By George Glover
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. and Ukraine had made "big progress" in settling on a peace proposal to put to Russia, sending both oil prices and several defense stocks lower.
"Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don't believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Monday.
Oil prices slipped on the expectation that any peace deal would lead to more barrels of Russian crude hitting the market. The Brent international benchmark fell 0.3% to $61.77 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate U.S. prices were down 0.3% to $57.88 a barrel.
Defense stocks were also lower. Shares in France's Safran, Germany's Rheinmetall, and the U.K.'s BAE Systems fell in morning trading.
RTX, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman each dropped 0.6%, and General Dynamics was down 0.9% ahead of the U.S. opening bell.
Trump's comments on Truth Social came after the White House released a statement on Sunday saying the continuing talks with Kyiv in Geneva had been constructive, adding that the two sides had modified parts of Trump's peace framework to end the war with Russia.
Officials in both Europe and Ukraine had argued that Trump's initial 28-point plan for peace would infringe on Ukraine's sovereignty and security, while fulfilling the goals of Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
"Putin wants legal recognition for what he has stolen, to break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty, and that's the main problem," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky told lawmakers in Sweden via video link on Monday.
The Kremlin said early Monday that it was yet to receive any information about the talks in Geneva, and that there were no plans as of yet for the Russian and U.S. delegations to meet this week.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
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November 24, 2025 07:20 ET (12:20 GMT)
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