• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

US, Ukraine claim 'meaningful progress' in Geneva talks as Europe voices concerns

Global Times

By Wang Qi Published: Nov 24, 2025 05:20 PM

The US and Ukraine made "meaningful progress toward aligning positions" on US President Donald Trump's proposed peace plan during their talks in Geneva, the White House said in a joint statement issued on its website on Sunday local time.

The White House said the consultations were "highly productive," and as a result of the discussions, the US and Ukraine drafted an "updated and refined" peace framework during talks in Geneva.

Both sides agreed to continue working on joint proposals in the coming days, the White House said. Final decisions under this framework will be made by the presidents of Ukraine and the US.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that the delegates had "substantive conversations" that would continue, CBS reported.

Before the Geneva meeting on Sunday, the US administration has drafted a new 28-point plan and held quiet and deep consultations with Russia in a renewed push to restart peace talks aimed at ending the Ukraine crisis, according to US media reports.

US President Donald Trump on Friday set November 27 as the deadline for accepting the peace plan, media reports said.

Zhang Hong, research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the latest round of US-Ukraine talks is based on the new battlefield realities, Ukraine's domestic political situation, and the current US-Russia relations.

The expert mentioned that the Russian military's intensified offensive on the battlefield has caused Ukraine to lose even more territory, as well as the predicament of the Ukrainian government being plagued by recent corruption scandals.

According to Axios, as the Sunday talks taking place, Trump has accused Ukrainian leadership of being ungrateful for his efforts to end the war. Hours later, Zelensky thanked Trump in a statement on social media, saying "We are grateful for everything that America and President Trump are doing for security, and we keep working as constructively as possible."

Zhang believed that with the changing situation, the focus of the current negotiations has shifted from the previous demand of territorial concessions, to whether Ukraine can exchange territorial concessions for relatively secure safety and peace, which means that Ukraine's room for maneuver is becoming increasingly limited.

According to the Financial Times, the 28-point peace plan, which includes ceding territory, slashing the size of its army, blocking NATO accession, and give Washington a 50 percent share of reconstruction profits has triggered alarm in Kiev and across Europe.

In a joint statement released on Saturday, leaders of Britain, France, Germany and other countries urged revisions to the elements in the plan that Ukraine found most objectionable.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, reiterated Europe's stance on Sunday. She said that "borders cannot be changed by force," and "as a sovereign nation there cannot be limitations on Ukraine's armed forces that would leave the country vulnerable to future attack and thereby undermine European security."

Some Chinese analysts believe that if the Russia-Ukraine conflict ends with Ukraine paying an excruciatingly high price, Europe will be left to face direct security pressure from Russia on its own.

"Europe has been largely marginalized in the 28-point plan and the peace talks," Zhang said. "Europe lacks the hard power to sustain its vision, leaving US free to press Ukraine cede territory in exchange for peace."

After the US-Ukraine talks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a news conference in Geneva that the role of the EU and NATO in resolving the Ukraine conflict had yet to be discussed. And the US agreed to put "items that involve both Europe and NATO" as part of "a separate track," Rubio specified.

Reuters on Sunday released the text of a European counter-proposal to the US' draft 28-point Ukraine peace plan, which includes provisions such as reconfirming Ukraine's sovereignty, a total and complete non-aggression agreement reached between Russia and Ukraine and NATO.

"If Russia invades Ukraine, in addition to a robust, coordinated military response, all global sanctions will be restored and any recognition for the new territory and all other benefits granted under this agreement will be withdrawn," reads the EU revision.

According to Zhang, the European revisions contain no explicit rejection of the US demand for Ukrainian territorial concessions, nor do they overturn any core element of Trump's 28-point plan. What they offer instead is mostly vague, diplomatic phrasing—revisions crafted more to signal participation and give the appearance of co-authorship than to mount any substantive challenge.

This, Zhang added, underscores Europe's predicament in the Ukraine crisis: plenty of will, but precious little power.