Russia maintaining
By Duarte Days
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that suggested legal recognition of Russian sovereignty over territory captured in his country’s east remains a “major issue” in negotiations as President Trump pushes for a deal to end Moscow’s nearly four-year crisis. war against ukraine.
Ukrainian and American officials met over the weekend in Switzerland to discuss a 28 point proposal presented last week by the White House. They discussed the possibility Zelenskyy is expected to visit the United States this week as part of Trump’s attempt to reach a deal by Thanksgiving, News themezone’ Margaret Brennan reported, citing several U.S. and Ukrainian officials familiar with the discussions.
Trump described the Thanksgiving deadline as flexible and told reporters Saturday that the plan presented last week “was not my final proposal.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Geneva for the weekend talks, said that “very, very significant” progress was made with the Ukrainian and European delegations, but that “there is still work to do and that’s what our teams are going to be doing right now.”
Addressing Sweden’s parliament on Monday, Zelenskyy made clear that one of the key points of contention over the US proposal was a call for Ukraine and the global community to formally recognize that part of the land that Russian forces have forcibly occupied is no longer Ukrainian.
“Putin wants legal recognition of what he has stolen, to break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Zelenskyy said. “That’s the main problem. You all understand what that means.”
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said there were still “important issues that still need to be resolved” regarding the US peace proposal, although he also welcomed progress made during high-stakes talks in Geneva.
Rubio struck a more optimistic tone in describing the weekend talks, saying Sunday that the session in Geneva was “probably the most productive day we’ve had on this issue” since President Trump took office for his second term in January.

Rubio emphasized that there was more work to do and said he did not want to “declare victory or finality.”
The top American diplomat was pressed by reporters but did not offer any information on what issues were the main sticking points in the peace talks. He called the proposal a “living, breathing document” and said he believed the issues that remained unresolved were “not insurmountable.”
The White House said in a statement late Sunday that U.S. and Ukrainian officials “drafted an updated and refined peace framework” after their discussions, but Russia’s government said Monday that the revisions had not been shared and that it would reserve judgment.
Putin said Friday that the U.S. proposal could serve as the basis for a negotiated resolution to what his government has refused to recognize as a war, but warned that if Ukraine rejected the plan, Russian forces would continue attacking, capturing even more ground.
“Of course, we are closely following the media reports that have been coming from Geneva over the past few days,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, “but we have not received anything official yet.”
“We read a statement that, after discussions in Geneva, some modifications had been made to the text that we had seen before. We will wait. It seems that the dialogue is continuing,” he said, adding that there were no plans for a meeting this week between Russian and US officials on the issue, but that Moscow remained open to dialogue.
The 28-point plan, which U.S. officials said last week had Trump’s backing, raised alarm among America’s European allies for being perceived as too friendly to Russia.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Olga Stefanishyna, said Sunday on News themezone’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that her country had not agreed to all the terms of the draft plan, which was leaked to the media last week.
“This plan is not about justice and the truth of this war and aggression,” Stefanishyna said. “This is about ending the war and stopping military engagement.”
In:
- War
- Ukraine
- Cease-fire
- donald trump
- Russia
- Vladimir Putin
- Volodymyr Zelensky
Zelenskyy could visit the United States this week
Zelenskyy could visit US this week as Trump pressures him to accept peace deal
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