Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed proposed changes to the controversial 28-point peace plan for ending the war with Russia.
It appears Ukraine’s European allies produced an amended version of the plan after rejecting parts which favoured Russia’s war aims.
“Now the list of necessary steps to end the war can become doable…” Zelensky said on Telegram. “Many correct elements have been incorporated into this framework.”
Later, in the early hours of Tuesday, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said a wave of Russian missile and drone attacks hit an apartment building in the capital and disrupted electricity and water supplies.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy also confirmed a “massive, combined enemy attack” on the country’s energy infrastructure facilities.
“Energy officials will begin assessing the consequences and restoration work as soon as the security situation permits,” it said in a statement.
US and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva on Sunday to discuss the plan, drafted by American and Russian officials in October, which had caused consternation in Kyiv and among its European allies.
Russian representatives did not take part in the meeting in Switzerland.
A Kremlin official rejected the amendments on Monday as “completely unconstructive”.
In another development, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the Trump administration was not favouring Russia in its efforts to end the war.
“The idea that the United States of America is not engaging with both sides equally in this war to bring it to an end is a complete and total fallacy,” she told reporters.
President Donald Trump was “hopeful and optimistic” that a plan could be worked out for ending the war, Leavitt added.
Following the end of the talks in Geneva, Trump suggested on social media that “something good just may be happening” but added: “Don’t believe it until you see it.”
In Geneva, the talks began with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio having to deny the 28-point plan advocated by Trump had been written by the Kremlin, as several of its elements seemed heavily geared towards Moscow’s longstanding demands.
