RUSSIA-U.S. PARLEYS SIGNAL A FAREWELL TO ARMS IN UKRAINE

As Washington realises that Moscow is clinching the war and Kyiv's palace intrigue gets darker, emissaries from Trump & Putin are setting the stage for an endgame. Talks in Geneva indicated what's acceptable

- M K BHADRAKUMAR

THE shock and awe over the different versions of the 28-point US-backed peace plan for Ukraine has given way to sobering thoughts and reflections. Senior Western diplomats huddled together at hastily-arranged talks for two days this week in Geneva, which reportedly produced a revised 19-point outline that is not yet in the public domain, except that the UK and European leaders were said to have put forward a counter-proposal to the US plan that apparently contains many of Russia's key demands.

Apart from the super-hawk head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who is clinging desperately to her vitriolic anti-Russian rhetoric, there is a palpable optimism in the air. Even Downing Street acknowledged after a phone conversation between the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump that they remained united in efforts to secure peace in Ukraine at a "critical moment", and agreed that "we all" must work together to bring about a "just and lasting peace".

Not to be left behind, French President Emmanuel Macron echoed the same sentiment when he stated on live TV, "We are clearly at a crucial juncture. Negotiations are getting a new impetus, and we should seize this momentum. There is finally a chance to make real progress towards a good peace." The two apostles of Europe's Coalition of the Willing have signalled a farewell to arms.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian chief negotiator Andriy Yermak described their separate talks in Geneva as productive. Rubio said it was "probably the most productive and meaningful meeting so far in this entire process".