Paris is entering a phase of heightened diplomatic activity as European governments attempt to navigate growing pressure over the war in Ukraine and the controversial peace proposal put forward by Washington.
France’s Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, will hold a multilateral telephone call on Wednesday night with a group of senior European counterparts to discuss the so-called Washington plan, a French diplomatic source confirmed.
According to the source, the conversation will bring together the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, Finland and Italy, along with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs. The call comes as European capitals assess both the substance and the political implications of the U.S. initiative, which proposes a 28-point framework for ending the war.
The discussion in Europe follows intensified scrutiny of the proposal in the United States, where Donald Trump was questioned about the plan after a meeting with New York’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Asked whether he had discussed the peace outline with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump replied:
“We have a plan. It’s terrible what’s happening — this war should never have started.”
Trump insisted that the U.S. proposal offered a path to peace, adding:
“He’ll have to approve it.”
When pressed about criticism surrounding the plan, including reports that Zelensky is deeply skeptical, Trump responded bluntly:
“You mean Zelensky doesn’t like it? He’ll have to like it — and if he doesn’t, I guess they’ll just have to keep fighting.”
The former president further argued that Ukraine had missed earlier opportunities to reach an agreement.
“He should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago,” Trump said, suggesting that Zelensky would ultimately be forced to accept some form of compromise. He added:
“Remember, in the Oval Office I said: ‘You don’t have the cards.’”
Trump concluded by asserting that he had inherited the conflict and maintained his view that a negotiated settlement should have been pursued long before the 2022 invasion escalated into full-scale war.
As European ministers prepare for tonight’s consultation, diplomatic sources in Paris describe the call as part of a broader effort to coordinate a common European response to the American initiative — and to evaluate how far, if at all, the plan aligns with Ukrainian interests.
