US, Ukrainian and European officials convene for peace talks

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Senior officials from the US, Ukraine and Europe have arrived in Geneva for talks on a proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, with Kyiv and its allies trying to assess apparent disagreements inside the Trump administration over the proposal.

Marco Rubio, US secretary of state who flew to Geneva overnight, insisted the US was behind the plan after reportedly distancing himself from it in a meeting with US senators earlier in the day.

European capitals on Sunday were struggling to ascertain the true US position — one official describing a “messy” situation in the Trump administration — as national security advisers from France, Germany, the UK and the EU prepared to meet US and Ukrainian counterparts in the Swiss city.

The talks, which three officials said were set to start before midday, will include Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff, who was one of the authors of the plan, and US army secretary Daniel Driscoll.

They were due to meet Ukraine’s delegation — led by Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, and the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Rustem Umerov — before being joined by their European counterparts.

Driscoll was dispatched to Kyiv last week to press the 28-point plan upon Zelenskyy. He told EU and Nato officials in Kyiv it must be signed by Thursday and there was little room for negotiation.

The hastily arranged Geneva talks followed a rearguard effort by Kyiv’s European allies to thwart US efforts to force the plan on Ukraine. European leaders and their counterparts from Japan and Canada on Saturday described the text as a “draft . . . which will require additional work.”

While stressing that they did not want to present an alternative plan to the US, the European officials have a list of suggested amendments to the proposal, two people briefed on the preparations said. The suggested amendments prioritise ensuring Ukraine is not forced to relinquish territory not under Russian occupation, asserting EU control over frozen Russian assets and sanctions on Moscow, and allowing Ukraine to maintain a sizeable armed forces, the officials said.

European officials are hopeful that they can amend or dilute the document in which they had no input. They pointed to comments from US President Donald Trump on Saturday suggesting his administration’s hardline stance was softening.

Trump said that the proposal was “not my final [offer]” to Ukraine. When asked what would happen if Zelenskyy refused to sign it, he replied: “He can continue to fight his little heart out.”

A person involved in the discussions said the proposal was “a live document” and that the US would consider input on Sunday from the Ukrainians and Europeans.

Still, said one western official on the US position, “there is a lot of uncertainty”. “The situation changes by the hour.”

The US peace plan would cross several long-standing Ukrainian red lines, including a provision that Kyiv hand over the rest of Donetsk province that Russia has been unable to seize since it began its offensive there in 2014. The plan also envisages a prohibition on Ukraine joining Nato and limits on the size of its army.

US officials last week suggested to Kyiv that if it did not agree to the plan, it could lose critical US military and intelligence support.

According to senators he spoke to on Saturday, Rubio sought to distance the administration from the plan, saying it was given to Washington by Russian officials.

“It is not our recommendation. It is not our peace plan,” said Republican senator Mike Rounds, who spoke to Rubio in Halifax before he flew to Geneva.

After the senators’ remarks were published, Rubio posted on the social media platform X that: “The peace proposal was authored by the US.”

“It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine,” Rubio added.