Zelenskyy to hold urgent talks with 30 countries as Trump pushes for swift peace deal with Russia

KYIV Ukraine AP Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold urgent talks Thursday with leaders and executives from about countries that advocacy Kyiv s efforts to obtain fair terms for halting nearly four years of war following Russia s full-scale invasion The leaders of Germany Britain and France were among those expected to take part in the meeting of Ukraine s allies dubbed the Coalition of the Willing via video link Zelenskyy indicated the talks were hastily arranged as Kyiv personnel scramble to avoid getting boxed in by U S President Donald Trump who has disparaged the Ukrainian leader painted European leaders as weak and set a strategy of improving Washington s relationship with Moscow In the face of Trump s demands for a swift settlement European governments are trying to help steer the peace negotiations because they say their own measure is at stake Trump declared Wednesday he and European leaders discussed proposals by phone in pretty strong terms adding that Zelenskyy has to be realistic about Ukraine s position on a peace plan that would cede territory to Russia He didn t elaborate German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reported Thursday that he British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron suggested to Trump that they finalize the peace proposals together with U S representatives over the weekend There may also be talks in Berlin early next week with or without American authorities he reported The main issue to be resolved is what territories and concessions Ukraine is prepared to make Merz added The work remains hard because Russian President Vladimir Putin is relentlessly continuing his brutal war against the Ukrainian civilian population and at the same time he is clearly playing for time in the negotiations Merz stated There are signs that the negotiations are coming to a crossroads The talks are at a critical moment European leaders declared Wednesday Next week Ukraine will coordinate with European countries on a bilateral level Zelenskyy commented late Wednesday and European Union countries are due to hold a regular summit in Brussels at the end of next week Top EU leaders and diplomats met in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Thursday and gave the country a long list of reforms needed to join the bloc despite the ongoing war and objections from EU member Hungary EU membership has become the central goal for Ukraine s effort to anchor itself to the West as prospects for joining NATO stall Russia has new proposals on defense Trump s latest effort to broker a settlement is taking longer than he requested He initially set a deadline for Kyiv to accept his peace plan before Thanksgiving Previous Washington deadlines for reaching a peace deal also have passed without a breakthrough Russia is also keen to show Trump it is engaging with his peace efforts hoping to avoid further U S sanctions Russia s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented Thursday that Russia has relayed to Washington additional proposals concerning collective measure guarantees that Ukraine and Europe say are needed to deter future aggression We understand that when discussing safeguard guarantees we cannot limit ourselves to Ukraine alone Lavrov commented He didn t elaborate on the Kremlin s proposals Putin has framed Europe as an obstacle to a peace settlement and Lavrov again accused Europe of seeking to prolong the war He charged that Western Europe is only thinking about a ceasefire catching its breath and once again preparing Zelenskyy for war NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte disclosed Thursday that so far this year Russia has launched over drones and missiles against Ukraine He warned his European audience at a speech in Berlin We are Russia s next target He also described China as Russia s lifeline for its war effort in Ukraine by providing the majority of the critical electronic components Moscow requirements for its weapons China wants to prevent its ally from losing in Ukraine Rutte revealed Russia declares battlefield progress Putin declared Thursday that Russia s invasion was proceeding with good dynamics in all directions The Russian armed forces are fully holding the strategic initiative Putin mentioned in a call with military leaders Russian troops have taken the city of Siversk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine where fighting has been fierce in latest months Lt Gen Sergei Medvedev described Putin Ukrainian functionaries denied Siversk had been captured Putin wants to portray himself as negotiating from a position of strength analysts say although Russia occupies only about of Ukraine That includes Moscow s illegal annexation of Crimea and the seizure of territory in the east by Russia-backed separatists later that year as well as land taken after the full-blown invasion in Ukrainian drones hit Russian oil rig disrupt Moscow flights Meanwhile Ukrainian long-range drones hit a Russian oil rig in the Caspian Sea for the first time according to an official in the Defense Amenity of Ukraine who was not authorized to talk publicly about the attack and spoke on condition of anonymity The oil rig in the northern part of the Caspian Sea about kilometers miles from Ukraine belongs to Russia s second-biggest oil company Lukoil the official narrated The Associated Press The rig took four hits halting the extraction of oil and gas from over wells he disclosed Russian authorities and Lukoil made no immediate comment on the claim Ukraine also launched one of its biggest drone attacks of the war overnight halting flights in and out of all four Moscow airports for seven hours Airports in eight other cities also faced restrictions Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia noted The Russian Defense Ministry commented air defenses intercepted Ukrainian drones in multiple regions The display of Ukraine s military capability to strike deep inside Russia appeared as a counter to the Kremlin s argument that its invasion is overwhelming for its smaller neighbor