LONDON — Ukraine’s staunchest allies held emergency talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa in an attempt to stop Donald Trump forcing Kyiv to hand swathes of territory to Russia in a lopsided peace deal. 

Western governments were privately shocked and dismayed at the new 28-point outline for a peace deal from the U.S. president’s team this week, seeing it as an attempt to force Ukraine to give Vladimir Putin everything he wants. 

European leaders are now frantically working up counter-proposals to put to Trump in an effort to mitigate the worst of the U.S. proposals, according to multiple officials familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to speak candidly. 

More than a dozen leaders including Germany’s Friedrich Merz, France’s Emmanuel Macron, the U.K.’s Keir Starmer, the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen and Canada’s Mark Carney met for an urgent discussion at the G20 summit in Johannesburg to coordinate their response with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“The draft is a basis which will require additional work,” the leaders said in a joint statement after discussing Trump’s plan.  “We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force. We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.”

The leaders reiterated the “strength” of their continued support for Ukraine and insisted that any provisions in a peace deal that affected the EU or NATO would require proper “consent” from the members of these multinational blocs.

The main aim of Ukraine’s friends is to strengthen Zelenskyy’s position and ensure he has their public backing for whatever comes next. While none of Ukraine’s allies has been involved in drafting Trump’s plan or has said they think it is fair, they took care not to reject the 28-point blueprint outright, for fear of antagonizing Trump. 

Crisis talks

Instead, intense work is going on behind the scenes to devise alternatives that would better protect Ukrainian and European interests, the officials said. However, it is clear that none of Ukraine’s friends and allies believe the raw Trump plan is acceptable and some do not even want to give it any credibility at all. 

One EU diplomat said engaging with the U.S. proposals would “lend legitimacy to something that has been drawn up without Ukrainian or European involvement, while its impact would directly affect us. As such it’s a non-starter.” 

The crisis talks in Johannesburg came as the Trump administration piles pressure on Zelenskyy to agree to the terms of their plan by a deadline of Thanksgiving, next Thursday. If Zelenskyy refuses, Trump could cut off access to U.S. intelligence on Russian activities, as well as halt American military support, both of which have been critical in keeping Ukraine in the fight for the past three-and-a-half years. 

Then Ukraine would be left almost entirely reliant on support from Europe, and EU leaders are already struggling to work out how to help. 

“We have been working for a just and sustainable peace with Ukraine and for Ukraine together with our friends and partners,” European Commission President von der Leyen said after a meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday. “We have discussed the current situation and we are clear that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” 

Von der Leyen also spoke with Macron, Starmer and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The British leader made clear that he and others would work to try to improve the Trump plan.

“Ukraine’s friends and partners will meet in the margins of the G20 summit to discuss how we can secure a full ceasefire and create the space for meaningful peace negotiations,” Starmer said. “We will discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of President Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations.”

Trump is intensifying his push for a peace accord at a particularly sensitive time for Zelenskyy — who is battling to contain a swirling corruption scandal — and that is part of the point. U.S. officials think Zelenskyy’s weakness at home will make it more likely that he will agreee to their terms. 

Zelenskyy himself said on Friday that his country is facing one of the most difficult moments in its history and may be forced to choose between losing its “dignity” and losing “a key partner.” 

Thursday deadline

Putin meanwhile has backed Trump’s deal, which includes unfreezing Russian assets currently held in Europe, and preparing the way for potentially lucrative reconstruction work from which America would profit. The U.S. proposal also suggests future Russian-American projects would flow from the peace. 

In another irritation to Brussels, Hungary’s Putin-friendly leader, Viktor Orbán, also backed the U.S. plan.

It’s not clear what happens if Ukraine does not sign up to the deal by Trump’s Thursday deadline. European officials note that Trump has frequently imposed deadlines — on Putin as well as on trade partners — only for these to pass without consequences. One suggestion is that America could cut off its intelligence sharing support for Ukraine’s military, which Trump has done before, before restoring it again. 

Europeans are dismayed that they — and Ukraine — have been completely cut out of Trump’s work on the draft peace accord, which his envoy Steve Witkoff drew up. EU officials insist that since Europe is now a much bigger donor than the U.S. to Ukraine’s military effort it must not be ignored in any negotiations. 

More importantly for von der Leyen, Starmer and the rest of the leaders, there cannot be a deal done over Zelenskyy’s head. European officials and former officials have described the 28-point plan as “scandalous” and said Witkoff needs “a psychiatrist” if he thinks it will fly.