Laura Gozziand
Patrick Jackson
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed proposed changes to the controversial 28-point peace plan for ending the war with Russia.
It appears Ukraine’s European allies produced an amended version of the plan after rejecting parts which favoured Russia’s war aims.
“Now the list of necessary steps to end the war can become doable…” Zelensky said on Telegram. “Many correct elements have been incorporated into this framework.”
US and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva on Sunday to discuss the plan, drafted by American and Russian officials in October, which had caused consternation in Kyiv and among its European allies.
Russian representatives did not take part in the meeting in Switzerland.
A Kremlin official rejected the amendments on Monday as “completely unconstructive”.
In another development, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the Trump administration was not favouring Russia in its efforts to end the war.
“The idea that the United States of America is not engaging with both sides equally in this war to bring it to an end is a complete and total fallacy,” she told reporters.
President Donald Trump was “hopeful and optimistic” that a plan could be worked out for ending the war, Leavitt added.
Following the end of the talks in Geneva, Trump suggested on social media that “something good just may be happening” but added: “Don’t believe it until you see it.”
In Geneva, the talks began with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio having to deny the 28-point plan advocated by Trump had been written by the Kremlin, as several of its elements seemed heavily geared towards Moscow’s longstanding demands.
Zelensky said on Monday evening that the revised plan was “truly the right approach”.
“The sensitive issues, the most delicate points, I will discuss with President Trump,” he added, without saying when.
According to an official in Zelensky’s office, the 28-point plan leaked on Friday no longer existed.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergiy Kyslytsa, who attended the weekend talks in Geneva, said the latest plan consisted of just 19 points, with some of the most politically sensitive elements, including territorial concessions, now due to be decided by the leaders themselves.
A virtual “coalition of the willing” meeting of Ukraine’s European allies will take place on Tuesday to discuss developments, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced.
There was, he said, still work to do for a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
In Moscow, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters: “The European plan, at first glance… is completely unconstructive and does not work for us.”
Zelensky said earlier on Monday that the “main problem” remained Putin’s demand for legal recognition of territory Russia had taken.
Comments by Trump which suggested Ukraine had until 27 November to accept the deal or risk losing US support created a sense of urgency across Europe on Friday, and talks between Ukraine and US officials were hastily convened.
The counter-proposals – reportedly drafted by the UK, France and Germany – excluded any recognition of Russian-held regions, raised Ukraine’s permitted army size, and left the door open to Ukraine joining Nato.
Russia has consistently demanded full Ukrainian withdrawal from the whole of the eastern Donbas, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It also controls Crimea and large parts of two other regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians have been killed or injured, and millions of people have fled their homes, since Russia’s full-scale invasion began nearly four years ago.
