Europeans rush to foil Ukraine deal favouring Kremlin

Kyiv's allies seek to thwart Trump negotiator's peace plan that gives in to Russian demands and turns the screw on embattled Zelensky

- Liz Cookman

European leaders were scrambling this weekend to prevent US President Donald Trump from forcing Ukraine to sign a peace deal on terms widely viewed as favourable to Russia.

In a sign of a fresh rift between the Trump administration and Kyiv's European allies, prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced concern over the plan, saying it needed more work. Starmer said he would talk to Trump "in the coming days".

Trump has given Ukraine just a week to sign the deal, presenting President Volodymyr Zelensky with one of his hardest decisions since Russia invaded. Ukrainian negotiators are due to meet US officials in Switzerland for talks that will determine the country's future - and that of the Western alliance. The widely leaked 28-point peace plan, put together by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart, Kirill Dmitriev, reflects many of the uncompromising demands made by Russia that Kyiv has consistently rejected: ceding eastern areas it now controls, significantly cutting its army size and pledging not to join Nato.

It has been backed by Vladimir Putin, who called it a "modernised" version of the one discussed at the Alaska summit with Trump in August.

The US has cautioned that the lopsided proposal is still "in flux", but has also threatened to withdraw intelligence sharing and arms deliveries if Zelensky does not accept the deal by Thursday. "At some point, he's going to have to accept something he hasn't accepted," Trump told reporters.

The plan was presented to Zelensky at a moment when he has been weakened by a corruption scandal involving members of his own circle - the reporting of which some of his allies believe is not coincidental.