After Paris Talks, A New Chapter In Ukraine Peace Drive? – Analysis
Secretary Marco Rubio participates in a meeting with E3 Foreign Ministers - France Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Germany's Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Günter Sautter at the Quai D'Orsay in Paris, France, April 17, 2025. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)
By RFE RL
By Ray Furlong
(RFE/RL) — There was recently talk of getting a Ukraine cease-fire in place by Easter. That hasn’t happened, but there may have been some tangible progress in diplomatic efforts to cheer hearts this weekend.
The noises coming out of Paris following high-level talks between key European countries, Ukraine, and the United States have been unusually positive.
It was the first such meeting between them in this format, and in many ways the omens were not good.
US efforts to get Russia to agree to any kind of a cease-fire have been met with vague words and increased bombing by Moscow.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said a deal was “emerging” after his third meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 11 — hinting that Ukraine must make massive territorial concessions to Russia.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Witkoff of “spreading Russian narratives.”
No Cameras, Please
In Paris, a 45-second video was released showing Emmanuel Bonne, a senior French adviser, apparently asking Witkoff to begin proceedings with a debrief before the camera team was hustled out by security.
It seemed as if they wanted to kick the cameras out before he said anything.
“It’s perfectly clear that most of the European leaders, including [French President Emmanuel] Macron, are fully opposed to all the proposals made, especially by Steve Witkoff,” French political analyst Nicolas Tenzer told RFE/RL.
But Tenzer, who is chairman of the Center for Studies and Research on Political Decision (CERAP), a Paris think tank, added that the meeting itself was a sign of progress.
“They are now understanding that they cannot make any kind of agreement without the Europeans,” he said.
New agreements on Ukraine were not declared. But the parties did agree that there would be more talks next week in London in the new format: Europe, Ukraine, and the United States. This seems to be a major development.
A Place At The Table
Also at the Paris talks was US envoy Keith Kellogg, who in Munich in February said Europe would not have a place at the table when Ukraine’s future was negotiated. Kellogg has himself since been largely absent from key meetings.
“The ‘E3’ are around the table and we’re doing it with a European ambition,” said a French diplomat, referring to Britain, France, and Germany collectively.
Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington, also said the meeting suggested that Washington was now seeking support from Europe.
“They realized that you need European input because they have skin in the game,″ she said.
’’This is not just about a swath of territory in Ukraine. This is about broader questions of European security and you can’t disentangle those.″
There were also diplomatic developments elsewhere.
While leaders gathered in Paris, US President Donald Trump was hosting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the White House.
He said there could be two other developments in the coming days: an agreement with Ukraine in giving the United States access to its rare earth minerals, and a response from Russia on a possible cease-fire in Ukraine.
In both cases, earlier optimistic statements from US officials have failed to bear fruit.
But the prospect of a new diplomatic track involving Europe, Ukraine, and the United States is genuinely new. The question now is whether the announced meeting in London will be the start of a fruitful new diplomatic process – or just another dead end.
- Ray Furlong is a Senior International Correspondent for RFE/RL. He has reported for RFE/RL from the Balkans, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and elsewhere since joining the company in 2014. He previously worked for 17 years for the BBC as a foreign correspondent in Prague and Berlin, and as a roving international reporter across Europe and the former Soviet Union.
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The US is pushing to end the Ukraine war quickly – even if that means resolving it on Russia's terms.
By Kate Nicholson
17/04/2025
via Associated Press
Ukraine has slapped down Donald Trump’s special envoy after he suggested Kyiv hands over five territories to Russia.
Steve Witkoff claimed a permanent peace deal with Vladimir Putin – who started the war by invading Ukraine in February 2022 – relies on officially changing the border in Moscow’s favour.
But Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyi, told a press briefing on Wednesday that there was no chance Kyiv would agree to such a plan.
He said: “Ukraine is a sovereign country, united within internationally recognised borders.
“This position of Ukraine is immutable and will never change. I can tell you: never.
“No matter how many years, months, it will never change. Ukraine, as it was, will be within internationally recognised borders.”
Putin seized Ukraine’s peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and took Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Kherson and Donetsk in 2022.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly made it clear he will only accept peace if Russia returns Ukraine’s borders back to those set up in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Notably, Witkoff – who met Putin on April 11 – did not name the territories he was referring to when he suggested Ukraine give up land to secure peace.
In March, the special envoy triggered backlash by saying: “I think the largest issue in the conflict is those so-called four regions ... Donbas, Crimea, Luhansk... and there’s two others.”
Donbas is the collective name of the region encompassing both Luhansk and Donetsk.
Tykhyi also pointed out that Ukraine has three red lines in the peace talks Trump is pushing to resolve; firstly, that Ukraine will never cede its occupied territories, that it will never agree to cap its defence or foreign aid, and that third countries will not have a choice over what unions or alliances Kyiv joins.
He said: “This all is Ukraine’s right under international law, not just a wish list.
“Russia has no right to dictate anything to Ukraine. It’s an aggression, where there’s a state that was attacked and the attacker state.
“There should be no equalising of the two.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine may be halted soon if no progress is seen.
Marco Rubio warns Russia-Ukraine of abandoning peace deal
India Today News Desk
New Delhi,
Edited By: Akshat Trivedi
In Short
Rubio says Trump still interested but has global priorities
US seeks clear signs for deal feasibility
US President Donald Trump will walk away from trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.
"We're not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks. If it is we're in. If it's not, then we have other priorities to focus on as well," Rubio said in Paris, after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders.
Rubio said Trump was still interested in a deal but was willing to move on if there were no immediate signs of progress.
Trump promised during his election campaign to end the war within his first 24 hours in the White House. He moderated that claim on taking office, suggesting a deal by April or May, as obstacles mounted.
Rubio's comments underline the mounting frustrations over a lack of progress in pushes to settle a growing list of geopolitical challenges.
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