US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that there are “only a few remaining points of disagreement” with his Ukraine peace plan.
Mr Trump said he has directed US special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet the Ukrainian leadership.
“The original 28-point peace plan, which was drafted by the United States, has been fine-tuned, with additional input from both sides,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The initial proposal, drawn up between the US and Russia, has been refined to a 19-point plan acceptable to Kyiv and its European partners.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to meet Mr Trump as soon as this week to iron out the disagreements, Axios reported, quoting his chief of staff.
But Mr Trump, who had originally set a deadline of Thursday for Ukraine to agree to a deal, said in his post he would only meet him and Mr Putin when the peace deal was in its final stages.
“Let’s all hope that peace can be accomplished as soon as possible,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Europe was set to seize hundreds of billions of frozen Russian funds within days as it seeks to bring Moscow to the negotiating table.
Security guarantees to prevent further Russian aggression will be key to an enduring peace after a ceasefire in Ukraine and French President Emmanuel Macron indicated that the US was now willing to be part of that.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the “coalition of the willing” video call for the first time since regular meetings started in March.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the online meeting there were indications “that in large part the majority of the text looks as though, Volodymyr is indicating, could be accepted”.
“Ukraine should be able to defend itself in future. Hugely important,” Mr Starmer added.
After the meeting, Mr Macron announced that France had decided to go ahead with the frozen Russian assets “which are extremely important and also a means of exerting pressure”.
“We will finalise in the coming days … a solution that secures funding, gives visibility to Ukraine, but maintains this pressure,” he said in a video on X after the meeting of 36 mainly European leaders.
After any ceasefire, it was a question of “how to maintain this peace by deterring any further aggression”.
“First, by having a strong Ukrainian army,” Mr Macron said, adding that recent discussions in Geneva “showed that there should be no limitations on the Ukrainian army”, which under original proposals Russia had wanted to restrict to 600,000 troops.
“We have planned everything necessary to achieve this,” he said. “Alongside this, it's about having reinforcement forces that act as a second line of defence to bolster this Ukrainian army.”
On Wednesday a working group led by France and Britain, with close involvement from Turkey, will be launched that “for the first time” will have the participation of the US.
“These coming days will allow us to finalise everyone's contributions and secure these security guarantees,” Mr Macron said. “This is essential for the Ukrainians, essential for negotiating a credible peace and essential for maintaining pressure on Russia.”
Europe is preparing to post a strong multinational force in Ukraine if continuing peace talks culminate in a formal end to the war with Russia.
This force would not be expected to engage in combat and would include French, British and Turkish army personnel.
Mr Zelenskyy began the meeting by briefing those present on the situation as Russian drones and missiles rained down on Kyiv.
Mr Trump's plan had initially laid out a proposal to use $100 billion of frozen Russian assets on American-led postwar efforts in Ukraine. But the Europeans say they must decide what should be done with the assets.
Plans for the European Commission to seize them for a $161 billion reparation loan to Ukraine were derailed in October by Brussels demanding that all EU countries contribute if Russia successfully sues to get its money back.
Intense talks among Europeans are set to continue over the next days. An adviser to Mr Macron said that European and US officials would stay in touch. “We expect further discussions with our American partners on the work they may have done with the Russians regarding the terms of a ceasefire,” the diplomat said.
Tuesday's meeting is to be followed by an emergency call the next day between EU foreign ministers.
It remains unclear whether the idea of a multinational force will be acceptable to Moscow as the Russians have previously insisted that there can be no Nato or foreign troops in postwar Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, Mr Starmer said Ukraine “should be able to defend herself in future”, suggesting that it will continue to be heavily armed by the West.
The leaders’ virtual summit was also expected to include discussions on attempts by Europe to stop buying Russian oil and gas, with Mr Starmer telling the continent “to cut off the fuel to their war machine”.
“The urgent need to take Russian oil and gas off the global market was something I discussed extensively at the G20 [in South Africa],” he told parliament.
“This is vital, especially now as winter begins to bite in Ukraine and Putin continues his barbaric attacks on civilians and civilian energy infrastructure.”
Those attacks continued overnight with a storm of Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and Iranian-designed Shahed drones striking Kyiv and killing seven people.
While Ukraine still has the ability to retaliate – it is reported to have struck a Russian airbase – it remains on the military back foot, with Russia’s army continuing to make small but steady advances across the front line.
