Top Ukrainian envoys met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Geneva Sunday to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Speaking to journalists, Rubio described that first session of talks as “probably the most productive and meaningful meeting" since the Trump administration came to power. He also said that both delegations would meet again in a second meeting later on Sunday night.
“This will ultimately have to be signed off by our presidents, although I feel very comfortable about that happening given the progress we’ve made,” said Rubio, who was joined at the talks by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Russia will also need to approve the final peace plan, Rubio said.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation, presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak, also confirmed an initial session of talks had concluded and that a second meeting would soon take place.
“I want to confirm that we had a very productive first session with the distinguished American delegation. We have made very good progress and are moving forward to a just and lasting peace,” he said.
“Very soon today the second meeting will take place, where we will continue to work on joint proposals with the engagement of our European partners. Final decisions will be taken by our Presidents.”
Before the meeting, Trump on Sunday used a lengthy online post to blast Ukraine for a lack of gratitude for US military assistance, while notably shying away from criticizing Russia.
“With strong and proper US and Ukrainian LEADERSHIP,” Trump wrote, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “would have NEVER HAPPENED.”
Trump also took a swipe at US allies in Europe, writing, “UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS, AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA.”
After Trump's post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “grateful” for US-led efforts on security, but stressed that “the crux of the entire diplomatic situation is that it was Russia, and only Russia, that started this war.”
“Ukraine is grateful to the United States, to every American heart, and personally to President Trump for the assistance that – starting with the Javelins – has been saving Ukrainian lives. We thank everyone in Europe, in the G7, and in the G20 who is helping us defend life. It is important to preserve the support.
“It is important not to forget the main goal – to stop Russia’s war and prevent it from ever igniting again.”
“The leadership of the United States is important, we are grateful for everything that America and President Trump are doing for security, and we remain as constructive as possible,” Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram.
Ukraine and allies have ruled out territorial concessions
The 28-point blueprint drawn up by the US to end the nearly four-year war has sparked alarm in Kyiv and European capitals. Zelenskyy has said his country could face a stark choice between standing up for its sovereign rights and preserving the American support it needs.
The proposal, originating from negotiations between Washington and Moscow, acquiesces to many Russian demands that Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory.
The Ukrainian leader has vowed that his people “will always defend” their home.
Before convening with US officials, Yermak and his team also met with national security advisers from the UK, France and Germany. The allies have rallied around Kyiv in a push to revise the plan, which is seen as favoring Moscow.
Speaking before Sunday’s talks, Alice Rufo, France’s minister delegate at the Defense Ministry, told broadcaster France Info that key points of discussion would include the plan’s restrictions on the Ukrainian army, which she described as “a limitation on its sovereignty.”
“Ukraine must be able to defend itself,” she said. “Russia wants war and waged war many times in fact over the past years.”
On Sunday, Zelenskyy said that there was an understanding the US would take into account “a number of elements” in a peace deal that are important for Ukraine, but did not elaborate further.
“There have already been brief reports from the team about the results of the first meetings and conversations,” he said. “There is now an understanding that the American proposals may take into account a number of elements based on the Ukrainian vision and are critically important for Ukraine’s national interests.”
Previously, Trump said the US proposal was not his “final offer.”
“I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Saturday. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”
Trump didn’t explain what he meant by the plan not being his final offer and the White House didn’t respond to a request for clarification.
Rubio's reported comments cause confusion
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday that Warsaw was ready to work on the plan with the leaders of Europe, Canada and Japan, but also said that it “would be good to know for sure who is the author of the plan and where was it created.”
Some US lawmakers said Saturday that Rubio had described the plan as a Russian “wish list” rather than a Washington-led proposal.
The bipartisan group of senators told a news conference that they had spoken to Rubio about the peace plan after he reached out to some of them while on his way to Geneva. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said Rubio told them the plan “was not the administration’s plan” but a “wish list of the Russians.”
A State Department spokesperson denied their account, calling it “blatantly false.”
Rubio himself then took the extraordinary step of suggesting online that the senators were mistaken, even though they said he was their source for the information. The secretary of state doubled down on the assertion that Washington was responsible for a proposal that had surprised many from the beginning for being so favorable to Moscow.
On Sunday, the top Democrat on the US Senate Intelligence Committee said the peace plan appeared to be “almost a series of Russian talking points,” had made Europeans “feel like they’ve been totally left high and dry” and had led to “ferocious pushback.”
US Sen. Mark Warner told ABC’s “This Week” that he thought Trump was “seeing this one-sided plan kind of blow up in his face.”
“My hope is he’ll come back and be a bit more reasonable," Warner said.
Possibility for additional talks
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would hold a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. He said he would talk to the Russian leader about reviving a previous deal from July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to safely ship exports of grain via the Black Sea.
The agreement stayed in place until the following year, when Putin refused to extend it, saying that a parallel agreement promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored.
“We had a grain corridor endeavor to open the path to peace,” Erdogan said, “Unfortunately we were only partially able to succeed. Tomorrow I will be asking Putin to revisit the endeavor.”
Erdogan's new diplomatic push comes just days after he met with Zelenskyy in Ankara.
