“Although Ukraine, Germany, France and Great Britain will be represented at the meeting by their national security advisers, it is unclear whether Marco Rubio will attend”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
While Ukraine, Germany, France and Great Britain will be represented at the meeting by their national security advisers, it is unclear whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser, will attend. Rubio led the US delegation to talks with Ukraine in Geneva three weeks ago, but since then Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner have been leading the talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the Europeans also want to hold a joint phone conversation with Trump, but it has not yet been scheduled, a White House official and a source familiar with the situation said.
The meeting in Paris follows a telephone conversation on Wednesday between Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Mertz said Thursday that he and his fellow leaders told Trump that only Ukraine can decide what to do with its own territory.
Mertz said the conversation was constructive and that both sides expressed respect. Trump, on the contrary, said that the participants “discussed Ukraine in rather harsh terms.”
Read also: Lavrov said that the Russian Federation no longer has misunderstandings with the US regarding Ukraine
Last week, American representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin regarding the parameters of a possible peace agreement in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Later, Putin confirmed that during a meeting with Witkoff and Kushner on December 2, Russian representatives did not agree with part of the points of the American plan to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
After this meeting, the Ukrainian delegation in the US continued negotiations with representatives of the Trump administration, which lasted several days.
Read also: Zelensky is ready for elections during the war, but under conditions
In an interview with Politico published on December 9, Trump, commenting on the peace talks, said that Russia is now “without a doubt” in a stronger negotiating position than Ukraine. Trump noted that he advises Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to the American peace initiative, which involves significant concessions on the part of Ukraine.
Ukrainian and European officials remain highly skeptical that Russia is truly seeking peace, even though Trump has said he believes Putin is serious.
The American Institute for the Study of War has previously repeatedly stated that the Kremlin is not disposed to honest peace negotiations and has no intention of making concessions in pursuit of Ukraine’s surrender.