Nov. 30 (UPI) — Top Ukrainian and American leaders are scheduled to meet late Sunday to renew talks about a plan to end the latest chapter in the decades-long battle between Russia and Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump‘s special envoy Steve Witkof are set to meet with a Ukrainian delegation to discuss details of the U.S. backed plan to bring the violence to an end.
Ukraine seeks international security guarantees as part of the agreement, as well as a ceasefire based on the existing frontlines, and has refused to cede any Ukrainian territory that is not already under Russian control.
Russian President Vladimir Putin does not appear set to offer any concessions, instead demanding that any military aggression will end “once Ukrainian troops withdraw from the territories they occupy,” according to CNN.
Rubio met with the Ukrainian delegation in Geneva last week to discuss a 28-point plan to end the war, which included demands by Putin that Russia regain its standing on the international stage and that Ukraine be forbidden from joining NATO, a group to which it has long sought membership.
Ukraine said then that the plan was highly favorable to Russia, and that it required “additional work.” The plan ultimately fell by the wayside, prompting the need for the Sunday meeting between the U.S. and Ukrainian delegations.
Russian officials have said they have received some details of the new plan, but have not disclosed them.
“This isn’t an official one, but we do have the document,” Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said. “We haven’t discussed it with anyone yet because the points in it require truly serious analysis and discussion.”
Trump suggested a Thanksgiving Day deadline for a deal to be signed, but later backed away from that, or any, timeline for the war to end.
“You know what the deadline is for me? When it’s over,” Trump said.
The negotiations are happening amidst Russian missile and drone attacks on key infrastructure in cities across Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Sunday that over the last week, Russia has launched at least 1,400 drone attacks, 1,100 guided aerial bomb strikes and carried out 66 missile attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine has responded by targeting Russian energy and military infrastructure outposts, striking them with long-range drones and missiles. It also launched drone attacks over the weekend on two tankers shipping oil to Russia in the Black Sea.
