Europeans present proposal on Ukrainian territorial concessions to Trump — Merz
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has presented a proposal regarding territorial concessions for Ukraine as part of a plan to resolve the conflict during a telephone talk with US President Donald Trump, he said.
“We indeed had a very detailed conversation with President Trump yesterday afternoon. [President of France] Emmanuel Macron, [British Prime Minister] Keir Starmer and me. We discussed how this process will progress in the coming days. We offered to spend the weekend finalizing the documents together with the American government,” Merz said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
He said the conversation was “constructive.”
“There is a proposal that Trump did not know about at the time of the conversation, because it had not yet been sent to the Americans. We presented it yesterday afternoon. The main question is what territorial concessions Ukraine is ready to make,” the German Chancellor stressed, adding that the Ukrainian side must answer it. “We have made this clear to President Trump,” Merz said.
“After yesterday’s phone conversation with President Trump, I have a firm impression that he is ready to go down this road with us, because he knows that European interests also need to be heard out. We made that clear to him in yesterday’s conversation. In this regard, it was a really constructive telephone conversation, during which the positions of both sides became clear and mutual respect was expressed.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, businessman Jared Kushner on December 3. According to the Russian leader’s Aide Yury Ushakov, the talks were constructive and meaningful. The parties discussed several options for a peace plan, including territories, and agreed to continue contacts.
On Monday, Vladimir Zelensky said that a new version of the peace plan, developed during his meeting with European leaders, would be handed over to the United States on Tuesday evening. He said that “the plan has been reduced from 28 points to 20,” and a compromise on the issue of territories “has not yet been found.”Read Full Original