Overview
- Talks resumed in Berlin with Volodymyr Zelensky meeting U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner alongside European leaders including Giorgia Meloni and Friedrich Merz.
- Zelensky says Ukraine is ready to forgo NATO accession in exchange for bilateral U.S. guarantees modeled on Article 5 and parallel pledges from European partners, and he has signaled openness to freezing the front lines, with a Donbass referendum floated in reporting.
- An annex to the reported 28‑point Russia–U.S. plan assigns response decisions to the U.S. president after consultations, prompting Kyiv and European concerns about the firmness of any reaction.
- The Wall Street Journal reports the U.S. is unwilling to compromise on its draft, and a senior Ukrainian official says Witkoff continues to press Kyiv to abandon the Donbass.
- European efforts to bolster Ukraine’s resilience are advancing through defense‑industrial investments and access to the EU’s SAFE instrument, while the earlier Franco‑British multinational force concept has receded.