EU's Kallas says it could be a 'pivotal week' for diplomacy on Ukraine

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said it could be a 'pivotal week' for diplomacy on Ukraine as she arrived at an EU defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday (December 1).

She also said she had heard that talks in the United States on Sunday (November 30) had been "difficult but productive".

U.S. and Ukrainian officials held what both sides called productive talks about a Russia peace deal, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing optimism about progress despite challenges to ending the more than 3-year-long war.

Rubio met with a Ukrainian delegation led by a new chief negotiator in Florida for talks that he said were meant to create a pathway for Ukraine to remain sovereign and independent.

Kallas said that she would talk to the Ukrainian defence and foreign ministers on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday, as the Ukrainian leader finds himself in the most difficult political and military situation since Russia's invasion in 2022.

The two leaders will discuss "the conditions of a just and durable peace," following talks in Geneva and the American peace plan, the Elysee Palace said in a statement on Saturday (November 29).