Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hold a press conference in Geneva on November 23, 2025. MARTIAL TREZZINI/AP
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke of "a tremendous amount of progress" and said he was "very optimistic" after talks on the Ukraine war in Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday evening, November 23. The negotiations to find a resolution to the war that started with Russia's invasion nearly four years ago had "really sped up in the last 96 hours," though he admitted that a "couple of issues" remained unresolved, Rubio said, referring to the Trump plan unveiled a few days earlier.
On the heights above Lake Geneva, the Trump administration's chief diplomat had just met with Ukrainian and European negotiators, accompanied by the US president's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll. Their goal, still far from being achieved, was to calm the shock caused in Kyiv and European capitals by the Trump administration's latest proposals, concocted behind the backs of its continental allies but in close consultation with Kremlin emissaries.
Arriving early Sunday from Washington, the secretary of state ended his day by meeting the Ukrainian delegation, accompanied by French, British and German representatives. That morning, at the neighboring French residence, Kyiv's three main European allies – known as the E3 – held consultations before meeting, this time at the German mission, with the Ukrainian envoys led by Volodymyr Zelensky's right-hand man, Andriy Yermak. Joined by Italian and Canadian diplomats, both sides tried to refine their counter-proposals to influence the Trump plan, which they diplomatically described as a "framework." "The Russians are absent, pursuing their war, while we are here to discuss a just and lasting peace," insisted a European representative.
