No agreement on Donbas yet, Zelensky says as he visits London to discuss US-led peace efforts with European leaders
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the U.K. on Dec. 8 to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders amid renewed efforts to settle the Russia-Ukraine war, Sky News reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are also arriving to meet the Ukrainian leader in London as Kyiv's European partners seek to coordinate strategy in the face of the latest U.S. push for a peace deal.
Europe's leaders have privately expressed concerns that they are being sidelined from the negotiations, as the original 28-point peace plan, drafted by Russia and the U.S. and unveiled last month, imposed harsh conditions on Ukraine.
While the original proposal has been revised in subsequent talks that the U.S. held separately with Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky told Bloomberg that "sensitive issues," such as security guarantees and the status of the eastern Ukrainian regions, remain to be agreed upon.
"There are visions of the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine — and we don't have a unified view on Donbas," Zelensky told Bloomberg in a phone interview. The president said he aims to reach separate agreements on security guarantees with Western partners, specifically Washington.
Last week, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov visited the U.S. to continue discussions on the peace plan with the U.S. side.
U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, also met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Dec. 2, although the meeting failed to produce a breakthrough.
Russia has repeatedly refused to compromise on its key demands, which include a ban on Ukraine joining NATO and a full Ukrainian withdrawal from the partially-occupied Donetsk Oblast in the east — conditions rejected by Kyiv.
Zelensky said that Umerov and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov are heading to Europe to brief him on the results of the latest negotiations.
"I expect detailed information from them on everything that was said to the American envoys in Moscow, and on the nuances the Americans are prepared to modify in negotiations with us and with the Russians," Zelensky said on his social media on Dec. 7.
Keith Kellogg, Trump's envoy for Ukraine, claimed a peace agreement appears to be nearing completion, naming the status of eastern regions and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as the last outstanding issues.
However, Trump implied that Zelensky is holding up the peace effort, claiming that the Ukrainian president "hasn't yet read" the peace proposal.
"Russia's fine with it. You know, Russia would rather have the whole country, when you think of it," Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7.
Separately, Zelensky said that Umerov and Hnatov will provide a comprehensive report on the peace talks upon their return to Europe, as "some issues can only be discussed in person."
After his trip to London, Zelensky is expected to head to Brussels later on Dec. 8 to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
According to Ukraine's president, the upcoming talks with European partners will also concern air defense support and long-term financial assistance, as the war-torn country braces for a challenging winter.
Russia has ramped up attacks on the Ukrainian power grid in recent months, prompting emergency shutdowns across the country as temperatures drop.
Kyiv also faces a massive budget gap next year, which the EU seeks to bridge through the so-called "reparations loan," worth close to $200 billion and backed by frozen Russian assets.
Belgium, where most of the assets are held, has resolutely opposed the plan. Merz and von der Leyen said they held "constructive" talks on the matter with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on Dec. 5, though it remains unclear whether they managed to shift Belgium's stance.
