US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Sunday he had made good progress in talks about a draft US plan to end the war in Ukraine as he met with a Ukrainian delegation in Geneva.
"So I think the takeaway from it is, I think this is a very, very meaningful, I would say, probably best meeting and day we've had so far in this entire process, going back to when we first came to office in January," Rubio told reporters.
Talks in Geneva are continuing, as Ukrainian, US and European officials discuss a draft plan presented by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
Kyiv and its allies have voiced alarm over what they saw as major concessions to the aggressor in the proposed 28-point peace deal, which followed secret negotiations by envoys of Russia and the US.
Under the plan, Ukraine would relinquish territory beyond land currently controlled by Moscow, reduce its military, and give up on NATO membership. In return, Kyiv would receive international security guarantees and reconstruction assistance.
Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Chief of Staff, said the Geneva meeting had been "a very productive first session with the distinguished American delegation".
Yermak, writing in English on X, said a second meeting would take place "very soon today" to proceed with "work on joint proposals with the engagement of our European partners".
Yermak thanked the United States and President Donald Trump "for their commitment to bring peace".
Zelenskyy had earlier expressed thanks to Trump for US efforts aimed at helping Kyiv, after the US president said on social media that Ukraine's leaders had expressed "zero gratitude" for US assistance.
"Ukraine is grateful to the United States, to every American heart, and personally to President Trump for the assistance that – starting with the Javelins – has been saving Ukrainian lives. " Zelenskyy wrote on X after Trump said Ukraine's leaders had expressed "zero gratitude" for US assistance.
Zelenskyy also expressed thanks to Europe and the G7 and G20 groupings of countries for their help, saying efforts to maintain this support were important.
The top Democrat on the US Senate Intelligence Committee said Trump's peace appeared to be "almost a series of Russian talking points."
US Senator Mark Warner told ABC on Sunday that the proposal had made Europeans “feel like they’ve been totally left high and dry” and had led to “ferocious pushback.”
Warner said he thought Trump was “seeing this one-sided plan kind of blow up in his face.”
“My hope is he’ll come back and be a bit more reasonable," Warner said.
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