kyiv’s response to Donald Trump’s proposal for a peace plan to end almost four years of war with Russia is practically ready and it plans to send it to the US “sometime in the afternoon” on Tuesday, as confirmed by Volodimir Zelensky after meeting this Monday with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Downing Street. It is an updated twenty-point document in which, according to the Ukrainian president, one of the most sensitive issues remains unaddressed: the possible transfer of territory, a point on which “no compromise” has yet been reached and on which he reiterated that his country “cannot give up any part of its territory.”
The Ukrainian president added that Washington seeks to accelerate the talks. “In general, Americans want to find a point of agreement,” he said. In this context, the mediators appointed by Trump – his envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law and negotiator Jared Kushner – presented a revised version of the plan in Moscow last week and then maintained several days of contacts with Ukrainian representatives in Miami without results. Zelensky described those talks as “constructive, but not easy.” Trump, for his part, declared on Sunday that he was “a little disappointed” because, he said, Zelensky “hadn’t read the proposal yet.”
European leaders are trying to strengthen kyiv’s position before Washington closes a final text. The hastily organized Downing Street meeting sought precisely to coordinate a common response. Starmer, Macron and Merz agreed with Zelensky that any step towards ending the war must lead to “a just and lasting peace” and guarantee “robust security guarantees” for Ukraine. They also welcomed “positive progress” in talks on using frozen Russian assets to finance the country’s reconstruction.
After London, Zelensky traveled to Brussels to meet with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the president of the European Council, António Costa; and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Von der Leyen stated that any agreement must “respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and guarantee its long-term security, as the first line of defense for the European Union.” Costa and Rutte supported this approach and assured Zelensky of “seamless” support both in the negotiation and on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian president reported in Brussels that the peace process “remains active” and insisted that any agreement framework must include a specific date for the country’s accession to the EU. He also informed the community leaders about his latest contacts with the United States and recalled that this diplomatic phase comes at one of the hardest moments of the war, with Russian advances in the east and constant attacks against the energy grid that cause electricity outages in several cities.
The White House maintains that negotiations are in their final phase, but neither kyiv nor Moscow have shown any willingness to accept the current draft. Several European governments fear that the country will end up under pressure to assume points that compromise its territorial integrity and continental security. Zelensky insists that any territorial cession legitimizes Russian aggression and would endanger the country’s future.
