US Peace Framework Receives Positive Feedback from Europe

By Michel Rose, Elizabeth Pineau and Humeyra Pamuk

PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's top envoys met with European powers and Ukraine in Paris on Thursday to push efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a U.S. peace framework received an "encouraging reception."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office called the talks constructive and positive, while Trump said Ukraine and the U.S. could sign a minerals and economic cooperation deal he has cast as repayment for military aid as soon as next week.

Rubio also held a parallel phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, in which the State Department said he again conveyed Trump's desire to end the war.

"President Trump and the United States ... have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace," department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

"The encouraging reception in Paris to the U.S. framework shows that peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement," it said.

Bruce told a news briefing: "Now the civilized world waits to see if Russia is indeed serious."

France's President Emmanuel Macron hosted Rubio and Trump's Russian envoy Steve Witkoff at the Elysee Palace, as European and Ukrainian officials sought to plead Kyiv's case.The talks were the first substantive, high level and in-person talks on Trump's peace push that have included the Europeans.

They reflected Europe's mounting concern over the U.S. administration's overtures towards Moscow, after the failure so far of Trump's efforts to secure a ceasefire in the three-year-old war.

Trump, who has long said he aims to swiftly end the Ukraine war, has indicated he is frustrated with both Moscow and Kyiv, even as U.S. rhetoric has shifted towards accommodating the Russian account of the conflict.

Russia described the Paris meetings as a chance for Witkoff, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin for five hours last week, to update Europeans on talks about the search for a peace settlement.

Russia's foreign ministry said Lavrov told Rubio that Moscow was ready to continue with joint work to eliminate causes of the Ukraine crisis and would maintain contact in the context of forthcoming U.S. and European meetings with Ukrainian officials.

French officials called the Paris talks "excellent" and said they showed Europeans were back at the table for negotiations on Ukraine's future.

"Everyone wants to get peace. A robust and sustainable peace. The question is about phasing," Macron said while meeting Rubio's delegation.

A senior Macron adviser said the talks showed "a real convergence" on Trump's aim to end the war.

NEGOTIATORS TO MEET AGAIN NEXT WEEK IN LONDON

Little came out on the substance of the talks, but the senior French official said the countries' top negotiators would meet again in the same format in London next week.

Macron has been fighting to prevent bilateral talks between the United States and Russia to permanently sideline Europeans over the future of Ukraine.

"What's new is that the United States, Ukraine and the Europeans met around the same table," French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters.

Ukraine agreed to a Trump proposal last month for a ceasefire which Russia rejected. The sides have agreed only to curbs on attacks against energy targets and at sea, which both accuse each other of violating.

Kyiv and its European allies have been hoping to persuade Washington to take a tougher line with Moscow, highlighting a Russian attack that killed at least 35 people, including Ukrainian Christian worshippers in the city of Sumy on Sunday.

The attack may have added urgency to find peace, U.S. officials indicated.

Zelenskiy told a press conference in Ukraine Russia had reduced the number of its strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, but was attacking civilian infrastructure.

He said Russia's violations of the energy ceasefire would be discussed in Paris but Ukraine will not be ready to discuss territorial issues until a ceasefire was put in place.

He also reiterated charges that Witkoff was "spreading Russian narratives" about the war.

Zelenskiy also accused China of supplying weapons and gunpowder to Russia, the first time he has openly accused Beijing of direct military assistance for Moscow.

Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy's chief of staff, said he had met with Macron's foreign policy advisor Emmanuel Bonne and his British and German counterparts in Paris. He also met Rubio and Witkoff.

"We exchanged views on the next steps toward achieving a just and lasting peace, including the implementation of a full ceasefire, the involvement of a multinational military contingent, and the development of an effective security architecture for Ukraine," Yermak said on X.

Separately, in Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed efforts for a "durable peace" in Ukraine with his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said.

Hegseth, who has been vocal about Europe taking a bigger role in defending the continent, urged France to increase its defense spending and, alongside other NATO allies, take primary responsibility for Europe's conventional defence.

In a post on X, Hegseth called it an "excellent" meeting, saying, "We discussed the imperative need for Europeans to meet a 5% defense spending commitment to restore deterrence with ready, lethal conventional forces."

Lecornu called the discussions "productive" and said they included updates in European work led by France and Britain to build security guarantees for Ukraine once a ceasefire is reached.

IRAN TALKS

In Paris, U.S. officials also discussed nuclear talks with Iran.

Witkoff is due in Rome on Saturday for a second round of discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi about Iran's nuclear program. They met for 45 minutes last Saturday in Oman.

Both sides called last weekend's talks positive while acknowledging that any potential deal remains distant.

Trump, who abandoned an earlier nuclear deal with Iran during his first term in 2018, said on Monday he was willing to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities if a new deal was not reached.

Washington had not told European countries about the nuclear talks in Oman before Trump announced them.

(Reporting by Michel Rose in Paris and Steve Holland in Washington; additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau, Anastasiia Malenko, Humeyra Pamuk, David Brunnstrom, Katharine Jackson, Simon Lewis; Idrees Ali, Dominique Vidalon; writing by Ingrid Melander and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Peter Graff and Alistair Bell)