The White House says President Donald Trump is extremely frustrated with both Russia and Ukraine over slow progress toward a peace deal and will not attend meetings ‘just for the sake of meeting,’ Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. Leavitt said the president is tired of talk without results and wants concrete action to end the four-year conflict. She confirmed the administration remains actively engaged in mediation: Trump spoke with European leaders Wednesday, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his team are continuing direct discussions with both sides. Leavitt added that US participation in planned high-level talks this weekend is ‘up in the air’ and will depend on whether negotiators see a real chance of signing an agreement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the US is urging Ukraine to pull back forces from Donetsk to create a ‘free economic zone’ in Kyiv-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine, a region Moscow seeks to dominate, according to Al Jazeera. Zelenskyy also confirmed that Ukraine submitted a 20-point set of counter-proposals to the US on security guarantees and emphasized that any territorial concessions would require approval in a national referendum. Reports indicate Washington is pressing Zelenskyy for a deal, with some suggestions that Trump wants an agreement by Christmas. The broader peace package being negotiated includes a 20-point framework plus separate documents on security guarantees and Ukraine’s reconstruction; details of a revised US framework, said to adjust an earlier draft viewed as favoring Russia, have not been released. Zelenskyy has identified control of Donetsk and the governance of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, currently under Russian control, as key unresolved issues. (ANI; Al Jazeera) This story is from a syndicated feed and is published as received; the Tribune assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness.
