In Geneva, U.S. and Ukrainian officials report progress in ending the war with Russia

GENEVA – Top U.S. and Ukrainian officials said Sunday they have made progress toward ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, but provided few details after discussing the U.S. proposal to reach peace. That has raised concerns among many of Washington’s European allies that the plan is too conciliatory for Moscow.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the high-stakes talks in Geneva were “very rewarding” and marked the most productive day in “a very long time”.

“I’m very optimistic that we can get something done,” Rubio said.

But he provided very little information about what was discussed. He also downplayed the Thursday deadline that President Donald Trump set for Ukraine to respond to the plan, simply saying that officials want to see the fighting stop as soon as possible and that officials can continue negotiating Monday and beyond. He said higher-ups may eventually have to get involved.

“This is a very delicate moment,” Rubio said of what still needed to be worked out. “Some of it is semantics or language. Others require higher-level decisions and deliberation. Others, I think, just need more time to work through.”

The 28-point blueprint drawn up by the US to end the nearly four-year war has caused alarm in Kiev and European capitals. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country faces a difficult choice: stand up for its sovereign rights and retain the American support it needs.

The Ukrainian leader has vowed that his people will “always defend” their home.

The proposal meets many Russian demands that Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large swathes of territory.

In a subsequent statement Sunday evening, the White House said the Ukrainian delegation “affirmed that all of their key concerns – security guarantees, long-term economic development, infrastructure protection, freedom of navigation and political sovereignty – were thoroughly discussed during the meeting.”

It added that Ukrainians “expressed their appreciation for the structured approach taken to incorporate their feedback into every part of the emerging settlement framework.” The White House said the changes to the proposal now reflect “their national interests” and provide “credible and enforceable mechanisms to ensure Ukraine’s security in both the short and long term.”

But the statements about such positive steps came only after growing concerns about the original deal approved by Trump. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators said Rubio told them on Saturday that the plan originated in Russia and was actually a “wish list” for Moscow, rather than a serious attempt at peace.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had spoken to Trump and made it clear that there were some parts of the plans that key European countries could agree on, but not others.

“I told him that we are fully aligned with Ukraine, that the sovereignty of this country should not be compromised,” Merz said in an interview with DW.

Rubio praised the progress of the talks and said efforts will continue

Rubio called the U.S. proposal a “living breathing document” that would continue to change. However, he also made it clear that any final product – once it is ready – will still have to be presented to Moscow: “it is clear that the Russians will have a voice here.”

The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak, said of the talks: “We have made very good progress and are moving towards a just and lasting peace,” he said.

Trump himself defied the rosy assessment of what was discussed. Before the talks began, the president blasted Ukraine for a lack of gratitude for U.S. military aid while shying away from criticizing Russia.

Trump set a deadline Thursday for Ukraine to respond to the plan, but also suggested it could shift if there was evidence of real progress. He also said the plan was not his final offer – without providing further details on what that meant.

“UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS NOT EXPRESSED GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS, AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump posted on his social media site Sunday morning.

Following Trump’s post, Zelenskyy applauded the US-led security efforts, while also emphasizing that “the core of the entire diplomatic situation is that it was Russia, and only Russia, that started this war.”

“Ukraine is grateful to the United States, every American heart and personally to President Trump,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on Telegram, adding: “We thank everyone in Europe.”

“It is important not to forget the main goal: stopping the war in Russia and preventing it from ever igniting again,” he added.

Ukraine and its allies have ruled out territorial concessions

Before meeting with U.S. officials, Yermak and his team also met with national security advisers from Britain, France and Germany. The Allies have gathered around Kiev in an attempt to revise the plan.

Alice Rufo, the French minister’s delegate at the Defense Ministry, told broadcaster France Info before the talks began that key points for discussion would include the plan’s limitations on the Ukrainian military, which she described as “a limitation of its sovereignty.”

“Ukraine must be able to defend itself,” she said. “Russia wants war and has waged war many times in recent years.”

On Sunday, Zelenskyy said there was agreement that the US would take into account “a number of elements” in a peace deal that are important for Ukraine, but did not elaborate.

“There are already short reports from the team on the results of the first meetings and discussions,” he said. “There is now an understanding that the US proposals could take into account a number of elements based on the Ukrainian vision and which are crucial to Ukraine’s national interests.”

Rubio’s reported comments are causing confusion

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday that Warsaw was ready to work on the plan together with the leaders of Europe, Canada and Japan, but also said it would be “good to know for sure who the author of the plan is and where it was created.”

Some US lawmakers said on Saturday that Rubio had described the plan as a Russian “wish list” and not a Washington-led proposal. A US State Department spokesperson said this story was “patently false.” On the way to Geneva, Rubio then took the extraordinary step of suggesting online that the senators were mistaken, even though they said he was their source for the information.

The issue caused a stir on Sunday.

The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner, told ABC’s “This Week” that the peace plan seemed “almost like a series of Russian talking points,” that it had made Europeans “feel completely left behind” and led to “savage backlash.”

The Turkish leader plans a meeting with Putin

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would hold a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. He said he would talk to Putin about reviving an earlier July 2022 deal that allowed Ukraine to safely export grain through the Black Sea.

The agreement remained in force until the following year, when Putin refused to renew it, saying a parallel agreement that promised to remove obstacles to Russian food and fertilizer exports had not been fulfilled.

“We had a grain corridor attempt to open the way to peace,” Erdogan said. “Unfortunately, we have only partially succeeded. Tomorrow I will ask Putin to reconsider the undertaking.”

Erdogan’s new diplomatic effort comes just days after he met Zelenskyy in Ankara.