WASHINGTON/PARIS — US intelligence reports continue to warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not abandoned his aims of capturing all of Ukraine and reclaiming parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire, six sources familiar with US intelligence said, even as negotiators seek an end to the war that would leave Russia with far less territory.

The reports present a starkly different picture from that painted by US President Donald J. Trump and his Ukraine peace negotiators, who have said Mr. Putin wants to end the conflict. The most recent of the reports dates from late September, according to one of the sources.

The intelligence also contradicts the Russian leader’s denials that he is a threat to Europe.

The US findings have been consistent since Mr. Putin launched his full-scale invasion in 2022. They largely align with the views of European leaders and spy agencies that he covets all of Ukraine and territories of former Soviet bloc states, including members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance, according to the sources.

“The intelligence has always been that Putin wants more,” Mike Quigley, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a Reuters interview. “The Europeans are convinced of it. The Poles are absolutely convinced of it. The Baltics think they’re first.”

Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, including the bulk of Luhansk and Donetsk, the provinces that comprise the industrial heartland of the Donbas, parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces and Crimea, the strategic Black Sea peninsula.

Mr. Putin claims Crimea and all four provinces as belonging to Russia. Mr. Trump is pressuring Kyiv to withdraw its forces from the small part of Donetsk they control as part of a proposed peace deal, according to two sources familiar with the matter, a demand that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and most Ukrainians reject.

“The president’s team has made tremendous progress with respect to ending the war” and Mr. Trump has stated that a peace deal “is closer than ever before,” said a White House official without addressing the intelligence reports.

In an X post on Saturday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said intelligence officers have briefed lawmakers that “Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with Europe” and that its troops’ performance in Ukraine shows it currently lacks the capacity to overrun “all of Ukraine, let alone Europe.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA and the Russian embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

PROGRESS ON SECURITY GUARANTEES
Mr. Trump’s negotiators — his son-in-law Jared Kushner and billionaire real estate developer Steve Witkoff — have for weeks been negotiating the 20-point peace plan with Ukrainian, Russian and European officials.

While US officials say they have made progress, major differences remain on the issues of territory.

Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff were meeting on Friday with Ukrainian negotiators in Miami and were to hold talks with Russian representatives this weekend, said a White House official.

US, Ukrainian and European negotiators reached a broad consensus on Monday in talks in Berlin on what four European diplomats and the two sources familiar with the matter said are robust US-backed guarantees of Ukraine’s security against future Russian aggression.

One source and a diplomat said that those guarantees hinge on Mr. Zelensky agreeing to cede territory to Russia. But other diplomats said that was not the case, and alternatives were still being examined as Mr. Zelensky has ruled out ceding territory.

The diplomats said the guarantees, which would take effect after the signing of a peace agreement, call for the deployment of a mostly European security force in neighboring countries and in Ukraine away from the front lines to aid in repulsing any future Russian attack.

Ukraine’s military would be capped at 800,000, said the source. But several diplomats said Russia seeks a lower cap to which the Americans are open.

The US would provide intelligence and other support, and the package would be ratified by the US Senate, they said. According to two sources familiar with the talks, Washington’s plan would also include US-backed air patrols over Ukraine.

Mr. Zelensky on Thursday appeared cautious on the proposals, saying “There’s a question I still can’t get an answer to: What will these security guarantees actually do?”

And it is deeply uncertain whether Mr. Putin will agree to such guarantees as he has repeatedly rejected the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine.

RUSSIA STILL PUSHING TERRITORIAL DEMANDS
Mr. Putin on Friday offered no compromises, although he told an annual news conference that he was ready to discuss peace.

He said his terms would have to be met as his forces have advanced 6,000 square kilometers (2,300 square miles) this year.

It is unclear how US officials have responded to Mr. Putin’s demands. Mr. Witkoff has previously suggested that Russia has a right to claim the four provinces and Crimea.

Some Trump administration officials have acknowledged that Mr. Putin may be unwilling to settle for less than his initial goal of conquering Ukraine.

“I don’t know if Putin wants to do a deal or Putin wants to take the whole country. These are things that he has said openly,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday at a press conference.

“We know what they wanted to achieve initially when the war began. They haven’t achieved those objectives.” — Reuters

SYDNEY — Australia on Sunday was honoring victims of a gun attack a week earlier on a seaside Hanukkah celebration, as the prime minister (PM) announced a review of the country’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The nation was marking a day of reflection to honor the 15 people killed and the dozens wounded in the attack by two gunmen at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. With security tight and flags at half-staff on government buildings, a minute of silence was to be held at 6:47 p.m. (0747 GMT), the time the attack began.

Authorities invited Australians to light a candle on Sunday evening, the start of the eighth and final day of the Jewish festival of lights, “as a quiet act of remembrance with family, friends or loved ones” of the victims of the attack, allegedly carried out by a father and son.

An evening memorial event at Bondi Beach will take place under a heavy police presence, including officers carrying long-arm firearms, police said in a statement.

ALBANESE UNDER PRESSURE TO CURB ANTISEMITISM
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the review, to be led by a former chief of Australia’s spy agency, would probe whether federal police and intelligence agencies have the “right powers, structures, processes and sharing arrangements in place to keep Australians safe.”

The attack exposed gaps in gun-license assessments and information-sharing between agencies that policymakers have said they want to plug. Mr. Albanese has announced a nationwide gun buyback, while gun safety experts say the nation’s gun laws, among the world’s toughest, are riddled with loopholes.

The authorities are investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism targeting Jews. Patrols and policing across the country have been ramped up to prevent further antisemitic violence. Authorities believe the gunmen were inspired by militant Sunni Muslim group Islamic State.

“The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation. Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond,” Mr. Albanese said in a statement, adding that the review would conclude by the end of April.

Mr. Albanese, under pressure from critics who say his center-left government has not done enough to curb a surge in antisemitism since the start of the war in Gaza, has vowed to strengthen hate laws in the wake of the attack.

The Bondi Beach attack was the most serious of a string of antisemitic incidents in Australia, which have included attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars, since Israel launched the war in October 2023, in response to an attack by Hamas.

Mr. Albanese condemned anti-immigration rallies being held in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday.

“There are organized rallies seeking to sow division in the aftermath of last Sunday’s antisemitic terrorist attack, and they have no place in Australia,” he said in a statement. “They should not go ahead and people should not attend them.”

Only about 50 people were at the Sydney rally by mid-afternoon, according to a Reuters witness.

On Saturday, the government of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, pledged to introduce a bill on Monday to ban the display of symbols and flags of “terrorist organizations,” including those of Islamic State, Hamas, al-Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Boko Haram and Hezbollah.

Authorities say Islamic State flags were found in the car the alleged attackers took to Bondi.

Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene. His 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, who was also shot by police and emerged from a coma on Tuesday, has been charged with 59 offences, including murder and terrorism, according to police. He remains in custody in a hospital. — Reuters

SEOUL — North Korea said Japan’s ambition for possession of nuclear weapons should be “thoroughly curbed,” state media KCNA reported on Sunday.

Japan is showing the intention to possess nuclear weapons explicitly by saying it needs to review the three non-nuclear principles, KCNA said citing a commentary of North Korea’s foreign-policy official.

Japan began making such comments actively as soon as the United States approved a request from South Korea for building a nuclear submarine, the media said.

In October, US President Donald J. Trump said he has given South Korea approval to build a nuclear-powered submarine, after his visit to the Asian ally for a summit on trade deals with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. — Reuters