EU learns about US peace plan only after it was published by media – NYT

Sixteen officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the outlet that many European leaders learned about the US peace plan through the media. According to them, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz "was stunned by both the content and the way he found out."

The New York Times writes that European officials were aware that the administration of US President Donald Trump was preparing some kind of document, but they could not have imagined that it "would favor Russia to this extent."

"When it surfaced, they realized that Europe had been cut out of the Trump administration’s efforts to end the continent’s biggest land war since World War II," the article says.

European diplomats tried to verify the authenticity of the document released by the media through their own channels, after which they organized a meeting of EU leaders during the G20 summit. Later, they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and developed their own plan.

The outlet notes that the United States initially ignored the EU, but European diplomats were able to influence US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s position. During subsequent negotiations, the original US plan was changed, which Europe called a victory.

US peace plan

Western media recently reported that the US had developed a new peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.

Kyiv was presented with a document consisting of 28 points, some of which were quite painful for Ukraine. Because of this, a meeting between the US, Ukrainian, and EU delegations took place in Geneva on November 23 to revise the peace plan.

The Financial Times reported that the 28-point plan was cut down to 19 points, although US President Donald Trump hinted that there are now actually 22 points.

Following the Geneva talks, the US and Ukraine announced the creation of a framework document. The approval of the final version will take place during the meeting of the two countries’ leaders.