Trump’s initial 28-point peace plan was revised after European leaders called it a capitulation to Russian demands, which included Moscow keeping Ukrainian territories captured by it.
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Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said “we’re making progress” on a revised peace plan that appears to allow Ukraine to meet more of its demands, and said Kiev was “really happy.”
Al Jazeera released details of a controversial 28-point peace plan developed with limited input from Ukraine after leaks last week. This included a plan for Ukraine to completely cede the eastern Donbass region, to cut its military power, and to completely abandon any plans to join the NATO defense alliance. The plan faced strong opposition in Ukraine and the EU, as critics said the agreement would reward Moscow for invading its smaller neighbor.
Meanwhile, a leaked recording of Witkoff advising a Russian diplomat on selling the Ukraine deal has prompted criticism in Europe.
Details of the fully revised 19-point peace plan are still emerging. Here’s what we know about what could change, based on statements from US and Ukrainian officials:
What was the first plan?
The proposed 28-point peace plan was made public last week when a Ukrainian official leaked it to international media outlets. US media reported that it was developed by Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner and Witkoff. The two met with top Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev and Ukraine’s chief national security adviser Rustam Umerov before developing the plan and flagging it to Trump.
Among other things, the plan proposed de-escalation and buffer zones, that Ukraine would receive security guarantees from the US for which it would have to pay, and that Russia would conduct no further aggression against Ukraine or its neighbors.
It also proposed that Moscow would enshrine in its legislation a non-aggression policy toward Europe, that civilians and prisoners of war from both sides would be exchanged, that the warring parties would be granted amnesty, and that Moscow would cease efforts to prevent Ukraine from using the Dnipro River to transport grain across the Black Sea.
However, controversially, point 21, which discussed territorial concessions, proposed that parts of eastern Ukraine, including Russia-annexed Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk regions that make up the fertile Donbass, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia, would be ceded to Russia. The resolution limited Ukraine to no more than 600,000 military personnel and required Kiev to enshrine in its constitution that it would not join NATO.
What was the reaction?
In Ukraine, angry citizens criticized the plan, which they said favored Russia, while officials quickly turned to U.S. negotiators for a solution.
Ukraine’s European allies, who had been largely sidelined in the negotiation effort, also spoke out against the deal. Britain, France and Germany, collectively known as Europe’s E3 powers, released an alternative peace deal over the weekend, offering Ukraine the freedom to join NATO depending on agreements within the alliance. European partners also said Ukraine’s military should be limited to 800,000 members.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in a statement on Sunday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa that the US-led plan would make Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian aggression. The EU will not force territorial concessions, he said, nor accept a deal that does not reflect “the centrality of the EU” in ensuring peace for Kyiv – although the peace plan only prevents Ukraine from joining NATO, not the EU.
“Any credible and sustainable peace plan must first stop the killings and end the war, while not sowing the seeds of future conflict,” the Commission Chairman said.
Addressing the European Parliament on Wednesday, von der Leyen reiterated: Any peace deal must ensure European security, without leaving open the possibility of “isolating” European countries or changing borders “by force.”
Ukraine has long resisted Russia’s assertive demands on its territory, saying such concessions are not permitted by law and would require a referendum. As the country continues to suffer heavy losses under Russian bombing, many Ukrainians reject the idea of what seems like surrender after a devastating four-year war.
What are the new proposals?
A new 19-point peace plan emerged this week after two days of talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Geneva that ended on Sunday. The talks were led on the Ukrainian side by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and diplomat Umerov, while US officials present included Secretaries of State Marco Rubio, Driscoll, Kushner and Witkoff.
In a statement, Ukraine’s presidential office did not disclose details, but said the talks were “constructive” and that the final decision on a refined deal would be made by the presidents of Ukraine and the US.
Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislitsya, who was present at the Geneva talks, told The Financial Times that the meeting was “intense” and ended almost before it started. Although the resulting draft left both sides feeling “positive”, he said, the most sensitive topics – regional issues and the question of Ukraine’s future in NATO – were left for Trump and Zelensky to decide.
“We have developed a solid body of convergence and there are some things we can reach agreement on,” Kislitsya told the FT. He noted that “very few things survive from the original version”.
- The US appears willing to lift the 600,000-member cap on Ukraine’s military, the official said. “They agreed that the Ukrainian army numbers in the leaked version – whoever wrote it – are no longer on the table,” Kislitsya told the FT.
- He said that proposals for a blanket amnesty for potential war crimes were rewritten to address “the grievances of the people who suffered in the war”.
- Separately, an unnamed White House official said earlier peace deal restrictions on NATO troops deployed in Ukraine were also being changed, according to The New York Times. Russia has previously claimed without evidence that NATO troops are fighting in Ukraine.
What would Russia want?
Kislitsya stressed to the FT how willing the US delegation was to listen to the Ukrainian side and review point by point all the issues raised. However, with Russia not at the table, there is no guarantee that President Vladimir Putin will accept the deal.
“Apparently, the Russians get a vote here too,” Rubio said Sunday, accepting the challenge of getting a yes from Moscow at the Geneva talks.
A potentially contentious point remains the issue of handing over territory. Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine, unilaterally annexed the fertile, mineral-rich Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia provinces, and has maintained control over significant portions of the territory there ever since. Earlier in 2014, Russia had forcibly occupied Crimea.
Putin has insisted on maximalist goals through war and has stuck to his demands from 2022, which include fully claiming all five territories. The Kremlin’s stance has remained largely unchanged despite negotiating efforts by Trump, who welcomed Putin to a summit in Alaska in early August, that resulted in no agreement.
There is also the issue of NATO membership for Ukraine, to which Moscow has strongly objected.
Regarding capping Ukraine’s military membership, it is not yet clear whether Russia will agree to a higher number. At initial peace talks in 2022, Russia proposed that Ukraine have no more than 100,000 troops, much less than the 600,000 troops outlined in the first US peace plan.
What will happen next?
President Trump and Zelensky must now meet to decide on the final aspects of the new deal. Trump initially gave Ukraine a deadline of Thursday to formally agree to the deal, but said later on Tuesday there was no longer any firm deadline.
It is not yet clear when the meeting will take place as the US is on Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that there are “no plans at this time” for a meeting.
Speaking at a video conference of the so-called Coalition of the Interested – a group of 30 countries supporting Ukraine – on Tuesday, President Zelensky said Kiev was ready to “move forward” with the new “framework”, although they still needed to address “sensitive points”.
Importantly, Washington will now have to include Moscow in the revised draft.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on the plan on Tuesday, saying Moscow had not seen it, but warned that it should reflect the “spirit and letter” of the talks between Trump and Putin in Alaska, and said that if key conditions were erased, “it would be a fundamentally different situation (for Russia).” Putin reiterated Russia’s stated goals in those talks.
Trump said in a post on his Truth social media network that he was hoping for peace to be established.
“In hopes of finalizing this peace plan, I have directed my Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with President Putin in Moscow, and also, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll to meet with the Ukrainians,” Trump wrote.
“I hope to meet with President Zelensky and President Putin soon, but only when the agreement to end this war is final or in its final stages. Thank you for your attention to this important matter, and we all hope that peace can be established as soon as possible!”
Meanwhile, US Army Secretary Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday in an apparent effort to brief Moscow on the new agreement ahead of Witkoff’s visit next week. It is unclear what was discussed, but a spokesperson for Driscoll told reporters, “Negotiations are going well, and we remain optimistic”.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the peace plan was not discussed at the meeting with US officials in Abu Dhabi.
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said there was a lot of “uncertainty” in the Kremlin at the moment. The Russian side was not happy with the amendments to the peace plan because of the implicit concessions to Russia, he said.
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