Talks over Ukraine peace plan to continue this weekend with US and European leaders

Talks over the latest Ukraine peace plan have been set to continue over the weekend, with US President Donald Trump’s overseas group travelling to Germany to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

The talks will be led by Steve Witkoff, who has been mediating between Ukraine and Russia for the White House. He will be discussing the latest version of the proposed peace agreement in Berlin.

A deal is being pushed to be in place by Christmas from the Trump administration which has held several rounds of talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in the past weeks.

Last week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany in London on Monday to discuss the latest US peace proposal aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine.

It has not yet been confirmed which European leaders will attend the Berlin talks.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump called for Ukraine to hold elections. Zelensky had replied that elections could be held within 90 days if the US and Europe provided the necessary security. Elections have been suspended since martial law was declared when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Whilst the White House pushes for the peace plan, European talks are focused on how to support Ukraine in the peace deal, with talks over security guarantees and funding.

On Friday, European Union governments agreed to indefinitely freeze around €210bn worth of Russian assets held in Europe.

That move has been condemned as theft by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Russia's central bank has said it will sue Euroclear, a Belgian bank where the vast majority of Russian assets frozen after the invasion are held.

In recent reports of the latest version of the peace plan, Ukraine is suggested to join the European Union. This had been formally applied by Ukraine to join the EU days after the 2022 invasion.

Under the plan, as reported by AFP, Ukraine would become a member around January 2027.