Russian invasion Negotiations

US to skip NATO meeting for first time since 1999

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend when NATO foreign ministers gather in Brussels this week, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, it is the first time since 1999 that an American secretary of state has not shown up at the meeting.

It is a signal that the US is not as committed to NATO as before. Several countries in Europe are concerned about where the US is heading, not least after the peace plan for Ukraine that the country recently presented.

The plan stated that the US would act as a “mediator” between NATO and Russia, a sign that the US does not see itself as part of the alliance.

The Americans also proposed that Russia be granted amnesty for war crimes and welcomed back to the G8.

– This would lead to major friction in the transatlantic relationship. Politically, Russia is well on its way to winning, says British security analyst Ed Arnold to the WSJ.

US delegation in Moscow for meeting with Putin

US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have landed in the Russian capital Moscow ahead of today's meeting with President Vladimir Putin, several media outlets report. The men are to meet in the Kremlin in the afternoon to discuss a possible peace agreement in Ukraine.

Ahead of the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow would only agree to peace if what it calls "the root causes of the conflict" are resolved. CNN writes that this includes a ban on Ukrainian NATO membership and that Ukraine gives up the territories occupied by Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is himself in Ireland, says that Ukraine and the US have jointly developed a 20-point peace proposal that is now on the table. He plans to talk to the US delegation immediately after their meeting in Russia.

Putin's statement against Europe: "Constitutes an obstacle to peace"

Vladimir Putin launches a new verbal attack on Europe, saying that European countries "constitute an obstacle" to Donald Trump trying to reach peace through talks, Reuters reports. He accuses Europe of being interested in war and emphasizes that the counterproposals presented by, among others, Britain, Germany and France are unacceptable.

- If Europe wants to go to war, we are ready, says the president.

The statement comes at the same time as an American delegation is in the Kremlin to discuss the peace proposal that Ukraine and the United States have worked on. The European countries have recently been very careful to emphasize that peace in Ukraine must happen on Ukraine's terms.