Talks between Washington and Kyiv over President Trump’s latest plan for peace in Ukraine are expected in Switzerland in the coming days, and plans for separate talks between the United States and Russia are underway, a U.S. official said Saturday.
The flurry of new meetings is the Trump administration’s latest effort at pressuring Ukraine to accept a 28-point peace plan that calls for it to make concessions already largely rejected by the country’s president and allies, including giving up land and limiting the size of its military.
Mr. Trump has said he wants a response from President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine by Thursday, but also said the deadline could be extended “if things are working well.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s special envoy, will head to Geneva on Sunday, the official said. They plan to join Daniel Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, who arrived there on Saturday. In Geneva, the Americans will meet senior Ukrainian officials to discuss Kyiv’s response to the American proposal.
“Our representatives know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests and exactly what is needed to prevent Russia from carrying out a third invasion, another strike against Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said in a social media post on Saturday. “It is necessary to ensure that nowhere in Europe or the world does the principle prevail that crimes against people and humanity, against states and peoples, can be rewarded or forgiven.”
Ukraine’s European allies have criticized the 28-point proposal because it was initially negotiated between the United States and Russia, without Ukrainian involvement.
With the Thursday deadline, Mr. Zelensky faces the risk of losing what remaining American support he has — much of it now in intelligence sharing — if he does not accept.
On Saturday, European leaders appeared to be searching for a way to push the proposal in a direction that might make it more palatable to Ukraine and to Europe. At a summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain issued a statement saying that the leaders in Johannesburg would discuss how to secure a cease-fire and strengthen the Trump plan “for the next phase of negotiations.”
“We cannot simply wait for peace,” he said. “We must strain every sinew to secure it.”
The meeting between Washington and Moscow is expected to happen quickly as well, the U.S. official said.
The 28-point document now being pushed by the White House was negotiated between Mr. Witkoff and a Russian official, Kirill Dmitriev.
Ukraine and Europe have said they had no input in the proposal, and European foreign ministers say the plan as it stands would weaken Ukraine’s long-term security.
According to a draft posted online by a Ukrainian lawmaker, the proposal would require Ukraine to change its Constitution to prohibit any effort to join NATO. It would force Kyiv to recognize Russian control of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, parts of which Ukraine still holds. And it would cap the size of the Ukrainian Army at 600,000, down from an estimated current strength of more than 800,000.
The proposal would also bar the presence of NATO troops inside Ukraine, which would derail a European plan to ensure the country’s postwar security.
If Ukraine agrees to end the war, the proposal says, it would be given frozen Russian assets to help pay for its reconstruction. Kyiv would also receive what the plan calls reliable security guarantees, promising a military response if Russia invaded again — but offering few details.
Laura Cooper, the Pentagon’s top policy official for Ukraine and Russia during the Biden administration, said the plan’s text “leaves unclear what security guarantees are offered and doesn’t go beyond what we are ostensibly doing now.”
“The agreement asks Ukraine to give up significant territory and its NATO aspirations but doesn’t offer any meaningful assurance they won’t end up in another war with Russia — fighting alone with a smaller army — after Russian forces have a chance to rest and sanctions have gone away,” she added.
Eric Schmitt, Lara Jakes and Cassandra Vinograd contributed reporting.
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
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