Ukraine Peace Talks

President Trump has pressed Kyiv to accept a U.S.-backed 20-point peace plan by Christmas, dispatching envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and prompting meetings in Berlin, London, Paris and Washington as negotiators haggle over key sticking points including control of the Donbas, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, elections and legally binding security guarantees. The holiday deadline has split Capitol Hill—some Democrats warned against the timetable while other lawmakers urged pressure on Ukraine—and Kyiv, backed by European leaders, has delivered a point-by-point response and publicly resisted ceding territory without Congress‑approved guarantees.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he held the first formal U.S. meeting on Ukraine’s reconstruction with senior Trump‑administration officials to review a roughly 20‑point framework that was pared down from an initial 28‑point proposal. The U.S. push — led by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and negotiated in multiple rounds from Geneva and Miami to Abu Dhabi and Moscow — has revised but not resolved contentious items including territorial lines, NATO membership and troop‑caps, while European allies pushed back, Russia expressed mixed signals, and fighting continued as talks proceeded.