The diplomats are currently holding talks in Geneva as the clock ticks down until the US president’s Thursday deadline for Kiev to accept his proposal Senior US and Ukrainian officials are holding discussions in Geneva, where EU officials are also present, on a new proposal aimed at advancing peace efforts in Ukraine on November 23, 2025 in Switzerland. © Photo by Beyza Binnur Donmez/Anadolu via Getty Images US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, and special envoy Steve Witkoff are meeting now with Ukrainian officials at the American mission in Geneva as US President Donald Trump’s deadline looms. Kiev has reportedly been given until Thursday to accept the plan, with the possibility of extending the deadline in order to finalize the terms. The sudden submission of the initiative to a politically weakened Zelensky, along with the release of an alleged draft of the text, has triggered immediate turmoil. Kiev’s European backers are now scrambling, with Western media calling their reaction an “emergency” response. Tensions are rising further as concerns grow over Zelensky’s ongoing corruption scandal. The Kremlin has refused to engage in what it called “megaphone diplomacy,” following a series of vocal declarations of defiance from Brussels on Friday morning. European Council President Antonio Costa openly admitted that the EU had not been informed about the plan. Zelensky has also held an emergency call with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Show latestShow oldest 23 November 2025 15:07 GMT US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he expects the peace process between Russia and Ukraine to move forward. However, he has not discussed any Thanksgiving (Thursday) deadline with President Trump for Ukraine to sign onto the US plan. “At the end of the day, it’s going to be a decision with the Ukrainians,” Bessent told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “Ukraine’s ‘leadership’ has expressed zero gratitude for our efforts, and Europe continues to buy oil from Russia” Trump has written on Truth Social; meanwhile, US, Ukrainian, and European delegations are meeting in Geneva. Trump once again stressed that the conflict would’ve never happened if not for “the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would hold a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday. “We will do everything on the path to peace,” he stressed, speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of G-20 summit in Johannesburg on Sunday. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has welcomed the upcoming talks on the US peace plan in Geneva, saying that it is “good that diplomacy has been reinvigorated.” The delegations from Ukraine, the US and the EU remain “in close contact,” he wrote on X. “The bloodshed must be stopped, and we must ensure that the war is never reignited,” Zelensky said. He expressed hope that all of the participants of the Swiss talks will be “constructive,” adding that “we all need a positive outcome.” The Ukrainian delegation in Geneva for talks on the US peace plan with Kiev’s Western backers has held negotiations with national security advisers from the UK, France, and Germany, Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak has said. “The next meeting is with the US delegation. We are in a very constructive mood,” he stressed. FILE PHOTO: Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and his chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, meeting a foreign delegation in Kiev. © Getty Images / Maxym Marusenko An American official has confirmed to Reuters that both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, have arrived in the Swiss city of Geneva for talks on Washington’s peace plan for the Ukraine conflict with Ukrainian and Western European officials. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has arrived in Geneva for talks on Washington’s peace plan with Ukrainian and Western European officials, AFP has reported. Rubio will be representing the US at the meeting in Switzerland together with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Talks in Geneva between US, Ukrainian, and EU officials on Washington’s peace plan are not intended to produce a final deal, an unnamed American source has told Reuters. “We hope to iron out the final details… to draft a deal that is advantageous to them [Ukraine],” the source said. The official stressed that “nothing will be agreed on” until US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky meet face-to-face. Convoys of vehicles with US diplomatic plates were seen driving through the Swiss city early on Sunday, but it is not yet clear when exactly the talks will kick off, according to the agency. The head of Ukraine’s National Security Council, Rustem Umerov, has said that Vladimir Zelensky “might be ready to compromise on the crucial issue of swapping land in Donetsk for a peace deal” with Russia, Washington Post foreign affairs communist David Ignatius has said, citing unnamed US officials. According to the sources, Umerov also told US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, during their meeting in Florida last week that Kiev could agree to cap the size of the Ukrainian military at 600,000 as it is reportedly envisaged in the US-drafted peace plan. The officials said that Washington is considering supplying long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine as a security guarantee if a peace deal is reached. Members of Trump’s team are “confident that Ukraine would not use these preemptively against Russia because that would cost it US and European support,” they said. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned previously that Moscow would consider the delivery of Tomahawks a major escalation and promised a “very strong response.” FILE PHOTO: Rustem Umerov attends a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. © Getty Images / Dursun Aydemir Washington Post foreign affairs communist David Ignatius has said that an unnamed US official told him the Trump administration came up with its peace plan due to “a sense that recent reversals on the battlefield… and a corruption scandal in Kiev have brought Ukraine to an inflection point.” Read more There is also a belief in Washington that Russia might be willing to end the fighting due to “feeling growing economic pressure” as a result of the conflict, the source claimed. Earlier this week, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the capture of the key logistics hub of Kupyansk in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, and that thousands of Ukrainian troops were being encircled in the Dmitrov-Krasnoarmeysk (Mirnograd-Pokrovsk) urban area in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Last week, the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced a probe into a “high-level criminal organization” allegedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Vladimir Zelensky, which also involved other high-ranking Ukrainian officials. More 21 November 2025 00:02 GMT Starmer claims he and other Ukraine backers are to support Trump’s peace plan and “look at how we can strenghthen plan.” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz held a joint call with French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, the German government has said. The three Western leaders “reiterated their full support” for Kiev and pledged to keep coordinating efforts aimed at what Berlin described as a “lasting and just peace.” Berlin said any steps involving the EU or NATO would require full consensus among member states. Here’s the readout (auf Deutsch) of Merz’s call with Macron, Starmer and Zelensky. Worth noting some reporters have detected a weakness in the second part of the text, in the pledge to continue pursuing security for Ukraine. The US has threatened to cut off Ukraine from intelligence and weaponry in a bid to press it into accepting President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan, Reuters reported on Friday, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Read more A delegation of senior US military officials met with Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev earlier this week. The US ambassador in Ukraine and the army public affairs chief travelling with the delegation described the meeting as a success and said Washington sought an “aggressive timeline” for the signature of a document between Washington and Kiev.
“The USA continues to sell massive amounts of weapons to NATO, for distribution to Ukraine,” he added.
“We all want this war to end,” the EU’s Kaja Kallas has insisted, despite not offering any proposals on how to do so. “How it ends matters,” she added, insisting “This is a very dangerous moment for all.”
Zelensky confirmed on X he has held a joint call with Macron, Starmer and Merz to coordinate positions on a new peace proposal. “We are working on a document prepared by the American side,” he wrote, praising the efforts of US President Donald Trump and his team.
I held a joint call with President of France @EmmanuelMacron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom @Keir_Starmer, and @bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz. I am grateful for their principled support for Ukraine and for all our people.We discussed the plan for peace for Ukraine and all… pic.twitter.com/Lz6Tq38QUR
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 21, 2025
Trump has indicated he wants to expedite ending the conflict, hoping to conclude it by the end of the year, according to CNN. The push to restart talks reemerged as a top priority for Trump shortly after the US helped broker a ceasefire in Gaza, the outlet wrote on Friday.
Amid a morning of frantic calls and posturing in Western Europe the Kremlin has refused to be drawn into megafone diplomacy, according to Russian outlet RBK. “Do you want us to negotiate such a complex matter via megaphone? We are open to peace talks for the sake of successful peace talks, not for the sake of the process,” he said. Asked about the conditions for Russia’s readiness for negotiations, Peskov referred to the discussions in Anchorage between Putin and Trump in August.
Britain will provide Ukraine with a NATO-style security guarantee as part of Trump’s peace plan, The Telegraph has reported. Zelensky said he is prepared to use the plan as a starting point for negotiations, according to the paper.
Zelensky is expected to speak with US Vice President J.D. Vance later on Friday, Axios reporter Barak Ravid wrote on X, citing two sources.
Ukrainian officials already appear to be at odds over the US peace plan. While Zelensky has publicly said he is willing to negotiate with Trump, Kiev’s officials at the UN have already rejected several key clauses out of hand.
During a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, Kiev’s deputy permanent representative, Khristina Gayovyshyn, insisted “there will never be any recognition – formal or otherwise” of any former Ukrainian territories as part of Russia.
“Our land is not for sale,” Gayovyshyn stated, adding that Ukraine will also “not accept any limits… on the size and capabilities of its armed forces.”
READ MORE: Ukrainian UN mission rejects key clauses of reported US peace plan
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