Overview
- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the talks were the most productive of the process and confirmed Washington is making changes to its proposals to narrow differences with Kyiv.
- Ukrainian negotiator Andrii Yermak called the initial session with the U.S. delegation very productive and said a second meeting with European partners is slated for later today, with any final deal to be decided by Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump.
- Britain, France and Germany circulated a counter-proposal that keeps the U.S. plan’s structure but adds firmer security guarantees for Ukraine, allows future NATO membership without permanent peacetime basing, raises troop levels, adjusts election timing, and starts any territory talks from current lines with financial compensation.
- Questions persist over the plan’s origins after U.S. senators said Rubio described it as a Russian wish list, a claim the State Department called blatantly false and that Rubio disputed by asserting U.S. authorship with input from both sides.
- Time pressure is mounting with Trump’s Thursday target for an agreement, as the president criticized Kyiv for insufficient gratitude and Zelenskyy publicly thanked the U.S. and Europe while underscoring that Russia started the war.