UPDATE 3 - E3 leaders hold talks with Trump amid ‘intensive work’ on Ukraine peace plan

ADDS REMARKS FROM US PRESIDENT

By Ilayda Cakirtekin and Busra Nur Cakmak

ISTANBUL/ The leaders of the E3 group of France, Germany and the UK held a phone call Wednesday with US President Donald Trump as "intensive work" continues on an American peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

The UK government announced in a statement that Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Trump about "the latest on the ongoing US-led peace talks."

"Intensive work on the peace plan is continuing and will continue in the coming days. They agreed that this was a critical moment – for Ukraine, its people, and for shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region," the statement said.

Trump later told reporters that the phone call took place and that the leaders conversed in “pretty strong words.”

"We spoke to Germany and the UK -- all very good leaders, very good friends of mine -- and we discussed Ukraine in pretty strong words," he told reporters at the White House at a roundtable meeting.

"We're waiting to hear answers before we progress," he said, adding that a meeting would take place over the weekend in Europe, with both US and Ukrainian representatives attending.

"We'll make a determination depending on what they come back with. We don't want to be wasting time," he added.

- US president presses Ukrainian counterpart on elections

Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be realistic and questioned when will elections be held in Ukraine.

"I do wonder, you know, how long it’s going to be till they have an election. It’s a democracy — it’s a long time. They haven’t had an election in a long time. It’s losing a lot of people. And it’s possible that the people — if you look at the polls — I will say, 82% — there was a poll that came out, 82% of the people are demanding that a settlement be made. Ukrainian people — they want to see a settlement made. I understand that they’re losing thousands and thousands of people a week. They want to see it ended," said Trump.

"And I say, you know, at what point do they have an election in Ukraine? That’s not casting dispersions on anybody, but they do have a massive corruption situation going on there. And they do say, you know, when are they going to have an election? Are they going to have an election, or are they going to just keep it going like this?" he continued.

Separately, Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Kyiv is finalizing a 20-point document aimed at defining the parameters for ending the war and intends to deliver it to the US soon.

Talks have continued between Kyiv, Washington and European capitals on a reduced US-backed 20-point peace framework after earlier drafts were slimmed down and stripped of what Ukrainian officials described as non-Ukrainian provisions.

*Ahmet Salih Alacaci contributed to this report from Washington, DC