Trump Cut Europe Out of Ukraine Talks | Der Standard |

European leaders were blindsided by President Trump's 28-point-plan to end the Ukraine war, setting off a dash for influence

The leaked proposal, reported in outlets such as Axios and The Financial Times, floored them. It suggested that NATO would be prevented from stationing troops in postwar Ukraine, scuppering a French and British proposal to send peacekeepers there. It included a plan to unfreeze billions of dollars of Russian funds, now held largely in Belgium, which many in Europe hope to loan to Ukraine.

"When everyone had arrived, having read The Financial Times, there were some questions," Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, said with dry understatement in an interview.

Seeking clarity, the ministers swiftly began pressing the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, who had joined the meeting via teleconference. Did Sybiha know anything more about this plan? Was it real?

Like his counterparts, Sybiha had limited details, according to two officials present at the meeting.

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By Friday, Trump and his administration had begun to talk to their European counterparts, and it became increasingly clear that the plan was real.

Daniel P. Driscoll, the U.S. Army secretary, said at a meeting Friday in Ukraine that European countries were left out of negotiations to avoid having "too many cooks," officials present said. Driscoll said European officials had grown too close to Ukrainian counterparts to objectively assess the war, those present said.

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