Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Paris on Monday for talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, part of a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at brokering the terms for a potential ceasefire in the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s visit to Paris came on the heels of a meeting between Ukrainian and US officials in Florida on Sunday which Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as productive.
The two sides have worked to make revisions to a proposed US-authored plan that was developed in negotiations between Washington and Moscow but criticised as being too weighted toward Russian demands.
Those criticisms were perhaps most vehement from Ukraine’s European allies who, while welcoming US peace efforts, pushed back on key tenets of the plan.
Ahead of his meeting with Zelenskyy on Monday, Macron’s office said the two leaders would discuss conditions for a “fair and lasting peace.”
US President Donald Trump has since played down the 28-point peace framework, which would have imposed limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, blocked the country from joining NATO and required Ukraine to give up territory, as a “concept” to be “fine-tuned.”
Last week Macron, a key ally for Ukraine who has firmly backed Kyiv and sought to counterbalance elements of the US peace plan that are seen to favour Russia, urged Western allies to bring “rock-solid” guarantees to Ukraine in case a ceasefire or a peace deal was to be reached.
He has endorsed deploying a “reassurance force” on land, at sea and in the air to help ensure the country’s security.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet with US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday afternoon.
Witkoff’s role in the peace efforts came under scrutiny last week following a report that he coached Putin’s foreign affairs adviser on how Russia’s leader should pitch Trump on the Ukraine peace plan.
Both Moscow and Washington downplayed the significance of the revelations.
Additional sources • AP
