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Major issues remain ‘unresolved’, says Europe
Arpan Rai,Maira ButtMonday 24 November 2025 10:07 GMTComments
CloseZelensky says Ukraine being heard by US at fast-paced negotiations in Switzerland
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European leaders are discussing a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine after the White House made major “revisions and clarifications” to its 28-point peace plan.
However, major issues remain unresolved, Finland’s president Alexander Stubb said on Monday.
Ukraine reiterated its red lines including formal recognition of occupied territories, demands on limits to Ukraine’s military capacities and restrictions on future alliances, Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine’s parliament said on Monday.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio told reporters that “tremendous progress” had been made towards a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine on Sunday, but the offer was criticised for being pro-Russian.
Europe demanded changes proposing that Ukraine be granted a larger military than under the US plan and that talks on land swaps should start from the frontline rather than a pre-determined view of which areas should be considered Russian.
A US senator had said the plan was "essentially the wish-list of the Russians".
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Key Points
- Four killed in massive Russian drone attack on Kharkiv
- Rubio hails tremendous progress in Ukraine talks despite tensions from Kyiv
- France, UK and Germany work on response to Trump's peace plan – ISW
- How Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine has been entirely dictated by Putin
- US and Ukraine say they have an 'updated and refined' peace framework
- Ukraine outlines red lines as negotiations advance
- EU leaders meet to discuss proposed Ukraine-Russia peace deal
Sweden says Ukraine's borders cannot be changed 'by force' for peace deal
Ukraine’s borders cannot be changed by force if a lasting peace is to be achieved, Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said on Monday ahead of EU talks on a potential peace deal.
Stenergard said that limitations could not be imposed on Ukraine’s military capacities, preventing it from defending itself against the threat of any future Russian aggression, according to Reuters.
Maira Butt24 November 2025 10:05Trump’s Ukraine peace plan will make it a ‘juicy target’ for a fresh invasion by Russia, says Ex MI6 Chief
Donald Trump’s peace plan to end Russia’s war with Ukraine would reduce Ukraine to Russia’s "tethered goat", according to the former head of MI6.
Sir Alex Younger said the US president’s proposal was "lopsided" in favour of Russia and would "almost guarantee" another invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin.
It was time for European countries stop “dithering” and stand shoulder to shoulder with Volodymyr Zelensky to prevent this happening.
Sir Alex, head of MI6 from 2014 to 2020, told Radio 4's Today programme: "We should be under no illusion: the original proposals are lopsided, essentially Moscow talking points, that would render Ukraine a tethered goat, a juicy target with little chance of defending itself."
The plans would "almost guarantee the war would restart because Russia would have engineered weakness that it would be bound to try to exploit".
Sir Alex said it was "obvious" that Zelensky could not agree to such terms, instead it should be used as a "negotiating framework".
Trump’s plan was "an attempt to stop the killing, and that is good, but we have to make it less lopsided," he argued.
“In the end it is about an Ukraine that is sovereign and can defend itself and that is much more important. The idea that Ukraine’s army is limited to the point that it cannot defend itself is an absolute non starter.”
It was “Europe’s moment to stand up and show some leadership,” said Sir Alex.
“There is a critical weakness in the US approach: it appears to uncritically accept that Russia is winning,” he said.
This analysis was wrong, he claimed. “The answer is more pressure on Russia not less.”
Maira Butt24 November 2025 09:53Kremlin says 'no plans' for US-Russia talks this week
The Kremlin has said that there are no plans for US delegates to meet Russian officials to discuss a potential peace plan with Ukraine this week.
The response comes after US secretary of state Marco Rubio said “tremendous progress” had been made over the weekend.
It said it had no information from talks taking place in Geneva and did not wish to discuss negotiations with the media.
Maira Butt24 November 2025 09:45Ukraine will stand by its red lines as negotiations intensify
Ukraine has again reiterated its red lines as negotiations towards a peace deal appear to be accelerating.
They include formal recognition of occupied territories, demands on limits to Ukraine’s military capacities and restrictions on future alliances, Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine’s parliament said on Monday.
Speaking at the Crimea Platform summit in Sweden, Stefanchuk said that membership of the EU and Nato must be considered as part of security guarantees for Ukraine.
(TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Ima)Maira Butt24 November 2025 09:30EU leaders to meet shortly to discuss Ukraine-Russia peace deal
EU leaders will meet to discuss a possible US-brokered peace deal between Ukraine and Russia on Monday at 0930 GMT.
The discussions will take place on the margin of an EU-African Union summit, which is taking place in Luanda.
It comes after Europe made demands
Leaders not present at the meeting have been invited to join by video link, said spokesperson for European Council President Antonio Costa.
Maira Butt24 November 2025 09:10Major issues with peace plan remain unresolved, says Finnish prime minister
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb said that major issues with a 28-point peace plan proposed by the US remain unresolved.
“The negotiations were a step forward, but there are still major issues which remain to be resolved,” he said in a statement on X/Twitter.
Maira Butt24 November 2025 08:48Hungary says Europe has 'duty' to support peace plan 'fully and unconditionally'
Hungary’s foreign minister has thrown his support behind a 28-point peace plan proposed by the US – and urged fellow European leaders to do the same.
In a statement on X/Twitter on Monday Peter Szijjarto wrote: “The 28-point peace plan is a major chance to end the war in Ukraine. Still, some Western European leaders are trying to block it.
“Our position is clear: every European politician has a duty to support this plan fully and unconditionally, as this is the rational and humane choice.”
Maira Butt24 November 2025 08:33The US peace deal for Ukraine is just setting the scene for Putin’s next war
Occasionally, I look back with curiosity at articles I wrote as a young foreign correspondent. One in particular from November 1994 caught my eye recently. I’d just spent four years living in Ukraine, and I was warning of what might go wrong.
I didn’t get it all right. But I did warn even then of the danger that Russia “relapses into imperial adventure”. Tragically, for a million people now dead and injured in the Russo-Ukraine war, and for wider European peace, that risk has become an appalling reality.
Bob Seely reports:
The US peace deal for Ukraine is just setting the scene for Putin’s next war
Ukraine is being asked to give up land and forget the appalling violence that it has suffered, writes Bob Seely. But peace is the last thing on Putin’s mind – winning in Ukraine and then humiliating the West remain his goalsMaira Butt24 November 2025 08:00Trump accuses Zelensky of ‘ingratitude’ but agrees to change ‘pro-Russian’ peace plan
The United States agreed to make “some changes” to its contentious peace proposal to end the war in Ukraine on Sunday, following crunch talks both parties appraised as a success.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that talks with Ukrainian diplomats in Geneva had been “the most productive and meaningful’ of the process, and that the US would make amendments to its plan, seemingly based on the Ukrainian input. The details were not immediately clear.
Talks in Geneva are ongoing as Donald Trump’s provisional deadline to agree to a deal by Thursday closes in.
Trump accuses Zelensky of ‘ingratitude’ but agrees to change ‘pro-Russian’ peace plan
Britain, France and Germany presented a modified version of the Trump administration’s planArpan Rai24 November 2025 07:07German foreign minister says Geneva talks produced 'decisive success' for Europeans
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said talks between the US and Ukraine in Geneva on amending a 28-point plan to end the war with Russia had produced a "decisive success" for Europeans.
"All issues concerning Europe, including those concerning Nato, have been removed from this plan – this is a decisive success that we achieved yesterday," Wadephul told Deutschlandfunk radio.
"It was clear from the outset, as we have repeatedly said, that any agreement must not be reached over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians," he added.
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