Berlin: Ukrainian and European officials sprang into a frenzy at the weekend to alter US President Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, developed with input from Russia and heavily weighted towards the Kremlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, sat back and watched.

For the Russian leader, a Kremlin-friendly peace plan that enshrines Ukraine’s perpetual subordination and vulnerability would be a win. So would a failed process that leads Trump to pull remaining support for Ukraine and further antagonise European allies.

Vladimir Putin (left) could be aiming to cleave Donald Trump from the Ukrainians and the Europeans, analysts say.Credit: AP

US and Ukrainian officials reported progress on talks aimed at amending the proposal, saying they had made some unspecified changes. By late Monday (Tuesday AEDT), the officials had returned home.

It is unclear if Putin will accept those changes. On Friday, in a video conference with security officials, the Russian leader said the 28-point plan could be the foundation for a peace settlement, pending “substantive and meaningful discussion”, or Russia could keep pressing its case in Ukraine by force.

More Ukrainian cities would fall to Russian troops, “perhaps not as quickly as we would prefer, but inevitably”, Putin warned. He said such a path “also suits us” because Moscow was content to pursue its interests “through armed confrontation”.

His message: his........

© WA Today