Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with European leaders in London on Monday, in a demonstration of solidarity, after US President Donald Trump accused him of not reviewing the newest peace proposal and as the Kremlin applauded America’s firmer stance toward Europe.
Trump criticized Zelensky on Sunday following discussions between US and Ukrainian negotiators over the weekend in Miami that concluded with unresolved matters concerning security assurances, territorial points, and ongoing apprehension that the US suggestion favors Russia.
“We’ve been speaking to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and we’ve been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including… President Zelensky, and I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago,” Trump stated.
He added that Russia would prefer to possess all of Ukraine and that he thinks Moscow is “fine” with the peace plan, but “I’m not sure that Zelensky’s fine with it.”
Trump’s comments emerged as the Kremlin welcomed his administration’s recent national security strategy, a foreign policy adjustment that adopts an exceptionally challenging posture toward Europe.
The US security strategy paper has removed the phrasing of prior administrations describing Russia as a menace, asserts European nations view Moscow as “an existential threat,” and portrays Washington as the primary mediator in reinstating “conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia.”
Addressing reporters on Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov appeared to endorse the strategy and commended the American president, calling him “sturdy.”
“The modifications we are observing, I would say, are, in many ways, accordant with our perspective,” Peskov remarked, adding: “Perhaps one can anticipate that this may be a slight confirmation that it will be feasible to proceed collaborating constructively to ascertain a tranquil resolution for Ukraine, at the very least.”
For European leaders, the timing is troubling: the US is guiding the Ukraine peace discussions precisely as its attitude toward Europe stiffens, sparking worries that this modification could affect negotiations at a crucial juncture.
Europe to ‘assess’ the situation
These matters will probably be discussed Monday when Zelensky journeys to London, where he is scheduled to meet French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The European leaders will “take stock together of the situation and the ongoing negotiations within the framework of the American mediation,” Macron mentioned.
Discussions in Miami between US and Ukrainian negotiators reached a standstill Saturday with no progress, Ukrainian officials reported, pointing out that vital issues remained unanswered.
After three days of talks, “difficult issues persist,” Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Olga Stefanishyna declared Saturday, “but both sides continue striving to formulate pragmatic and agreeable outcomes.”
“The principal hurdles at this phase involve matters of territory and assurances, and we are actively pursuing ideal means of tackling them,” Stefanishyna elaborated. “Further specifics will be furnished once all intelligence is gathered.”
The lengthy sessions commenced Thursday between US special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian officials Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov.
Territory and security guarantees have long constituted the main impediments to any potential agreement. Kyiv asserts that a fair conclusion to the conflict must incorporate reliable security commitments and would not necessitate it relinquishing added land.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated earlier this week that he intends to secure Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region by any means necessary.
Russia is “entrenching itself into an escalating course and is not pursuing tranquility,” Macron observed Saturday.
“We must persist in applying strain on Russia to induce it toward peace,” he urged, adding: “For what is imperiled in Ukraine is also the safety of Europe as a whole.”
As the diplomatic back-and-forth proceeds, Russia unleashed one of its biggest barrages of drones and missiles in months across Ukraine, causing the death of at least seven people over the weekend, according to a CNN tally of local authority figures. Over a dozen more were wounded.
In the preceding week, Russia has launched more than 1,600 attack drones, approximately 1,200 guided aerial bombs and nearly 70 missiles against Ukraine, Zelensky reported Sunday. He noted the main targets of the attacks were the infrastructure “that sustains ordinary existence.”
The strikes targeted energy facilities in various areas over the weekend, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy. Customers in the Odesa, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions were without electricity on Saturday, the ministry confirmed. And on Sunday, power outage schedules were implemented in all regions of Ukraine, including in Kyiv, where inhabitants of the capital were without electrical power for about 12 hours.
Ukraine’s military reported Saturday that it had struck the Ryazan oil refinery in western Russia, one of the nation’s largest refineries, in an overnight assault. Moscow offered no immediate reply to the assertions.
Meantime, inquiries are progressing in Ireland and France following two further incidents this week involving unidentified drones flying near the coastlines of each nation, marking the most recent in a sequence of unexplained sightings across several European countries since September. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has termed the wave of drone incursions “hybrid warfare.”
Early last week, several drones were detected flying off the Dublin coast, just as an aircraft carrying Zelensky for a visit with the Irish premier was about to land.
Some drones have interfered with civilian air travel, while others have flown close to airfields and other military installations.
European officials have indicated that they suspect Russia is behind at least some of the occurrences, but no drone has been recovered or shot down. Putin has previously mocked claims that Moscow was responsible for drone sightings in Europe.
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