Russia keeping “stolen” Ukrainian territory “the main problem” with U.S. peace proposal, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that the suggested legal recognition of Russian sovereignty over captured territory in the east of his country remained a “main problem” in negotiations as President Trump pushes for a deal to end Moscow’s nearly-four-year war on Ukraine.Ukrainian and American officials met over the weekend in Switzerland to discuss a 28-point proposal floated last week by the White House. They discussed the possibility of Zelenskyy visiting the U.S. this week as part of Mr. Trump’s bid to get an agreement by Thanksgiving, CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reported, citing multiple U.S. and Ukrainian officials familiar with the discussions. Mr. Trump has described the Thanksgiving deadline as flexible, and he told reporters Saturday that the plan presented last week was “not my final” proposal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Geneva for the weekend talks, said “very, very meaningful” progress was made with the Ukrainian and European delegations, but that “there’s still some work left to do and that’s what our teams are going to be doing right now.”Addressing Sweden’s parliament on Monday, Zelenskyy made it clear one of the key points of contention over the U.S. proposal was a call for Ukraine and the global community to formally recognize some portion of the ground Russian forces have occupied by force as no longer Ukrainian.”Putin wants legal recognition to what he has stolen, to break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Zelenskyy said. “That’s the main problem. You all understand what that means.”Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said there were still “major issues which remain to be resolved” regarding the U.S. peace proposal, though he also welcomed progress made during the high-stakes talks in Geneva.Rubio struck a more optimistic tone in describing the weekend talks, saying Sunday that the session in Geneval was “probably the most productive day we have had on this issue” since President Trump came back into office for his second term in January.  Rubio stressed that there was more work to do and said he didn’t want to “declare victory or finality.” The top U.S. diplomat was pressed by reporters but would not offer any insight into which issues were the main sticking points in the peace talks. He called the proposal a “living, breathing document” and said he believed the issues that remained unsettled were “not insurmountable.”The White House said in a statement Sunday night that U.S. and Ukrainian officials “drafted an updated and refined peace framework” following their discussions, but Russia’s government said Monday that the revisions had not been shared, and that it would reserve judgement.Putin said Friday that the U.S. proposal could serve as the basis of a negotiated resolution to what his government has refused to acknowledge as a war, but he warned that if Ukraine turned down the plan, Russian forces would remain on the attack, seizing yet more ground.”We are, of course, closely monitoring the media reports that have been pouring in from Geneva over the past few days,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, “but we have not yet received anything official.” “We read a statement that, following the discussions in Geneva, some amendments had been made to the text which we had seen earlier. We will wait. It seems that the dialogue is continuing,” he said, adding that there were no plans for a meeting this week between Russian and U.S. officials on the topic, but that Moscow remained open to dialogue.The 28-point plan, which U.S. officials said last week had Mr. Trump’s backing, sparked alarm among America’s European allies for being perceived as too favorable to Russia.Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S., Olga Stefanishyna, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday that her country had not agreed to all of the terms in the draft plan, which was leaked to media outlets last week.”This plan is not about justice and the truth of this war and the aggression,” Stefanishyna said. “It’s about, you know, ending the war and stopping the military engagement.”

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