"There is tremendous renewed energy around the peace process, and for that I want to commend US President Trump," Rutte told reporters during a visit to Iceland where he met with Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir.
A US-proposed ceasefire has breathed new life into negotiations, with officials from Russia, Ukraine, Washington and Europe ironing out conditions in talks spanning from Geneva to Abu Dhabi.
Washington has not published its latest plan, but Trump has called it a "fine-tuned" update of a previous 28-point proposal that was firmly rejected by Kyiv and its European allies for being what they said was a Kremlin wish-list.
The Kremlin has said it views some of the updated plan "positively", but said other points required further discussion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has meanwhile said the "principles" of the plan could lead to "deeper agreements".
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to visit Moscow next week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rubio expected to skip NATO talks next week: sources
Washington (AFP) Nov 28, 2025 -
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip next week's meeting of NATO foreign ministers despite allies' concerns about a US plan for Ukraine, sources familiar with the issue said.
It is highly unusual for the top diplomat of the United States, the linchpin of the transatlantic alliance, to skip the annual December meeting -- and even more striking as the agenda is set to be dominated by discussions about the intensive US diplomacy on the war in Ukraine.
People familiar with Rubio's travel plans, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that at this point he was not planning to attend the meeting in Brussels next Wednesday and Thursday and would instead send his deputy, Christopher Landau.
Also next week, as Rubio stays away from the NATO talks, President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is expected in Moscow to discuss Ukraine diplomacy.
Rubio traveled last weekend to Switzerland for talks with Ukraine on a plan to end the war that has been criticized by European allies as looking like a wishlist for Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Rubio also met European national security advisors in Geneva.
A senior State Department official insisted that the Trump administration has already made progress in NATO by pressing allies to step up defense spending.
"Secretary Rubio has already attended dozens of meetings with NATO allies and it would be completely impractical to expect him at every meeting," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"The historic foreign policy achievements in just 10 months of this administration speak for themselves," the official said.
Washington's original plan -- drafted without input from Ukraine's European allies -- would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognize the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.
Washington pared back the original plan following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but the current contents remain unclear.
Throwing additional uncerainty on the diplomacy, Ukraine's top negotiator Andriy Yermak was removed Friday by President Volodymyr Zelensky as his aide came under a corruption probe.
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