Negotiations on the war in Ukraine in London will be held without top diplomats - Sky News
Kyiv • UNN
Top diplomats were supposed to hold talks on the war in Ukraine in London, but the meeting will take place at the level of senior officials. The US will offer Kyiv to recognize Crimea as Russian and freeze the front.
Top diplomats from Great Britain, the USA, France, Germany and Ukraine postponed a meeting in London on Wednesday for high-level negotiations on how to end the war in Russia, reports Sky News, writes UNN.
Details
Instead, discussions will take place among senior officials from the five countries, although the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is also still expected to be in the British capital and, as is known, will hold a bilateral meeting with the head of the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, David Lammy.
"The reduction in the level of diplomacy contrasts with the increased pressure from Donald Trump and his team on Kyiv and Moscow to agree on a ceasefire," the publication notes.
The US peace proposal, which is to be discussed in London, reportedly "involves the United States recognising Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea - something Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected on Tuesday".
The plan, which US media reported at the weekend, also freezes the front lines within a peace agreement, the publication writes.
The US President, who took office stating that he would quickly end Russia's war in Ukraine, is now warning that he will "refuse" to mediate peace talks if Kyiv and Moscow "complicate" reaching an agreement. Marco Rubio, his Secretary of State, also said last week that Washington would end talks if no progress was made within days, the publication notes.
"Rubio was supposed to come to London to meet with Lammy and the foreign ministers of Ukraine, France and Germany, but it emerged on Tuesday that he would no longer be travelling," the publication notes.
"After that happened, Paris and Berlin also apparently suspended their respective ministers' travel plans. It is clear that there is hope that a meeting at the level of ministers will still take place in the near future," the publication reads.
Instead, Keith Kellogg, the US President's special representative for Ukraine, will participate in discussions in London with senior French and German officials
Great Britain and France are leading efforts to ensure that Europe is not pushed aside by Trump in the pursuit of peace in Ukraine.
They have also been trying to assemble a "coalition of the willing" to send British, French and other foreign troops to Ukraine after any ceasefire to help secure the peace - although, as the publication writes, "defence experts doubt the reliability of such a plan without the support of the US and their much larger armed forces".
Instead of a personal meeting, Lammy had a telephone conversation with Rubio on Tuesday, which he called "productive" in a post on X.
"Great Britain is working with the USA, Ukraine and Europe for the sake of peace and an end to Putin's illegal invasion," he wrote.
"Negotiations are continuing at that pace, and officials will meet in London tomorrow [on Wednesday]. This is a critical moment for Ukraine, Great Britain and Euro-Atlantic security," Lammy noted.
Rubio published a similar message: "Today I had a productive conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, David Lammy. I expressed my gratitude for hosting the US delegation headed by the President's Special Envoy Keith Kellogg. Our team looks forward to meaningful and good technical meetings with Ukrainian and British colleagues."
"I look forward to continuing the ongoing discussions in London and moving my trip to Great Britain to the coming months," Rubio indicated.