Tough issues remain unresolved after US-Ukrainian talks in Florida, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, as he and other Ukrainian officials fanned out across Europe to rally allies, while Donald Trump's envoy headed to Moscow to brief the Kremlin.
Diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest war in generations intensified on Monday, shifting from Florida - where US and Ukrainian officials met at a golf resort built by Trump's envoy and real estate magnate Steve Witkoff - to European capitals. In Paris, Zelenskyy received a show of support from French President Emmanuel Macron, and will travel to Ireland on Tuesday. Ukraine's defence minister was also due in Brussels for NATO meetings. Witkoff, meanwhile, was en route to Moscow, where he is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Kyiv and its European allies have pressed Washington to revise a proposed US peace plan that initially endorsed Russia's main demands: that Ukraine give up more territory, reduce the size of its army, abandon its NATO ambitions and be barred from hosting Western troops.
Ukraine says those terms amount to capitulation and would leave the country vulnerable to eventual conquest by Russia, which invaded in 2014 and again in 2022.
"There are some tough issues that still have to be worked through," Zelenskyy said on X, noting a packed agenda of meetings across Europe to discuss the Florida talks. "It will be a very substantive day." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who hosted the talks in Miami, said on Sunday the US was "realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic... given the fact that we've made progress."
Diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest war in generations intensified on Monday, shifting from Florida - where US and Ukrainian officials met at a golf resort built by Trump's envoy and real estate magnate Steve Witkoff - to European capitals. In Paris, Zelenskyy received a show of support from French President Emmanuel Macron, and will travel to Ireland on Tuesday. Ukraine's defence minister was also due in Brussels for NATO meetings. Witkoff, meanwhile, was en route to Moscow, where he is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Kyiv and its European allies have pressed Washington to revise a proposed US peace plan that initially endorsed Russia's main demands: that Ukraine give up more territory, reduce the size of its army, abandon its NATO ambitions and be barred from hosting Western troops.
Ukraine says those terms amount to capitulation and would leave the country vulnerable to eventual conquest by Russia, which invaded in 2014 and again in 2022.
"There are some tough issues that still have to be worked through," Zelenskyy said on X, noting a packed agenda of meetings across Europe to discuss the Florida talks. "It will be a very substantive day." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who hosted the talks in Miami, said on Sunday the US was "realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic... given the fact that we've made progress."
