DONALD Trump has dispatched his top diplomats to meet Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders for a peace summit to end the war in Ukraine.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold crunch talks with Ukrainian officials to discuss the latest draft for peace.
They will then attend a peace summit in Berlin where German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will host Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and President Zelensky.
Diplomats from Ukraine, Europe, the US, and Russia have been embroiled in complex negotiations for months, exchanging proposals and counter-proposals in an effort to reach a consensus.
But all of them have snagged on two key issues: land concessions and security guarantees for Kyiv against future Russian aggression.
A chasm remains between the Ukrainian and Russian positions on this – and as such, peace has always felt out of reach.
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But Washington is now pushing for a peace deal to be signed by Moscow and Kyiv before Christmas.
The White House confirmed that Witkoff would meet with Zelensky and European leaders this weekend to discuss the status of the peace negotiations.
In a late-night address on Saturday, Zelensky said that his team was preparing for upcoming meetings with both American and European leaders.
“Most importantly, I will meet with representatives of President Trump and other European partners to lay the foundation for peace and a political agreement to end the war,” he said.
Germany’s government has said that Berlin will host these talks, which will include the heads of the European Union and Nato, on Monday.
The summit will follow a German-Ukrainian business forum that Zelensky will attend with Merz.
Ahead of the summit, Zelensky warned that Russia still aims to “destroy” Ukraine.
This came after a series of overnight Russian strikes targeted Ukrainian energy facilities, leaving thousands without power.
In one tragic incident, an 80-year-old was killed after a residential building in the northeastern Sumy region was hit.
The Kremlin claimed that it only launched hypersonic ballistic missiles after Ukrainian forces had conducted attacks on Russian positions.
Amidst these developments, Trump has been increasing pressure on Kyiv to strike a deal with Russia to end the conflict.
Russia has long demanded Ukraine hand over the whole of the Donbas region in exchange for peace – and that the decision could now fall to the people through a referendum.
Zelensky said the status of the eastern Donetsk region and future control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant were the two key points of contention in the peace talks.
In 2022, Russia claimed to formally annex the Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, despite not having full control over them.
Ukraine’s troops still hold around one-fifth of the Donetsk region, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Much of eastern and southern Ukraine has been decimated by fighting.
Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes.
Russia, which has the numerical advantage in manpower and weapons, has been grinding forward on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Putin vowed to seize the Donbass region by force if no peace deal was found, just days after also threatening he was “ready” to fight Europe.
Give it up, Zel
Zelensky said that the US is still pushing for Kyiv to make big territorial concessions to Russia to halt the war.
Speaking to reporters, he said Washington wants only Ukraine to withdraw its troops from parts of the Donetsk region, where it would install a demilitarised buffer between the two armies.
The US had also proposed the creation of a “free economic zone” – that would require both Ukraine and Russia to avoid contested areas around the frontline in the east.
The current plan would also see Russia withdraw from the Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts, and Ukraine has demanded that Putin hand Zaporizhzhia to the US, Zelensky said.
Zelensky’s remarks appear to show little has changed in Washington’s core position on how the conflict should end since it sent a 28-point plan to Kyiv and Moscow last month that heavily favoured Russia.
Ukraine has been revising that and this week sent a 20-point counter-proposal to Washington, the full details of which have not been published.
The latest peace draft is believed to include a fast-tracked process for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, potentially as early as January 2027.
However, Russia has expressed strong opposition to this idea, and there are significant hurdles within Europe as well.
Some EU member states, notably Hungary, have voiced opposition to Ukraine joining the economic and political union.
This is due to Ukraine’s struggle to eradicate internal corruption – which remains a core obstacle to joining the bloc.
Meanwhile, European leaders and Kyiv have asked Washington to provide security guarantees before Ukraine agrees to any territorial concessions.
Moscow, which has signalled support for the original US proposal, has expressed concern over any amendments to the plan.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov warned on Friday that any changes to the plan could make the situation even more complicated.
“We have the impression that this version will be worse,” Ushakov said.
“It’ll be a long process.”