German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stands subsequent to French President Emmanuel Macron as he welcomes him for bilateral talks at Villa Borsig in Berlin, Germany on July 23, 2025.
Lisi Niesner | Reuters
European officers offered their very own Ukraine peace proposals to the USA on Saturday as President Donald Trump ready for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the conflict.
Trump plans to satisfy Putin in Alaska on August 15, saying the events, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had been near a deal that would resolve the three-and-a-half-year battle.
Particulars of the potential deal have but to be introduced, however Trump stated it could contain “some swapping of territories to the betterment of each”. It might require Ukraine to give up important components of its territory, an final result Zelenskyy and his European allies say would solely encourage Russian aggression.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance met Ukrainian and European allies on Saturday at Chevening Home, a rustic mansion southeast of London, to debate Trump’s push for peace.
A European official confirmed a counterproposal was put ahead by European representatives on the assembly however declined to offer particulars.
The Wall Road Journal stated European officers had offered a counterproposal that included calls for {that a} ceasefire should happen earlier than every other steps are taken and that any territory alternate have to be reciprocal, with agency safety ensures.
“You possibly can’t begin a course of by ceding territory in the course of combating,” it quoted one European negotiator as saying.
A U.S. official stated “hours-long” conferences at Chevening produced important progress towards bringing an finish to the conflict in Ukraine. The White Home didn’t instantly reply when requested if the Europeans had offered their counterproposals to the U.S.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke and pledged to discover a “simply and lasting peace” in Ukraine and “unwavering help” for Zelenskyy, whereas welcoming Trump’s efforts to finish the combating, a Downing Road spokesperson stated.
It was not clear what, if something, had been agreed at Chevening, however Zelenskyy known as the assembly constructive.
“All our arguments had been heard,” he stated in his night deal with to Ukrainians. “The trail to peace for Ukraine ought to be decided collectively and solely along with Ukraine, that is key precept.”
He had earlier rejected any territorial concessions, saying “Ukrainians won’t give their land to the occupier.”
The Trump administration is contemplating inviting Zelenskyy to affix the U.S. and Russian presidents at their Alaska assembly, NBC Information reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official. A Trump spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, and Russian and Ukrainian officers couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Macron additionally stated Ukraine should play a task in any negotiations.
“Ukraine’s future can’t be determined with out the Ukrainians, who’ve been combating for his or her freedom and safety for over three years now,” he wrote on X after what he stated had been calls with Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Starmer. “Europeans will even essentially be a part of the answer, as their very own safety is at stake.”
‘Clear steps wanted’
Zelenskyy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine’s allies since Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff’s go to to Moscow on Wednesday, which Trump described as having achieved “nice progress.”
Ukraine and the European Union have pushed again on proposals that they view as ceding an excessive amount of to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow known as threats to Russia’s safety from a Ukrainian pivot in direction of the West.
Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land seize.
Moscow has beforehand claimed 4 Ukrainian areas – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – in addition to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
Russian forces don’t totally management all of the territory within the 4 areas and Russia has demanded that Ukraine pull out its troops from the components of all 4 of them that they nonetheless management.
Ukraine says its troops nonetheless have a small foothold in Russia’s Kursk area, a yr after its troops crossed the border to attempt to achieve leverage in any negotiations. Russia stated it had expelled Ukrainian troops from Kursk in April.
Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow on the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Heart, described the present peace push as “the primary roughly sensible try to cease the conflict.”
“On the similar time, I stay extraordinarily skeptical in regards to the implementation of the agreements, even when a truce is reached for some time. And there’s nearly little question that the brand new commitments could possibly be devastating for Ukraine,” she stated.
Fierce combating is raging alongside the greater than 1,000-km (620-mile) entrance line alongside jap and southern Ukraine, the place Russian forces maintain round a fifth of the nation’s territory.
Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine’s east, however their summer season offensive has up to now failed to realize a serious breakthrough, Ukrainian navy analysts say.
Ukrainians stay defiant.
“Not a single serviceman will comply with cede territory, to drag out troops from Ukrainian territories,” Olesia Petritska, 51, advised Reuters as she gestured to tons of of small Ukrainian flags within the Kyiv central sq. commemorating fallen troopers.