Zelensky says US peace plan ‘looks better’ with revisions but work continues
PARIS: Ukraine’s president spoke optimistically Monday about the progress of revising the Trump administration’s peace plan, saying “it looks better” and the work will continue during talks on how to end Russia’s nearly four-year war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke after meeting with France’s president, the latest in discussions aimed at brokering the terms for a potential ceasefire in the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday. Witkoff’s role came under scrutiny last week following a report that he coached Putin’s foreign affairs adviser on how Russia’s leader should pitch to Trump on the Ukraine peace plan.
Zelensky’s visit to Paris followed Sunday’s meeting between Ukrainian and US officials, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as productive. The two sides have worked to revise the proposed US-authored plan that was developed in negotiations between Washington and Moscow but criticized as being too weighted toward Russian demands.
The Kremlin late Monday boasted of Russia’s battlefield gains ahead of the talks, claiming Moscow’s troops have captured the key city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region. According to Peskov, Putin received a report about Pokrovsk’s capture on Sunday.
Zelensky, however, said in Paris that fighting was still ongoing in Pokrovsk on Monday.
