Ukraine’s European allies have cautiously welcomed efforts to refine the U.S. peace proposal, which was initially criticized for appearing to prioritize Russia’s extremist demands.
The leaders of Germany, Finland, Poland and the United Kingdom agreed on Monday that talks between Washington and Kiev in Geneva the day before had made progress and produced what the United States and Ukraine called a “sophisticated peace framework.”
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Still, European leaders stressed that more remains to be done.
“We have cleared some doubts, but we also know that peace in Ukraine will not come overnight,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, adding that the peace plan originally drafted by the United States “has been revised in important areas.”
He welcomed the “interim results”.
“The next step is that Russia has to come to the table,” Merz said from Angola, where he was attending a summit of African and European Union countries. “This is an arduous process. This week will proceed in small steps at best. We do not expect a breakthrough this week.”
US President Donald Trump last week unveiled a 28-point peace plan that called for Ukraine to cede more territory, accept limits on its military capabilities and abandon its ambitions to join NATO, blindsided Kiev and its European allies in what some criticized as a Russian wish list.
Britain, France and Germany responded by halting current front-line fighting, deferring territorial disputes and crafting a counter-proposal that would include NATO-style U.S. security for Ukraine, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ukraine’s allies in the “coalition of the willing” – a broad term for the roughly 30 countries supporting Kiev – would discuss the negotiations by video on Tuesday.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the top diplomats of Germany, Finland, France, Britain, Italy and Poland held talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha on Monday about further steps to end the war.
European Council President Antonio Costa, who also attended the Angola summit, said there was “new momentum” in the negotiations.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would “engage further with our coalition partners tomorrow”.
“Great progress”
President Trump suggested on Monday that Sunday’s talks went well.
“Is it really possible that there will be significant progress in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good could be happening,” the US president wrote on Truth Social.
President Trump had given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is under dual pressure from continued Russian advances on the front and corruption scandals tainting his government, until Thursday to agree on a framework to end the war. He also accused Zelenskiy of showing “zero gratitude” for peace efforts.
President Zelenskiy said on Monday’s X program that he expected a full report on the Geneva talks that evening.
“More needs to be done to achieve true peace. Of course, we will all continue to work with our partners, especially the United States, to find compromises that strengthen us but do not weaken us,” he said.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also said on Monday that the negotiations were a “sensitive issue” because “no one wants the Americans and President Trump to be dissuaded from having the United States on their side in this process.”
The Kremlin said it had not been informed of the outcome of the Geneva talks but was aware of “adjustments” made to the U.S. proposal.
In a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his view that the initial US plan “could become the basis for a final peace settlement.”
In the telephone conversation, Erdoğan said he was ready to support Turkiye’s efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine together, including helping to foster direct dialogue between Russia and Ukraine.
But Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the European plan appeared “totally unconstructive and inappropriate for us,” Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported.
Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said Russia was unlikely to accept Europe’s amendments.
“If Russia’s situation and interests are not all taken into account, Russia is ready to continue fighting, because according to Vladimir Putin, Russia has been quite successful on the battlefield and wants to achieve its goals,” she said.
In video comments to Sweden’s parliament, Zelensky suggested the territorial issue would remain a critical crossroads, accusing Putin of seeking “legal recognition for what has been stolen.”
harsh reality
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has devastated the country’s east, forcing millions from their homes, destroying towns and cities, and killing tens of thousands in Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.
On Monday, the nearly four-year war continued, with Russian forces advancing on the battlefield in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya region while continuing deadly and devastating attacks on civilian areas.
A Russian drone struck a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, at night, killing four people and injuring 13 others, including two children, authorities said.
Russian forces on Monday attacked the city of Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region with drones, wounding three people and damaging industrial facilities, according to regional authorities.
According to the military government in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, a 61-year-old woman was killed in Kherson by Russian artillery fire that morning.
Across the border, Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone en route to Moscow, forcing three airports serving the capital to suspend flights.
A reported Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday left thousands of residents near Moscow without power. This is a rare reversal of Russia’s attacks on energy targets that regularly cause power outages to millions of Ukrainians.
