Top Diplomats to Skip Ukraine Peace Talks in London

Top diplomats from the United States and Europe will skip a new round of Ukraine peace talks to be held in London on Wednesday, multiple news outlets reported, with the latest discussions on a ceasefire proposal now expected to take place among senior officials.

Sky News reported that Germany and France chose not to send their foreign ministers, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also declined to attend, according to The New York Times. U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, who is expected to travel to Moscow this week, will likewise skip the London meeting.

Instead, the talks will be attended by U.S. special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron. Ukraine will be represented by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak, along with Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

“The Ukraine Peace Talks meeting with foreign ministers today is being postponed. Official-level talks will continue,” the U.K. Foreign Office told AFP.

NYT described the scaled-down U.S. presence as a setback for European leaders as they try to play a greater role in the peace process. Rubio had met with the French and British foreign ministers and a senior German official in Paris last Thursday, where he presented a U.S. proposal to end the war.

A U.S. official involved in the talks told Axios that both Rubio and Witkoff backed out of the London meeting after Ukraine signaled it wanted to focus on a 30-day ceasefire proposal rather than the broader U.S. framework.

That framework, according to Axios, includes U.S. recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, de facto acknowledgment of Moscow’s control over four other partially occupied Ukrainian regions, sanctions relief and the promise of future economic cooperation. The outlet noted that security guarantees for Ukraine remain vague.

Axios described the one-page document as U.S. President Donald Trump’s “final offer,” with Ukraine’s response expected by Wednesday. If Kyiv rejects the deal, the U.S. administration may withdraw from mediation efforts.

Zelensky on Tuesday dismissed any recognition of Crimea as Russian territory. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly offered Witkoff last week to freeze the war along current front lines as part of potential U.S.-led negotiations.

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