EU, Ukraine Must be Part of Peace Plan 11/20 06:00

   Ukraine and Europe must be consulted on any efforts to end Russia's invasion 
of its neighbor, top European diplomats said Thursday, as reports circulated 
about a U.S.-Russian proposal to end the war at a time when corruption 
allegations have rattled Ukraine's government.

   (AP) -- Ukraine and Europe must be consulted on any efforts to end Russia's 
invasion of its neighbor, top European diplomats said Thursday, as reports 
circulated about a U.S.-Russian proposal to end the war at a time when 
corruption allegations have rattled Ukraine's government.

   The talk of a secret peace plan piled more pressure on Ukrainian President 
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is also marshaling his country's defenses against 
Russia's bigger army, visiting European leaders to ensure they continue their 
support for Ukraine, and negotiating a major corruption scandal involving the 
embattled energy sector that has caused public outrage.

   "For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board," EU 
foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of a meeting in Brussels of 
the 27-nation bloc's foreign ministers.

   Representatives of EU countries agreed. German Foreign Minister Johann 
Wadephul said that "all negotiations about a ceasefire, regarding the further 
peaceful development of Ukraine, can only be discussed and negotiated with 
Ukraine. And Europe will have to be included."

   It wasn't clear whether the foreign ministers had seen the peace plan, 
reportedly drawn up by U.S. and Russian envoys, and which was said to include 
forcing Ukraine to cede territory, a prospect Zelenskyy has ruled out.

   U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social platform X late Wednesday 
that American officials "are and will continue to develop a list of potential 
ideas" for a lasting peace agreement which "will require both sides to agree to 
difficult but necessary concessions."

   Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that there "there are no 
consultations per se currently underway" with the U.S. on ending the war in 
Ukraine. "There are certainly contacts, but processes that could be called 
consultations are not underway," he told reporters.

   Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he didn't know whether the 
proposal had the blessing of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader 
Vladimir Putin.

   "First and foremost, we have to find out whether it is really the big boys 
who (are) behind this plan or not," he said. "I have listened to all the rumors 
(and) we have to really find out what is up and what is down."

   European leaders have already been alarmed this year by indications that 
Trump's administration might be sidelining them and Ukrainian President 
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in its push to stop the fighting.

   EU diplomats have accused Putin of being insincere in saying he wants peace 
but refusing to compromise in negotiations while sustaining Russia's grinding 
war of attrition in Ukraine.

   Kallas, the EU's chief diplomat, chided Putin's forces for continuing to 
target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, a day after a strike on the western 
city of Ternopil killed 26 people and injured 93 others. About two dozen people 
were still missing.

   Kallas said that "if Russia really wanted peace, it could have ... agreed to 
(an) unconditional ceasefire already some time ago."

   Trump has stopped sending military aid directly to Ukraine, with European 
countries taking up the slack by buying weaponry for Ukraine from the United 
States. That has given Europe leverage in talks on ending the conflict.

   "We commend peace efforts, but Europe is the main supporter of Ukraine and 
it's, of course, Europe's security that's at stake. So we expect to be 
consulted," said Polish Foreign Minister Radosaw Sikorski.