US, Ukraine, and European Officials Meet in Geneva to Discuss Trump’s Peace Plan

Top officials from the United States, Ukraine, and national security advisers from France, Britain and Germany will hold talks in Geneva on Sunday to discuss Washington’s draft plan to end the war in Ukraine.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were due to arrive on Sunday for the talks on ending the war.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had until Thursday to approve the 28-point plan, which calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO.

“We hope to iron out the final details…to draft a deal that is advantageous to them (Ukraine),” a U.S. official said. “Nothing will be agreed on until the two presidents get together”, referring to Trump and Zelenskiy.

Ahead of Rubio’s departure for Geneva, Trump said his current proposal for ending the war is not his final offer.

Early on Sunday, convoys of vehicles with U.S. diplomatic plates were seen driving through Geneva, though it was not immediately clear exactly when the talks were beginning.

U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll arrived in Geneva ahead of the talks, the U.S. official said.

Ukraine’s delegation is led by the head of Zelenskiy’s office, Andriy Yermak, and includes top security officials.

National security advisers from the E3 alliance of France, Britain and Germany will join the discussions, alongside the European Union. Italy would also send an official, diplomatic sources said.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would speak with Zelenskiy later on Sunday about the peace plan.

European and other Western leaders said on Saturday the U.S. peace plan was a basis for talks to end the war but needed “additional work”, as they seek a better deal for Kyiv before Thursday’s deadline.

A German government source said a European draft peace plan, which is based on the U.S. proposal, had been sent to Ukraine and to the U.S. administration.

Moscow’s Take

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that U.S. proposals for peace in Ukraine could be the basis of a resolution of the conflict but that if Kyiv turned down the plan then Russian forces would advance further.

“I believe that it can be used as the basis for a final peaceful settlement,” Putin told senior officials at a meeting of the Russian Security Council.

Putin added that the 28-point plan had not been discussed in detail yet with the United States, but that Moscow had received a copy of it.

“If Kyiv does not want to discuss President Trump’s proposal and refuses to do so, then both they and the European warmongers should understand that the events that took place in Kupiansk will inevitably be repeated in other key sectors of the front,” Putin said.

The Plan in a Nutshell

President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war in Ukraine would cede land to Russia and limit the size of Kyiv’s military, according to a draft obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

A side agreement aims to satisfy Ukrainian security concerns by saying a future “significant, deliberate and sustained armed attack” by Russia would be viewed as “threatening the peace and security of the transatlantic community.”