European leaders rallied to show support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday after US-Ukrainian talks to revise a peace proposal that initially favoured Russia, while the US envoy headed to Moscow to brief the Kremlin.
Zelenskiy was warmly received by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, and the two joined a call with about a dozen other European leaders including those of Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland and the European Union.
Zelenskiy told a joint press conference with Macron after their meeting that Kyiv’s priorities in peace talks were to maintain sovereignty and ensure strong security guarantees, and that territorial disputes remained the most complicated.
He called on Ukraine’s Western allies to ensure Russia was not rewarded for the war it started, and said he hoped to hold talks with US President Donald Trump after Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has visited Russia this week.
Macron told reporters that only Ukraine could decide on its territories in peace negotiations with Russia.
Macron later discussed Ukraine in a call with Trump, the Elysee said, adding that they “discussed the conditions for a robust and lasting peace in Ukraine”.
Macron had “emphasised the crucial importance of the security guarantees necessary for Ukraine”, the Elysee said.
Earlier, Zelenskiy made clear that Ukrainian and US negotiators had not yet fully hammered out revisions to the proposed US plan, despite two rounds of talks to adjust terms that initially endorsed Russia’s main wartime demands.
There were ‘some tough issues that still have to be worked through’, Zelenskiy posted following Sunday’s US-Ukrainian talks at a Florida luxury golf resort built by Trump’s fellow real estate magnate Witkoff.
Witkoff left the talks to travel to Moscow, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin today.
US and Ukrainian officials have yet to make public any amendments they have so far agreed to the 28-point plan which Washington presented to Kyiv less than two weeks ago.
Kyiv and its European allies have been pushing for revisions to terms, which called for Ukraine to give up more territory than Russia has seized, curb the size of its army, renounce joining Nato and be barred from hosting Western troops. Ukraine says that would amount to capitulation, and leave it prone to eventual conquest by Russia, which invaded in 2014 and 2022.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday Washington was “realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic, particularly given the fact that as we’ve made progress”.
“There’s more work to be done. This is delicate,” Rubio said. “There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here ... that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week, when Mr Witkoff travels to Moscow.”
Meanwhile, Russia has shown no sign of backing off its maximalist demands while its forces continue to make slow progress on the 1,200-km front line. At least four people were killed and 40 wounded when Russian missiles struck car repair shops in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday.
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