Senior Putin aide rejects Europe’s proposed changes to US-drafted Ukraine peace deal

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has called European counterproposals to a US-drafted peace plan for Ukraine “at first glance completely unconstructive” and confirmed that they would not be acceptable to Russia, Reuters reported on Monday.

Ushakov was far more positive about the original US plan, however, which Ukraine’s European allies have criticised for excessively favouring Russia. According to a copy of the proposals seen by Reuters, the new European plan significantly changes key points.

European leaders meeting at an EU-Africa summit in Angola reacted positively after discussing proposed amendments to the peace plan, reiterating Ukrainian red lines on territory and sovereignty, which were always likely to be major sticking points, The Guardian reported. The new version of the peace plan, which originally had 28 points, has now been scaled down to 19, according to The Financial Times.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said that there was “now a solid basis for moving forward,” but added that “only Ukraine, as a sovereign country, can make decisions” regarding its own future. European Council President António Costa was also upbeat, calling the direction of discussions “positive”.

Some national leaders were more cautious, however. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk stressed that any peace settlement for Ukraine needed to “strengthen, not weaken, our security,” and called for increased pressure on Russia and for its frozen European assets to be used to fund Ukrainian military spending, adding that Europe could not “end up paying for Russia’s actions”. 

Ukrainian President Zelensky was expecting to be debriefed on the results of the talks on Monday evening, BBC News Russian reported.