Western leaders say Trump’s plan ‘leaves Ukraine vulnerable’ and needs work
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Underpinning the deal is a yet-to-be-defined security guarantee for Ukraine from the US and European allies.
Trump said on Saturday in Washington, DC, the plan was not the “final offer” on peace terms.
“I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”
National security advisers from the E3 nations – France, Britain and Germany – are due to meet officials from the European Union, the US and Ukraine in Geneva on Sunday, local time (late on Sunday, AEDT) to discuss the details of the Trump proposal.
The Trump administration produced the draft after the president’s peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, held talks in Florida three weeks ago with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who leads the Russian Direct Investment Fund and is close to Putin.
A senior Russian diplomat left open the prospect of a meeting between Trump and Putin to finalise the plan, according to Reuters.
“I wouldn’t rule anything out,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
The leaders from Europe, the UK, Canada and Japan spoke during the G20 summit in South Africa – an event Trump has chosen not to attend – while also calling Zelensky ahead of the meeting of diplomats and officials in Switzerland.
“Everyone wants peace – except Russia, which continues to stubbornly bomb Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement after the talks.
“The 28-point proposal must be strengthened: no border can be changed by force, and Ukraine must never be left vulnerable.”
Even so, the European leaders have not criticised Trump for putting the plan forward and have not ruled out accepting the broad thrust of the 28 points as the basis for a peace settlement.
Zelensky delivered a video message to the nation on Friday.Credit: AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the peace plan while holding talks with European and other leaders by phone to push back against terms that favour Russia.
“Our representatives know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests and exactly what must be done to prevent Russia from launching a third invasion, another strike against Ukraine – just as it has repeatedly committed crimes against our people and against other nations in the past,” Zelensky said on Saturday in Ukraine (early on Sunday, AEDT).
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Earlier, in a broadcast to the Ukrainian people, Zelensky said the peace plan required a difficult choice, but he did not rule out the possibility of an agreement.
“Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice,” he said in the broadcast.
“Either the loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner.
“Either the difficult 28 points, or an extremely difficult winter.”
In a sign of the pressure on Ukraine to accept a peace deal, US Vice President JD Vance appeared to reject the idea that Russia could be defeated on the battlefield.
“There is a fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions, victory is at hand,” Vance said on social media site X.
“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land. It might be made by smart people living in the real world.”
With Reuters, AP
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