Land and security are the main sticking points as Russia and Ukraine mull Trump’s peace proposal

Diplomats face an uphill battle to reconcile Russian and Ukrainian red lines as a renewed U S -led push to end the war gathers steam with Ukrainian functionaries attending talks in the U S over the weekend and Washington leaders expected in Moscow early this week U S President Donald Trump s peace plan became society last month sparking alarm that it was too favorable to Moscow It was revised following talks in Geneva between the U S and Ukraine a week ago Ukraine s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced the revised plan could be workable Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a accomplishable basis for a future peace agreement Trump reported Sunday there s a good chance we can make a deal Still administrators on both sides indicated a long road ahead as key sticking points over whether Kyiv should cede land to Moscow and how to ensure Ukraine s future shield appear unresolved Here is where things stand and what to expect this week US holds talks with Kyiv then Moscow Trump representatives met the Ukrainian functionaries over the weekend and plan to meet with the Russians in coming days Ukraine s national prevention council head Rustem Umerov the head of Ukraine s armed forces Andrii Hnatov presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz and others met with U S representatives for about four hours on Sunday U S Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the session was productive but more work remains Umerov praised the U S for its sponsorship but offered no details Zelenskyy s former chief of staff and former lead negotiator for Ukraine Andrii Yermak resigned Friday amid a corruption embarrassment and is no longer part of the negotiating organization It was only a week ago that Rubio met with Yermak in Geneva resulting in a revised peace plan Trump reported last week that he would send his envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov authenticated Monday that Putin will meet Witkoff on Tuesday afternoon Trump suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy but not until there has been more progress Witkoff s role in the peace efforts came under scrutiny last week following a overview that he coached Yuri Ushakov Putin s foreign affairs adviser on how Russia s leader should pitch Trump on the Ukraine peace plan Both Moscow and Washington downplayed the significance of the revelations Where the two sides stand Eager to please Trump Kyiv and Moscow have ostensibly welcomed the peace plan and the push to end the war But Russia has continued attacking Ukraine and reiterated its maximalist demands indicating a deal is still a solutions off Putin implied last week that he will fight as a long as it takes to achieve his goals saying that he will stop only when Ukrainian troops withdraw from all four Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed in and still doesn t fully control If they don t withdraw we ll achieve this by force That s all he announced The plan Putin mentioned could form the basis for future agreements but it is in no way final and requires a serious discussion Zelenskyy has refrained from talking about individual points opting instead to thank Trump profusely for his efforts and emphasizing the need for Europe whose interests are more closely aligned with Ukraine s to be involved He also has stressed the importance of robust prevention guarantees for Ukraine The first version of the plan granted chosen core Russian demands that Ukraine considers nonstarters such as ceding land to Moscow that it doesn t yet occupy and renouncing its bid to become a member of NATO Zelenskyy has explained repeatedly that giving up territory is not an option One of the Ukrainian negotiators Bevz narrated The Associated Press on Tuesday that Ukraine s president sought to discuss the territory issue with Trump directly Yermak then stated The Atlantic in an interview on Thursday that Zelenskyy would not sign over the land Zelenskyy also maintains that NATO membership is the cheapest way to guarantee Ukraine s safeguard and NATO s member countries mentioned last year that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to membership Since he took office Trump has made it clear that NATO membership is off the table Moscow in turn has bristled at any suggestion of a Western peacekeeping force on the ground in Ukraine and stressed that keeping Ukraine out of NATO and NATO out of Ukraine was one of the core goals of the war Putin seems to have time on his side Zelenskyy meanwhile has been under pressure at home Yermak s resignation was a major blow for Zelenskyy although neither the president nor Yermak have been accused of wrongdoing by investigators Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes There won t be mistakes on our side Zelenskyy reported Our work continues our struggle continues We don t have a right not to push it to the end An activist with Ukraine s nongovernmental Anti-Corruption Center Valeriia Radchenko reported letting go of Yermak was the right decision and would open a window of opportunity for modification Putin meanwhile seeks to project confidence boasting of Russia s advances on the battlefield The Russian leader feels more confident than ever about the battlefield situation and is convinced that he can wait until Kyiv eventually accepts that it cannot win and must negotiate on Russia s well-known terms Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center wrote on X If the Americans can help move things in that direction fine If not he knows how to proceed anyway That is the current Kremlin logic Europe s conundrum NATO and the EU are holding several meetings this week focused on Ukraine Zelenskyy is holding talks with French President Emmanuel Macro n in Paris on Monday In Brussels NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is hosting Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal and EU defense and foreign ministers are gathering to discuss European military aid for Ukraine and Europe s defense readiness On Wednesday NATO foreign ministers will gather again in Brussels The main issue for the EU right now is what to do with the frozen Russian assets in Belgium that the Trump peace plan in its initial version sought to use for post-war expenditure in Ukraine Those funds are central to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen s strategy to ensure continued help for Ukraine while also maintaining pressure on Russia But Belgium s prime minister is holding out worried about the legal implications of tapping the frozen assets for Ukraine the impact that could have on the euro and of Russian retaliation The diplomacy set in motion by Trump s peace plan painfully exposed Europe s weakness Nigel Gould-Davies of the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote in a current commentary Despite being the main source of Ukraine s economic and military encouragement it is marginal to the diplomacy of the war and has done little more than offer amendments to America s draft peace plan Gould-Davies wrote Source