Overview
- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said talks with Ukrainian and European envoys yielded a very good working result and later added he was very optimistic a deal could be reached very soon.
- Germany, France and the U.K. presented a counterproposal that rejects key U.S. terms, calling for a 800,000‑soldier peacetime cap for Ukraine instead of 600,000 and for territorial negotiations to start along the current contact line.
- European positions seek U.S. security guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5 and insist frozen Russian state assets remain locked until compensation is paid, contrasting with a U.S. idea for a $100 billion U.S.-led reconstruction fund with profit sharing.
- Kyiv’s negotiators said the latest draft reflects most of Ukraine’s priorities and called the meeting very productive, while decisions are left to presidents and several European leaders view Thursday’s target for agreement as optimistic despite Trump saying the plan is not his final offer.
- Disputes over the plan’s provenance persisted after reports of contacts with a sanctioned Russian figure, but Rubio insisted the 28‑point document was drafted by the United States and is not a Kremlin wish list.