Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet European leaders in London on Monday in a show of solidarity after accusing US President Donald Trump of not reading the latest peace plan and the Kremlin praising America’s new tough stance on Europe.
President Trump criticized President Zelenskiy on Sunday after talks between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators in Miami over the weekend resolved unresolved questions over security and territorial issues and continued concerns that the U.S. offer was tilted in Russia’s favor.
“We’ve been talking with (Russian) President Putin (Vladimir) and we’ve been talking with the leaders of Ukraine, including President Zelensky, and I have to say I’m a little disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t read the proposal yet as of a few hours ago,” Trump said.
He said Russia wanted all of Ukraine and believed Russia was “ok” with the peace plan, but added: “I don’t know if Mr. Zelensky is in favor of it.”
Trump’s remarks came as the Kremlin welcomed his administration’s new national security strategy, a foreign policy realignment that takes an unprecedented confrontational stance toward Europe.
The U.S. security strategy document removes language from previous administrations that described Russia as a threat, saying European countries consider Moscow an “existential threat” and making the U.S. the central intermediary for re-establishing “terms of internal European stability and strategic stability with Russia.”
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to praise the strategy and praised the US president as “strong.”
“I would say that the adjustments we are seeing are in many respects consistent with our vision,” Peskov said, adding, “Perhaps we can hope that this will at least be a modest guarantee that it will be possible to continue to cooperate constructively towards a peaceful solution to Ukraine.”
The timing is worrying for European leaders. The United States is taking the reins of Ukraine peace talks at the same time as it hardens its stance toward Europe, raising concerns that the changes could affect negotiations at a critical moment.
These issues are likely to be on the agenda when President Zelenskiy visits London on Monday, where he will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
President Macron said European leaders would “consider together the situation and the ongoing negotiations within the framework of US mediation.”
Talks in Miami between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators reached a standstill on Saturday without any progress, Ukrainian officials said, noting that key questions remained unanswered.
“Difficult issues remain,” Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Olga Stefanishina said on Saturday after three days of talks, “but both sides continue to work to form a realistic and acceptable solution.”
“The main challenges at this stage are related to territorial and guarantee issues, and we are actively seeking the optimal format to address these,” Stefanisina said. “We will provide further details once we have all the information.”
The marathon session began Thursday between U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian officials Rustem Umerov and Andriy Natov.
Guarantees of territory and security have long been central obstacles to potential reconciliation. Kiev maintains that a just end to the war must include credible security commitments and does not require demands for additional territorial cessions.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that he intends to occupy Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region by any means necessary.
President Macron said on Saturday that Russia “locked itself into an escalating approach and does not seek peace.”
“We must keep up the pressure on Russia to move towards peace,” he said, adding: “Because what is at stake in Ukraine is also the security of all of Europe.”
Amid diplomatic back-and-forth, Russia launched its largest barrage of drones and missiles across Ukraine in months, killing at least seven people over the weekend, according to a CNN tally of local officials. More than a dozen people were injured.
President Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Russia had launched more than 1,600 attack drones, about 1,200 guided air bombs and about 70 missiles against Ukraine in the past week. He said the strike’s main target was infrastructure that “maintains daily life.”
According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy, airstrikes targeted energy infrastructure in various regions over the weekend. Consumers in Odessa, Chernihiv, Kiev, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions lost power on Saturday, the ministry said. And on Sunday, a power outage plan was introduced across Ukraine, including Kiev, leaving residents of the capital without power for about 12 hours.
Ukraine’s military said Saturday it had carried out a nighttime attack on the Ryazan oil refinery in western Russia, one of the country’s largest refineries. Moscow did not immediately respond to the allegations.
Meanwhile, two more incidents involving unidentified drones flying near the country’s coastlines are being investigated in Ireland and France this week, the latest in a string of unexplained sightings in several European countries since September. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the wave of drone incursions a “hybrid war.”
Early last week, drones were seen flying off the coast of Dublin just as the plane carrying Mr Zelenskiy was about to land for a visit with the Irish Prime Minister.
And on Thursday night, French prosecutors said several drones flew near a French naval base on the Atlantic coast that houses nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.
Some drones disrupt civilian air traffic, while others fly near air force bases and other military installations.
European officials have said they believe Russia was behind at least some of the incidents, but no drones have been recovered or shot down. President Putin has previously ridiculed claims that Moscow is behind drone sightings in Europe.
CNN’s Jesse Yang, Max Saltman, Jennifer Hansler and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed reporting.
