We’ve heard from Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier today, who said that a Ukrainian delegation was en route to the US to further talks on a US plan to end the war.
Here is where things stand on the latest American peace efforts, which started with a Russian-influenced 28-point peace plan…
How did we get here?
- America confirmed last week that it had negotiated a 28-point plan to end the war, which turned out heavily influenced by Russian positions, including generous territorial concessions;
- Last Saturday, Donald Trump warned Ukraine it would have to accept the plan. The government was initially given until Thanksgiving (last Thursday) to accept;
- It sparked a European counterproposal and talks between Ukraine and US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Geneva, that narrowed the plan to 19 points;
- Meanwhile, reports suggested that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff advised Russia on presenting the original plan to the president;
- Russian officials seemed to indicate they received updated plans but have avoided commenting too much on the substance.
The European counterproposal, which was floated last weekend, doesn’t appear to be playing a major role at this point. Here’s what it looked like:
What’s next?
Negotiations are still ongoing. The Ukrainian delegation is set to hammer out” the details of the Geneva talks in the US this weekend, Zelenskyy said today.
The ball then seems to be in Moscow’s court, as it’s yet to formally respond to the counterproposal.
Witkoff is expected in Moscow “in the first half of the week”, as the Kremlin said yesterday, to discuss an end to the war.
Will the peace plan succeed?
The next week could be crucial – but our military analyst Michael Clarke thinks the peace process will fail, as it has done previously.
That’s because Russia won’t give in, he says, adding that it matters who Donald Trump will blame for the likely failure – Russia or Ukraine.
And Europe’s actions also matter.
If the EU doesn’t act to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine fund its defence, Ukraine is then “in really big trouble”, Clarke says.
Clarke has been speaking in his latest Sky News Q&A – catch up on that using the link below…
