The United States will hold talks with Ukraine and European officials in London on Wednesday as US President Donald Trump pushes for an agreement to prevent a full-scale Russian invasion.
According to informed sources, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump envoys Steve Vitkov and Keith Kellogg are expected to meet with the foreign ministers and national security advisers of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. As the discussions are of private nature, these sources requested anonymity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X after speaking with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday: “Ukraine, the UK, France and the US – we are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, as we did before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire and establish a true and lasting peace. An unconditional ceasefire must be the first step towards peace, and the events of this Easter clearly show that it is Russia’s actions that are prolonging the war.”
A spokesperson for the US National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment.
This meeting aimed to build on the outcomes of last week’s Paris meeting. At the meeting, the United States shared its suggestions for facilitating a ceasefire and peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Bloomberg previously reported that as part of the agreement, the United States is prepared to ease sanctions on Moscow and recognize Russia’s control over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula of Ukraine.
The US proposal would effectively freeze the front line of the war that has been ongoing for four years. Russia would still effectively control most of the other territory it currently occupies in eastern and southern Ukraine. According to informed sources, Ukraine’s goal of joining NATO would also be abandoned, but any agreement must include security guarantees for Kyiv to ensure the agreement’s effectiveness.
Russian President Vladimir Putin seized Crimea in 2014 and then held a referendum to justify the Kremlin’s takeover. The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions in response, and Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula has yet to be recognized by the international community. If the United States were to decide to recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea, it could undermine the international order established after World War II, which opposes any country’s use of force to seize another country’s territory.
Zelensky has repeatedly stated that he will not cede territory to Russia.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that Ukraine and Russia are “very likely” to reach an agreement this week. He said that both sides held good talks on the Russia-Ukraine issue.
During his campaign, Trump claimed that if elected president, he would quickly end the war. On Friday, he hinted that if an agreement could not be reached soon to prevent Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the US might give up its efforts to end the war. Although Trump did not set a deadline, Rubio said that Washington needed to see within “a few days” whether the agreement was “feasible in the short term”.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that military operations had resumed after the 30-hour Easter truce announced by Putin ended. Zelensky said the brief truce was a propaganda stunt by the Kremlin and called on Russia to extend the truce to 30 days as the first step towards a peace agreement.
Putin said in a television address on Monday that he was willing to consider the proposal made by Kyiv to avoid attacking civilian targets and was ready to hold bilateral talks with Ukraine on this issue.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on the same day that Russia welcomes the Trump administration’s position of excluding Ukraine from joining the NATO military alliance. “Of course, we are satisfied with this,” he said.
Both sides accused each other of violating the 30-day truce on attacks on energy infrastructure, which Russia said expired on Friday. Russia said it would only accept the Black Sea ceasefire agreement reached at the US-led talks in Saudi Arabia last month in exchange for Ukraine’s concessions on easing sanctions against a major state-owned bank. Ukraine said it unconditionally supports the ceasefire agreement.
