Leaders of Europe’s most powerful countries plan to meet Saturday on the sidelines of a global summit in Johannesburg to discuss a response to President Trump’s latest proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The proposal, a 28-point plan, calls for Ukrainian concessions already largely rejected by the country’s president and allies, including demands for land and limits on the size of Ukraine’s military. President Trump has given President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine until next week to agree to the plan, backing him into a seemingly lose-lose scenario as he faces the risk of losing crucial American support if he does not accept.
European leaders now face increased pressure to show they can get Ukraine the economic and military support it needs to continue battling Russia without U.S. support.
Ukraine’s European allies have already criticized the plan because it was negotiated between the United States and Russia, without Ukraine.
“Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said on Friday, adding that Europe would continue providing Ukraine with significant financial support and maintain sanctions against Russia.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said in a statement that the leaders in Johannesburg would discuss how to secure a cease-fire and strengthen the Trump plan “for the next phase of negotiations.”
“We cannot simply wait for peace,” he said. “We must strain every sinew to secure it.”
The proposal came just before the world’s largest economies gathered in South Africa for the annual Group of 20 heads of state summit. The gathering puts Mr. Starmer and the leaders of other Ukrainian allies such as France, Germany and the overall European Union in the same room with a Russian delegation led by a top deputy of President Vladimir V. Putin, who did not attend because he faced an international arrest warrant.
The United States did not send a delegation to the summit, with Mr. Trump saying he was boycotting it because of his belief that South Africa was persecuting its white minority.
Mr. Starmer, alluding to Russia in his statement, said, “There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a cease-fire, and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians.”
António Costa, the president of the European Council, and Ms. von der Leyen, held a call with Mr. Zelensky on Friday night, and after that met with Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. On Saturday morning, they met with President Emmanuel Macron of France.
Mr. Costa has invited the leaders of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain to Saturday’s meeting on Ukraine, according to the E.U.
The current peace proposal was negotiated between Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s envoy for peace missions, and a Russian official, Kirill Dmitriev. It calls for Ukraine to surrender significant territory, including some that Russia does not already occupy. It also calls for a cap on the size of the Ukrainian military, and prohibits its membership in NATO and the presence of NATO troops in the country.
In her remarks on Friday, Ms. von der Leyen said, “Ukraine can count on us because this is not only an aggression against Ukraine, but it is an aggression against the principles of the U.N. charter,” referring to the United Nations. “It’s on European soil,” she said. “Therefore, we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
G20 leaders had come to an agreement — by all the countries in attendance, including Russia — on a final summit declaration that called for the peaceful resolution of conflicts without force, said Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa. The declaration, which is not binding, specifically mentions the war in Ukraine.
Jeanna Smialek contributed reporting from Brussels.
John Eligon is the Johannesburg bureau chief for The Times, covering a wide range of events and trends that influence and shape the lives of ordinary people across southern Africa.
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