Ukraine agrees to ‘core terms’ of peace deal

Ukraine has agreed to the core elements of a peace proposal brokered by the Trump administration, with some details still to be worked out, a U.S. official confirmed Tuesday to NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer.

Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, confirmed in a social media post that Ukrainian and U.S. delegations agreed on “the core terms” of the agreement presented in Geneva.

“We appreciate the productive and constructive meetings held in Geneva between the Ukrainian and U.S. delegations, as well as President Trump’s steadfast efforts to end the war,” Umerov wrote in a post on the social platform X.

“Our delegations reached a common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva,” he continued. “We now count on the support of our European partners in our further steps.”

“We look forward to organizing a visit of Ukraine’s President to the US at the earliest suitable date in November to complete final steps and make a deal with President Trump,” he added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a Tuesday morning post on X said the U.S. “has made tremendous progress towards a peace deal by bringing both Ukraine and Russia to the table.”

“There are a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out and will require further talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States,” she added.

The U.S. has renewed its effort to bring the war between Ukraine and Russia to an end, with delegations from the U.S., Ukraine and key European allies meeting in Geneva over the weekend to discuss the 28-point plan the U.S. proposed last week.

The plan has been widely panned as too favorable to Russia, but U.S. officials have said the document is not the final offer and that it would likely change.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Monday that “the list of necessary steps to end the war can become workable” after officials emerged from talks in Geneva on Sunday optimistic about progress. Zelensky said he planned to discuss “sensitive” outstanding issues with Trump.

Oleksandr Bevz, a Ukrainian delegate at talks in Geneva on Sunday, confirmed the number of points were reduced but denied reports that the new plan consisted of 19 points, The Associated Press reported. 

”(The document) is going to continue to change. We can confirm that it was reduced to take out points not relating to Ukraine, to exclude duplicates and for editing purposes,” Bevz told the AP. He said points relating only to U.S.-Russian relations were dropped from the latest draft.

U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll met with Russian officials for several hours late Monday and on Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates. A U.S. official confirmed to the AP that the Ukrainians were aware the meeting was taking place and that all sides were eager to reach a deal as soon as possible. 

“Late Monday and throughout Tuesday, Secretary Driscoll and team have been in discussions with the Russian delegation to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine,” Driscoll spokesperson Jeff Tolbert told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. 

“The talks are going well and we remain optimistic. Secretary Driscoll is closely synchronized with the White House and the U.S. interagency as these talks progress,” Tolbert continued.

The plan initially faced backlash, even from some of Trump’s Republican allies on Capitol Hill.

On Saturday, Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Angus King (I-Maine) said Secretary of State Marco Rubio told them on a call that the plan wasn’t primarily authored by the U.S. but instead was “essentially the wish list of the Russians.” Rubio pushed back on those reports.

The initial U.S. proposal, first reported by Axios and then obtained by the AP last week, included a provision that would place the regions of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk under “de facto” Russian control to be recognized by the U.S., and it sought to prohibit Ukraine’s admission to NATO, among other items considered likely nonstarters for Ukraine. 

There were also no major concessions required from Moscow, apart from directing $100 billion in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Updated at 10:16 a.m. EST