JOHANNESBURG/KYIV — Western leaders said on Saturday that a peace plan proposed by the United States can be a basis for talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine but needs “additional work,” part of Western efforts to eke out a better deal for Kyiv before a Thursday deadline.

Meeting on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) summit in South Africa, European and other Western leaders scrambled to come up with a coordinated response to US President Donald J. Trump’s demand for Ukraine to accept his 28-point plan by Thursday.

Mr. Trump said in brief remarks on Saturday that his proposal was not his final offer, signaling potential room for adjustments as Ukraine and its European allies stressed that the plan could serve as a foundation for negotiations but required changes.

DRAFT MEETS MEASURED CRITICISM
The European and other Western leaders agreed that national security advisers from the E3 — France, Britain and Germany — would meet European Union (EU), US and Ukrainian officials in Geneva on Sunday for further discussions.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was en route to Geneva late on Saturday for the talks, a State Department official said. Italy would also send an official, diplomatic sources said.

Washington’s plan, which endorses key Russian demands, was met with measured criticism from many US allies. Leaders sought to balance praise for Mr. Trump’s attempt to end the fighting with recognition that some terms in his proposal are unpalatable for Kyiv.

“The initial draft of the 28-point plan includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace,” said the leaders of the EU, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Finland, Italy, Japan and Norway.

“We believe therefore that the draft is a basis which will require additional work,” they said in a statement.

Three US senators suggested the plan was delivered by Russia to US officials.

Senator Mike Rounds, a Republican, told reporters at a conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that Mr. Rubio had called him and other senators. “He made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” Mr. Rounds said. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our plan.”

But Mr. Rubio later posted on X that US officials authored the proposal. “It is based on input from the Russian side,” Mr. Rubio said. “But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”

LEADERS ADOPT ‘LION-LIKE SPIRIT’ IN TALKS ABOUT PLAN
“There are many things that cannot simply be an American proposal, which requires broader consultation,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, adding that an agreement had to allow for peace for Ukrainians and “security for all Europeans.”

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv faced a choice of either losing its dignity and freedom or Washington’s backing. He appealed to Ukrainians for unity.

That signal prompted European leaders to rally.

A German government source said they had met in a room in Johannesburg called “lion” and that the leaders had adopted the animal’s “spirit” in talks to seek a better deal for Ukraine.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz underlined the importance to Europe of supporting Ukraine.

“If Ukraine loses this war and possibly collapses, it will have an impact on European politics as a whole, on the entire European continent. And that is why we are so committed to this issue,” Mr. Merz said on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

“There is currently an opportunity to end this war, but we are still quite a long way from a good outcome for everyone.”

On Saturday, leaders of eight Nordic and Baltic nations said they had spoken with Mr. Zelensky and pledged to keep supplying arms. In a joint statement, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden said: “Solutions that respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and that will bring Ukraine and Europe greater security and stability have our full support.”

Mr. Zelensky appealed to his country for unity.

“Now, Ukraine can face a very difficult choice — either losing dignity or risk losing a major partner,” he said in a speech to the nation on Friday. “I will fight 24/7 to ensure that at least two points in the plan are not overlooked — the dignity and freedom of Ukrainians.”

On Saturday, he signaled that security guarantees were imperative to “ensure that nowhere in Europe or the world does the principle prevail that crimes against people and humanity, against states and nations, can be rewarded and forgiven.”

On the front line, one Ukrainian soldier, 33-year-old Vitalii Traikalo, questioned why Ukraine should be forced to give up territory after three years of grueling fighting to fend off Russian assaults.

“Are we defending our borders here just to give them away? What’s the point of all this, of all these sacrifices?” He asked while manning an artillery position near the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.

TRUMP GIVES UKRAINE A TIGHT DEADLINE
On Friday, Mr. Trump threw down the gauntlet to Ukraine, saying Mr. Zelensky had until Thursday to approve his 28-point plan, which calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and renounce ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess,” he said. “At some point he’s going to have to accept something he hasn’t accepted.”

Recalling their fractious February meeting with Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Trump added: “You remember right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said, ‘You don’t have the cards’.”

In their statement, Western leaders said they were “concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.”

“We reiterate that the implementation of elements relating to the European Union and relating to NATO would need the consent of EU and NATO members respectively.”

At Sunday’s meeting in Geneva, European nations are keen to suggest changes to Mr. Trump’s plan, which Russian President Vladimir Putin described as the basis of a resolution to the conflict. — Reuters

JOHANNESBURG/WASHINGTON — Group of 20 (G20) leaders adopted a declaration addressing the climate crisis and other global challenges on Saturday over US objections, prompting the White House to accuse South Africa of weaponizing its leadership of the group this year.

The declaration, which was drafted without input from the United States, “can’t be renegotiated,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson told reporters, reflecting strains between Pretoria and US President Donald J. Trump’s administration, which boycotted the event.

“We had the entire year of working towards this adoption, and the past week has been quite intense,” spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said.

Hours later, the White House said Mr. Ramaphosa was “refusing to facilitate a smooth transition of the G20 presidency” after initially saying he would pass the gavel to ‘an empty chair.’

“This, coupled with South Africa’s push to issue a G20 Leaders Declaration, despite consistent and robust US objections, underscores the fact that they have weaponized their G20 presidency to undermine the G20’s founding principles,” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. Mr. Trump looks forward to “restoring legitimacy” to the group next year, when the US holds the rotating presidency.

Mr. Ramaphosa, host of this weekend’s gathering of Group of 20 leaders in Johannesburg, had earlier said there was “overwhelming consensus” for a summit declaration.

But at the last minute, Argentina, whose far-right President Javier Milei is a close ally of Mr. Trump, quit the negotiations right before the envoys were about to adopt the draft text, South African officials said.

“Argentina, although it cannot endorse the declaration… remains fully committed to the spirit of cooperation that has defined the G20 since its conception,” its foreign minister Pablo Quirno said at the summit. Mr. Ramaphosa noted this, but went ahead with it anyway.

In explanation, Mr. Quirno said Argentina was concerned about how the document referred to geopolitical issues.

“Specifically it addresses the longstanding Middle East conflict in a manner that fails to capture its full complexity,” he said. The document mentions the conflict once, saying members agree to work for a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in… the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

DECLARATION MENTIONS CLIMATE CHANGE
Envoys from the G20 — which brings together the world’s major economies — drew up a draft leaders’ declaration on Friday without US involvement, four sources familiar with the matter said.

“It is a longstanding G20 tradition to issue only consensus deliverables, and it is shameful that the South African government is now trying to depart from this standard practice,” a senior Trump administration official said on Friday.

The declaration used the kind of language long disliked by the US administration: stressing the seriousness of climate change and the need to better adapt to it, praising ambitious targets to boost renewable energy and noting the punishing levels of debt service suffered by poor countries.

The mention of climate change was a snub to Mr. Trump, who doubts the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by human activities. US officials had indicated they would oppose any reference to it in the declaration.

In opening remarks to the summit, Mr. Ramaphosa said: “We should not allow anything to diminish the value, the stature and the impact of the first African G20 presidency.”

His bold tone was a striking contrast to his subdued decorum during his visit to the White House in May, in which he endured Mr. Trump repeating a false claim that there was a genocide of white farmers in South Africa, brushing aside Mr. Ramaphosa’s efforts to correct his facts.

Mr. Trump said US officials would not attend the summit because of allegations, widely discredited, that the host country’s Black majority government persecutes its white minority.

TRUMP REJECTS SOUTH AFRICA’S G20 AGENDA
The summit came at a time of heightened tensions between world powers over Russia’s war in Ukraine and fraught climate negotiations at the Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Brazil.

“While the G20 diversity sometimes presents challenges, it also underscores the importance of finding common ground,” Japan Cabinet Public Affairs Secretary Maki Kobayashi told Reuters.

Commenting on Argentina’s absence from the final envoy meeting to agree on the text, Mr. Magwenya said: “Argentina (had) been participating quite meaningfully… in all the deliberations,” then never showed up to endorse the declaration on Friday. He added: “We have what we call sufficient consensus.”

The US president had also rejected the host nation’s agenda of promoting solidarity and helping developing nations adapt to weather disasters, transition to clean energy and cut their excessive debt costs.

“This G20 is not about the US,” South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told public broadcaster SABC. “We are all equal members of the G20. What it means is that we need to take a decision. Those of us who are here have decided this is where the world must go.”

But in a sign of the many geopolitical fissures underlying the agreed text, EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen warned in a speech about “the weaponization of dependencies” which she said “only creates losers.”

This was an apparent veiled reference to China’s export curbs on rare earths vital for the world’s energy transition, as well as defense and digital technology.

China’s Premier Li Qiang called for unity amongst the G20 during a speech at the summit on Saturday, saying that differences in interests among parties and shortcomings in global cooperation are key obstacles to international unity.

“The G20 should face up to these problems, explore solutions and promote a return to the right track of unity and cooperation,” Mr. Li said in a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry.

The South African presidency on Saturday reiterated its rejection of a US offer to send the US charge d’affaires for the G20 handover.

“The president will not hand over to a junior embassy official the presidency of the G20. It’s a breach of protocol that is not going to be accommodated,” Mr. Magwenya said.

Mr. Lamola later said that South Africa would assign a diplomat of the same rank as a charge d’affaires to hand over the G20 presidency at the Foreign Affairs Department. — Reuters

BRITAIN on Saturday rolled out a critical minerals strategy designed to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers by 2035, with targets to source 10% of domestic demand from UK production and 20% from recycling, the government said, as global competition for these essential resources intensifies.

Backed by up to 50 million pounds in new funding, the strategy seeks to ensure no more than 60% of the UK’s supply of any one critical mineral comes from a single country by 2035, according to a statement.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in the statement critical minerals “are the backbone of modern life and our national security,” arguing that boosting domestic production and recycling would help shield the economy and support efforts to lower living costs.

The government said the UK currently produces 6% of its critical mineral needs domestically. Under the plan, it wants to expand domestic extraction and processing, with a particular focus on lithium, nickel, tungsten, and rare earths. It aims to produce at least 50,000 tons of lithium in the UK by 2035.

Britain faces an urgent need for a secure, long-term supply of critical minerals, including copper, lithium and nickel, which are essential for smartphones and electric vehicles and increasingly crucial for building data centers that power artificial intelligence.

British demand for essential materials is climbing sharply, with copper consumption projected to nearly double and lithium demand expected to surge by 1,100% by 2035, Britain’s government said.

The strategy underscores China’s grip on critical mineral supplies, leaving the sector exposed to price swings, geopolitical strains and sudden disruptions. Britain noted China accounts for about 70% of rare earth mining and 90% of refining, a dominance that puts countries such as the UK at risk.

Earlier this year, Britain struck a minerals cooperation deal with Saudi Arabia aimed at bolstering supply chains, opening doors for British firms, and drawing fresh investment into the UK. — Reuters