Trump discusses Ukraine plan with Europeans as talks intensify

Trump discusses Ukraine plan with Europeans as talks intensify

President Donald Trump discussed progress on Ukraine peace talks with the leaders of the UK, France and Germany as US efforts to end Russia’s invasion enter a critical stage.

The US president spoke with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Friedrich Merz by phone Wednesday, according to statements from the German and UK governments. A White House official confirmed the exchange.

The call took place as Ukraine and its European allies prepared to send the US administration revised proposals for a possible peace agreement with Russia. Weeks of talks have produced a document that’s more palatable to Kyiv, but several sticking points including over territory and security guarantees continue to stymie a deal.

“Intensive work on the peace plan is continuing and will continue in the coming days,” according to a readout of the call published by the British government. Leaders “agreed that this was a critical moment — for Ukraine, its people and for shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region,” it said.

In recent weeks the US has made a renewed attempt to broker a deal between Moscow and Kyiv that would end the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion, which is approaching its fourth year. European nations have expressed concerns about pressure being applied by the Trump administration on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to agree to an outcome largely on Russia’s terms.

European leaders, who met in London earlier this week, had tasked their national security advisers with producing further proposals to send to the US based on negotiations between Trump’s envoys and Ukrainian officials.

Three documents are currently being discussed between the countries. One is an overall framework to end the war, the second concerns security guarantees for Kyiv and the third focuses on Ukraine’s reconstruction.

On Monday, Zelenskiy told Bloomberg that negotiators remained divided over seven “sensitive issues,” including security guarantees for the war-battered nation and control over eastern regions of Ukraine.

It remains to be seen whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to agree to a deal to end the war. Following talks with Trump’s envoys in Moscow last week, the Kremlin said that some proposals on the table were acceptable, but it rejected others.

Putin demands Ukraine cede areas of the eastern Donetsk region that its troops failed to take by force in nearly four years of war. Zelenskiy and European allies have repeatedly said a ceasefire must be imposed along the current front line, rejecting a demand for the Ukrainian army to withdraw.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on Tuesday that the parties were “quite close” to a peace agreement.