Officials cite progress on amending US peace plan for Ukraine but give no details

Officials on Monday said progress was made in weekend discussions on amending the U.S. peace proposal for Ukraine that many saw as favoring Russia, but they gave no details and the Kremlin said it hadn’t seen the changes.

Washington’s 28-point plan presented last week caused alarm by heavily aligning with Moscow’s demands in the nearly four-year war caused by its invasion. The plan pressed Ukraine to hand over some territory to Russia and reduce its army. It also sought Europe’s agreement that Ukraine will never be admitted into the NATO military alliance.

European officials, who say they were blindsided by the plan and that their own security is at stake, pressed Washington for changes in the Geneva talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials.

“The negotiations were a step forward, but there are still major issues which remain to be resolved,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on social media.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who had accused Ukraine of not being sufficiently grateful for U.S. military support while the talks were underway, on Monday suggested the process could be moving in the right direction.

“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” he wrote on social media.

Trump earlier gave Ukraine until Thursday to agree to the plan, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed the deadline, saying officials could keep negotiating.

But Russian officials still haven’t seen the revised peace plan, a Kremlin spokesperson said. Dmitry Peskov added there was currently no plan for U.S. and Russian delegations to meet this week, but the Russian side remained “open for such contacts.”

Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, said the plan the Kremlin had received before the Geneva talks had many provisions that “seem quite acceptable” to Moscow. But he described European proposals “floating around” as “completely unconstructive.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ukraine’s allies in the “coalition of the willing” – a broad term for about 30 countries supporting Kyiv – will hold talks about the negotiations on Tuesday by video.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the “interim result” of the Geneva talks, saying the U.S. proposal “has now been modified in significant parts,” without details.

The surprise emergence of the U.S. peace plan coincided with a bleak period for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. His country is under severe strain on the front line against Russia’s bigger army, and it is short of money.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy is trying to defuse a major corruption scandal that has tainted his government.

Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian delegation was on its way home from Geneva to report on the talks, and the government would decide on next steps.

“Diplomacy has been reinvigorated, and that’s good. Very good,” Zelenskyy said late Sunday.

Rubio, who directed the talks in Geneva, on Sunday called them “very worthwhile” and constituted the most productive day in “a very long time.”

“I feel very optimistic that we can get something done,” Rubio said.

German Foreign Minister Johannes Wadephul told public broadcaster Deutschlandradio that “all issues concerning Europe or NATO have been removed from this plan, which is a decisive success that we achieved yesterday,” without elaborating.

Merz, the German leader, said Moscow must now become engaged in the process.

“The next step must be that Russia must come to the table,” he said in Angola, where he was attending a summit between African and European Union countries. “This is a laborious process. It will move forward at most in smaller steps this week. I do not expect there to be a breakthrough this week.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday told Fox News that Russia might need a deal and asserted that it doesn’t have battlefield momentum.

“Russians are indeed not in a good place. Russians have gained 1% of Ukrainian territory so far this year, so this is a few yards,” Rutte said.

Turkey also hopes to build bridges between Russia and Ukraine. Putin spoke by phone with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, the Kremlin spokesman said.

Russian drones hit residential areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, overnight, killing four people and wounding 13, including two children, authorities said.

Eight residential buildings, an educational facility and power lines were damaged, according to the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov.

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office published photos showing homes on fire and rubble scattered across backyards.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 162 strike and decoy drones over the country overnight.

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Associated Press writers Harriet Morris in Tallinn, Estonia; Gerald Imray in Johannesburg, South Africa; Kirsten Grieshaber and Geir Moulson in Berlin; Sam McNeil in Brussels; and Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, contributed to this report.