Officials meet in Geneva for Ukraine talks as peace plan’s author called into question

Ali Rogin:

Good evening. I'm Ali Rogin. John Yang is away. A full court press in Geneva tonight as U.S. officials put the heat on Ukraine to accept a peace deal. Who authored the plan became a point of contention, while President Trump said Ukrainian leadership had expressed zero gratitude for American efforts. Nick Schifrin has more on the diplomatic efforts spanning oceans.

Nick Schifrin (voice-over):

Today in Geneva, a meeting that could help determine Ukraine's fate, and in what Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio described as substantial progress.

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State: It is probably the most productive day we have had on this issue, maybe in the entirety of our engagement, but certainly in a very long time.

Nick Schifrin (voice-over):

The Ukrainian delegation, led by presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, used the same language.

Andriy Yermak, Head, Office of the President of Ukraine: We have very good progress and we are moving forward to the just and lasting peace.

Nick Schifrin (voice-over):

The US's 28-point plan presented last week would cap the size of Ukraine's military and block NATO from sending any troops to Ukraine. Ukraine would also have to give up the portion of the Donetsk region it still controls, handing Russia control over the entire Donbas, which the U.S. would then recognize with occupied Crimea and the occupied portions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as de facto Russian.

And a separate U.S. document gives Ukraine a security guarantee that a, quote, significant, deliberate and sustained armed attack by the Russian Federation may lead to an armed response. But today, Ukraine presented its own text, coordinated with the United Kingdom, Germany and France, known as the E3. And in the E3 draft provided to Ukraine and obtained by PBS News, Ukraine would not have to give up land, but would start negotiations based on the front lines.

The U.S. would not give Russia de facto recognition of occupied Ukrainian territory. The E3 draft eliminates a clause that would have given Russia amnesty for war crimes. And NATO would not block Ukraine's future membership, but would acknowledge their membership is not fully supported.

Today, Rubio said the disagreements that remained could be solved.

Marco Rubio:

I can tell you that the items that remain open are not insurmountable. We just need more time than what we have today.

Nick Schifrin (voice-over):

And Rubio suggested more time might also mean Ukraine does not face a Thursday deadline, by which time a European official told PBS News the U.S. initially threatened to cut off weapons and intelligence sharing.

Marco Rubio:

Whether it's Thursday, whether it's Friday, whether it's Wednesday, whether it's Monday of the following week, we want it to be soon because people are going to between today and the time we deal with this, more people are going to die, more destruction is going to happen.

Nick Schifrin (voice-over):

And so it was today. In southern Ukraine, Russian drones injured more than 12 and damaged this apartment block. The price that Ukrainians pay every day is measured in what will be fixed, but also the irreplaceable.

A father in western Ukraine holds the body of his one and a half year old son and says goodbye one last time after his wife and two children were killed in a Russian strike.

Ali Rogin:

Nick Schifrin joins me now. Nick, do we know anything about the substance of these exchanges in Geneva today?

Nick Schifrin:

So Ali, the UK, Germany, France, the E3 did give those proposals to Ukraine for the things that they wanted to see edit. We highlighted some of those in the story. There are other proposed changes, including capping, including raising the cap on Ukraine's military and watering down the restrictions on Ukraine's NATO ambitions and NATO troops in Ukraine.

We don't know exactly the items that your mock emphasized in those in the meeting with Rubio and the U.S. Officials, but Zelenskyy said tonight there are, quote, senators signals that President Trump's team is hearing us. And yesterday Trump did say that the 28-point plan was, quote, not his final proposal, suggesting the U.S. is open to edits.

But as you said at the top, the President of the United States also criticized Ukraine today for not showing or showing zero gratitude. And he put Ukraine's leadership in quotation marks.

And a U.S. and European official tell me this, that Dan Driscoll, after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, you see them there. He told European diplomats that, quote, the honest U.S. military assessment is that Ukraine is in a very bad position and now is the best time for peace.

Ali, for Driscoll to say that in Kyiv really reveals how skeptical the U.S. is of any argument that giving Ukraine more weapons would produce any results.

Ali Rogin:

Now, let's talk about last night. You were at the Halifax Security International Security Forum with a congressional delegation and those members changed the narrative pretty dramatically last night, at least for a few hours.

Nick Schifrin:

Yeah, for a few hours. So this was a bipartisan group of senators led by New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, but alongside North Dakota Republican. Sorry, South Dakota Republican Mike Rounds and Maine Independent Angus King.

And they announced to the press that Rubio told them that the 28-point plan was not a U.S. document, it was actually a Russian document. Let's listen to Rounds and then King.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R) South Dakota: What I can share with you is what we received today from the secretary. And what he told us was that this was not the American proposal. This was a proposal which was received by someone who has identified and they believe to be representing Russia.

Sen. Angus King (I) Maine: The leaked 28-point plan, which, according to Secretary Rubio, is not the administration's position and it is essentially the wish list of the Russians.

Nick Schifrin:

Rounds even said that Rubio gave him permission to make that announcement. But after I posted Rounds his statement on X, Rubio's spokesperson replied to me in a message saying, quote, that this is an outright lie.

After that, Rounds posted a new statement on X saying, quote, I appreciate Secretary Rubio briefing us earlier today on their efforts to bring about peace by relying on input from both Russia and Ukraine to arrive at a final deal. So he didn't repeat what he said the other day, nor did he disavow it.

And King said the same, releasing this statement. It is troubling the plan appears to have been developed after extensive consultation with the Russians and little if any input from Ukraine or European allies does not repeat that in Rubio's name, Ali. Nor does he disavow the statement.

The bottom line is that Rubio says the 28-point plan is a U.S. plan, the not a Russian plan. And the question of who's telling the truth here, frankly, I don't know. And we may not know because the bottom line is these are senators, former governors. They say they heard what they said. Did they hear what they wanted to hear? We just don't know.

Ali Rogin:

Nick Schifrin, excellent reporting. Thank you so much.

Nick Schifrin:

Thank you.