Trump hits out at Ukraine and Europe amid confusion over US position

Donald Trump hit out at European and Ukrainian leaders on Sunday as they held talks about a US plan to end the war with Russia, amid confusion about Washington’s position.

The White House has piled pressure on Ukraine and its allies in recent days to agree to a settlement with Moscow, triggering concern in European capitals and a backlash in Washington.

But the status of the 28-point plan was thrown into doubt over the weekend when Trump said it was not America’s “final offer” and US secretary of state Marco Rubio reportedly sought to distance Washington from it, before insisting just hours later that the US had authored it.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday Trump declined to blame Russia for the conflict in Ukraine, instead targeting his rage at Kyiv and US allies in Europe for failing to reach a truce.

“UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump said.

“THE USA CONTINUES TO SELL MASSIVE $AMOUNTS OF WEAPONS TO NATO, FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UKRAINE.”

One European official described the situation within the Trump administration as “messy”.

National security advisers from France, Germany, the UK and the EU met in Geneva on Sunday alongside their US and Ukrainian counterparts, including Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff, one of the authors of the plan, and US army secretary Daniel Driscoll, a close ally of JD Vance, the US vice-president.

They met Ukraine’s delegation — led by Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, and the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Rustem Umerov — before being joined by European representatives.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday afternoon, Rubio said they had “probably the most productive and meaningful meetings so far in this entire process since we’ve been involved, from the beginning” but there was “still some work left to do”.

Yermak said: “We have very good progress and we are moving forward to a just and lasting peace.”

Driscoll was dispatched to Kyiv earlier this week to press the plan on Zelenskyy. He told EU and Nato officials in Kyiv it must be signed by Thursday and there was little room for negotiation.

But Republican lawmakers are split over the proposals. Several senators — including former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and staunch Trump ally Lindsey Graham — have publicly criticised the plan in recent days.

“Vladimir Putin is a murderer, a rapist and an assassin and we should not do anything that makes him feel like he has a win here,” said Republican senator Thom Tillis, speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum. “Any agreement has to be an agreement that the people of Ukraine want.”

But Republican senator Eric Schmitt defended Trump’s “realist” approach.

“The truth of the matter is, and a lot of people won’t say it, is the Ukrainians have been losing for a long time,” Schmitt told Fox News Sunday.

“The people that are critical of this right now, they don’t really have another plan. They live in this fantasy world that another round of sanctions or another round of weapons or another round of cash is going to solve the problem, and it won’t.”

Michael McCaul, a Republican congressman who previously chaired the House foreign affairs committee, told ABC News “about 80 per cent” of the plan would probably find agreement in Geneva, but “the problem is going to be the 20 per cent of really tough items to negotiate”.

He said that the proposal’s inception “seems to have come from a Witkoff discussion with the Russian [Kirill Dmitriev] who heads up the Russian sovereign wealth fund . . . It’s unclear how much input was given by either Ukraine or European allies”.

European nations have mounted a rearguard action to slow down US efforts to force the plan on Ukraine. On Saturday they and counterparts from Japan and Canada described the text as a “draft . . . which will require additional work”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that European officials in Geneva were working on the plan to make it “a document that Ukraine can accept” and that could be used in negotiations with Russia, but voiced scepticism that a deal could be reached in time for the deadline set by Washington.

“I’m not yet convinced that the solution President Trump wants will be reached in the next few days,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg. “We are still very far from that.”

Merz said that he himself had made a proposal that “falls short of a complete solution” but could serve as a “first step” that could be agreed by Thursday. He declined to provide further details while discussions in Geneva were ongoing.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said: “Any credible and sustainable peace plan should first and foremost stop the killing and end the war, while not sowing the seeds for a future conflict.”

Three elements were critical, she said: “First, borders cannot be changed by force. Second, as a sovereign nation there cannot be limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces [and] third, the centrality of the European Union in securing peace for Ukraine must be fully reflected.”

European officials stressed that they did not want to present an alternative plan to the US, but they have suggested amendments to Washington’s plan, two people briefed on the talks said.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “The leadership of the United States is important, we are grateful for everything that America and President Trump are doing for security, and we keep working as constructively as possible.”

Yermak posted on social media that the first session of talks had concluded, calling it “very productive” and saying they “made very good progress and are moving forward to a just and lasting peace”. He said a second meeting would take place soon “where we will continue to work on joint proposals with the engagement of our European partners”.

“Final decisions will be taken by our presidents,” he added.

The US plan would cross several long-standing Ukrainian red lines including handing over the rest of Donetsk province, which Russia has been unable to seize since it began its offensive there in 2014.

One European official said there were fears that Trump could simply withdraw US support from Ukraine in frustration, leaving Zelenskyy and his country dangerously exposed. “That’s a scenario we are obviously planning for,” they said.

European diplomats expect further meetings in the coming week between France, Germany and the UK. Other possible participants could include leaders of Poland, Finland and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte. “We are trying to come up with something that flies as a counter-offer,” the European diplomat said.

Additional reporting by Laura Pitel in Berlin and George Parker in London