JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Ukraine's allies will seek to "strengthen" a US plan to end the war with Russia when they meet at the G20 summit in South Africa, UK PM Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The summit begins a day after President
Volodymyr Zelensky warned Ukraine faced "one of the most difficult moments
in our history" over pressure to accept the plan - leaked details of which
have been seen as favourable to Moscow.
Zelensky held phone talks with Sir Keir
and the leaders of France and Germany on Friday. Afterwards, the PM said
Ukraine's "friends and partners" remained committed to securing a
"lasting peace once and for all".
Neither US President Donald Trump nor
Russian President Vladimir Putin are attending the G20.
The widely leaked US peace plan includes proposals
that Kyiv had previously ruled out, including ceding eastern areas it currently
controls.
Washington has been pressing Kyiv to
accept and sent senior Pentagon officials to Ukraine earlier this week to
discuss the proposals.
But there is nervousness in Europe over
what has been perceived as a set of terms heavily slanted in Moscow's favour.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the prospect of it being adopted a
"very dangerous moment".
According to news agency Reuters, she told
reporters: "We all want this war to end, but how it ends matters. Russia
has no legal right whatsoever to any concessions from the country it invaded,
ultimately the terms of any agreement are for Ukraine to decide."
Ahead of the talks at the G20, Sir Keir
said gathered leaders would "discuss the current proposal on the table,
and in support of President Trump's push for peace, look at how we can
strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations".
He continued: "Not a day has passed
in this war where Ukraine hasn't called for Russia to end its illegal invasion,
roll back its tanks and lay down its guns.
"Ukraine has been ready to negotiate
for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage.
"That is why we must all work
together, with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once
and for all."
As part of the White House's plan, Ukraine
would be obliged to cut the size of its army and pledge not to join the Nato
military alliance, a long-held Kremlin demand.
Trump warned on Friday that Ukraine would
lose more territory to Russia "in a short amount of time" and that
Zelensky "is going to have to approve" the plan.
The US president said he had given Ukraine
until Thursday to agree to the plan - Thanksgiving in the US - which he
described as an "appropriate" deadline.
Russian troops have been making slow
advances along the vast front line, despite reported heavy losses.
Ukraine relies on deliveries of
US-manufactured advanced weaponry to arms its forces, including air defence
systems.
Kyiv has also been dependent on intelligence
provided by Washington since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine
in 2022.
US Vice-President, JD Vance said on Friday that it was a
"fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions,
victory is at hand".
During a meeting with his security cabinet
on Friday, Putin confirmed the US had presented its proposed peace plan, and
said it could be the "basis" for a settlement - though added detailed
talks on its terms had not yet been held in the Kremlin.
He said Russia was willing to "show
flexibility" but was also prepared to fight on.
In a 10-minute address in front of the
presidential office in Kyiv, Zelensky warned that Ukraine would face "a
lot of pressure... to weaken us, to divide us".
"We're not making loud statements,"
he went on, "we'll be calmly working with America and all the partners...
offering alternatives" to the proposed peace plan.
Zelensky has had to strike a careful
balance between Kyiv's interests and maintaining cordial ties with Trump, with
whom he had a public falling-out at the White House earlier this year and who
has appeared at times frustrated at the lack of progress in peace talks.
His reaction to the US plan has been
measuredly worded - though he did admit on Friday that Ukraine "might
face a very difficult choice: either losing dignity or risk losing a key
partner".
The White House has pushed back on claims that Ukraine was frozen out of the drafting of the proposal.
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