BERLIN, Nov 21 — The leaders of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom (UK) have welcomed the United States' (US) effort to end the war in Ukraine but stressed that any agreement affecting Europe must involve its partners, underscoring sharp divergences with Washington's 28-point peace plan.
The German Press Agency, quoting a German government spokesman, reported that during a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged the Trump administration’s push to broker an end to the conflict.
The three leaders simultaneously underlined that "any agreement affecting European states, the European Union, or Nato requires the approval of European partners or a consensus among the Allies," according to a written statement released after the call.
Zelensky, Starmer, Macron, and Merz vowed to continue pursuing the goal of safeguarding "vital European and Ukrainian interests" in the long term, including the demand for a ceasefire along the current front lines as a prerequisite for peace negotiations.
They added that Ukraine's armed forces must remain capable of effectively defending the country's sovereignty. This vision contradicts the terms laid out in the widely leaked 28-point US plan earlier this week.
The draft, which Russia has said it was not consulted on, includes many of Moscow's demands, including territorial concessions and a ban on Ukraine joining Nato.
The plan calls for Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the parts of the contested Luhansk and Donetsk regions it currently controls.
Ukraine, which has consistently rejected territorial concessions, and its European allies, on the other hand, have long pressed for a ceasefire along the current front lines as a prerequisite for a final peace settlement — a proposal that Moscow rejects.
