US President Donald Trump is extremely disappointed with both sides in the conflict in Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a briefing broadcast on the White House YouTube channel.
“He is tired of meetings just for the sake of meetings. He does not want more talks, he wants action, he wants this war to end. The administration has spent over 30 hours in the last few weeks meeting and talking with Russians, Ukrainians and Europeans,“ she said.
Leavitt was commenting on reports that representatives of Ukraine, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States will meet in Paris on December 13 to discuss a peaceful resolution to the conflict. According to Axios, Kiev's new proposals on territorial issues will be discussed.
“Special envoy Steve Witkoff and his team are continuing negotiations with both sides literally right now. If there is a real chance of signing a peace agreement, if we think these meetings are worthy of someone from the United States spending this weekend, we will send a representative“, said Leavitt, answering a question about whether a representative of Washington would attend the meeting in Paris.
The Russian side noted that it highly appreciates the efforts of Trump and his administration to find a solution for a peaceful settlement, but that finding a compromise is not an easy task. On December 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Witkoff and the US leader's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in the Kremlin. Putin noted that the US side has divided its peace plan into four packages and has proposed discussing each point separately. He said that Russia generally agrees that the list of points proposed by the US could form the basis of future agreements, but they need to be translated “in diplomatic language“.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed the opinion that the plan prepared by the US should be revised. After the US delegation presented Ukraine with an updated version of the document, Kiev sent its response to Washington, Axios reported. According to Zerkalo Nedeli, the new version includes an agreement between Ukraine, Russia, the US and Europe, framework security guarantees for Ukraine, US commitments to NATO and an agreement between Russia and the US.
Politico reported that negotiations between the US and the EU on providing security guarantees to Ukraine have recently become “awkward“, with European leaders considering a future in which Washington will no longer be the main guarantor of the continent's security and Europe will have to organize its own defense.