US Secretary of State Marco Rubio boasted “tremendous” progress after a day of meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Geneva on a proposal to halt the Ukraine war – but numerous uncertainties remain.
The head of Ukraine’s delegation Andriy Yermak also told reporters yesterday that the sides had made “very good progress” and were “moving forward to the just and lasting peace Ukrainian people deserve”, according to AFP.
US President Donald Trump had given Ukraine until November 27 to approve his controversial plan to end the nearly four-year conflict that erupted after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
But Kyiv is seeking changes to a draft that accepts a range of Russia’s hardline demands, with the 28-point plan requiring the invaded country to cede territory, cut its army and pledge never to join NATO.
Rubio, whose delegation included Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff, told reporters that the work to narrow the areas of disagreement had advanced “in a very substantial way”.
“I can tell you that the items that remain open are not insurmountable,” Rubio said, adding “I honestly believe we’ll get there.”
He stressed that any final agreement would “have to be agreed upon by the Presidents and there are a couple issues that we need to continue to work on” before trying to bring onboard the Kremlin, which welcomed the original proposal.
“Obviously, the Russians get a vote,” he said.
Russian media reacted caustically to the changes in the 28-point peace plan being proposed by Ukraine’s European allies.
“EU versus US,” wrote Komsomolskaya Pravda business newspaper’s war correspondent Alexander Kots on X.
“The EU is sabotaging the negotiations with its peace deal. To Trump’s 28 points the Europeans brought 24 of their own. I will not list them all. You just need to look at a few to understand that the plan is stillborn.
“They will set out conditions that are unacceptable from the start, which naturally we will reject. They will accuse us of not wanting peace.”
The lead story for the Kommersant said that Ukraine’s European allies “are trying to amend Trump’s plan for Ukraine to make it unacceptable for Moscow”.
That was despite the fact that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said earlier yesterday that there was no need for a complete counterproposal to the US plan for ending the war, although several issues need further discussion.
“I don’t think the issue is working on a complete counterproposal. There are many points that are acceptable in the plan we’re reading,” Meloni told a press conference at a G20 summit in Johannesburg yesterday.
“It makes more sense to work on the existing proposal and focus on the truly crucial issues,” she said.
Nonetheless, the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily said Trump’s plan was received with “perfect hostility in Europe”.
“Trump’s plan posed a threat to their world order,” it stated yesterday. “It turns out that Russia too can defend its interests.”
Ukraine’s Andrii Yermak, though, said that the delegations had made “good progress” towards a just and lasting peace. He thanked “our big friends” in the US and Trump.
Those comments came hours after Trump took a swipe at the Ukrainian leadership, when he accused Kyiv of expressing “zero gratitude” for US efforts to end the war. Trump also took issue with Europe for buying oil from Russia, The Independent reported.
“UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, also accusing European countries of not doing enough to stop the war, but offering no direct condemnation of Moscow.
Not long after, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X that his country was “grateful to the United States … and personally to President Trump” for the assistance that has been “saving Ukrainian lives”.
The Ukrainian delegation, meanwhile, referred to a new version of the US draft plan, which has yet to be published, saying it “already reflects most of Ukraine’s key priorities”, according to AFP.
Scrutiny continues to fall on a US-authored peace proposal that emerged following the talks between senior Trump officials and Moscow. Rubio had insisted on November 21 that the plan was written by the US, drawing on “input from the Russian side” but also considering “previous and ongoing input from Ukraine”.
This despite European leaders making clear that Ukraine’s borders must not be changed by force. The US plan envisages things Europe and Kyiv find deeply dismaying – not just giving territory to Russia but reducing the size of its armed forces and abandoning plans to join Nato.
Still, Rubio appeared to echo Trump’s desire to get this deal done quickly. It might not be this Thursday – the President’s suggestion – but it might be “Friday”, “or Wednesday”, or “next week”, he said.
Observers see that as a very short timespan to agree a genuine, sustainable peace in a complex war that has been raging for almost four years, the BBC reported.
The US delegation in Geneva also included US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and also, surprisingly, Alexus Grynkewich, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, according to AFP.
Grynkewich did not attend in his NATO capacity but as a senior US military representative, according to a senior NATO official who did not wish to be named.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement yesterday: “Ukraine must have the freedom and sovereign right to choose its own destiny.
“They have chosen a European destiny,” she said, stressing that the “centrality” of the EU’s role must be “fully reflected” in any peace plan.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, meanwhile, said at the G20 summit in Johannesburg: “The task now is to make the 28-point plan presented by the American government a viable document,” adding that he had made a proposal being discussed in Geneva in that direction.
And French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke on the phone with Zelensky yesterday, said the 30 countries in the “coalition of the willing” supporting Kyiv would hold a video call tomorrow.
A number of other leaders also called Trump yesterday, with Downing Street saying UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the US President had agreed “that we all must work together at this critical moment to bring about a just and lasting peace”.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb told AFP that he and Meloni also called Trump yesterday to discuss his Ukraine proposal.
EU countries are planning to meet to discuss the Ukraine situation on the sidelines of a meeting with African leaders in Angola today, according to the BBC.
At the end of the day, Rubio said he thought Trump was “quite pleased at the reports we’ve given him about the amount of progress that’s been made”.
“I feel very optimistic that we’re going to get there in a very reasonable period of time, very soon.”
