EU learned of US peace plan from media – NYT

European leaders learned of US peace plan from media and were shocked

European politicians learned about the U.S. peace plan only after its contents were reported in the media, Censor.NET writes with reference to The New York Times.

According to the outlet, most EU leaders were not familiar with the details of the document. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was struck both by the content of the plan and by the fact that he learned about it from the media.

European diplomats used their own channels to verify the authenticity of the document and arranged a meeting of EU leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit. EU representatives later discussed the plan with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and drew up their own version.

Europe’s diplomatic leverage

The New York Times notes that initially the United States did not involve the EU in talks on the document, but European diplomats nevertheless managed to influence the position of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

After the talks, the initial U.S. plan was revised. In the EU, this outcome was described as a "victory".

: "When the plan surfaced, they realised that Europe had been sidelined in efforts to end the largest land war since World War Two," the NYT writes.

US peace plan

On Sunday, 23 November, talks began in Geneva between Ukrainian and US delegations on a peace plan to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
It was previously reported that the Ukrainian delegation had already held meetings in Geneva with EU advisers.
Later, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on the first results of the talks in Geneva involving delegations from the US, Ukraine, the EU and the UK on the US plan to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
National Security and Defence Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said that the current draft of the US peace plan to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine is at the final stage of coordination and already reflects most of Ukraine’s key priorities.
Following the talks in Geneva on Sunday, 23 November, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Washington team would introduce "some changes" to the US peace plan.
The new US peace plan for resolving the Russia–Ukraine war has been reduced from 28 points to 19.
On 25 November, Trump sent his special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow for a meeting with Putin, while instructing another envoy, Dan Driscoll, to hold talks with Ukraine in Kyiv.