“The negotiations were a step forward, but there are still major issues which remain to be resolved,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a post on X on Monday, after talking with Zelenskyy. “Any decision falling in the remit of the EU or NATO will be discussed and decided by the EU and NATO members in a separate track,” Stubb added.
Washington still wants to get the peace plan finalized as soon as possible, but is less firm about a Thanksgiving deadline. “Obviously, we’d love it to be Thursday,” Rubio said, adding: “Whether it’s Thursday, whether it’s Friday, whether it’s Wednesday, whether it’s Monday of the following week, we want it to be soon.”
“Our goal is to end this war as soon as possible, but we need a little more time,” Rubio said.
Work continues on technical levels, with the U.S. expecting a handful of answers and suggestions from Kyiv in the next 24 hours.
“Diplomacy has been activated, and that’s good,” Zelenskyy said. “First priority is a lasting peace, guaranteed security, respect for all who gave up their lives to protect Ukraine from Russia,” he said, adding that Monday will be an active day for negotiators.
“We are protecting Ukraine’s interests,” Zelenskyy said.