Ukrainian leaders face growing pressure from the United States to accept a deal that Russia has hinted will meet its wishes.
Published December 8, 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is scheduled to meet with key European allies as the United States ramps up pressure on Kiev to agree to a peace plan aimed at ending the war with Russia.
President Zelensky will meet with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany in London on Monday to seek defense and security support and discuss revisions to the US peace plan.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
President Zelenskiy said the diplomatic talks would address both immediate concerns and long-term funding for the war-torn country.
The Ukrainian leader will also meet in Brussels with NATO chief Mark Rutte and EU leaders Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen. amid growing concerns that the US is trying to force Kiev to accept less favorable terms. clause.
US President Donald Trump, in his self-appointed role as the ultimate mediator in the war that broke out with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, appears drawn to adopting a “great power” approach and accepting Russia’s version.
A 28-point plan drawn up by Trump’s advisers that was leaked last month was widely criticized as a de facto “Russia wish list.”
Ukrainian officials then worked with European allies to try to develop a new agreement, which was later shared with the United States.
“He’s not ready.”
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner brought the revised plan to Moscow last week. The two leaders then held several days of talks with Ukrainian officials in Miami, but the talks ended on Saturday without any progress.
The biggest challenge is understood to be Ukraine’s demand to cede control of the eastern Donbas region to Russia, which currently illegally occupies much, but not all, of the territory.
President Trump had previously accused Zelenskiy of refusing to abandon Donbass. Ukraine and its European allies are balking at the idea of handing over land to invaders.
President Trump expressed concern Sunday, claiming Zelenskyy had not read the latest plan.
“I believe Russia is fine with that, but I don’t know if Mr. Zelenskyy has a problem with it. The Russian people like it. But he’s not ready for it.”
Ukraine is facing one of the toughest phases of its nearly four-year war, with widespread power outages across cities and towns as Russian forces advance eastward and intensify attacks.
Zelenskiy said the discussions in Miami were constructive but not easy.
Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainian leader’s chief negotiator, on Monday described the presidential team’s dialogue with U.S. officials and said they would receive all documents related to the peace plan.
U.S. officials said they were in the final stages of reaching an agreement. But so far there are few signs that either Ukraine or Russia intends to sign a peace deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly expressed his approval of the latest plan. He said last week that despite the document reportedly being heavily favorable to Moscow, there were aspects of the proposal that were unworkable.
But Russia welcomed the Trump administration’s new national security strategy announced last week, saying it was broadly consistent with the Kremlin’s vision.
Last week’s US document warned that Europe was facing so-called “civilizational erasure,” identified ending the war in Ukraine as a “core” interest of the United States, and signaled a shift toward restoring “strategic stability” with Russia.
