WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war in Ukraine would cede land to Russia and limit the size of Kyiv’s military, according to a draft obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
The proposal, originated from negotiations between Washington and Moscow, appeared decidedly favourable to Russia, which started the war nearly four years ago by invading its neighbour.
If past is prologue, it would seem untenable for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has opposed Trump’s previous calls for territorial concessions.
There has also been resistance from European leaders, who are likely to decry the US peace push as rewarding Russian President Vladimir Putin for his aggression, leaving him emboldened rather than defeated.
For example, the proposal would not only bar Ukraine from joining NATO but would also prevent the alliance’s future expansion. Such a step would be a significant victory for Moscow, which views NATO as a threat.
Putin would also gain ground he has been unable to win on the battlefield. Under the draft, Moscow would hold all the eastern Donbas region, even though approximately 14 per cent still remains in Ukrainian hands.
There would be a path to lifting sanctions on Russia and returning it to what was formerly known as the Group of 8, which includes many of the world’s biggest economies.
The US team began drawing up the plan soon after US special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Rustem Umerov, a top adviser to Zelenskyy, according to a senior administration official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The official added that Umerov agreed to the majority of the plan, after making several modifications, and then presented it to Zelenskyy.
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was also in Kyiv on Thursday and discussed the latest draft with Zelenskyy, according to a senior administration official. Zelenskyy offered a measured statement on social media about it but did not directly speak to the substance of the proposal.
“Our teams — of Ukraine and the United States — will work on the provisions of the plan to end the war. We are ready for constructive, honest and swift work,” he wrote.
Under the proposal, Russia would commit to making no future attacks, something the White House views as a concession. In addition, USD 100 billion in frozen Russian assets would be dedicated to rebuilding Ukraine.
However, handing over territory to Russia would be deeply unpopular in Ukraine. It also would be illegal under Ukraine’s constitution. Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out such a possibility.
Russia would also be allowed to keep half of the power generated by Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, which it captured from Ukraine early during the war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff have been quietly working on the peace plan for a month, receiving input from both Ukrainians and Russians on terms that are acceptable to each side, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Putin, have been key to drafting the proposal.
As reports about the draft emerged, blindsided European diplomats insisted they and Ukraine must be consulted.
European leaders have already been alarmed this year by indications that Trump’s administration might be sidelining them and Zelenskyy in its push to stop the fighting.
Trump’s at-times conciliatory approach to Putin has fuelled those concerns, but Trump adopted a tougher line last month when he announced heavy sanctions on Russia’s vital oil sector that come into force on Friday.
“For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of a meeting in Brussels of the 27-nation bloc’s foreign ministers. She also suggested that the draft would be too favourable toward Moscow.
“We haven’t heard of any concessions on the Russian side,” Kallas said.
German Foreign Minister Johannes Wadephul said he talked by phone on Thursday with Witkoff and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to discuss “our various current efforts to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and thus finally put an end to the immeasurable human suffering.” Ukraine’s deputy UN Ambassador Khrystyna Hayovyshyn told the UN Security Council that Kyiv has officially received Trump’s draft peace plan and is ready “to work constructively,” but she stressed Ukraine’s “red lines.” “There will never be any recognition, formal or otherwise, of Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation as Russian,” she said. “Our land is not for sale.” “Ukraine will not accept any limits on its right to self-defence or on the size and capabilities of our armed forces, nor will we tolerate any infringement on our sovereignty, including our sovereign right to choose the alliances we want to join,” Hayovyshyn added.
It was not clear whether European foreign ministers had seen the peace plan, which was first reported by Axios.
Although they appeared caught by surprise, some elements of the plan were not new. Trump said last month that the Donbas region should be “cut up,” leaving most of it in Russian hands.
However, the administration’s previous diplomatic efforts this year to stop the fighting have so far come to nothing. A summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska did not result in a breakthrough over the summer, and plans for them to meet again in Budapest, Hungary, did not come to fruition.
In other developments, Russia’s chief military officer, Gen Valery Gerasimov, announced that Moscow’s forces had taken full control of Kupiansk in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, although he also said some Ukrainian troops remained in the city.
The general staff for Ukraine’s armed forces denied Gerasimov’s claims and said Kyiv’s forces remained in control of Kupiansk.