Ukraine's European allies say US peace plan needs 'work'

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken to his counterpart Donald Trump, with the pair agreeing to work together on the US president's peace proposal for Ukraine.

A spokesman for Starmer explained the that British leader told Trump about the discussions with members of the "coalition of the willing" on Ukraine at the G20 summit in South Africa.

Further discussions between the two Western leaders are expected to take place on Sunday. It was understood the initial call on Saturday was "good and constructive."

The conversation came after Starmer spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reiterated the UK's "steadfast support" for Kyiv.

Zelenskyy has earlier said he and Starmer "covered many nuances of diplomatic work" in efforts to end the war with Russia in the call. 

Starmer and other leaders have pushed back against the US-drafted plan for Ukraine. Particular concerns center on proposals to make Kyiv limit its armed forces and give up territory and its path to NATO membership.

All of Ukraine's allies agreed that "there are elements in the 28-point plan which are essential to lasting peace, but it requires additional work, and that we are going to engage on that," Starmer added.

US, Ukrainian and European national security advisers will meet in Switzerland on Sunday to "go through quite a bit of detail" of the proposed framework, he said.

DW has spoken to Kira Rudik, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and leader of the pro-European political party Holos, ahead of talks on the US-proposed peace plan between European, US and Ukrainian officials in Geneva.

Asked if Ukraine could even start thinking about giving up land and renouncing NATO membership, as proposed by the US, Rudik pointed out that "it's not the first time when we are faced with a plan that we cannot accept, and then we are able to work it through."

US President Donald Trump has given Kyiv until November 27 to accept his 28-point plan to end the nearly four-year-old war with Russia.

On the proposal stating that Russia would not invade neighboring countries, Rudik called it "the most laughable part of the plan."

"They have already broken all the international laws, committed all kinds of war crimes, and I'm absolutely sure that nobody in their sane mind would trust Russia or their leadership about their future," she said.

Rudik also voiced her concerns that the peace plan's call for Ukraine to reduce the size of its army "shows the intention for Russia to attack again."

"If they are not planning to attack us more and not planning to have any other wars, why would they care how much military equipment and how many people in the army we have?"

US President Donald Trump has said his administration's plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine is not final.

"The war needs to end one way or another," he told reporters on Saturday.

Trump has given Kyiv until Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the US, to accept the proposal.

However, when asked if the 28-point peace plan was his final offer, Trump replied "no."

Trump's comments come as Ukraine and its European allies call the proposal a "basis" for talks that needs "additional work."

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday warned that Russia would "come back and break their promises" if Ukraine if forced to cut the size of its armed forces, as stipulated in the current US peace plan.

"We know that if there are no elements of deterrence, the Russians will come back and break their promises," Macron told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa.

Macron added that the US proposal to end the war in Ukraine "needs to be revisited" with Europeans included in the negotiations.

"It's good in that it proposes peace and recognizes important elements on issues of sovereignty, security guarantees," the French president said. "But it's a basis for work that needs to be revisited, as we did last summer, because this plan, first of all, wasn't negotiated with the Europeans."

"There are many things that can't simply be an American proposal, that require broader consultation," said Macron.

The French president also said that the 30 countries in the "coalition of the willing" supporting Kyiv will have a video call on Tuesday, after talks in Geneva on the White House's proposed peace plan.

"We will hold a meeting on Tuesday afternoon to coordinate on this point, and to see what progress will be made in the Geneva negotiations in the coming days, and to be able to take new initiatives," he said.

Security officials from Germany, France and Britain are due to meet European Union, US and Ukrainian counterparts in Geneva on Sunday to discuss the US plan to end the war in Ukraine, sources at a G20 summit in Johannesburg said.

AFP quoted one of the sources speaking on condition of anonymity that "the adviser to the French president will go to Geneva tomorrow (Sunday) with colleagues from the E3" — referring to an informal security alliance between Britain, France and Germany.

"The talks will be between the United States, the E3 and the Ukrainians," said another source.

Trump gave Ukraine less than a week to respond to the 28-point plan the US had put forwardto end the nearly four-year war.

A German government source told Reuters that a European draft peace plan, which is based on the US proposal, had been sent to Ukraine and to the US administration.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Saturday said that the war in Ukraine cannot end without Kyiv's "unconditional consent."

"Wars cannot be ended by great powers over the heads of the countries involved," Merz said in response to US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Ukraine after the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

"If Ukraine loses this war and possibly collapses, it will have an impact on European politics as a whole, on the entire European continent. And that is why we are so committed to this issue," he added.

Merz also stated that he had made clear to Trump in a long phone call on Friday evening that Europe needs to be part of any process to end the war in Ukraine.

Merz said he had reminded Trump of the Budapest Memorandum, a landmark agreement in 1994 in which Kyiv gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security assurances that ultimately failed to deter Russia.

"That is why other security guarantees must now be given, other more reliable agreements must be made," Merz said.

The leaders of Ukraine's European allies have issued a joint statement on the US plan to end the war in Ukraine, saying that additional work is still needed.

"We welcome the continued US efforts to bring peace to Ukraine," the leaders said, adding that the initial draft of the 28-point plan "includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace."

"We believe therefore that the draft is a basis which will require additional work," the statement said.

The statement was signed by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, Norway, and of the European Union, as well as the Canadian and Japanese prime ministers.

The leaders emphasized that borders must not be changed by force and also expressed concern about "proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces" which they said could leave Ukraine vulnerable to any future attack.

The statement concluded by saying that there would be continued close coordination with both Ukraine and the US in the coming days.

Ukraine said it had received 31 of its citizens after they were freed from jail in Belarus.

"Women and men detained in Belarus and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment ranging from two to 11 years are returning to Ukraine," Kyiv's prisoner exchange coordination committee said on the Telegram messaging app.

"We express our gratitude to the United States of America and President Donald Trump for their fruitful work in returning Ukrainian civilians and military personnel from Belarus and Russia," it added.
 

Ukraine will hold consultations in the coming days on steps toward ending Russia's invasion,  the Ukrainian president's office said on Saturday.

"Ukraine never wanted this war and will make every effort to end it with a dignified peace," the office said in a statement on X.

"Ukraine will never be an obstacle for peace, and the representatives of the Ukrainian state will defend legitimate interests of the Ukrainian people and the foundations of European security," it added.

It said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had approved the composition of a delegation for the consulations, as well as directives for conducting negotiations.

The statement came as a top Ukrainian security official said Kyiv would hold consultations in Switzerland with the US on ending Russia's war on Ukraine.

"In the coming days in Switzerland we are launching consultations between senior officials of Ukraine and the United States on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement," the secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, Rustem Umerov, wrote on social media. 

The statement for the president's office made no explicit mention of the 28-point peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump, who has given a Thursday deadline for its acceptance by Kyiv.

It did, however, express gratitude to Kyiv's European allies for their "willingness to help."

Russia's Defense Ministry has said that four settlements in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region are now in the hands of its forces.

They include the village of Yampil, which is located east of the Ukraine-held city of Sloviansk.

The ministry statement said that the villages of Stavky, Novoselivka and Maslyakivka were also now under Moscow's control, as well as a village in neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.

The reports have not been confirmed by Kyiv, and Ukrainian officials said on Thursday that Yampil remained under Ukrainian control.

Russian forces are advancing slowly through the Donetsk region as they seek to capture all of the Donbas, which also includes the region of Luhansk.
 

Moscow's close ally Belarus has pardoned 31 Ukrainian citizens convicted of criminal offenses within the framework of deals struck between President Alexander Lukashenko and his US counterpart Donald Trump, a presidential spokeswoman said.

"The president has pardoned 31 Ukrainian citizens who committed criminal offences on the territory of our country," Natalia Eismont told state TV.

She said, referring to Ukraine, that the pardons were given "with a view to creating conditions for the settlement of the armed conflict in the neighboring state."

"Right now, at this very moment, they are being handed over to the Ukrainian side," she added.

A Ukrainian drone attack on energy infrastructure in Russia's Volga region of Samara has fatally injured two people and hurt two others, the region's governor has said.

The deaths and injuries, caused by falling debris from downed drones, occurred in the southern city of Syzran.

The governor, Vyacheslav Feorishchev wrote on the state-backed Max messaging service that the drones were repelled.

The city is the site of an oil refinery, media reports said.

Numerous Ukrainian drone attacks were also reported in other regions of Russia, as Kyiv's forces target energy infrastructure in a bid to reduce funding for Moscow's invasion.

Several airports temporarily suspended operations due to air raid alerts, including in Samara, Tambov, Penza, Saratov and Ulyanovsk. 

The US has set a deadline of next Thursday for Ukraine to accept a 28-point plan drafted with Russia to end the war. Analysts say the plan's heavy concessions to Moscow would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on the platform X he had "outlined the logic of our further steps" in a call with European counterparts.

He described his discussion with the foreign ministers of France, Britain, Poland, Finland, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, as well as representatives of Italy and Germany, as "timely and meaningful".

Sybiha said he had shared the results of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's "recent contacts and outlined the logic of our further steps."

"We discussed in detail the elements of peace proposals presented by the United States and our joint work to pave a doable path to a just peace," he added.

He said he had also thanked Ukraine's partners "for their willingness to increase support for Ukraine during this decisive time."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held emergency talks with the leaders of Germany, France and Britain.

He has also spoken with US Vice President JD Vance, while his office says he plans to speak soon directly with US President Donald Trump, who has given him until Thursday to accept the plan

US Vice President JD Vance has said that any plan to end the conflict in Ukraine must "stop the killing while preserving Ukrainian sovereignty."

Writing on X, he said that it should also "[m]aximize the chances the war doesn't restart."  

Vance also dismissed criticism of the plan recently put forward by Washington amid accusations, particularly from Kyiv and European allies, that it heavily favors Moscow.

"Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground," Vance wrote.

"There is a fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions, victory is at hand. Peace won't be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land. It might be made by smart people living in the real world," Vance added.

US President Donald Trump has given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the US, to accept the plan.

"He'll have to like it, and if he doesn't like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess," the US president told reporters on Thursday.