Ukraine, U.S., France, Germany Make "Significant Progress" in London Talks

(MENAFN) Discussions between Ukrainian officials and representatives from the U.S., France, and Germany in London on Wednesday showed "significant progress," according to the British Foreign Office.

A spokesperson from the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office stated, "The talks today were productive and successful, and significant progress was made on reaching a common position on next steps. "All agreed to continue their close coordination and looked forward to further talks soon," he added.

Ukraine's Defense Minister, Rustem Umerov, called the meeting with U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg in London "productive" and "successful," emphasizing discussions about a ceasefire and security guarantees. "We talked about our consistent position regarding a ceasefire, also about security guarantees. For my part, I believe the meeting was very productive and successful," Umerov commented.

Kellogg also noted positive exchanges with Andriy Yermak, the Chief of Staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during their London talks.

However, the planned negotiations were impacted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s sudden cancellation of his trip to Britain, highlighting ongoing disagreements between the U.S. and European allies on how to bring the conflict to an end.

Earlier, U.S. Vice President JD Vance had stated that it was time for Russia and Ukraine to either accept a U.S. peace proposal or for the U.S. to "walk away from this process." The proposal suggested freezing territorial lines "at some level close to where they are today," paving the way for a potential "long-term diplomatic settlement that hopefully will lead to long-term peace."

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