According to the document reported by Bloomberg, talks on territorial issues should be held only after the fighting on the current front line ends. European countries also refuse for Ukraine to withdraw from territories that Moscow claims but has not yet conquered. This is mainly about the still unoccupied parts of the Donetsk region.
The European version of the plan further demands that the sanctions imposed on Russia be lifted only gradually, and that the country’s reintegration into the world economy should proceed in the same way.
The amended document also proposes that the number of Ukrainian forces be limited to 800,000 in peacetime, not 600,000, as envisaged by the 28-point plan of the US administration.
Europe further demands that the frozen billions of assets of the Russian Federation be used for the reconstruction and compensation of Ukraine.
Secret meetings of representatives of the USA, Ukraine, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and the EU were held in Geneva on Sunday morning. In the afternoon, they were followed up by talks between the American and Ukrainian delegations.
The American delegation was led by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, and the Ukrainian head of the presidential office Andrij Jermak. Rubio described the negotiations with the Ukrainian party as “so far the most productive and meaningful”.
Rubio Talks About ‘Tremendous Progress’
The head of American diplomacy admitted, without further elaboration, that “certain changes” will be made in the peace proposals. “We’re working on it. We’re making changes in hopes of reducing the differences even more and getting closer to something that’s acceptable to both Ukraine and, of course, the United States,” Rubio said.
“We have made enormous progress, but the work continues. It is a living, breathing document. It changes every day, based on stimuli,” the US minister added.
Jermak also spoke about the “shift”, whose negotiating team thanked US President Donald Trump for his peace efforts. The Ukrainian party apparently responded to the critical words of the head of the White House, with which he accused Ukraine of “ingratitude”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also published his thanks to Trump shortly afterwards. “Ukraine is grateful to the United States, every American heart, and personally to President Trump for the help that saves the lives of Ukrainians. We thank everyone in Europe, the G7 and G20 who help us protect lives,” he wrote on the X network.
