German and French foreign ministers likely to skip London peace talks after US withdrawal

Talks on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine on 23 April in London will be held not only without US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but also likely without the foreign ministers of France and Germany.

"Once that [information about Rubio not coming – ed.] happened, Paris and Berlin also seemingly halted their ministers' respective travel plans. It is understood that the hope is that the meeting at ministerial level will still take place soon," Sky News reports.

Meanwhile, US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg will participate in discussions in London along with senior officials from France and Germany.

It is also reported that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is due to visit London and hold a bilateral meeting with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Earlier, it was reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was scheduled to arrive in London to meet with the foreign ministers of Ukraine, France and Germany, had cancelled his trip.

The downgrading of the diplomatic level of the talks comes amid increasing pressure from US President Donald Trump and his team on Kyiv and Moscow to achieve a ceasefire.

The US peace proposal to be discussed in London envisages the US recognising Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously responded that Ukraine would not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea, as this is prohibited by the Constitution.

The United States handed over to Ukraine a so-called final peace proposal that would recognise Crimea as part of Russia and informally recognise Russian control over almost all the territories occupied since the full-scale invasion in 2022.

After the plan was presented, the FT reported that Putin offered to suspend Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along the current front line as part of a potential deal.