Ukraine's allies push back on a US peace plan seen as favoring Moscow

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine's Western allies rallied around the war-torn country Saturday as they pushed to revise a U.S. peace plan seen as favoring Moscow despite its all-out invasion of its neighbor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed Ukrainians "will always defend" their home.

A Ukrainian delegation, bolstered by European representatives, prepared for direct talks with Washington in Switzerland on Sunday. Zelenskyy confirmed the meeting Saturday.

The 28-point blueprint drawn up by the U.S. to end the nearly four-year war sparked alarm in Kyiv and European capitals. American senators also panned the proposal at an international security conference Saturday.

The plan foresees Ukraine handing over territory to Russia, something Kyiv repeatedly ruled out, while reducing the size of its army and blocking its coveted path to NATO membership. It contains many of Moscow's long-standing demands, while offering limited security guarantees to Kyiv.

Speaking to reporters Saturday outside the White House, President Donald Trump said the U.S. proposal was not his "final offer." The White House didn't respond to a request for clarification.

U.S. senators critical of Trump’s approach to ending the war said Saturday they spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told them the peace plan Trump pushed Kyiv to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual U.S. plan.

 "It rewards aggression. This is pure and simple. There’s no ethical, legal, moral, political justification for Russia claiming eastern Ukraine,” Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said earlier in the day during a panel discussion at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, calling the plan "one of the most serious geopolitical mistakes in my lifetime.” He compared it to the Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler in 1938, a failed act of appeasement.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in statement, “if Administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than securing real peace, then the President ought to find new advisors.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said McConnell's criticism didn’t go far enough. “Putin is a murderer, a rapist and an assassin," Tillis said. "We should not do anything that makes him feel like he has a win here."

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the plan an “outrage.”

On Saturday, leaders of the European Union, Canada and Japan issued a joint statement welcoming U.S. peace efforts, but pushed back against key tenets of the plan.

"We are ready to engage in order to ensure that a future peace is sustainable. We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force. We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine's armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack," it said. It added that any decisions regarding NATO and the EU would require the consent of member states.

The leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. met on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss ways to support Kyiv, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters at the summit that "wars cannot be ended by major powers over the heads of the countries affected," and insisted Kyiv needs robust guarantees.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the U.S. plan "requires broader consultation" because "it stipulates many things involving Europeans," such as Russia's frozen assets and Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

Merz and Macron said envoys from Germany, France, the U.K. and the EU will join Ukrainian negotiators as they meet a U.S. delegation in Geneva on Sunday to discuss Washington's proposal. Zelenskyy confirmed the meeting Saturday, after Trump set a deadline for Kyiv to respond to the plan by next Thursday.

European leaders long warned against rushing a peace deal, seeing their own future at stake in Ukraine's fight to beat back Russia, and insist on being consulted in peace efforts.

European leaders long accused Russia of stalling diplomatic efforts in the hope of overwhelming Ukraine's much smaller forces on the battlefield. Kyiv accepted U.S. ceasefire proposals this year, while Moscow held out for more favorable terms.

"Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but their actions never live up to their words," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters, days after a Russian strike on western Ukraine killed more than two dozen civilians.

"An end to the war can only be achieved with the unconditional consent of Ukraine," Merz said during G20 summit briefing, adding that he told Trump in a phone call Friday that Europe needs to be a part of a peace process and Russia failed to keep its promises to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a key principle for Kyiv's European allies was "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine."

Zelenskyy, in a video address, noted "Real peace is always based on security and justice."

On Saturday, Ukraine commemorated a famine Soviet leader Josef Stalin imposed in the early 1930s that led to millions of deaths.

"We all know how and why millions of our people died, starved to death, and millions were never born. And we are once again defending ourselves against Russia, which has not changed and is once again bringing death," Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram marking Holodomor Memorial Day.

"We defended, defend, and will always defend Ukraine. Because only here is our home," he added. "And in our home, Russia will definitely not be the master."