UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (L), France’s President Emmanuel Macron (C) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (R) attend a trilateral meeting at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg on November 22, 2025.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa on Saturday, November 22nd, as Ukraine and its European allies worked on counterproposals to the U.S. peace plan for Ukraine leaked on Friday.
Donald Trump initially gave a Thursday deadline to Zelensky to accept the peace plan, and the Kremlin has also warned Kyiv to start talking peace immediately or risk losing further territories.
The meeting in Johannesburg took place ahead of a broader discussion on the same issue, to be joined by other European leaders. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday, November 21st, that allies must make it clear that “nothing about Ukraine can be decided without Ukraine.”
While President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to reject the 28-point U.S. plan, saying he would work to ensure that the agreement does not “betray” Ukraine’s interests, a senior Ukrainian official announced on Saturday that Kyiv would begin negotiations with the United States in Switzerland on possible ways to end the war. The delegation will be headed by Zelensky’s controversial chief adviser, Andriy Yermak.
AFP quoted unnamed sources saying at the G20 summit said on Saturday that security officials from the United Kingdom, France and Germany will meet U.S. and Ukrainian counterparts in Geneva on Sunday, November 23rd, to discuss President Trump’s peace plan.
“The adviser to the French president will go to Geneva tomorrow [Sunday] with colleagues from the E3 [UK, France and Germany],” one of the sources said on condition of anonymity on the sidelines of the South Africa summit.
“The talks will be between the United States, the E3 and the Ukrainians,” said another source, also granted anonymity.
Later, France’s President Emmanuel Macron told reporters that the 30 countries in the ‘coalition of the willing’ supporting Kyiv will hold a video call on Tuesday, November 25th, following talks in Geneva on the U.S. plan for Ukraine.
“We will hold a meeting Tuesday afternoon to coordinate on this point, and to see what progress will be made in the Geneva negotiations in coming days, and to be able to take new initiatives,” he said at the G20 summit in Johannesburg.
