The Kremlin has rejected European counterproposals to a controversial US peace plan for Ukraine that heavily favoured Russia, even as Kyiv and Washington praised “highly productive” talks on the issue ahead of a Thursday deadline for agreement set by US president Donald Trump.
Moscow’s response on Monday threw prospects for a breakthrough into deeper doubt, amid indications that key elements of the European initiative had been incorporated in a revised peace plan drawn up at Sunday’s talks in Geneva between officials from the US, Ukraine and Europe.
“The 28-point peace plan as everyone saw it no longer exists: some points have been removed, others have been amended,” Oleksandr Bevz, an aide in Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration who attended the talks, said on social media.
The European proposals, as reported by Reuters, push back on several parts of the original US-backed plan that align with Russia’s demands, including a 600,000-soldier cap on Ukraine’s military and a legal amnesty for everyone involved in the war.
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Ukrainian first deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya named these as two elements that had been amended in a new 19-point plan that left most core issues – including questions of territory and future relations between Russia and the West – for Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskiy to decide.
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“Very few things are left from the original version,” Mr Kyslytsya told the Financial Times. “We developed a solid body of convergence, and a few things we can compromise on . . . The rest will need leadership decisions.”
Russian president Vladimir Putin had quickly welcomed the original plan as a “basis for a final peace settlement” – reinforcing suspicions in Kyiv and many European capitals that the proposals were essentially a Moscow wish list. On Monday the Kremlin quickly dismissed the input of European states, led by Germany, France and Britain.
“Regarding the plans floating around: this morning we learned about a European plan that, at first glance, is completely unconstructive and doesn’t suit us,” said senior Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.
He said that “not all, but many of the provisions” of the original plan “seem entirely acceptable to us” and called for “the most detailed discussion and consideration” of the 28-point document – apparently ignoring the new, shorter plan drawn up in Geneva that is less favourable for Russia.
Mr Trump said last week that Ukraine should agree to the 28-point plan by this Thursday, reportedly under threat of an end to US supplies of arms and intelligence to Kyiv. He also suggested that the deadline could be put back if progress towards an eventual deal was evident this week.
“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” he wrote on social media on Monday.
Mr Zelenskiy said the Ukrainian delegation in Geneva would brief him on Monday evening: “Based on these reports, we will determine the next steps and the timing.”
Earlier in the day, he said: “It is important to support the negotiation process . . . and it is crucial to support the principles on which Europe stands – that borders cannot be changed by force; that war criminals must not escape justice; and that the aggressor must pay fully for the war he started.”
European leaders welcomed the Geneva talks but reiterated that they must be consulted on all elements of any Ukraine-Russia deal that affect Europe or Nato.
“I would like to say that all issues concerning Europe or Nato have been removed from this plan, which is a decisive success that we achieved yesterday,” said German foreign minister Johannes Wadephul.
