Zelenskyy says Ukraine ready to move forward with US plan and discuss ‘sensitive points’ with Trump - Europe live
It is approaching 1pm in Washington DC, 8pm in Kyiv and 9pm in Moscow. Here is a summary of today’s main developments so far, as reported on the blog: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Kyiv was ready to move forward with a US-backed peace deal, and that he was prepared to discuss its sensitive points with US president Donald Trump in talks he said should include European allies. In a speech to the ‘coalition of the willing’, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Zelenskyy urged European leaders to hash out a framework for deploying a “reassurance force” to Ukraine and to continue supporting Kyiv for as long as Moscow shows no willingness to end its war. Trump on Tuesday said he thought a deal on the war in Ukraine was getting very close but gave no other details, telling a White House event: “We’re going to get there.” Axios reported that Zelenskyy had expressed a desire to meet Trump “as soon as possible” – possibly over Thanksgiving – to complete a joint US-Ukrainian agreement on the terms for ending the war. It cited the infomation as coming from Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak. The ‘coalition of the willing’ call on Tuesday, co-hosted by UK prime minister Keir Starmer, was attended by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, in a rare example of American involvement in the coalition’s discussions. French president Emmanuel Macron and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte were also among the participants in the virtual meeting. Macron told Tuesday’s ‘coalition of the willing’ call that efforts to draw the Russia-Ukraine conflict to an end were now at a “crucial juncture”. During the same call, Starmer said talks on a potential ceasefire in Ukraine were “moving in a positive direction” but urged leaders of the coalition to “firm up” their commitments to a potential peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. Earlier on Tuesday, Starmer dismissed reports from the US media that Ukraine had agreed to the US peace proposal. The UK prime minister’s official spokesperson told the PA news agency: “We welcome the progress made, but there are still several points to work through.” The United States has made “tremendous progress” toward a peace deal with Ukraine and Russia, but some sensitive details will require additional talks, the White House said on Tuesday. “There are a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out and will require further talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said. Talks between US army secretary Dan Driscoll and Russia delegates on a US plan to end the conflict with Ukraine were “going well,” his spokesperson said on Tuesday. Driscoll reportedly met Russian and Ukrainian officials for talks in Abu Dhabi today. Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight, killing seven and injuring 21 in Kyiv. A total of 22 missiles, including four hypersonic Kinzhals, and 464 drones, were fired by Russia in attacks that principally targeted Kyiv and the surrounding area, according to Zelenskyy. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Grossi said on Tuesday the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will need a “special status” and a cooperation agreement between Russia and Ukraine if a peace deal is reached. Grossi said in an interview: “Until the war stops or there is a ceasefire or the guns are silenced, there is always a possibility of something going very, very wrong.”







