The European counter-proposal to the US-proposed 28-point peace plan for Ukraine is not constructive and is simply not acceptable to Moscow, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said today, quoted by TASS and Reuters, BTA reported.
"The European plan is, at first glance, completely unconstructive and does not work for us", Ushakov stressed to the media.
The publication of the American draft agreement last week deepened concerns in Ukraine and among European powers that Russia's key demands regarding NATO, territory and the chronology of any peace agreement have been accepted by Washington, Reuters notes. The European plan significantly changes key points.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that US proposals for peace in Ukraine could serve as a basis for resolving the conflict, but if Kiev rejects the plan, Russian forces will continue their offensive.
"Not all, but many provisions of this (US) plan seem quite acceptable to us," Ushakov said. Some of them will require more in-depth discussions, he added.
The United States, Ukraine and other interested parties will spend more time negotiating the new US peace plan. The original deadline, which was set for Thursday, has been canceled, Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoff said, the national news agency ANP reported, BTA reports.
Schoff and other European leaders were briefed on the Geneva talks today.
Last week, the United States put strong pressure on Ukraine to quickly accept the peace plan, which required the country to make a number of significant concessions. Washington wanted to reach an agreement before Thanksgiving, which is Thursday. The chief US negotiator, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, presented this deadline as conditional yesterday evening.
The United States has not yet set a new date, but European leaders have noted that "this coming Thursday is no longer a final deadline," Schoff said by phone from Luanda, where he is participating in the EU-Angola summit, and described the postponement as important.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that much work still needs to be done to achieve a "just and lasting peace" in Ukraine, but stressed that progress has been made, Reuters reported.
A group of countries supporting Ukraine, known as the "coalition of the willing", will discuss this progress at an online meeting tomorrow, he said.
"Everyone is absolutely focused on what we need to achieve, which is a just and lasting peace," the British prime minister told reporters. He stressed that the issues affecting Ukraine must be resolved by Ukraine itself. "So yes, there is progress, but there is still a lot of work to be done," Starmer summed up.