GENEVA — The United States and Ukraine were set to continue work on Monday on a plan to end the war with Russia after agreeing to modify an earlier proposal that was widely seen as too favorable to Moscow.

The two sides said in a joint statement they had drafted a “refined peace framework” after talks in Geneva on Sunday, although they did not provide specifics.

The White House separately said the Ukrainian delegation had told them it “reflects their national interests” and “addresses their core strategic requirements,” although Kyiv did not issue a statement of its own.

It was not clear how the updated plan would handle a host of issues, including how to guarantee Ukraine’s security against ongoing threats from Russia. The United States and Ukraine said they would continue “intensive work” ahead of a Thursday deadline, although US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the American delegation during the talks, was flying back to Washington late on Sunday.

US President Donald J. Trump has kept up the pressure on Ukraine to reach a deal. On Sunday, he said Ukraine had shown “zero gratitude” for American efforts over the war, prompting Ukrainian officials to emphasize their thanks for Mr. Trump’s support.

Mr. Trump previously set a Thursday deadline for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept a peace plan, but Mr. Rubio said on Sunday that deadline might not be set in stone.

Mr. Zelensky could travel to the United States as soon as this week to discuss the most sensitive aspects of the plan with Mr. Trump, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The initial 28-point proposal put forth by the United States last week called on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and abandon its ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Those terms would amount to capitulation for many Ukrainians after nearly four years of fighting in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

The original plan came as a surprise to US officials across the administration, and two sources said on Saturday it was crafted at an October meeting in Miami that included special envoy Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who is under US sanctions.

EUROPEAN NATIONS ISSUE COUNTERPROPOSAL
Democratic lawmakers have criticized it as essentially a Russian wish list, but Mr. Rubio has insisted that Washington authored the plan with input from both sides in the war.

European allies said they were not involved in crafting the original plan, and they released a counterproposal on Sunday that would ease some of the proposed territorial concessions and include a NATO-style security guarantee from the United States for Ukraine if it is attacked.

The talks come as Russia has slowly gained ground in some regions, while Ukraine’s power and gas facilities have been pummeled by drone and missile attacks, leaving millions of people without water, heating and power for hours each day.

Mr. Zelensky has also been under pressure at home, as a major corruption scandal has ensnared some of his ministers, stirring fresh anger at pervasive graft. That has complicated the country’s efforts to secure funding to keep its economy afloat.

Kyiv had taken heart in recent weeks after the United States tightened sanctions on Russia’s oil sector, the main source of funding for the war, while its own long-range drone and missile strikes have caused considerable damage to the industry. — Reuters

BRUSSELS — European Union (EU) ministers are set to urge top US trade officials on Monday to apply more of the July EU-US trade deal, such as by cutting US tariffs on EU steel and removing them for EU goods such as wine and spirits.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet EU ministers responsible for trade on their first trips to Brussels since taking office.

The EU ministers plan to discuss pressing trade issues, including Chinese rare earth and chip exports restrictions, and host Mr. Lutnick and Mr. Greer for 90 minutes over lunch.

Under the end-July deal, the United States set 15% tariffs on most EU goods, while the European Union agreed to remove many of its duties on US imports.

That may only happen in March or April, given it requires approval from the European Parliament and EU governments, which EU diplomats say has exasperated Washington.

But while insisting the process is on course, the 27-nation bloc is also pointing to agreed items on which it wants to see progress, chief among them steel and aluminum.

The United States has a 50% tariff on the metals and since mid-August has applied this to the metal content in 407 “derivative” products such as motorcycles and refrigerators. More derivatives may be added next month.

EU diplomats say that such actions, along with the prospect of new tariffs on trucks, critical minerals, planes and wind turbines, threaten to hollow out the July accord.

“We’re at a delicate moment,” one EU diplomat said. “The US is looking for reasons to criticize the EU as we are trying to get them to work on steel and other unresolved matters.”

The bloc additionally wants a broader range of its products subject only to low pre-Trump duties. These could include wine and spirits, olives and pasta.

The EU is also ready to discuss areas of possible regulatory cooperation, such as covering cars, the bloc’s proposed purchases of US energy and joint efforts on economic security, particularly in response to Chinese export controls. — Reuters

THA TON, Thailand — For most of her life, 59-year-old farmer Tip Kamlue has irrigated her fields in northern Thailand with the waters of the Kok River, which flows down from neighboring Myanmar before joining with the Mekong River that cuts through Southeast Asia.

But since April, after authorities warned residents to stop using the Kok’s water because of concerns over contamination, Ms. Tip has been using groundwater to grow pumpkins, garlic, sweet corn and okra.

“It’s like half of me has died,” Ms. Tip said, standing by her fields in Tha Ton sub-district, and looking out at the river that she is now forced to shun.

Across mainland Southeast Asia, more than 2,400 mines — many of them illegal and unregulated — could be releasing deadly chemicals such as cyanide and mercury into river water, according to research from the US-based Stimson Center think tank released on Monday.

“The scale is something that’s striking to me,” said Brian Eyler, senior fellow at Stimson, pointing to scores of tributaries of major rivers, like the Mekong, the Salween and the Irrawaddy that are probably highly contaminated.

The Stimson report marks the first comprehensive study of potentially polluting mines in mainland Southeast Asia. Researchers analyzed satellite imagery to identify mining activity including 366 alluvial mining sites, 359 heap leach sites, and 77 rare earth mines draining into the Mekong Basin.

Most alluvial mining sites are gold mines, though some also extract tin and silver. Heap leach mining sites include those for gold, nickel, copper, and manganese extraction.

The Mekong is Asia’s third-largest river and supports the livelihood of more than 70 million people as well as the global export of farm and fisheries products. It was previously perceived to be a clean river system, said Mr. Eyler.

“Because so much of the Mekong Basin is essentially ungoverned by national laws and sensible regulations, the basin is unfortunately ripe for this kind of unregulated activity to occur at a high level of intensity and the huge scale that our data reveals,” he said.

The toxic chemicals released through unregulated rare earths mining include ammonium sulphate, and sodium cyanide and mercury that are used for two different types of gold mining, according to Stimson researchers.

That exposes not only the millions of people who live along the Mekong in Southeast Asia to health risks, but also consumers elsewhere.

“There is not a major supermarket in the US that doesn’t have products from the Mekong Basin, including shrimp, rice and fish,” said Mr. Eyler.

CHINA-BACKED MINING
The emergence of new China-backed rare earth mines in eastern Myanmar, not far from the mountainous border with Thailand, initially set off concerns among researchers of the danger of downstream pollution along the Kok River, including areas like Tha Ton.

The contamination pattern on samples from the Kok River shows the presence of arsenic — linked to rare earth and gold mining — alongside heavy rare earths like dysprosium and terbium, said Tanapon Phenrat of Thailand Science Research and Innovation, a Thai government research agency.

“It has only been two years since the rise of rare earth and gold mining in Myanmar at the Kok River’s source,” said Mr. Tanapon, who conducted testing of the waters this year and warns of a sharp rise in contamination levels unless mining is stopped. Mr. Tanapon was not involved in the Stimson study.

Myanmar, which erupted in conflict after the military seized power in 2021, is one of the world’s largest producers of heavy rare earths, critical minerals infused into magnets that power the likes of wind turbines, electric vehicles and defense systems.

From mining sites in Myanmar, the raw material is transported for processing to China, which has a near-monopoly over production of these vital magnets, with Beijing deploying rare earths as leverage in its tariff war with the US.

Mines across Myanmar and Laos use in-situ leaching for rare earth elements that was initially developed within China, according to Mr. Eyler.

“In general, Chinese nationals work on these mines as managers and technical experts,” he said.

In response to questions from Reuters, China’s foreign ministry said it was not aware of the situation.

“The Chinese side has consistently required overseas Chinese enterprises to conduct their production and business operations in accordance with local laws and regulations, and to adopt stringent measures to protect the environment,” it said.

The Thai government has established three new task forces to coordinate international cooperation, monitor the mines’ health impact and secure alternative supplies for communities along the Kok, Sai, Mekong and Salween rivers, said Deputy Prime Minister Suchart Chomklin.

In northern Tha Ton, signs still hang on a bridge over the Kok River, calling for authorities to shut down the rare earths mines upriver, and farmers like Ms. Tip are desperate for an intervention.

“I just want the Kok River to be the way it used to be — where we could eat from it, bathe in it, play in it, and use it for farming,” she said.

“I hope someone will help make that happen.” — Reuters