8th Dec 2025 22:42
(Alliance News) - Ukraine's European allies put on a show of support for President Volodymyr Zelensky Monday as they expressed scepticism about parts of the US proposal to end Russia's nearly four-year invasion.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at his Downing Street residence in London.
The discussions came after US President Donald Trump accused Zelensky of not reading his administration's proposal on a deal to end nearly four years of war sparked by Russia's invasion of its neighbour.
That followed days of talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami that ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough, but with Zelensky committing to further negotiations.
Following the talks in London, Zelensky said that Ukrainian territory was one of the main sticking points in negotiations.
"Russia is insisting that we give up territories, but we don't want to cede anything," Zelensky said at a press conference.
"There are difficult problems concerning the territories and so far there has been no compromise," adding that Kyiv had no legal or moral right to give up its land.
Zelensky flew to Brussels later Monday for meetings with the heads of NATO and the European Commission, after which he said he would fly to Italy.
Also top of the discussions was the issue of security guarantees for Kyiv.
"The key is to know what our partners will be ready to do in the event of new aggression by Russia. At the moment, we have not received any answer to this question," Zelensky said.
France's Macron wrote on X that "we are preparing robust security guarantees and measures for Ukraine's reconstruction".
Macron said the "main issue" was finding "convergence" between the European and Ukrainian position and that of the US.
Ahead of the London talks, German leader Merz said that he was "sceptical about some of the details which we are seeing in the documents coming from the US side, but we have to talk about it".
And Britain's Starmer said he would not be pushing Zelensky to accept the deal spearheaded by Trump's administration – the initial version of which was criticised by Ukraine's allies as overly favourable to Russia.
"The most important thing is to ensure that if there is a cessation of hostilities, and I hope there is, it has to be just and it has to be lasting," the UK prime minister said.
Zelensky said as he headed into the meeting that "there are some things which we can't manage without Americans, things which we can't manage without Europe, and that's why we need to make some important decisions".
The tricky subject of how Europe can potentially best use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine was also discussed.
A EU plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Kyiv's fight against Russia would have "far-reaching consequences" for the EU, Moscow's ambassador to Germany warned last week.
On Saturday, Zelensky said he had joined a call with his negotiators in the Miami negotiations for a "very substantive and constructive" conversation with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
But Trump criticised his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday, telling reporters: "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."
Witkoff and Kushner had met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last week, with Moscow rejecting parts of the US proposal.
Before Monday's talks, Macron slammed what he called Russia's "escalatory path".
"We must continue to exert pressure on Russia to compel it to choose peace," he wrote on X.
Washington's initial plan to bring an end to the conflict involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not captured in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv's aspirations to join NATO.
The nature of the security guarantees that Ukraine could get to fend off any future Russian invasion has so far been shrouded in uncertainty, beyond an initial suggestion that jets to defend Kyiv could be based in Poland.
Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.
But he was also frustrated that his efforts to persuade Putin to end the war had failed to produce results and he recently slapped sanctions on Russian oil firms.
source: AFP
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