "Wicked for Good". It wraps up the original story of the wicked witch of the west.

The film's plot is based on the Broadway musical version of the popular novel, which was in turn inspired by L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" back in the 1900s.

And with those pictures, we want to thank you so much for joining us the last 40 minutes of news.

I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

We leave you with WORLDSPORT. Then the news continues with my colleague Ben Hunte.

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