US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiators in Geneva made significant progress toward finalizing a US-proposed peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war, while stressing that a few issues remain unresolved.
Rubio told reporters the Geneva teams had a very productive day narrowing outstanding items from the 28-point US framework. He said any final package would need approval from both the US and Ukrainian presidents before being shared with Russia, and that negotiators would continue work on remaining details.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said there were signs that the Trump administration was listening to Kyiv, after a widely leaked draft that many in Ukraine and Europe viewed as favoring Moscow prompted alarm. Zelensky warned Ukraine faced a stark choice between preserving dignity and risking the loss of a key partner.
A joint US-Ukraine statement said an updated and refined peace framework had been agreed and that both governments would do intensive follow-up work on joint proposals in the coming days. Some media outlets reported an alternative plan put forward by European allies led by the UK, France and Germany; Rubio said he was not aware of such a document and the BBC said it had not seen one.
The Geneva discussions have revolved around a leaked US draft that proposes, among other points, Ukrainian withdrawals from territory in eastern Donetsk now under Kyiv control, effective Russian authority over Donetsk and Luhansk, and recognition of Crimea as Russian-held following its 2014 annexation. The draft would freeze borders in parts of southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia along current front lines.
Other elements in the draft include reducing Ukraine’s armed forces to about 600,000 from roughly 880,000, a Ukrainian pledge not to pursue NATO membership in exchange for unspecified security guarantees, a mutual expectation that Russia will refrain from invading neighbors and that NATO will not expand further, and steps to reintegrate Russia into the global economy through lifted sanctions and a return to the G7.
President Trump publicly urged Ukrainian leaders to accept the proposals by a near-term deadline, then later said his offer was not final after concerns from European, Canadian and Japanese partners. Rubio expressed optimism that an agreement could be reached in the near term, whether by the stated deadline or shortly afterward.
Russia currently controls about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and continues limited advances along parts of the front despite reported heavy losses.
Ahead of the Geneva meetings there was a dispute over the authorship of the leaked plan. A bipartisan group of US senators said Rubio had told them the draft was a Russian proposal; Rubio disputed that account, saying the document was authored by the US with input from Moscow and Kyiv, and a State Department spokesperson called the senators’ description inaccurate.
