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US, Ukraine, Germany, France and UK to meet in Geneva over 28-point peace plan; expert questions whether core concerns will be addressed

Global Times

By Liu Caiyu Published: Nov 23, 2025 03:38 PM

The US, Ukraine, Germany, France and the UK held negotiations in Geneva on Sunday to discuss a new US-proposed peace plan. Following talks between the Ukrainian delegation and European security officials, the head of Ukraine's presidential office described the discussions as "very constructive" before the delegation proceeded to meet with US officials, the BBC reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said there is now an understanding that the US-proposed peace plan may take into account "a number of elements that are based on the Ukrainian vision and are critical to Ukraine's national interests," according to the BBC.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, US President Donald Trump accuses Ukraine of having "zero gratitude" over US efforts to end the war, BBC reported.

Shortly after the accusation, in a post on Telegram, Ukraine's top security official, Rustem Umerov, echoes Zelensky's understanding that the 28-point peace plan may include Ukraine's interests. He says: "Our current proposals while still not finalized include many Ukrainian priorities," BBC said.

Prior to the discussion, Al Jazeera reported that the 28-point proposal has been seen by many observers as far too favorable to Russia. "This plan seems to obviously favor Russia, and it is interesting to see whether the US can exert enough leverage on Ukraine and on Zelensky to accept this plan," said Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher at the defense studies department at King's College London, Al Jazeera reported.

According to the BBC, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Trump's overseas diplomatic envoy, are expected to join the meeting with head of Ukrainian presidential office Andriy Yermak, Rustem Umerov and UK's National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell.

A Kyiv Independent report said that the White House has given Kiev until November 27 to decide whether it will accept these demands or lose American support. Leaders of the EU, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Finland, Italy, Japan and Norway earlier said in a statement that "the initial draft of the 28-point plan includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace," but emphasized that "the draft is a basis which will require additional work," Reuters wrote.

US media reports say the current draft plan contains 28 points, including major territorial concessions by Ukraine and sharp reductions in its armed forces, as well as limits on access to long-range weapon types. The plan may also rule out the deployment of European peacekeeping forces to Ukraine after a ceasefire, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In a sombre address on Friday, Zelensky warned his country faces an impossible choice over the coming days between keeping its national dignity and losing a major partner in the shape of the US. It faces one of the most difficult moments in its history, he admitted, the Guardian reported. Speaking on Saturday, Zelensky was quoted by the Guardian as saying real or "dignified" peace was always based on "guaranteed security and justice".

When asked by reporters on November 22 whether the plan represented his final proposal to Ukraine, Donald Trump said on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted "peace plan" was "not my final offer," the Kyiv Independent said.

Cui Heng, a scholar from the Shanghai-based China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation, who closely follows the conflict, said that the 28-point peace plan is still a simple way to solve complex problems. Whether the agreement can be finally reached now or not, there are significant problems in its implementation.

This plan does not truly address the fundamental concerns of Russia, Europe, and Ukraine. The reason the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated into such intense confrontation lies in the fact that Europe's security architecture has remained unresolved since the end of the Cold War — specifically, how Europe should deal with the perceived threat from Russia, how Russia should address the threat posed by NATO's expansion, Cui noted.

In an environment of extremely low mutual trust, it is hard for all parties to be convinced that the agreement is credible, Cui said, adding that the 28-point plan in the current deal further proves that Europe is essentially not important in the eyes of the US as Europe's own interests are barely reflected in the plan.