Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has found himself at the center of a whirlwind of high-stakes diplomacy, as urgent talks involving leaders from about 30 countries unfolded this week in a bid to forge a path toward peace with Russia. The flurry of activity, which included a hastily arranged video summit dubbed the Coalition of the Willing, came as U.S. President Donald Trump pressed for a rapid settlement—one that could require Ukraine to make painful territorial concessions.
The talks, held on December 12, 2025, brought together the leaders of Germany, Britain, and France, among others, as Kyiv sought to secure fair terms for ending the nearly four-year war. According to the Associated Press, the urgency was palpable. Zelenskyy and his allies scrambled, wary of being boxed in by Trump’s demands for a swift deal that might see Ukraine cede land to Russia. "He wants action," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, reflecting Trump’s frustration with the slow pace of progress. "He doesn’t want any more talk."
Adding to the pressure, Zelenskyy revealed that the thorniest issue on the table is the fate of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the world’s largest atomic facilities. In his words: "At this moment it is still difficult to say what the final documents will look like." Negotiators are grappling with Russian demands for territorial control, while Ukraine has made clear it will not simply surrender the Donbas region. Instead, Zelenskyy suggested that both sides remaining where they currently stand along the front line would be "a fair outcome."
But the details are devilishly complex. American negotiators have floated the idea of a "free economic zone" in the Donbas, while the Russians have countered with the concept of a "demilitarized zone." According to Zelenskyy, the U.S. proposal would see Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donetsk, with Russian forces not entering the territory—provided the Russians also pull back by the same distance. Who would oversee the area? That’s still up in the air, and Ukraine has submitted a 20-point peace plan to Washington, each point potentially accompanied by a separate settlement document.
On the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the Russians want to maintain control. The Americans, for their part, have suggested a joint management format, but the specifics are still being hammered out. The stakes are high: the plant is not currently operating, but its fate is a flashpoint in the broader struggle for Ukraine’s sovereignty and energy security.
European leaders, for their part, are keenly aware that the outcome of these talks could shape the continent’s security for years to come. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and French President Emmanuel Macron have all been deeply involved. Merz noted that he and his counterparts suggested finalizing peace proposals with U.S. officials over the weekend, with possible follow-up talks in Berlin. "The main issue to be resolved is what territories and concessions Ukraine is prepared to make," Merz said, acknowledging the immense difficulty of the task. He didn’t mince words about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions, either: "President Putin is relentlessly continuing his brutal war against the Ukrainian civilian population, and at the same time he is clearly playing for time in the negotiations."
The sense of a crossroads is widely shared. European leaders declared this week that the discussions are at "a critical moment." Next week, Ukraine plans to coordinate bilaterally with European countries, while a regular European Union summit is scheduled in Brussels. The clock is ticking, and the pressure is mounting—not least because Trump initially set a hard deadline for Kyiv to accept his peace plan before Thanksgiving. That deadline, like others before it, has come and gone without a breakthrough.
Russia, meanwhile, is eager to show Washington it is engaging with Trump’s peace efforts, hoping to avoid further U.S. sanctions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Moscow has sent "additional proposals … concerning collective security guarantees" to the U.S.—proposals that Ukraine and its European allies say are essential to deter future aggression. Lavrov, however, accused Europe of seeking to prolong the war, charging that Western Europe "is only thinking about a ceasefire, catching its breath, and once again preparing Zelenskyy for war."
On the battlefield, the situation remains volatile. Russian forces have made a determined push to seize all of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, which together form the Donbas industrial heartland. Putin claimed this week that Russian troops have taken the city of Siversk in Donetsk, though Ukrainian officials denied the claim. Despite these assertions of strength, Russia occupies only about 20% of Ukraine, including Crimea and territories seized since 2014 and after the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Yet Ukraine has demonstrated its own capacity to strike deep inside Russian territory. In a first, Ukrainian long-range drones hit a Russian oil rig in the Caspian Sea—about 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine—halting extraction from over 20 wells, according to an official in Ukraine’s Security Service who spoke to the Associated Press. The attack appeared to be a calculated show of force, coinciding with one of Ukraine’s largest drone assaults of the war. Flights in and out of all four Moscow airports were halted for seven hours, and airports in eight other Russian cities faced restrictions, as confirmed by the Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses intercepted 287 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions.
The scale of the conflict is staggering. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte revealed that Russia has launched over 46,000 drones and missiles against Ukraine this year alone. He warned that Europe could be Russia’s next target and described China as "Russia’s lifeline," providing most of the critical electronic components Moscow needs for its military campaign. "China wants to prevent its ally from losing in Ukraine," Rutte said in a speech in Berlin.
As the diplomatic drama unfolds, the world watches to see whether the latest round of talks will yield a breakthrough or simply mark another chapter in a grinding war of attrition. With deadlines missed, alliances tested, and the fate of entire regions hanging in the balance, the coming days could prove decisive for Ukraine—and for the security architecture of Europe itself.
