Ukraine and its European partners are close to finalizing changes to a U.S.-proposed "peace plan" aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the meeting with leaders of the United Kingdom (UK), France, and Germany in London on Monday.
Zelenskyy said the revised plan will be presented to the United States once completed.
According to a statement from the UK, the meeting focused on the peace process of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the U.S.-proposed "peace plan".
All sides agreed that it is at a critical moment and any peace plan must guarantee Ukraine's territorial integrity, provide credible security assurances, and avoid unilateral concessions. The leaders also agreed to strengthen strategic cooperation among Europe, Ukraine, and the United States, the statement said.
After the meeting, Zelenskyy said the four leaders reached consensus on security guarantees and reconstruction. He also said that the U.S. plan now has been streamlined to 20 points and the revision to the plan is expected to be concluded by the evening of Tuesday, after which it will be submitted to the United States.
Zelenskyy also stressed that although the United States hopes to find a compromise on territorial issues, Ukraine's Constitution does not authorize the country to cede its territory.
The UK prime minister's office said that Britain, France, and Germany remain committed to increasing support for Ukraine, and the leaders discussed about the progress of using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed France's backing for Ukraine and support for ending the conflict through talks. Europe has a lot of leverages, including economic sanctions on Russia, Macron said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed skepticism about certain details in the U.S. plan, saying they require further discussions.
For Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the most important thing at the moment is to understand the outcome of the U.S.-Ukraine talks, which followed President Vladimir Putin's meeting with U.S. officials on Dec 2.
Peskov said that contacts between Russia and the United States continue, but the U.S. has not shared details of the U.S.-Ukraine talks.
The U.S. and Ukrainian delegations concluded a three-day meeting in Miami, Florida on Dec 6, during which they primarily discussed territorial and security issues.
Ukrainian president says peace plan revision with European partners near completion
Ukrainian president says peace plan revision with European partners near completion
Smart technologies have reshaped China's ecological and environmental monitoring system, Huang Runqiu, minister of Ecology and Environment, said Thursday in Beijing on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress(NPC).
"Regarding ecological and environmental monitoring, we have been promoting the digitalization, informatization, and intelligentization of the entire monitoring process in recent years, reshaping the ecological and environmental monitoring system. For instance, in water environment monitoring and sampling, we have used intelligent drones which can quickly locate sampling points, collect samples accurately, return rapidly, and they are safe and reliable, improving work efficiency by over 70 percent. They are particularly advantageous for sampling during flood seasons and in remote areas," Huang told the press.
"In terms of environmental sample analysis, we have developed 'lights-out laboratories' in recent years. As the name suggests, these labs operate without lights and are unattended. Through robotic arms, robots, and intelligent management systems, they achieve full-process automation and intelligence from sample handover, testing, and analysis to report generation. This has significantly enhanced work efficiency, increasing it by more than eightfold compared to traditional labs. More importantly, it reduces human interference, human error, and even data falsification," he said.
Thanks to the improved ecological and environmental supervision capabilities, the number of environmental violation cases nationwide has decreased from 130,000 five years ago to 43,000 last year, representing a decline of 68 percent, Huang said.
The minister said China has already applied environmental DNA technology in the biodiversity monitoring work.
"In the field of biodiversity monitoring, monitoring aquatic organisms remains a weak point. However, significant progress has been made in recent years as we have developed environmental DNA technology. Although this chip is very small in size, it contains DNA detection information for aquatic organisms, including the finless porpoise and the Chinese sucker, from 19 state-controlled sections in the Jiangsu segment of the Yangtze River. The results showed that over the past five years, more than 20 species of aquatic organisms have increased in this river section, fully demonstrating the tangible effectiveness of the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River," Huang said while showing a chip to reporters.
The 14th NPC, China's national legislature, concluded its fourth session on Thursday.
Smart technologies reshape China's ecological, environmental monitoring system: minister
