{"id":621303,"date":"2025-12-09T03:03:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T03:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/621303\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T03:03:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T03:03:19","slug":"zelenskyy-meets-in-london-with-european-allies-on-the-us-peace-plan-and-ukrainian-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/621303\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskyy meets in London with European allies on the US peace plan and Ukrainian security"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> met British, French and German leaders in London on Monday in a show of European support for Ukraine at what they called a \u201ccritical moment\u201d in the U.S.-led effort to end Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer held talks with Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the British leader\u2019s 10 Downing St. residence to try to strengthen Ukraine\u2019s hand amid mounting impatience from U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the meeting, Starmer, Zelenskyy and the other leaders called Kyiv\u2019s European allies, urging them to keep up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leaders all agreed that now is a critical moment and that we must continue to ramp up support to Ukraine and economic pressure on Putin to bring an end to this barbaric war,\u201d Starmer\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Zelenskyy meets in London with European allies on US peace plan and security\n <\/p>\n

AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports on talks in London over the U.S.-backed proposal for ending Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the furthest we\u2019ve got in four years, and we welcome the fact that these talks are continuing at every level,\u201d said Starmer\u2019s spokesman, Tom Wells. He added that \u201cintensive work\u201d will continue in the days ahead, although \u201cthere are still outstanding issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s office said the session allowed the leaders \u201cto continue joint work on the U.S. plan in order to complement it with European contributions, in close coordination with Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Answering reporters\u2019 questions in a WhatsApp chat later Monday, Zelenskyy said the current U.S. peace plan differs from earlier versions in that it now has 20 points, down from 28, after what he called some \u201cobvious anti-Ukrainian points were removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

On security guarantees, Zelenskyy said the main questions to be resolved are: \u201cWhat if after the end of the war, Russia will start another aggression? What will the partners be ready for? What could Ukraine count on?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Mothers<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The answers to these questions \u201cmust be in the core of the security guarantees for Ukraine,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In an exchange with reporters on Sunday night, Trump appeared frustrated with Zelenskyy, claiming the Ukrainian leader \u201chasn\u2019t yet read the proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said Monday that Trump \u201ccertainly wants to end the war. … Surely, he has his own vision. We live here, from within we see details and nuances, we perceive everything much deeper, because this is our motherland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer, Macron and Merz took a more supportive stance toward Kyiv in comments before their Monday meeting, which lasted about two hours. The U.K. leader said the push for peace was at a \u201ccritical stage,\u201d and stressed the need for \u201ca just and lasting ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merz, meanwhile, said he was \u201cskeptical\u201d about some details in documents released by the U.S. \u201cWe have to talk about it. That\u2019s why we are here,\u201d he said. \u201cThe coming days \u2026 could be a decisive time for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

European leaders are working to ensure that any ceasefire is backed by solid security guarantees both from Europe and the U.S. to deter Russia from attacking again. Trump has not given explicit guarantees in public.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said late Sunday that his talks with European leaders this week in London and Brussels will focus on security, air defense and long-term funding for Ukraine\u2019s war effort. He said Monday that Ukraine needs support from both Europe and the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some things we can\u2019t manage without the Americans, things which we can\u2019t manage without Europe, and that\u2019s why we need to make some important decisions,\u201d he said at Downing Street.<\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s office said the leaders instructed their national security advisers to continue discussions in the coming days, underscoring \u201cthe need for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, which includes robust security guarantees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obstacles in the peace plan<\/p>\n

U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U.S. administration\u2019s peace proposal.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said on Telegram that talks had been \u201csubstantive\u201d and that National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov were traveling back to Europe to brief him.<\/p>\n

A major sticking point in the plan is the suggestion that Kyiv must cede control of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to Russia, which illegally occupies most but not all of the territory. Ukraine and its European allies have balked at the idea of handing over land.<\/p>\n

Starmer said he \u201cwon\u2019t be putting pressure\u201d on Zelenskyy to accept a peace settlement.<\/p>\n

Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Zelenskyy since winning a second term, insisting the war was a waste of U.S. taxpayers\u2019 money. Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to end the nearly four-year conflict.<\/p>\n

US releases national security strategy<\/p>\n

The European talks follow the publication of a new U.S. national security strategy<\/a> that alarmed European leaders and was welcomed by Russia.<\/p>\n

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov<\/a> said the document, which spells out the administration\u2019s core foreign policy interests, was largely in line with Moscow\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nuances that we see in the new concept certainly look appealing to us,\u201d he said Monday. \u201cIt mentions the need for dialogue and building constructive, friendly relations. This cannot but appeal to us, and it absolutely corresponds to our vision. We understand that by eliminating the irritants that currently exist in bilateral relations, a prospect may open for us to truly restore our relations and bring them out of the rather deep crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document<\/a> released Friday by the White House said the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U.S. interest to \u201creestablish strategic stability with Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document also says NATO must not be \u201ca perpetually expanding alliance,\u201d echoing another complaint by Russia. It was scathing about the migration and free speech policies of longstanding U.S. allies in Europe, suggesting they face the \u201cprospect of civilizational erasure\u201d due to migration. <\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s government declined comment on the document, calling it a matter for the U.S. government.<\/p>\n

Aerial attacks continue<\/p>\n

Russia continued attacking Ukraine amid the diplomatic efforts. Its drones struck high-rise apartments in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Okhtyrka overnight, injuring seven people and extensively damaging the building, according to the head of the regional administration, Oleh Hryhorov.<\/p>\n

In the northern city of Chernihiv, a Russian drone exploded outside a residential building, injuring three people and damaging a kindergarten, gas lines and cars, regional head Viacheslav Chaus said.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s air force said Russia fired 149 drones overnight, with 131 neutralized and 16 others striking their targets.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Russian air defenses destroyed 67 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said. The drones were shot down over 11 Russian regions, it said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met British, French and German leaders in London on Monday in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,7667,32,34,393,299,1945,4179,4884,807,10546,257,8617,285,7659,7661,193309,16,657,7662,15,11654,333,2601,7660,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-621303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dmitry-peskov","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-emmanuel-macron","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-friedrich-merz","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-keir-starmer","18":"tag-kyiv","19":"tag-london","20":"tag-military-and-defense","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-russia-government","23":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","24":"tag-tom-wells","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-ukraine","27":"tag-ukraine-government","28":"tag-united-kingdom","29":"tag-united-kingdom-government","30":"tag-vladimir-putin","31":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","32":"tag-war-and-unrest","33":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115687392253323084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621303","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=621303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}