European and other Western leaders argued this Saturday, November 22, that the US peace plan is a basis for negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, but that it requires “additional work”.
“We welcome the United States’ continued efforts to bring peace to Ukraine. The initial version of the 28-point plan includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace. We therefore believe that the initial version is a foundation that will require additional work. We are ready to engage in ways that ensure future peace is sustainable,” says one joint statement by the President of the European Council, António Costa, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and by leaders of several Western countries, such as the German Chancellor, the Presidents of France and Finland and the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Canada and Japan.
“We are clear in principle that borders should not be changed by force. We are also concerned about proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave the country vulnerable to future attacks.”they say, highlighting that “the implementation of elements related to the European Union and NATO will require the consent of the members of the EU and NATO, respectively”.
This declaration, which appears on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, in which they also emphasize the “continuous support for Ukraine”, is part of the Western efforts to secure a more advantageous deal for Kiev before US President Donald Trump’s Thursday deadline for Ukraine to accept his 28-point peace plan.
Ukraine will, as announced this Saturday by Rustem Umerov, secretary of the country’s National Security and Defense Council, hold consultations with the United States in Switzerland on the end of the war.
“…we are starting consultations between senior officials from Ukraine and the United States on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement,” he wrote on Telegram.
“In the coming days, consultations will be held with our partners on the measures necessary to end the war. Our representatives know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests and exactly what must be done to prevent Russia from launching a third invasionanother attack against Ukraine – just as it has repeatedly committed crimes against our people and against other nations in the past”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this Saturday on social media.