European leaders push for Ukraine peace plan after disappointing Washington meetings
Following high-level talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials in Washington this week, European leaders are renewing calls for a peace plan to end Russia's invasion, after an apparent shift in U.S. support for Kyiv.
"Following his meeting with President (Donald) Trump, we have coordinated and will accompany the next steps. What Ukraine needs now is a peace plan," Merz wrote on X.
Merz also reportedly said that the meeting had not gone as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had hoped, according to German media outlet n-tv.
The statements come after an intense week of diplomacy culminating in a planned bilateral meeting between U.S. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the failure of a Ukrainian delegation to clinch U.S. approval to purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The Ukrainian team had been hoping to capitalize on improved relations. President Trump has grown increasingly frustrated in recent months by Putin’s refusal to end the war against Ukraine.
The delivery of Tomahawks, which can strike targets between 1,600 and 2,500 kilometers (1,000–1,600 miles) away, would dramatically alter Ukraine's long-range strike capability.
Using domestically manufactured drones, Ukraine has conducted repeated long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries in a bid to put economic pressure on the Kremlin.
But before the closed-door meeting started, Trump told reporters that the U.S. needed to maintain its own supply of the missiles. He did, however, signal openness to a weapons deal with Kyiv that could involve U.S.-made missiles and Ukrainian drones.
Russia has repeatedly warned that the U.S. supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine would represent a new stage of escalation.
The meeting — the sixth since Trump's return to office — came one day after a phone call between Trump and Putin, culminating in a planned summit in Budapest in the next two weeks.
Several European leaders held a conference call with Zelensky after the closed-door meeting, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
According to an Axios source who was on the call, Starmer suggested teaming up with the U.S. to shape a Ukraine peace plan inspired by Trump’s Gaza proposal.
NATO chief Mark Rutte then pushed for European security advisers to hold a rapid follow-up meeting over the weekend, Axios reported.
