EU leaders consider some of the 28 points of the American plan for resolving the Ukrainian conflict unacceptable and the number of items on the list has been parred back to 19, the Financial Times reported on November 24.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated this following an informal EU summit on Ukraine in Luanda on the sidelines of the EU-African Union summit on November 24.

"There's little reason for hurrah-like optimism. <...> There's absolute agreement among European leaders that work on the 28 points presented several dozen hours ago must continue, some of which are unacceptable," the prime minister said at a briefing broadcast on his office's social media pages.

The Kremlin rejects many of the amendments made by the Europe that was floated last week and discussed by Ukraine and its western allies in Geneva on November 23, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy advisor.

Ushakov said the original version he had seen contained many points that were agreed at the Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15, which were largely acceptable to the Kremlin. However, many of the new elements introduced by Europe at the weekend were not acceptable. \

Once Ukraine and its western partners have thrashed out a compromise version that is acceptable to them, the proposal will be shared with the Kremlin for more talks to try and find a workable final version that will be the basis for a ceasefire in the almost four year long war.

European leaders were not satisfied with the clause on reducing the Ukrainian Armed Forces' numbers. Furthermore, Tusk himself emphasized the need to maintain sanctions pressure on Russia.

The plan previously suggested a cap of 600,000 men be placed on the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), but the EU wanted that limit increased to 800,000, which would give Ukraine by far the largest army in Europe.

The US proposal also called for sanctions relief and reintegrating Russia’s economy into the global economy, but sanctions would be removed on a case by case basis and no timeline was given.

Tusk noted that a clause on deploying Nato fighter jets to Poland as a security guarantee for Kyiv had been removed from the proposed plan. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a press conference at the end of the day of talks in Geneva that there were now two versions of the plan, one with 28 points and another with only 26.

The clause to allocate $100bn from Russia’s frozen assets to a reconstruction fund has also been excluded, according to Bloomberg citing sources. The proposal stipulated that the US would receive 50% of the profits from the unspent assets, which would be transferred to a US-Russia investment fund.

The question of territories has also been fudged and the substantive decisions on territories will be put off to be discussed at a face-to-face meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to Ihor Brusilo, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, speaking to Bloomberg.

If this idea is accepted then it would be a repeat of the format proposed as part of the Istanbul peace deal in April 2022, when it was decided that questions regarding the sovereignty over the Crimea were to be put off for direct negotiations between the two presidents at that time as well.

During a press conference after the talks in Geneva were wrapping up, Rubio said the number of items on the list had fallen to 26, but the Financial Times subsequently reported that the list has been reduced further and now only contains 19 times, citing people briefed on the discussions. The people did not specify which elements had been removed.

RBC-Ukraine, citing sources, reported that most of the provisions of the American peace plan were agreed upon and partially amended during the Geneva talks. According to the publication, the delegations were able to reach agreements on several points including:

• Agree on the size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) cap set at 800,000, up from the original 600,000 men;
• the control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) should be returned fully to Ukraine’s control;
• the format for prisoner exchanges, and the return of convicted prisoners.

These points were finalized following discussions that the negotiators described as "the most productive in the past ten months." Washington also assured European partners that their concerns regarding EU and Nato security guarantees will be taken into account during the subsequent talks.

The parties decided to postpone discussions on territorial concessions and the constitutional provision stipulating Ukraine's non-accession to Nato and push them to the presidential level at a proposed meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy.
Separately, Politico reported that an alternative 28-point plan for Ukraine prepared by so-called E3 (Germany, France, and the UK) has lost its relevance, after other EU officials present at the Geneva talks refused to support the project.

One EU official told Politico that the E3 proposal document was "already outdated," while other diplomats said it did not reflect the current state of the consultations, which were clearly moving very fast.

Hungary has remained firm in its opposition to further European support for the war and thrown itself behind the US peace plan to bring the fighting to an end.

The EU once again is undermining the peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine being negotiated by the US, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook. In his opinion, all European politicians are “obliged to unconditionally support the peace plan,” since this is in line with the principles of “humanity and common sense.”