{"id":174118,"date":"2025-12-03T13:47:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T13:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/kremlin-denies-putin-rejected-all-of-us-peace-plan-for-ukraine-bbc\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T13:47:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T13:47:29","slug":"kremlin-denies-putin-rejected-all-of-us-peace-plan-for-ukraine-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/kremlin-denies-putin-rejected-all-of-us-peace-plan-for-ukraine-bbc\/","title":{"rendered":"Kremlin denies Putin rejected all of US peace plan for Ukraine &#8211; BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Kremlin says it&#x27;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A23912fea-5333-4160-a902-773a5befe3da#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">wrong to suggest Vladimir Putin rejected US proposals for peace<\/a> in Ukraine after talks with US negotiators in Moscow<br \/>Putin&#x27;s spokesman says some parts were &quot;accepted&quot;, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A23912fea-5333-4160-a902-773a5befe3da#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">but other parts were &quot;unacceptable&quot;<\/a><br \/>Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#x27;s spokesman responds to Putin saying yesterday that Russia didn&#x27;t want to fight Europe &#8211;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A8809ab5d-a152-4cc9-9a56-6eff29a18e10#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\"> but was &quot;ready&quot; for war if necessary<\/a><br \/>&quot;This is yet more Kremlin claptrap from a president who isn&#x27;t serious about peace,&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A62483ef3-4385-4252-8901-60e9e24a7f36#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Starmer&#x27;s spokesman says<\/a><br \/>Nato foreign ministers &#8211; including from the UK &#8211; are meeting in Brussels to discuss Ukraine, as well as defence issues<br \/>EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says the EU has reached a provisional deal to end Russian gas imports by 2027 &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3Aa31b164e-7892-4dfd-a9c1-13ac103b69b6#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">you can see Russia&#x27;s fossil fuel revenue from Europe and elsewhere here<\/a><br \/>This video can not be played<br \/>&#x27;Putin showing no signs of compromise&#x27;, says BBC&#x27;s Steve Rosenberg<br \/>Edited by Angus Thompson and Tinshui Yeung, with Joel Gunter in Kyiv and Nick Beake in Brussels<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A0c2233be-a63c-4355-b5f5-d5ddc6583d19#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">As we&#x27;ve reported<\/a>, Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that if Europe &quot;wants to go to war and starts one, we are ready right now&quot;.<br \/>Downing Street has now dismissed Putin&#x27;s comments as &quot;yet more Kremlin claptrap from a president who isn&#x27;t serious about peace&quot;.<br \/>Asked if the UK is ready for war, Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#x27;s spokesperson said that the government&#x27;s &quot;investment in defence is clear for all to see&quot; and that &quot;our armed forces always stand ready to defend this country&quot;.<br \/>The official also stressed European nations stood &quot;united in supporting Ukraine&quot; and Nato is &quot;ready to respond to any threats with unity and strength&quot;.<br \/>European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen valued the loan package at \u00a379bn<br \/>The European Commission has proposed to fund Ukraine with immobilised Russian assets, in what its president called a &quot;reparations loan&quot;.<br \/>Ursula von der Leyen earlier told a media conference the EU would cover &quot;two thirds of Ukraine&#x27;s financing needs&quot; for the next two years &#8211; which she valued at \u20ac90bn (\u00a379bn) &#8211; with the remaining amount to be covered by international partners.<br \/>Belgium, where the majority of the Russian assets are located, criticised the proposal &#8211; but von der Leyen assured that &quot;almost all&quot; of their concerns were taken into account.<br \/>&quot;We have strong safeguards in place throughout to protect member states and reduce risks as much as possible,&quot; she added.<br \/>We&#x27;ve been hearing about the eastern city of Pokrovsk, which Russia claims to have taken but Ukraine denies.<br \/>Earlier this week, Moscow said it had taken control of the city, with videos circulating online showing Russian soldiers unfurling a Russian flag in the town.<br \/>But while Ukraine&#x27;s armed forces say the situation in Pokrovsk &quot;is extremely difficult&quot; they claim the army continues to hold parts of the strategic city.<br \/>Quoted by Ukrinform, spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces Dmytro Lykhovii says Ukraine continues to hold the northern part of the city, &quot;approximately along the railway line&quot;.<br \/>BBC Verify also spoke to analysts on Tuesday to get their assessment.<br \/>George Barros at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank, said Vladimir Putin claimed that troops had seized control of Pokrovsk prematurely \u201cas part of a cognitive warfare effort in order to shape the US-Russian negotiations in Moscow\u201d.<br \/>One thread we&#x27;ve been following today is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3Aa31b164e-7892-4dfd-a9c1-13ac103b69b6#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">the European Union&#x27;s provisional agreement to phase out Russian gas by 2027<\/a>. Now Hungary&#x27;s foreign minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 says his country, along with Slovakia, will challenge it in the Court of Justice.<br \/>Speaking to reporters after the provisional agreement was announced this morning, Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 says it would leave the country &quot;vulnerable&quot;, endanger its energy security and massively increase energy bills for Hungarian families.<br \/>He says it is &quot;impossible&quot; for Hungary to accept and implement such a deal by 2027, and legal proceedings will be launched once the EU decision is finalised.<br \/>Elsewhere, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claims the deal would condemn the EU to higher energy costs and accelerate its economic decline.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A8ae4dbd4-2ad8-45d7-b3f1-9bb22b92d2c9#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">A little earlier,<\/a> we brought you comments from Nato foreign ministers who are in Brussels as part of ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine.<br \/>We can update you that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who is part of a working lunch with the alliance&#x27;s foreign ministers, met Nato chief Mark Rutte.<br \/>In a post on social media platform X, he says the pair discussed &quot;the latest details on our progress in peace efforts and next steps to put an end to the war&quot;.<br \/>Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky also says on X that the top of the agenda today will be support for Ukraine, &quot;the threat of Russia and the growing challenge posed by China&quot;.<br \/>And Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys tells reporters that even after a future ceasefire in Ukraine, &quot;Russia is and will remain a direct military threat to Nato&quot;.<br \/>The issue of territory remains at the heart of negotiations for both sides. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the &quot;territorial issue is the most difficult&quot; element of the peace deal.<br \/>The Kremlin continues to push for Ukraine to cede territory it still controls in the east &#8211; something Kyiv has long-maintained it will never do.<br \/>Our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale, reporting from Kyiv, has reported that ceding territory where at least a quarter of a million Ukrainians live &#8211; the Donetsk &quot;fortress belt&quot; cities of <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Slovyansk<\/b>, <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Kramatorsk <\/b>and <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Druzhkivka <\/b>&#8211; will not be acceptable to most Ukrainians. <br \/>Fighting has been raging on for the strategic town of <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Pokrovsk<\/b>, which Russia says it has captured. Ukraine rejected this, saying fighting was ongoing. <br \/>The US-backed draft peace plan proposes that <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Crimea<\/b>, <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Luhansk <\/b>and <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Donetsk <\/b>would be recognised &quot;as de facto Russian, including by the United States&quot;. This would mean Ukraine and other countries would not need to recognise Russian control by law.<br \/>The draft also suggests that in the southern regions of <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Kherson <\/b>and <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Zaporizhzia<\/b>, the front lines would be frozen and Russia would relinquish areas it has occupied elsewhere in Ukraine &#8211; a reference to the north-eastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions, as well the Mykolaiv region in the south.<br \/>Zelensky has previously said that allowing Moscow to seize land by force would set a dangerous precedent.<br \/><span class=\"ssrcss-1gp5o89-ImageWrapper etflsgg1\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1105681-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/128\/cpsprodpb\/\/vivo\/live\/images\/2025\/2\/15\/ff74dca3-0b3e-42fb-be20-a9742026b497.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/span><\/span><span><strong>Paul Adams<\/strong><br \/>Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Dnipro, Ukraine<\/span><br \/>Two lines last night from Vladimir Putin\u2019s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov highlight the essence of Russia\u2019s attitude towards Ukraine and its approach to negotiations with Donald Trump.<br \/>\u201cTerritorial issues were discussed specifically, without which we do not see a resolution of the crisis,\u201d Ushakov told reporters.<br \/>\u201cOf course,\u201d he went on, \u201cthe enormous prospects for future economic co-operation between the two countries were also discussed.\u201d<br \/>In other words, Russia\u2019s territorial demands, which include Ukraine relinquishing parts of the Donbas that Russia has not yet been able to conquer, remain key. There is nothing in Russia\u2019s public pronouncements to date to suggest that these have changed in any way.<br \/>On the flip side, Putin continues to dangle the prospect of mutually attractive economic co-operation in front of Donald Trump\u2019s commercially minded envoys, in the hope that the president\u2019s mercenary instincts will distract him from pressuring Russia into reaching a less favourable deal.<br \/>The heavily pro-Russian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cde6yld78d6o\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">28-point plan<\/a> leaked two weeks ago talked of long-term economic co-operation between the US and Russia, including \u201cenergy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centres, rare earth metal extraction projects in the Arctic, and other mutually beneficial corporate opportunities\u201d.<br \/>Trump\u2019s commercial interest in Russia goes back decades. Vladimir Putin knows this and his envoys are clearly playing to it.<br \/>Foreign ministers from Nato countries have just posed for their usual &quot;family photo&quot;.<br \/>As a reminder of today&#x27;s timings, up next is a working lunch between the Nato delegates and Ukrainian Foreign Minister <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Andrii Sybiha<\/b> and EU High Representative <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Kaja Kallas<\/b>.<br \/>That will be followed by a news conference led by Nato chief <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Mark Rutte<\/b> &#8211; expected at 15:30 local time (14:30 GMT).<br \/>While we&#x27;ve heard from several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A8ae4dbd4-2ad8-45d7-b3f1-9bb22b92d2c9#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Nato countries<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A23912fea-5333-4160-a902-773a5befe3da#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Russia<\/a> about yesterday&#x27;s peace talks in Moscow, the US hasn&#x27;t yet shared its view on how the meeting with Russian officials in Moscow went.<br \/>This morning, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is notably absent from the Nato meeting in Brussels, with his deputy, Christopher Landau, attending instead.<br \/>In an interview aired on Fox News last night, Rubio said the US is trying to work out what Ukraine and Russia will agree to &#8211; and said there&#x27;s been &quot;some progress, but we&#x27;re not there yet&quot;.<br \/>Rubio criticised the &quot;irrational&quot; view that the US shouldn&#x27;t engage with Moscow, adding: &quot;You can&#x27;t end a war between Russia and Ukraine without talking to Russia.&quot; He said it&#x27;s &quot;not realistic&quot; to expect the US to &quot;just continue to fund Ukraine unlimited amounts for as long as the war takes&quot;.<br \/>The secretary of state said that the final decision is up to Ukraine and Russia.<br \/>&quot;At the end of the day, you know, it&#x27;s not up to us. It&#x27;s not our war. We&#x27;re not fighting it.&quot;<br \/><span class=\"ssrcss-1gp5o89-ImageWrapper etflsgg1\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1105681-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/128\/cpsprodpb\/\/vivo\/live\/images\/2024\/11\/13\/941b0d1c-5141-4731-a6c5-1ad8f6c2a8e1.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/span><\/span><span><strong>Gabriela Pomeroy<\/strong><br \/>Live reporter<\/span><br \/>US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau (L) and Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Brussels summit<br \/>Here are this morning&#x27;s key developments:<br \/>Russia&#x27;s <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Vladimir Putin<\/b> met President Trump&#x27;s envoy <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Steve Witkoff<\/b> in Moscow on Tuesday, but the meeting ended with no breakthrough. However, Kremlin spokesman <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Dmitry Peskov<\/b> says &quot;it wouldn&#x27;t be correct&quot; to say the Russian president rejected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3Abcc555fd-534c-4ef9-bad3-c783b7efff43#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">US proposals for peace<\/a>.<br \/>Meanwhile, Ukrainian President <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Volodymyr Zelensky<\/b> says he&#x27;s sending his officials to meet President Trump&#x27;s team in the US.<br \/>The two Ukrainian envoys will also brief delegations at the <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Nato summit in Brussels<\/b> today, where foreign ministers are meeting to discuss efforts to end the Ukraine war.<br \/>In another major development, the EU says it will stop importing Russian gas by autumn 2027.<br \/>We&#x27;re expecting more updates at a Nato news conference led by Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte at 15:30 local time (14:30 GMT).<br \/>Before that, we&#x27;ll continue to update you with the latest key lines. Stay with us.<br \/>As we&#x27;ve been reporting, both Ukraine and Russia have reported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A6085d645-f67f-4180-8fd5-9463cf00f343#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">strikes overnight<\/a>.<br \/>Ukraine&#x27;s national police service has shared photos showing the aftermath of strikes in the Donetsk region &#8211; specifically in Kostyantynivka, Sloviansk, Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka and Vodyanske.<br \/>The police say five residential buildings were destroyed in the attacks, with two people killed in the area.<br \/><span class=\"ssrcss-1gp5o89-ImageWrapper etflsgg1\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1105681-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/128\/cpsprodpb\/\/vivo\/live\/images\/2021\/6\/18\/f87813e2-90ab-45ba-b097-6ab8caf29b1d.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/span><\/span><span><strong>Vitaliy Shevchenko<\/strong><br \/>Russia editor, BBC Monitoring<\/span><br \/><i class=\"ssrcss-v0hwvi-AlternateVoice e1geeobk0\">As we&#x27;ve reported, the EU has reached a provisional agreement to <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3Aa31b164e-7892-4dfd-a9c1-13ac103b69b6#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">phase out<\/a><i class=\"ssrcss-v0hwvi-AlternateVoice e1geeobk0\"> its remaining imports of Russian gas by 2027.<\/i><br \/>Phasing out Russian gas exports to Europe would mark an important milestone in stopping <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cdxk454kxz8o\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Western money from contributing to Vladimir Putin&#x27;s war effort<\/a>.<br \/>In the wake of the February 2022 invasion, Ukraine&#x27;s allies imposed sanctions on Russian hydrocarbons. The US and UK banned Russian oil and gas, while the European Union (EU) banned Russian seaborne crude imports, but not gas.<br \/>As a result, since that time <a href=\"https:\/\/energyandcleanair.org\/financing-putins-war\/\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Russia has made \u20ac107bn<span class=\"visually-hidden ssrcss-1f39n02-VisuallyHidden e16en2lz0\">, <!-- -->external<\/span><\/a> (\u00a394bn) by selling gas to the EU &#8211; that&#x27;s more than half of Russia&#x27;s total gas export revenue.<br \/>Proceeds made from selling oil and gas are key to keeping Russia&#x27;s war machine going. Oil and gas account for almost a third of Russia&#x27;s state revenue and more than 60% of its exports.<br \/>Russia has made billions from fossil fuel exports to the West, data shows, helping to finance its full-scale invasion of Ukraine<br \/>Ukraine&#x27;s President Volodymyr Zelensky says his delegation will prepare for a meeting with Trump&#x27;s envoys in the US after foreign ministers meet in Brussels.<br \/>While in Brussels, the Ukrainian delegation &#8211; made up of National Security Secretary <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Rustem Umerov<\/b> and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Andrii Hnatov<\/b> &#8211; will brief their European counterparts on the Moscow talks and discuss the &quot;necessary security architecture&quot;, Zelensky says.<br \/>&quot;As always, Ukraine will work constructively in pursuit of a real peace,&quot; Zelensky writes on social media.<br \/><span class=\"ssrcss-1gp5o89-ImageWrapper etflsgg1\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1105681-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/128\/cpsprodpb\/\/vivo\/live\/images\/2021\/6\/18\/f87813e2-90ab-45ba-b097-6ab8caf29b1d.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/span><\/span><span><strong>Vitaliy Shevchenko<\/strong><br \/>Russia editor, BBC Monitoring<\/span><br \/>Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that &quot;it wouldn&#x27;t be correct&quot; to say that President Putin rejected US proposals for peace during talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner yesterday.<br \/>Answering a question at a daily press briefing, Peskov says: &quot;Yesterday was the first time that a direct exchange of opinions took place. Something was accepted, something was marked as unacceptable. This is a normal working process and a search for compromise.&quot;<br \/>Peskov also refused to disclose any details of the five-hour negotiations in the Kremlin: &quot;There&#x27;s an understanding that the more quiet surrounds these negotiations, the more productive they are. We&#x27;ll stick to this principle and we&#x27;re hoping that our American counterparts will, too.&quot;<br \/>Last week saw a string of media leaks suggesting that the Americans attempted to present a maximalist list of demands compiled by Russia as their own &quot;peace plan&quot;, that the US has been involved in secret business talks with Russia, and that Witkoff advised the Russians on how to approach Donald Trump.<br \/><span class=\"ssrcss-1gp5o89-ImageWrapper etflsgg1\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1105681-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/128\/cpsprodpb\/\/vivo\/live\/images\/2022\/10\/5\/380bb0de-4cd5-4300-8c20-cfb5c8f341df.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/span><\/span><span><strong>Nick Beake<\/strong><br \/>Reporting from Brussels<\/span><br \/>Nato&#x27;s foreign ministers are meeting in the comfort of the alliance\u2019s HQ in Brussels far from the Ukrainian battlefield.<br \/>They\u2019re also far from the ongoing US-led attempt to stop the fighting and make a peace deal.<br \/>That\u2019s because President Trump and his team have been making overtures to Russia, not European allies.<br \/>Instead, Europe has been scrambling time and again to try to placate Trump whenever his sympathies have swung back in Moscow\u2019s favour.<br \/>For all the military prowess of the European countries represented today, you could argue their lack of power and influence is reflected in the lack of any very senior US official in attendance at the meeting.  <br \/>There is no Marco Rubio or Pete Hegseth, America\u2019s secretary of state and secretary of defence respectively.<br \/>Despite the resolute language we\u2019ve heard this morning, Europe is not united on how best to support and fund Ukraine &#8211; and it finds itself largely frozen out of the US\u2019s thinking.<br \/>Nato foreign ministers &#8211; including those from Turkey, Finland, Spain and Slovenia, as pictured above &#8211; are meeting in Brussels<br \/>As we&#x27;ve been reporting, Nato foreign ministers are in Brussels to discuss the ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine.<br \/>Ahead of their meeting, <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">German <\/b>Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he welcomed &quot;all talks&quot; aimed at ending the war, but saw &quot;no serious willingness on the Russian side to enter into negotiations&quot;.<br \/>Also reflecting on the overnight US-Russia talks,<b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\"> Estonian<\/b> Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Europe must decide what will happen in the continent, adding: &quot;Putin cannot decide over us [&#8230;] the US cannot make decisions instead of us.&quot;<br \/>His<b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\"> Latvian<\/b> counterpart, Baiba Braze, warned that &quot;Russia is trying to split Nato&quot; through what she described as &quot;so-called peace talks&quot;.<br \/><b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Finland<\/b>&#x27;s Elina Valtonen pushed back on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cwypq7xjvdqt?post=asset%3A8809ab5d-a152-4cc9-9a56-6eff29a18e10#post\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Putin&#x27;s earlier comments<\/a> that his country did not want conflict with Europe but was &quot;ready&quot; for war, saying Russia was using this &quot;rhetoric&quot; to &quot;intimidate us&quot;.<br \/>The <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">UK<\/b>&#x27;s Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, called on the Russian president to &quot;end the bluster and bloodshed&quot;, while <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">Norway<\/b>&#x27;s Espen Barth Eide said Ukraine &quot;needs to stay strong&quot; and Nato needs to &quot;stay committed&quot;.<br \/><span class=\"ssrcss-1gp5o89-ImageWrapper etflsgg1\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1105681-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/128\/cpsprodpb\/\/vivo\/live\/images\/2021\/8\/27\/6937ccf0-93c6-46be-8c04-b24025209e08.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/span><\/span><span><strong>Joel Gunter<\/strong><br \/>Reporting from Kyiv<\/span><br \/>The Ukrainian opposition MP Oleksiy Goncharenko told me this morning that Ukraine was \u201cnot in the best position\u201d in negotiations over an end to the war and would need to accept tough compromises to secure a much needed peace.<br \/>He pointed out that the US had stopped the de-facto free military support Ukraine benefited from under the Biden administration, and while the EU was \u201cmore supportive politically\u201d it was \u201cunable to come to a decision on frozen assets\u201d, he said.<br \/>Goncharenko, a frequent critic of President Volodymyr Zelensky, was referring to the roughly $300bn in Russian assets frozen by Europe, which Ukraine has pushed to be released to fund its war effort.<br \/>There were red lines for Ukraine though, Goncharenko said &#8211; above all the country should refuse to cede any additional territory in eastern Ukraine that Russia had not yet captured.<br \/>\u201cThey want to take in negotiations what they have failed to take during 12 years of war,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not acceptable.\u201d<br \/>Another red line was security guarantees, according to Goncharenko. A pathway to Nato membership was \u201cthe best guarantee possible\u201d, he said, \u201cbut if the US is not ready for this, we cannot do anything about it. We cannot make them accept it&quot;.<br \/>EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calls it &quot;the dawn of a new era&quot;<br \/>The European Council and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement to phase out imports of Russian gas by 2027.<br \/>&quot;This is the dawn of a new era, the era of Europe&#x27;s full energy independence from Russia,&quot; says EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.<br \/>Von der Leyen says that Russian gas imports or LNG and pipeline are &quot;down from 45% at the beginning of the war to 13&quot;. Coal imports are down from 51% at the beginning of the war to now zero, she adds, and crude oil imports are down from 26% to 2%.<br \/>The European Council said the aim is to end dependence on Russian energy supplies &quot;after Russia weaponised gas supplies, which had a significant impact on the European energy market&quot;.<br \/>In May, the European Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c04547pr9vqo\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">published its &quot;roadmap&quot; outlining its plans to end Europe&#x27;s reliance<\/a> on Russian energy, after which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Reuters news agency that Europe was &quot;shooting itself in the foot&quot;.<br \/>Russia has made billions from fossil fuel exports to the West, data shows, helping to finance its full-scale invasion of Ukraine<br \/><span class=\"ssrcss-1gp5o89-ImageWrapper etflsgg1\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1105681-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/128\/cpsprodpb\/\/vivo\/live\/images\/2025\/7\/14\/00be684a-15cd-4b72-8269-40fc2af67465.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/span><\/span><span><strong>Will Vernon<\/strong><br \/>BBC News<\/span><br \/>The late-night discussions in the Kremlin between President Putin and Donald Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff lasted for <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">five hours<\/b> but failed to achieve any tangible results. <br \/>But they could claim to be the longest talks between the two men since Steve Witkoff began meeting Putin &#8211; this was his sixth visit to Russia this year.<br \/>In February 2025, Witkoff and Putin met for <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">three and a half hours<\/b>, according to the US envoy. <br \/>In March, the Russian President reportedly kept the American waiting for eight hours. It wasn\u2019t clear how long the talks lasted, but they were rumoured to be <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">short<\/b>. <br \/>Their third meeting, in the city of St Petersburg on 11 April, lasted <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">four-and-a-half<\/b> hours. The two men spoke again in the Kremlin for <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">three hours<\/b> on 25 April. <br \/>Another meeting on 6 August went on for just <b class=\"ssrcss-cgjb6m-Keyword e2vephq0\">under three hours<\/b>, according to Russian media.  <br \/>As UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper arrived in Brussels earlier, she announced an additional \u00a310m to support energy infrastructure in Ukraine.<br \/>&quot;We will continue to work to switch the lights back on,&quot; she told reporters. It comes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cx2gylngx7go\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">after Russian strikes caused power outages for more than 600,000 Ukrainians over the weekend. <\/a><br \/>Cooper said Putin was seeking to escalate the war, and she added that the UK was in Brussels to &quot;affirm our strong support for the people of Ukraine and for the process to secure a just and lasting peace for Ukraine&quot;.<br \/>Copyright \u00a9 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/editorialguidelines\/guidance\/feeds-and-links\" class=\"ssrcss-bosb8n-Link e14mg4ud0\">Read about our approach to external linking.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiVEFVX3lxTE5nZ083dURqRzBNbkpCRjhTMHdPYzh1NWlUYmJxanlrUkl2WVVuWGtUcTFKMENsd0VEeHNkWmJPNjJfOGRtTjhPT2NxNkRlY3FoaFRFRA?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kremlin says it&#x27;s wrong to suggest Vladimir Putin rejected US proposals for peace in Ukraine after talks with US negotiators in MoscowPutin&#x27;s spokesman says some parts were &quot;accepted&quot;, but other parts were &quot;unacceptable&quot;Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#x27;s spokesman responds to Putin saying yesterday that Russia didn&#x27;t want to fight Europe &#8211; but was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-174118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}