{"id":582471,"date":"2025-11-20T12:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582471\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T12:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:06:13","slug":"europeans-resist-us-peace-plan-for-ukraine-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582471\/","title":{"rendered":"Europeans resist US peace plan for Ukraine \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

European countries pushed back on Thursday against a US-backed peace plan for Ukraine<\/a> that sources said would require Kyiv to give up more land and partially disarm, conditions long seen by Ukraine\u2019s allies as tantamount to capitulation. <\/p>\n

Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that Washington had signalled to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy<\/a> that Ukraine must accept a US-drafted framework to end the war, which includes territorial concessions and curbs to Ukraine\u2019s armed forces. <\/p>\n

The sources spoke on condition they not be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. <\/p>\n

The acceleration in US diplomacy comes at an awkward juncture for Kyiv, with its troops on the back foot at the front and Mr Zelenskiy\u2019s government undermined by a corruption scandal. <\/p>\n

Parliament fired two cabinet ministers on Wednesday over the scandal. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Zelenskiy weakened as corruption case breaks Ukraine’s wartime unityOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Russia has been pounding Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with nightly bombardments, killing civilians and causing power cuts as winter sets in. Authorities said 22 people were still missing and 26 dead from air strikes that destroyed an apartment block early on Wednesday, one of the worst attacks in months.<\/p>\n

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels were careful not to comment in too much detail about a US peace plan that has not fully been made public. But they made clear they would push back against demands for punishing concessions from Kyiv, and said any deal must not deprive Ukraine of the ability to defend itself. <\/p>\n

\u201cUkrainians want peace \u2013 a just peace that respects everyone\u2019s sovereignty, a durable peace that can\u2019t be called into question by future aggression,\u201d said French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot. \u201cBut peace cannot be a capitulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Ukraine, as the victim in the conflict, should not have restrictions imposed on its ability to defend itself.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Global Briefing: Proposal is just the latest stage in the negotiations rather than their conclusionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said any agreement must have the Europeans and Ukraine itself on board.<\/p>\n

The White House has not commented on the reported proposals. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on X that Washington would \u201ccontinue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEnding a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas. And achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions,\u201d Mr Rubio said.<\/p>\n

A US army delegation, led by army secretary Dan Driscoll and the army\u2019s chief of staff, Randy George, was in Kyiv and expected to meet Mr Zelenskiy late on Thursday.<\/p>\n

They met Ukraine\u2019s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, late on Wednesday. Mr Syrskyi said he told them the best way to secure a just peace was to defend Ukraine\u2019s airspace, extend its ability to strike deep into Russia and stabilise the front line.<\/p>\n

With the fourth winter approaching of Europe\u2019s deadliest war in eight decades, Russian troops have been inching forward and are poised to finally capture their first substantial city in nearly two years, the ruined eastern railway hub of Pokrovsk.<\/p>\n

Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022, occupies almost a fifth of Ukraine, and says it will not end the war unless Ukraine cedes additional land, accepts permanent neutrality and cuts its armed forces.<\/p>\n

Ukraine says that would amount to capitulation and leave it unprotected should Russia attack again. After the early months, when Ukraine fended off a Russian assault on Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory, the war has settled for three years into a relentless grind along a 1,000km front line, with huge losses on both sides.<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian counterattack stalled in 2023, and since then Moscow has made slow but relentless progress, with the enemies separated across a charred no-man\u2019s land, hunting each other\u2019s forces down with drones.<\/p>\n

Russian forces now appear poised to capture Pokrovsk, once home to 60,000 people, their first big prize since early 2024.<\/p>\n

Moscow says that will lead to further battlefield gains, giving it no reason to halt fighting without big concessions. Kyiv says the Russian advances have only limited strategic significance but it lacks the capability to halt them.<\/p>\n

US president Donald Trump, who returned to office this year promising to swiftly end the war, has reoriented US policy away from staunchly supporting Ukraine towards accepting some of Russia\u2019s justifications for its invasion.<\/p>\n

But he has also put pressure on Moscow to make concessions, announcing plans last month for a summit with president Vladimir Putin, only to cancel it a few days later after Moscow indicated it would not budge on its demands. He has imposed sanctions on Russia\u2019s two main oil companies, a step never taken by his more overtly pro-Ukrainian predecessor Joe Biden. Friday, November 21st, is the deadline for foreign buyers of Russian oil to wind down their purchases. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European countries pushed back on Thursday against a US-backed peace plan for Ukraine that sources said would require…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[32,2000,299,657,9041,20729],"class_list":{"0":"post-582471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-ukraine","12":"tag-ukraine-crisis","13":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskiy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115581942953600593","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}