Zelensky presents new proposal to US after talks with European leaders
US president Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters
The Trump administration has denied pressuring Kyiv into agreeing a rapid peace deal with Russia despite the US president setting a Christmas deadline.
During a two-hour call, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner reportedly told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that Donald Trump wanted to see a peace deal agreed “by Christmas”.
Ukrainian negotiators say they have not been given sufficient details on security guarantees from Washington, and that no compromise has been reached on one of the critical sticking points: territory.
Washington previously pushed Kyiv to cede the entire Donbas, including areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions which it still controls. Kyiv has repeatedly ruled this out.
Unnamed officials in Washington now insist they are not pushing Kyiv into a deal which it dislikes, and that the goal is an agreement which ensures Ukraine’s sovereignty and defends it for the long term, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Mr Trump said the plan was discussed in “pretty strong words”
Last night Bloomberg reported that Ukraine had sent a revised peace plan to Washington as Mr Trump held a call with European leaders.
Mr Trump later said the plan was discussed in “pretty strong words” and said Ukraine had requested a meeting “in Europe”, between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky over the weekend. He said he would determine whether that meeting would take place based on continuing discussions.
Mr Zelensky said earlier he is willing to hold wartime elections within three months if the US and Kyiv’s other allies would guarantee the security of the vote, after Mr Trump accused Kyiv of using the war as an excuse to avoid elections.
Mr Trump repeated his concern last night that Ukraine had not had an election in a long time.
He has also accused European leaders of being “weak” and claimed their countries are “decaying” in an extraordinary attack on Washington’s traditionally closest allies.
The US president claimed European nations had failed to control migration or take decisive action to end the war in Ukraine, calling into question America’s long-standing alliances.
“I think they’re weak,” Mr Trump said in a wide-ranging interview with Politico. “But I also think that they want to be so politically correct. I think they don’t know what to do. What they’re doing with immigration is a disaster.”
Asked whether foreign leaders deemed weak could still be friends of the US, Mr Trump said: “It depends.”