Washington– New 28 point plan To end the Russian war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump His argument is resurfaced by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky no “You have the cards” To continue on the battlefield, a settlement must be reached that leans heavily in Moscow’s favor.
Trump, who has shown disrespect for Zelensky since his first term, said on Friday that he expected the Ukrainian leader To respond to his new administration’s plan To end the war next Thursday.
“We believe we have a way to make peace,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “He’ll have to approve it.”
It was bombed by A Corruption scandal In his government, there are setbacks on the battlefield and another difficult winter looms as Russia continues Bombing of the power grid in UkraineZelensky says Ukraine now faces perhaps the most difficult choice in its history.
Zelensky has not spoken with Trump since the plan became public this week, but said he expects to speak with the Republican president in the coming days. This is likely to be another episode in a series of difficult conversations that the two leaders have had over the years.
The first time they spoke, in 2019, Trump tried to pressure the then-new Ukrainian leader to dig up damaging information about Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. That phone call It sparked the first impeachment of Trump.
Trump has made Biden’s support for Ukraine a central issue in his successful 2024 campaign, saying the conflict has cost American taxpayers too much money and vowing he will. End the war quickly.
Then early this year in a Disastrous Oval Office meetingTrump and his deputy J.D. Vance They attacked Zelensky for what they said was insufficient gratitude for the more than $180 billion the United States has allocated in military and other aid to Kiev since the beginning of the war. That episode led to a Temporary suspension Of US aid to Ukraine.
And now with New proposalTrump is pressing Zelensky to agree to cede territory to Moscow, a significant reduction in the size of the Ukrainian army, and for Europe to agree to emphasize that Ukraine will never be accepted into the NATO military alliance.
“Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice: either lose dignity, or risk losing a key partner,” Zelensky said in a video speech on Friday.
At the heart of Trump’s plan is a call for Ukraine to cede the entire eastern Donbas region, even though a large area of that territory remains under Ukrainian control. Analysts at the independent Institute for the Study of War estimate that it will take several years for the Russian army to fully capture the region, based on the current rate of advance.
However, Trump insists that the loss of the region – which includes cities that are vital defense, industrial and logistical hubs for Ukrainian forces – is a fait accompli.
“They’re going to lose in a short period of time. You know that,” Trump said Friday when asked during an interview with Fox News Radio about his efforts to push Ukraine to give up territory. “They’re losing ground. They’re losing ground.”
Trump’s proposal was formally presented to Zelensky in Kiev on Thursday Dan Driscoll, US Secretary of the Army. The plan itself was a surprise to Driscoll’s employees, who were unaware until Wednesday that their boss would go to Ukraine as part of a team to present the plan to the Ukrainians.
Army officials walked out of that meeting with the impression that the Ukrainians were viewing the proposal as a starting point that would evolve as negotiations progressed, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.
It is unclear how patient Trump is for further negotiations. White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said Thursday that Trump’s new plan reflects “the facts of the situation” and offers “the best win-win scenario, where both sides gain more than they have to give.”
Asked about Zelensky’s initial hesitant reaction to the proposal, Trump referred to the Oval Office spat with Zelensky in February: “You remember, in the Oval Office, not long ago, I said, ‘You don’t have the papers.’
The increasing pressure from Trump comes as Zelensky deals with the fallout $100 million in commissions To contract with the state-owned nuclear energy company. The scandal led to Resignation of senior ministers And involved Other associates of Zelensky.
“What Donald Trump is definitely good at is finding people’s weaknesses,” said Konstantin Sonin, a political economist and Russia expert at the University of Chicago.
One of the 28 elements of Trump’s proposal Calls for elections Scheduled to be held within 100 days from the date of signing the agreement.
“I think it’s a rational assessment that there is more influence over Zelensky than there is over Putin,” Sonnen said. He added: “Zelensky’s back is against the wall” and “his government may collapse if he agrees” to the American proposal.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is increasingly showing signs of tension on the battlefield after years of war against a larger, better-equipped Russian army. Ukraine is desperately trying to fend off the incessant Russian air attacks it has brought Power outages rolling across the country On the edge of winter.
Kyiv also faces doubts about the way forward. European financing plan Next year’s budget For Ukraine through loans linked to frozen Russian funds is now in question.
Trump’s proposal in its current form also includes several elements that would severely affect Ukrainian pride, said David Selby, a military historian at Cornell University.
One clause calls on Russia and Ukraine to abolish “all discriminatory measures and guarantee the rights of Ukrainian and Russian media and education,” and “all Nazi ideology and activities must be rejected and banned.” The Ukrainian side can view this element as giving credibility to Putin’s statements Distorted historical narratives To legitimize the 2022 invasion.
Putin has said the war is in part an attempt to “cleanse” Ukraine of Nazism, and complained of the country’s “neo-Nazi regime” as a justification for the Russian invasion. In fact, in the last parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2019, support for far-right candidates reached 2%, which is much lower than in many other European countries.
Selby said the plan’s provision “clearly represents an attempt to bolster Putin’s claim to Russian cultural identity within Ukraine.” “From the loss of territory to the significant reduction in the Ukrainian army to the cultural concessions he has demanded, I don’t think Zelensky can make this deal and look his people in the eye again,” he added.
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Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Torobin in reporting.