Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his “main problem” with the 28-point peace plan proposed by the United States is that it legally recognizes territory Russia captured from Ukraine by force during the invasion that began in 2022.
“Putin wants legal recognition of what he has stolen, to break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty. That’s the main problem. You all understand what that means,” Zelensky said in a video address to the Swedish parliament on Monday.
“Borders cannot be changed by force,” he insisted.
Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to revive the practice of invasion and conquest for the “entire world” and it would be “very dangerous” to let him succeed.
On the other hand, Zelensky said Ukraine is “working closely with the U.S. and other European partners” to refine the peace plan. He was satisfied that Ukrainian negotiators have been able to keep some “very sensitive points” in play, such as using frozen Russian assets to finance Ukrainian reconstruction.
“The aggressor must pay fully for the war he started,” he insisted.
The U.S. government was optimistic about the progress made during talks with Ukrainian negotiators in Geneva, which concluded Monday morning.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiators had a “very good day” in Geneva on Sunday, with “a tremendous amount of progress” made.
“Over the last 96 hours or more, there’s been extensive engagement with the Ukrainian side including our Secretary of the Army and others, being on the ground in Kyiv, meeting with relevant stakeholders across the Ukrainian political spectrum in the legislative branch and the executive branch, and the military and others to further sort of narrow these points,” he said.
“Now, obviously, like any final agreement, it’ll have to be agreed upon by the presidents, and there are a couple of issues that we need to continue to work on,” Rubio added.
“This is a very delicate moment, and it’s important — like I said, there’s not agreement on those yet. Some of it is semantics or language; others require higher-level decisions and consultation; others, I think, just need more time to work through,” he said.
Rubio clarified that some of the outstanding issues involved the roles the European Union and NATO would play in providing security guarantees to Ukraine. He said all parties agreed that “getting a final end to this war will require for Ukraine to feel as if it is safe, and it is never going to be invaded or attacked again.”
President Donald Trump went into the weekend nursing some resentment for Ukrainian officials rejecting his 28-point peace plan, accusing them of showing “zero gratitude for our efforts” to thwart the Russian invasion. He also chided the Europeans for undermining his efforts to use economic leverage against Russia by continuing to buy Russian oil, and lamenting that the invasion would have “never happened” under “strong and proper U.S. and Ukrainian leadership.”
Trump was in a much better mood on Monday, writing on his Truth Social platform: “Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
The peace talks do not directly involve Russia yet, as the goal of the meetings in Geneva was to get Ukraine fully on board with a revised version of the plan before presenting it to the Russians. The peace plan was reportedly down to 19 points from 26 as of Monday morning, with the finishing touches likely to be made during direct talks between Trump and Zelensky.
“We haven’t yet received any kind of information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. “We’ve been closely following the multitude of media reports in recent days, including those from Geneva, but nothing has officially been sent to us.”
“We read a statement that, following the discussions in Geneva, some amendments had been made to the text which we had seen earlier. We’ll wait. It seems that the dialogue is continuing,” he said.
According to Peskov, no meetings between U.S. and Russian officials have been scheduled for the coming week, but he said President Putin is open to discussions.
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