Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says peace plan not ‘final offer’ as senators brand it a Russian wish list

US secretary of state Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have arrived in Geneva for talks on Sunday to discuss Washington’s draft plan to end the war in Ukraine, a US official said.

US politicians critical of Donald Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war have said Secretary of State Marco Rubio told them the peace plan the president is pushing Kyiv to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual proposal offering Washington’s position.

A State Department spokesperson denied their account, calling it “blatantly false”.

Mr Rubio himself then took the extraordinary step of suggesting online that the senators were mistaken, even though they said he was their source for the information. The secretary of state doubled down on the assertion that Washington was responsible for a proposal that had surprised many from the beginning for being so favourable to Moscow.

Heidi Alexander has repeatedly declined to answer questions on whether Donald Trump consulted the UK on his 28-point peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war, but she insisted the UK’s voice “does count” with Washington.

The transport secretary told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “I think it does count with them.

“If you listen to some of the comments of (US secretary of state) Marco Rubio, when he was talking about the role that (UK national security adviser) Jonathan Powell played in discussions about securing a ceasefire in Gaza in the Middle East, he spoke very highly and very positively of the role that the UK played in that.

“So I think our relationship with the US is one of seeking to influence to facilitate that dialogue with other global leaders, which is exactly what the Prime Minister was doing when he was in Johannesburg at the G20 yesterday.”

The UK’s “fundamental view” is that Ukrainians need to determine their own future, a Cabinet minister has said as meetings are due to take place in Geneva on Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “We have been clear that there are elements of the peace plan that he has proposed that are essential for a just and lasting peace.

“It does require some additional work.”

With national security adviser Jonathan Powell set to join counterparts from the US, Ukraine, and European countries for the talks in Geneva on Sunday, Ms Alexander said allies of Ukraine need to “find a way to secure that ceasefire and open up space for meaningful negotiations”.

She said: “Our fundamental view on this is the future of Ukraine has to be determined by Ukrainians themselves.

“But we do need to find a way to bring this conflict to an end and to secure that just and lasting peace that everyone wants.”

Ukraine struck a major heat and power station in the Moscow region on Sunday with drones, triggering a fire and forcing backup power to be switched on and mobile heating units to be deployed, the governor of the Moscow region said.

Ukrainian drones struck the Shatura Power Station, about 120 km (75 miles) east of the Kremlin, on Sunday, Moscow region governor, Andrei Vorobyov, said.

Unverified video footage on Telegram showed several bangs and then several balls of flames rising into the night sky.

“Some of the drones were destroyed by air defense forces. Several fell on the territory of the station. A fire broke out at the facility. Now it is localised,” Vorobyov said.

Three transformers at the power station, each about 65 square metres (670 square feet) in size, caught fire, the Kommersant newspaper cited the emergencies ministry as saying.

Vorobyov said that backup power had been switched on and that mobile heating systems were being deployed to the area where the temperature was around freezing point.

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

It follows criticism of Trump’s 28-point peace plan for skewing to benefit Russia, forcing Ukraine to concede Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as Nato membership.

President Donald Trump’s 28-point peace proposal for Ukraine is facingcriticism amid claims it skews heavily in Vladimir Putin’s favour.

Trump has given Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky until Thursday to accept the deal, which would cede territory to Moscow, take Nato off the table for Ukraine and allow Russia back into the G8.

As Zelensky faces a difficult choice, US officials and lawmakers have expressed their concern about Russian involvement in the plan after it was revealed the administration had held meetings with a blacklisted Kremlin official beforehand.

Kirill Dmitriev, a close ally of Putin, is the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and assumed the office of the special presidential envoy on Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation on 23 February this year despite little diplomatic experience.

Read more about him here:

Ukraine struck a major heat and power station in the Moscow region on Sunday with drones, triggering a fire and forcing backup power and heat to be switched on, the governor of the Moscow region said.

Ukrainian drones struck the Shatura Power Station, about 120 km (75 miles) east of the Kremlin, on Sunday, Moscow region governor, Andrei Vorobyov, said.

“Some of the drones were destroyed by air defense forces. Several fell on the territory of the station. A fire broke out at the facility. Now it is localised,” Vorobyov said.

Russia’s government is tightening its internet control, with widespread outages and restrictions already defining 2025 for its citizens. These pervasive measures are impacting daily life, from public transport to critical health monitoring.

The impact is profound: credit cards fail for public transport, ATMs disconnect, and messaging apps are down.

Mobile phones often lose texts and data after international travel, and mothers of diabetic children report being unable to monitor blood glucose levels during outages.

For months, mobile phone internet shutdowns have affected dozens of Russian regions, ostensibly thwarting Ukrainian drone attacks. Popular messaging apps are also restricted, with the government promoting a state-controlled alternative critics fear is a surveillance tool.