President Donald Trump has reemerged with a controversial 28-point proposal aimed at ending Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, reigniting his longstanding criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and suggesting that Ukraine must accept a peace settlement heavily favoring Moscow. This latest move underscores Trump’s persistent skepticism about Ukraine’s ability to continue fighting and his belief that Zelenskyy “doesn’t have the cards” to sustain the conflict on the battlefield.
Trump made his intentions clear during a Friday appearance in the Oval Office, where he told reporters he expects Zelenskyy to respond to the plan by next Thursday. “We think we have a way of getting peace,” Trump said, adding that Zelenskyy would need to approve it for it to move forward. This development comes amid mounting challenges for Ukraine, including internal political scandal, battlefield setbacks, and the approach of a harsh winter during which Russian forces continue to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with sustained bombardments.
Zelenskyy, who has not yet spoken with Trump since the plan was announced earlier in the week, said he anticipates a conversation with the former president soon. Their upcoming dialogue will likely join a series of historically difficult exchanges between the two leaders. Their relationship first came under intense scrutiny in 2019 when Trump pressured Zelenskyy during a phone call to investigate Joe Biden and his son, an interaction that later led to Trump’s first impeachment.
Throughout his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has made U.S. support for Ukraine a central issue, criticizing the financial cost to American taxpayers and promising to swiftly end the conflict. Earlier this year, a notably tense Oval Office meeting saw Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance chastise Zelenskyy for what they perceived as a lack of gratitude for over $180 billion in U.S. military and other aid provided since the war began. This confrontation resulted in a temporary suspension of U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
Now, with the newly unveiled plan, Trump is urging Zelenskyy to make significant concessions: ceding substantial territory to Russia, drastically reducing the size of Ukraine’s military, and securing European commitments that Ukraine will never join the NATO alliance. Zelenskyy addressed the difficult choices looming over his country in a Friday video statement, saying, “Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice: either loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner.”
At the heart of Trump’s proposal is the demand that Ukraine relinquish full control over the eastern Donbas region, despite much of the area still being under Ukrainian control. Independent analysts from the Institute for the Study of War estimate that, given the current pace of Russian advances, it could take years for Russia to fully capture the territory. Nevertheless, Trump insists that the loss of Donbas is inevitable, telling Fox News Radio, “They will lose in a short period of time. You know so. They’re losing land. They’re losing land.”
The plan was formally delivered to Zelenskyy’s government on Thursday in Kyiv by U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. Notably, Driscoll’s own staff were reportedly unaware of his upcoming trip and the plan’s presentation until shortly before it happened. After the meeting, U.S. officials described the Ukrainian response as viewing the proposal more as an opening point for negotiation rather than a final offer.
Despite this, it remains uncertain how much leeway Trump is willing to allow for further discussion. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the plan on Thursday as reflecting “the realities of the situation” and described it as offering the “best win-win scenario” where both sides gain more than they concede. When asked about Zelenskyy’s initial hesitance, Trump referenced their previously fraught Oval Office encounter, bluntly stating, “You remember, right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said, ‘You don’t have the cards.’”
The pressure from Trump’s proposal comes as Zelenskyy grapples with a damaging corruption scandal involving $100 million in kickbacks linked to contracts with Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear energy company. The scandal has led to the resignation of several top Cabinet ministers and implicated close associates of Zelenskyy, further complicating the Ukrainian leader’s position. Political economist and Russia expert Konstantin Sonin of the University of Chicago observed that “what Donald Trump is certainly extremely good at is spotting weak spots of people.” Sonin remarked that in this situation, “Zelensky