Arya News - Leaders of Europe`s top three military powers met with Ukrainian President Zelensky after the United States` latest peace brokering bid came up short.
Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was set to meet key European leaders in London on Monday for talks on the latest developments in the U.S. effort to end the war in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host the meeting in Downing Street, which will also be attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, amid little sign of a breakthrough and mounting fears the positions of Europe and the United States are diverging.
On the table will be the questions of whether Europe can provide the military assistance Ukraine needs following the cessation of most direct U.S. support and whether U.S. President Donald Trump can be persuaded by the European view that Russia presents an existential threat.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials said they had made progress in three days of talks in Miami that ended Saturday on modifying a peace proposal drawn up by the White House and the Kremlin, which was first floated by Trump in mid-November.
However, Trump criticized Zelensky, saying his negotiating team was happy the latest version of the plan, as was Russia, but claiming that Zelensky hadn"t bothered to read it.
"I have to say that I"m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn"t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago," he told reporters Sunday night at an event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
"Russia"s fine with it. Russia"s you know, Russia I guess would rather have the whole country when you think of it. But Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I"m not sure that Zelensky is fine with it."
"His people [the delegation in the Florida talks] love it, but he hasn"t read it," said Trump.
Earlier, Zelensky had said he had a long call with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, but was awaiting a briefing by his team on negotiations he said had faced difficulties.
"American envoys are aware of Ukraine"s core positions, and the conversation was constructive, though not easy. We continue our work. Some issues can only be discussed in person," he said.
Ukraine"s red lines are ceding territory it currently holds to Russia, demilitarization leaving it dependent on outside forces for its security, and being prohibited from ever joining NATO.
Ukraine National Security and Defense chief Rustem Umerov, Kyiv"s lead negotiator, thanking the Americans for the positive work in the Florida talks, said the Ukrainian side"s main job was to discover the exact details of neogiations the U.S.-side held with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday in order to discuss them with Zelensky.
"Together with all partners, we must do everything possible for a dignified end to this war. Today, we will provide the President of Ukraine with full information on all aspects of the dialogue with the American side and all documents," Umerov said in a post on X .
The developments came as the Trump administration"s new national security strategy , which talks of rebuilding relations with Russia but is highly critical of Europe which it says faces "civilizational erasure," was being greeted with dismay in European capitals, but welcomed by the Kremlin.
"The adjustments that we see correspond in many ways to our vision," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Sunday while issuing a warning that America"s shadowy so-called "deep state" could attempt to derail Trump"s efforts.
Meanwhile, the violence in Ukraine continued with Russian forces pummeling Ukraine with almost 1,000 drones and missiles since Friday night, killing two people and injuring at least 27.