DONALD Trump is ramping up the pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky to agree a peace deal with Russia.
The Ukrainian leader is in London for talks with European leaders as the American President continues to press for approval on the US peace plan.
Earlier Trump slammed Zelensky – implying that he was playing for time when Kyiv’s own negotiators “love” the proposed plan for peace.
This is the same deal which, Trump claimed, Vladimir Putin would agree to.
The full details of the latest changes to the original 28-point plan are yet to be set out in full.
However, it would seem that Ukraine will be required to forfeit some territory in exchange for security guarantees from the United States.
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Zelensky will meet with Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz in Downing Street on Friday to discuss the outcome of intense US-Ukraine talks.
These three leaders represent the three Nato nations with the largest military budgets in real terms.
Downing Street said the meeting would “focus on ongoing peace negotiations and next steps”.
UK cabinet minister Pat McFadden said that talks would explore ways to ensure Ukraine is “able to decide its own future”.
He emphasised the importance of meaningful security guarantees, not a “toothless organisation”.
This is set against the backdrop of Trump seemingly bullying Zelensky in full view of the public into agreeing to the settlement.
“I have to say that I am a little bit disappointing that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal,” said Trump.
“That was as of a few hours ago. His people love it.
“Russia is, I believe, fine with it. But I’m not sure that Zelensky is fine with it.
“His people love it. But he hasn’t read it.”
It is not clear which version of the peace plan that Trump is referring to.
The 28-point document was seen as heavily tiled in Moscow’s favour, but a revised 20-point plan is thought to be more acceptable to Kyiv.
The original plan required major Ukrainian concessions, including recognition of Russian-held territories, strict limits on Ukraine’s military and NATO ambitions, and broad amnesty for Russia.
The revised 20-point plan removes or softens many of these provisions following pushback from Kyiv and European partners.
Territory, security guarantees and use of frozen Russian assets remain the key unresolved issues in the new framework.
What’s more, despite the President’s claims to the contrary, there is no clear evidence that Putin is prepared to agree to either version.
Zelensky has not responded directly to Trump’s claims but said his own remote talks with the President’s envoys – Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner – had been “constructive, though not easy”.
This comes after Donald Trump Jr claimed his father was prepared to walk away from talks if they didn’t progress.
Speaking as the Doha Forum in Qatar on Sunday, he said that resolving the conflict between Kiev and Moscow was not a priority for America.
Trump Jr said there were far bigger “clear and present dangers” to the US than the conflict in Ukraine, and that Americans “don’t have the appetite” for endless overseas wars.
When asked if he thought his father would walk away from Ukraine he said: “I think he may, what’s good about my father and what’s unique about my father is you don’t know what he’s going to do.
“He’s unpredictable.”
This, combined with overnight Russian missile strikes, has only heaped further pressure on Zelensky.
A man, 51, was killed and two children are among five wounded in strikes on residential properties in Dnipropetrovsk.
A day earlier four Ukrainian civilians were killed.
In the Kyiv region, Russian forces hit a key rail junction for the third consecutive day.
Russia, meanwhile, was forced to temporarily close its airspace in Moscow to Ukrainian drone incursions.
A Turkish Airlines flight was forced to divert to St Petersburg, while a FlyDubai flight was forced to reroute to Nizhny Novgorod.