Under the terms of the plan, the Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk would be “recognised as de facto Russian, including by the United States
By Natalia Drozdiak, Alex Wickham and Daryna Krasnolutska
A 28-point peace plan floated by US and Russian envoys would force Ukraine to cede large chunks of territory taken by Russia, cap the size of its military and lift sanctions on Moscow over time, acceding to many of President Vladimir Putin’s wartime demands.
Under the terms of the plan, the Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk would be “recognised as de facto Russian, including by the United States,” according to the proposal, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg News. Ukraine would also be required to hold elections in 100 days and give up any hope of Nato membership.
Ukraine would receive a US security guarantee — albeit one that Washington would be compensated for. The US would also get 50 per cent of profits to rebuild and invest in Ukraine, and enter an economic partnership with Russia once sanctions are lifted.
Many details of the plan are proposals that have been vehemently rejected by Ukraine and its allies in the past. While President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was reviewing the idea, there’s little indication he would be prepared to accept many of its terms. Members of Nato will also object given that the plan would curtail the alliance’s ability to expand as it sees fit. Such a move would need the buy-in of all 32 of its members.
“It bothers me how little effort has gone into it,” Julianne Smith, former President Joe Biden’s ambassador to Nato, said in an interview. “It’s going to be declared dead on arrival by a whole host of people, starting with Zelenskyy himself. He’s careful right now, he’s saying that he’s reviewing it, but I don’t see any circumstances where he would be prepared to accept a plan like this.”
The latest proposal was worked out between President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev, according to people familiar with the matter. It follows past Witkoff efforts that Ukraine has been wary of and faced almost immediate opposition from Europe.
Axios published the text of the plan earlier Thursday. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
While White House officials said the plan had Trump’s backing, one person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said conversations remain fluid. A delegation of top US military officials, led by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, was in Kyiv this week discussing avenues for progress, and options include ramping up military support, the person said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has taken a harder line toward Russia than Witkoff has, said negotiators would “continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”
But the scale of the concessions to Moscow — as well as the US — is massive, and would need buy-in from other countries not involved in the latest discussions. Not only would Ukraine have to promise not to join Nato — it would have to enshrine such a vow in its constitution. Russia would be brought back into the Group of Eight nations, a symbolic move that would end its international isolation and is opposed by other members of the group.
It also proposes giving the US a financial cut. Some $100 billion in Russian frozen assets would go toward US-led efforts to rebuild the country, with the US getting 50 per cent of the profit. Unspent frozen assets would go into a US-Russian investment fund.
It’s not clear how much leeway Zelenskyy has to push back against the plan, or whether the US will use its supplies of weapons and intelligence as leverage to push Kyiv to accept. Trump’s national security team has engaged with both Russian and Ukrainian officials and the president supports the current plan, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday.
“I’m not going to litigate the details of this plan as it’s ongoing and it’s in flux, but the president supports this plan,” she said. “It’s a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe that it should be acceptable to both sides.”
The response from Ukraine’s allies has been swift — and negative. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said any proposal for a peace agreement with Russia must have Ukraine’s consent. So did Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“A lot of the points that I saw are quite problematic,” Mitsotakis said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the New Economy Forum in Singapore. “We’ve also made it quite clear that at the end of the day, the most important security guarantee for Ukraine is a strong Ukrainian army.”
His remarks echoed Europe’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, who said that any attempt to bring peace to Ukraine must involve Kyiv.
While the document gives Russia much of what it wants, some vague limits would be imposed on Russia. It would be expected not to invade other countries and enshrine non-aggression toward Europe into law.
