Trump Blasts Ukraine, Europe as They Work to Reshape U.S. Peace Plan

Officials from U.S., Ukraine and Europe held meetings in Geneva to discuss next steps on the proposal

By Matthew Luxmoore and Laurence Norman, The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 23, 2025 12:55 pm ET 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian Presidential Office Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak at a press conference with US and Ukrainian flags behind them.
Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio hold a press conference following closed-door talks on a plan to end the war. FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

President Trump criticized Ukrainian and European officials on Sunday, as they launched a diplomatic offensive aimed at reshaping a 28-point peace plan that has been criticized as too favorable to Russia.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump called the war a “loser” for everyone and said Ukrainian leaders had expressed “zero” gratitude for U.S. efforts. He said Europeans continue to buy oil from Russia.

Trump’s comments came as top Ukrainian officials met in Geneva on Sunday with the national-security advisers of France, Germany and the U.K., as well as U.S. officials involved in discussing next steps on the proposal. A U.S. official said the meetings had been constructive, and further talks will focus on ironing out details of the agreement.

Sunday’s talks had been “probably the most productive and meaningful meeting so far in this entire process since we have been involved,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday in Geneva.

He said the two sides had gone through the U.S. proposal point-by-point. Officials were “making some changes, some adjustments in the hopes of further narrowing the differences and getting closer to something that both Ukraine and obviously the United States are very comfortable with,” he said.

He added that Trump and the Ukrainian president would need to sign off any changes.

Trump had given Ukraine a Thursday deadline to respond to the proposal, which would require that Kyiv cede territory to Russia, block its ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and cap the size of its military amid other major economic and political concessions to Moscow. Ukraine has said the plan needs adjustments with European input.

Rustem Umerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and a member of Kyiv’s delegation in Geneva, said on Sunday that Ukraine was putting forward new proposals.

“We appreciate our American partners working closely with us to understand our concerns to reach this critical point and we expect to make more progress today,” he said in a post on X.

Write to Matthew Luxmoore at matthew.luxmoore@wsj.com and Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com

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