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Merz Enters Crisis Diplomacy as Trump’s Ukraine Plan Triggers Alarm in Europe, Says BILD
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz abruptly cleared part of his schedule on Friday to hold urgent consultations on the war in Ukraine, according to reporting from BILD on November 21.
The Chancellor’s office confirmed to the outlet that Merz asked his chief of staff, Thorsten Frei, to stand in for him at a previously planned engagement so he could focus on “internal discussions and planned phone calls regarding the situation in Ukraine,” as BILD noted.
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BILD reports that Merz is preparing to speak with both President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with additional multilateral conversations expected shortly after.
According to the newspaper, a call in the so-called E3 format—bringing together Zelenskyy, Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer—was scheduled for midday.
German officials told BILD that any readout of the conversations would be released only “in coordination with the interlocutors.”
The sudden diplomatic activity comes as Europe reacts to President Trump’s proposed 28-point peace framework—a plan that, as BILD emphasized, has triggered alarm in Kyiv and across European capitals.
The proposal would require Ukraine to relinquish contested territories (including some that Russia has not actually seized), sharply reduce the size of its army, and forgo Western weapons systems.
Under the plan, the US would scale back military aid while Russia, the state that launched the full-scale invasion in 2022, would halt attacks.
European officials warn that the plan would reward Moscow while placing enormous pressure on Ukraine to make irreversible concessions.
Security analyst Nico Lange told BILD the proposal cannot credibly be described as a peace plan. Instead, he said, it looks like “an attempt to push Ukraine out of the way.”
Lange argued the United States has repeatedly explored deals that would normalize relations with Russia at Ukraine’s expense. A genuine peace settlement, he added, is only possible if Ukraine’s position—and Europe’s role—are fully incorporated.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas echoed that view, telling reporters in Brussels that any meaningful framework “must of course include the Ukrainians and the Europeans.”
Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, told BILD and other reporters that he hopes “constraints are not placed on the victim’s ability to defend itself, but on the aggressor.”
Earlier, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas reiterated that the European Union has a firm and uncomplicated roadmap for achieving peace in Ukraine—one built on two pillars: weakening Russia and supporting Ukraine.
