If you’re having trouble keeping track, here’s a stripped-down, non-exhausting list of the developments in the peace negotiations just in the last 24 hours: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with French and Ukrainian Officials in Paris; a memorandum on the ‘Minerals Deal’ was signed, and President Donald J. Trump announced full agreement will be signed next week; Secretary Rubio talked on the phone with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov updating him on the talks; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu to discuss peace efforts.
Whatever else we may want to say about the titanic efforts by the Donald J. Trump Administration to find a solution for the geopolitical complexities of the war in Ukraine, there’s no denying that the pace of peace negotiations is picking up, which would suggest at least a certain degree of success in the whole process.
Yesterday, Rubio and Witkoff met with Emmanuel Macron plus European and Ukrainian officials, intensifying efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
BREAKING: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is currently meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian officials to talk an end to the Ukraine/Russia war.
pic.twitter.com/KElaz8juRO— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 17, 2025
Rubio says a US ‘peace framework’ received an ‘encouraging reception’, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office called the talks ‘constructive and positive’ – even though, during the day, Zelensky again threw shade at Witkoff for ‘spreading Russian narratives’.
Today, @SecRubio met with French President @EmmanuelMacron, French Foreign Minister @jnbarrot and @SE_MiddleEast Steve Witkoff at the Élysée Palace in Paris pic.twitter.com/BQvjmmy5CH
— U.S. Mission to the EU (@US2EU) April 17, 2025
Reuters reported:
“’President Trump and the United States … have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace’, department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. ‘The encouraging reception in Paris to the U.S. framework shows that peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement’, it said.”
.@POTUS has been clear: The time to end the war between Russia and Ukraine is now.
Today in Paris, @SE_MiddleEast, @SPE_Kellogg and I met with leaders from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ukraine to talk about how we can stop the killing and reach a just and sustainable… pic.twitter.com/AUUWSXfhMf
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) April 17, 2025
France’s President Emmanuel Macron hosted Rubio and Witkoff at the Elysee Palace in ‘the first substantive, high level and in-person talks on Trump’s peace push that have included the Europeans’.
“French officials called the Paris talks ‘excellent’ and said they showed Europeans were back at the table for negotiations on Ukraine’s future. ‘Everyone wants to get peace. A robust and sustainable peace. The question is about phasing’, Macron said while meeting Rubio’s delegation.
A senior Macron adviser said the talks showed ‘a real convergence’ on Trump’s aim to end the war.”
Top Ukrainian delegation arrives in Paris for meeting with US reps
Head of Zelensky’s office Yermak, FM Sibiga & Defense Minister Umerov will hold talks with Marco Rubio and Witkoff
Yermak says meetings also planned with coalition of 31 countries, including UK, German, France pic.twitter.com/ltBPQKTfzL
— RT (@RT_com) April 17, 2025
The American, European and Ukrainian negotiators are set to meet again next week, in London.
“Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said he had met with Macron’s foreign policy advisor Emmanuel Bonne and his British and German counterparts in Paris. He also met Rubio and Witkoff. ‘We exchanged views on the next steps toward achieving a just and lasting peace, including the implementation of a full ceasefire, the involvement of a multinational military contingent, and the development of an effective security architecture for Ukraine’, Yermak said on X.”
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth received France’s Sebastien Lecornu to discuss efforts for a ‘durable peace’ in Ukraine.
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