Western powers demand revisions to US plan as Ukraine debates

• The plan also calls for Ukraine to reduce its military and stay out of NATO.
• Western leaders say the plan needs changes to protect Ukraine’s security.
• Zelensky warns of historical choice. Putin threatens more land confiscations.

Ukrainian and US envoys will meet on Sunday in Switzerland along with European security chiefs to discuss Washington’s plan to end the war with Russia, officials said, after Kiev rejected proposals seen as favorable to Moscow.

US President Donald Trump has given Ukraine until November 27 to approve the plan to end the nearly four-year conflict, but Kiev is seeking changes to a draft that accepts some of Moscow’s hardline demands.

Trump’s 28-point plan would require the invaded country to cede territory, cut its military and pledge never to join NATO. He told reporters Saturday that it was not his final offer and that he hoped to stop the fight “one way or another.”

Ukraine’s European allies, who were not included in drafting the deal, said the plan required “additional work” as they tried at the G20 summit in South Africa to come up with a counter-proposal to bolster Kiev’s positions.

a US official said AFP that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff were due to arrive in Geneva on Sunday for the talks, and that US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll had already arrived there after meeting Zelensky in Kiev.

“We will have an informal pre-meeting tonight over dinner” with Ukrainian representatives, the US official said on Saturday.

Zelensky’s decree said the negotiations would include “representatives of the Russian Federation,” but there was no immediate confirmation from Russia whether it would participate in the talks.

Russian “representatives” are expected.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “there will be consultations with partners on the steps needed to end the war,” after issuing a decree naming Ukraine’s delegation to the talks, led by his top aide Andriy Yermak.

“Our representatives know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests and what is necessary to prevent Russia from launching a third invasion” after it annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale offensive in 2022, he said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said senior officials would meet in Geneva “to take things further”, stressing the importance of firm “security guarantees” for Ukraine under any settlement.

“The focus now is on Geneva tomorrow and whether we can make progress tomorrow morning,” he told media on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

Starmer said his national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, would be in Geneva on Sunday. Italian diplomatic sources said the country had sent the prime minister’s national security adviser, Fabrizio Saggio.

Security officials from the EU, France and Germany will also attend, French President Emmanuel Macron told a G20 news conference.

West says plan needs more ‘work’

Western leaders at the G20 summit said on Saturday that the US plan was “a foundation that will require additional work”.

“We are clear at the outset that borders should not be changed by force. We are also concerned about the proposed restrictions on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attacks,” the leaders of major European countries, as well as Canada and Japan, said in a joint statement.

Macron said the plan contained points that needed to be discussed more widely as they concerned European allies, such as Ukraine’s NATO ties and Russian frozen assets held in the EU.

“We all want peace and we agree. We want peace to be strong and lasting,” he said, insisting that a settlement must “take into account the security of all Europeans.”

European representatives in Geneva will aim “to bring substance to the discussions and to reconcile all points of view,” he said.

Zelensky said Friday in an address to the nation that Ukraine was facing one of the most difficult times in its history, adding that he would propose “alternatives” to Trump’s proposal.

“The pressure on Ukraine is among the toughest. Ukraine may face a very difficult choice: either the loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner,” Zelensky said, referring to a possible rupture with Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plan could “lay the foundations” for an eventual peace settlement, but threatened more land seizures if Ukraine walked away from the talks.