Ukraine peace talks underway in Geneva as Zelenskyy urges end to 'bloodshed'

[ad_1] LONDON -- U.S., Ukrainian and European officers gathered in Switzerland on Sunday for talks on the contentious American-Russian peace plan put to Kyiv this week, with phrases critics say represent a Ukrainian capitulation.

A U.S. delegation that features Military Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Ukrainian officers in Geneva, a high U.S. official informed ABC Information Saturday.

A U.S. official informed ABC Information that Driscoll held "good conferences" with the Ukrainian delegation on Saturday evening, which the official described as "optimistic and constructive." Sunday afternoon will see extra formal engagements between the delegations, the official mentioned.

Andriy Yermak, the pinnacle of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's workplace and the chief of Kyiv's delegation in Geneva, mentioned in a put up to social media that the Ukrainian group was "in a really constructive temper" because it started conferences with European officers.

A U.S. official informed ABC Information that there are plans for the U.S. delegation to carry a separate assembly with a Russian delegation. No particulars had been supplied concerning the location of the deliberate assembly with the Russians.

A airplane believed to be transporting a U.S. delegation together with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, lands at Geneva airport, in Switzerland, on Nov. 23, 2025.

Valentin Flauraud/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

The U.S. has threatened Ukraine with an entire halt to all help if Kyiv doesn't conform to the proposed deal, a high-ranking Ukrainian official near the matter informed ABC Information on Sunday.

This halt would come with the provision of air protection missiles, in addition to intelligence sharing and all different commitments associated to weapons deliveries and help from the U.S., the official mentioned.

Zelenskyy on Sunday confirmed that conferences had been underway in Switzerland. "It's good that diplomacy has been reinvigorated and that the dialog may be constructive," he wrote on Telegram.

"The Ukrainian and American groups, in addition to the groups of our European companions, are in shut contact, and I do hope that there might be a end result," he mentioned. "The bloodshed have to be stopped, and we should make sure that the struggle is rarely reignited."

In an earlier put up to social media, Zelenskyy urged overseas companions to additional strengthen Ukraine's air defenses, as long-range nightly Russian strikes proceed. On Saturday evening into Sunday morning, Russia launched 98 drones into Ukraine, in keeping with the Ukrainian air pressure. Sixty-nine of the craft had been shot down or suppressed.

"In parallel with the diplomatic monitor, we should do all the pieces to strengthen our protection in opposition to such depraved Russian assaults," Zelenskyy wrote. "This can be very vital to hurry up the implementation of all our agreements with companions concerning air protection methods and missiles for them."

The U.S.-proposed 28-point peace plan was drafted in coordination with the Kremlin and with enter from Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's Nationwide Safety and Defence Council.

Rescue employees clear the rubble of a residential constructing which was closely broken by a Russian strike in Ternopil, Ukraine, on Nov. 21, 2025.

Vlad Kravchuk/AP

The plan consists of numerous maximalist calls for that the Kremlin has lengthy demanded and which were beforehand dismissed as non-starters for Kyiv, together with that Ukraine lower its armed forces by greater than half and cede swaths of territory not but occupied by Russia.

Ukraine would even be forbidden from possessing long-range weapons, whereas Moscow would retain nearly all of the territory it has occupied -- and obtain some type of recognition of its 2014 seizure of Crimea below the most recent proposed U.S. plan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned throughout a gathering of his Safety Council on Friday that the Kremlin had obtained the proposal. "I imagine that it may additionally kind the idea for a closing peace settlement, however this textual content has not been mentioned with us intimately," Putin mentioned.

"I imagine the reason being the identical: the U.S. administration has not but managed to safe the settlement of the Ukrainian aspect, as Ukraine is against it," Putin added. "Apparently, Ukraine and its European allies are nonetheless below the phantasm that they'll inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield."

In an tackle to the nation on Friday, Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine is going through "one of the tough moments in our historical past" and that Ukraine within the coming days could have to decide on between "dignity" or the "threat of dropping a key associate," which means the U.S.

He promised to "work calmly" and rapidly with the U.S. on the plan and to seek for "constructive options." He added, "I'll current arguments, I'll persuade, I'll supply options."

Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Russia, Nov. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump in Washington, Nov. 17, 2025 and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Athens, Greece, Nov. 16, 2025.

AFP by way of Getty Pictures/AP

U.S. President Donald Trump recommended on Saturday that there's room for additional negotiation. Requested by reporters whether or not this was his final supply, Trump replied, "No."

"We might prefer to get to peace," Trump mentioned. "A method or one other we'll get it ended."

On Saturday, a bipartisan group of senators mentioned they had been informed by Rubio in a telephone name that the 28-point plan was developed by Russia, not the U.S.

In a press release on social media Saturday night, Rubio denied the senators' claims, asserting "the peace proposal was authored by the U.S."

Rubio didn't instantly reply to the senators' characterization of his message to them.

Rubio described the proposal as "a powerful framework for ongoing negotiations," including, "It's primarily based on enter from the Russian aspect. However additionally it is primarily based on earlier and ongoing enter from Ukraine."

<img alt="PHOTO: This handout photograph, taken on Nov 12. 2025, and released on Nov. 15, 2025 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, shows a Ukrainian serviceman in the town of Kostyantynivka." class="hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR SjwtZ hakZw HlUVI " data-testid="prism-image" draggable="false" loading="lazy" src="https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/273e26eb-b586-4fbb-a05b-6bf9674009bd/Donetsk-DB-251120_1763639295717_hpEmbed_3x2.jpg"/> This handout {photograph}, taken on Nov 12. 2025, and launched on Nov. 15, 2025 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Floor Forces, exhibits a Ukrainian serviceman within the city of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk area.

Iryna Rybakova/93RD SEPARATE MECHANIZED BRIGADE

In a press release, Republican Sen. Mike Rounds mentioned the administration's peace efforts are "counting on enter from each Russia and Ukraine."

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed his skepticism of the proposed plan in a put up to X on Sunday, through which he mentioned the "leaders of Europe, Canada and Japan" had "declared our readiness to work on the 28-point plan regardless of some reservations."

"Nevertheless, earlier than we begin our work, it will be good to know for certain who's the creator of the plan and the place was it created," Tusk mentioned.

In an open letter despatched to ABC Information on Sunday, a gaggle of 48 present and former officers and lawmakers from Europe and Ukraine wrote to Trump warning that "any appeasement of Russia" can be "morally reprehensible and an outrage in opposition to human decency."

"Robust American management is the one hope," the letter added. "A cowed America can by no means be nice once more, a cowed America can by no means be first. America is just nice and first when it steadfastly stands for freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and rule of legislation."

One of many signatories -- Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chair of the physique's overseas affairs committee -- informed ABC Information that of all 28 factors within the U.S.-proposed deal, solely the clause confirming Ukraine's sovereignty gave him purpose for optimism.