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Zelenskyy Warns US Against Rewarding Russia as Trump Envoy Takes Peace Plan to Moscow
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned the United States that Russia must not be allowed to perceive any outcome of current peace efforts as a reward for its invasion, as Donald Trump’s envoy prepared to take a revised plan to Moscow, according to The Telegraph on December 1.
With Washington increasing pressure on Kyiv to agree to a settlement, Zelenskyy traveled to Paris, where he and French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, held a final phone call with US envoy Steve Witkoff before his departure for talks with the Russian leader.
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At a joint press conference in the French capital, Zelenskyy said “the question of territory and land is the most difficult” and that he expected a conversation with Trump “on key issues that are quite challenging,” adding that discussions with Macron focused on “negotiations to end the war and on security guarantees.”
Speaking later at a press conference in the French capital, Zelenskyy added that “we need to ensure that Russia itself does not perceive anything it could consider as a reward for this war.”
Ukrainian and US officials met in Miami over the weekend and into Monday to revise a 28-point plan drafted by the White House team, which would have required Ukraine to surrender its eastern Donbas regions and accept strict limits on its armed forces after a ceasefire.
Kyiv has sought to soften the document, leaving the most contentious points, including territorial swaps and a ban on hosting NATO troops, for direct talks between Zelenskyy and Trump.
Witkoff, expected to be joined in Moscow by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, arrived after two days of negotiations with a Ukrainian delegation led by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, who said on social media that “we managed to achieve significant progress, although some issues require further refinement.”
Ukrainian sources said Kyiv’s team refused to agree to withdrawing forces from Donetsk or abandoning its NATO aspirations, while Trump told reporters that Russia “would like to see” the war end and that “there’s a good chance we can make a deal.”
In a wider show of support, the leaders of the UK, France, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands, along with the heads of the EU and NATO, joined a video conference with Zelenskyy, after which Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said a joint US-European position on ending the war was essential.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said this “pivotal week” of diplomacy was in “nobody’s interest” to end with Kyiv being forced to accept a deal shaped in Moscow by Witkoff, Kushner and the Russian leader, warning Russia wanted talks only with those offering “something on top of what they already have” and stating: “This is clearly their interest, but it shouldn’t be ours.”
Earlier, it was reported that during a lengthy meeting in Paris, Zelenskyy and Macron discussed the most contentious territorial provisions of the US peace proposal, stressed that security guarantees must involve both the US and Europe, and reviewed a draft security framework prepared by the Coalition of the Willing.
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