territory

Talks in Geneva between the US and Ukraine aimed at ending the war with Russia have concluded, with officials from both sides reporting “progress” and an intention to continue working.

However, no details have emerged on how to bridge the considerable divide between Moscow and Kyiv over territorial issues and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the “important steps” that had been made but warned that the “main problem” facing the peace talks was Vladimir Putin’s demand for legal recognition of Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine.

“This would break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he said, highlighting concerns that Moscow could be rewarded for its aggression with land it seized by force.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump suggested on social media that “something good just may be happening”, but with the caveat: “Don’t believe it until you see it.”

The Geneva talks did not involve Russian representatives and the Kremlin said it hadn’t received any information on the outcome of the discussions. Spokesman Dmitri Peskov noted Moscow was aware that “adjustments” were made to the plan that had been welcomed by Putin.

A 28-point peace plan drafted by US and Russian officials was presented to Ukraine last week. Several of its elements seemed heavily geared towards Moscow’s longstanding demands, sparking consternation in Kyiv and its European allies.

Comments by Trump which suggested Ukraine had until Thursday to accept the deal or face serious cuts in US support contributed to creating a sense of urgency across Europe and talks between Ukraine and US officials were hastily convened.

By Sunday evening US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a “tremendous” amount of progress had been made at the talks. “I honestly believe we’ll get there,” he said.

But some European leaders have been more cautious. “I am not sure if we are closer to peace,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said discussions would be a “lengthy, long-lasting process” and that he did not expect any breakthroughs this week.

Europeans were left scrambling for a seat at the table last week, after they were seemingly caught unawares when the US draft peace plan was presented.

A counter-proposal – reportedly drafted by Britain, France and Germany – excluded any recognition of Russian-held regions, raised Ukraine’s allowed army size and left the door open to Ukraine joining Nato.

Rubio said he was not aware of the plan and on Monday Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov rubbished it as “completely unconstructive”.

Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has consistently demanded full Ukrainian withdrawal from the whole of the eastern Donbas region.

But Kyiv and its European partners are weary of any settlement which would jeopardise the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty – and Zelensky has repeatedly warned that giving up the Donbas would leave Ukraine vulnerable to Russian attacks in the future.

Despite last week’s frenzied diplomacy the next steps in the process are unclear.

The expectation is that Zelensky will soon personally speak to Trump, after which a new draft peace plan will be eventually presented to Moscow. There were no plans for a meeting this week between Russian and US negotiators, the Kremlin said.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said there was still work to do for a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine. A virtual “coalition of the willing” meeting will take place on Tuesday to discuss developments, he added.

More details are emerging from a 28-point peace plan backed by United States President Donald Trump aimed at ending Russia’s four-year war on Ukraine, with several media outlets and officials confirming that the plan, which has yet to be officially published, appears to favour Russia.

Details of the plan also come after US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told the UN Security Council on Thursday afternoon that the US had offered “generous terms for Russia, including sanctions relief”.

“The United States has invested at the highest levels, the president of the United States personally, to end this war,” Waltz told the council.

The AFP news agency reported on Friday that the plan, which the US views as a “working document”, says that “Crimea, Lugansk [Luhansk] and Donetsk will be recognised as de facto Russian, including by the United States”.

This corresponds with an earlier report from US media outlet Axios.

The Associated Press (AP) news agency also reported on Friday that the plan would require Ukraine to surrender the Donbas, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that Ukraine currently partly holds.

Under the draft, Moscow would hold all the eastern Donbas region, even though approximately 14 percent still remains in Ukrainian hands, AP reported.

AFP and AP also confirmed Axios’s earlier report that the plan would require Ukraine to limit the size of its military.

According to AFP, the plan specifically says that the army would be limited to 600,000 personnel. Ukraine is estimated to currently have just under 900,000 active duty military staff.

‘A neutral demilitarised buffer zone’

Ukrainian member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko shared a document showing what appeared to be the full 28-point peace plan with his 223,000 followers on the Telegram messaging app, late on Thursday, Ukraine time.

Russia’s state TASS news agency also reported on details included in the document shared by Goncharenko, saying it “purportedly represents a Ukrainian translation of 28 points of the new American plan for a peace settlement in Ukraine”.

New details included in the document shared by Goncharenko include that “Ukraine has the right to EU [European Union] membership” and that the “United States will work with Ukraine to jointly restore, develop, modernise, and operate Ukraine’s gas infrastructure, including pipelines and storage facilities”.

The document also states that Ukraine’s “Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant will be commissioned under [UN nuclear agency] IAEA supervision, and the electricity generated will be shared equally between Russia and Ukraine in a 50:50 ratio”.

The text of the document shared by Goncharenko also states that “Ukrainian forces withdraw from the part of the Donetsk region that they currently control, and this withdrawal zone will be considered a neutral demilitarised buffer zone”.

Handing over territory to Russia would be deeply unpopular in Ukraine and would also be illegal under Ukraine’s constitution. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out such a possibility.

No NATO membership for Ukraine

The AFP news agency also reported that, according to the plan, European fighter jets would be based in Poland specifically to protect Ukraine.

However, Kyiv would have to concede that no NATO troops would be stationed in Ukraine and that it would agree never to join the military alliance.

Additional details reported by AP include that Russia would commit to making no future attacks on Ukraine, something the White House views as a concession by Moscow.

In addition, $100bn in frozen Russian assets would be dedicated to rebuilding Ukraine, AP reported.

Russia would also be re-admitted to the G8 group of nations and be integrated back into the global economy under the plan, according to AFP.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that both Ukrainians and Russians have had input into the plan, which she said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have been quietly working on for a month.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials visited southern Syrian territory, where Israel expanded its occupation after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last year.

Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights since December’s ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

Syria has denounced a trip by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials to the country’s south, where they visited troops deployed to Syrian territory they’ve occupied for months.

Israel expanded its occupation of southern Syrian territory as the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad was overrun by rebel forces in December.

“My government strongly condemns this provocative tour, which epitomises Israel’s ongoing aggression against Syria and its people,” Ibrahim Olabi, Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

“We renew our call on the UN and this council to take firm and immediate action to halt these violations, ensure their non-reoccurrence, end the occupation and enforce relevant resolutions, particularly the 1974 disengagement agreement” that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

Since the overthrow of al-Assad, Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights separating Israeli and Syrian forces.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials’ “very public visit” as “concerning, to say the least”.

Dujarric noted that UN Resolution 2799, recently passed by the Security Council, “called for the full sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity of Syria”.

Israel has previously said the 1974 agreement has been void since al-Assad fled, and it has breached Syrian sovereignty with air strikes, ground infiltration operations, reconnaissance overflights, the establishment of checkpoints, and the arrest and disappearance of Syrian citizens.

Syria has not reciprocated the attacks.

‘Zero signs of aggression’

During the Security Council meeting, Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, did not directly address Netanyahu’s visit but instead lectured Syria’s ambassador.

“Show us that Syria is moving away from extremism and radicalism, that the protection of Christians and Jews is not an afterthought but a priority. Show us that the militias are restrained and justice is real and the cycle of indiscriminate killings has ended,” Danon said.

Olabi responded: “The proving, Mr Ambassador, tends to be on your shoulders. You have struck Syria more than 1,000 times, and we have responded with requests for diplomacy … and responded with zero signs of aggression towards Israel. … We have engaged constructively. and we still await for you to do the same.”

Netanyahu was accompanied to Syrian territory by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Defence Minister Israel Katz, army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and the head of the Shin Bet security service, David Zini

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned “in the strongest terms the illegal visit, … considering it a serious violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

This month, Israel’s army renewed its incursions into Syria, setting up a military checkpoint in the southern province of Quneitra.

In September, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Israel had conducted more than 1,000 air strikes and more than 400 ground incursions in Syria since al-Assad was overthrown, describing the actions as “very dangerous”.

Reporting from the UN in New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo noted Syria and Israel continue to negotiate a security pact that analysts said could be finalised before the end of the year.

“The testy exchange between the two ambassadors likely won’t derail that. But it does show how little trust there is between both countries – and how Netanyahu and his government continue to try to provoke Damascus,” Elizondo said.