With his , US President Donald Trump is resurfacing his argument that Ukrainian President Volodmir Zelensky does not “hold the cards” to remain on the battlefield and must reach an agreement that strongly favors Moscow.
Trump, who has shown little appreciation for Zelensky since his first term, says he expects the Ukrainian leader to respond to his administration’s new plan to end the war by next Thursday, the 27th.
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The president said on Friday the 21st about Zelenski: “He will have to approve”, although he was more conciliatory a day later, saying: “I would like to reach peace”.
“We’re trying to end this. One way or another, we have to end this,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Saturday.
Hours later, senators critical of Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said they spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told them that the peace plan Trump is pushing Kiev to accept is actually a Russian “wish list” and not the actual proposal offering Washington’s positions.
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The State Department called that claim “false,” and Rubio later took the extraordinary step Saturday night of insisting that the plan was designed by the U.S. — but the incident raised even more questions about the fate of the plan.
However, rocked by a corruption scandal in his government, setbacks on the battlefield and another difficult winter approaching as Russia continues to bomb Ukraine’s energy grid, Zelensky says Ukraine now faces perhaps the hardest choice in its history.
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Troubled relationship
Zelenski has not spoken to Trump since the plan became public this week, but said he hopes to speak with the Republican president in the coming days. It’s likely to be another in a series of difficult conversations the two leaders have had over the years.
The first time they spoke, in 2019, Trump tried to pressure the then-newly inaugurated Ukrainian leader to dig up compromising information about Joe Biden before the 2020 election. That phone call triggered Trump’s first impeachment request.
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Trump has made Biden’s support for Ukraine a central issue in his successful 2024 campaign, saying the conflict has cost U.S. taxpayers too much money and promising he would quickly end the war.
Then, earlier this year, in a disastrous Oval Office meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticized Zelensky for what they said was insufficient gratitude for the more than $180 billion the U.S. had allocated for military and other assistance to Kiev since the start of the war. This episode led to a temporary suspension of US assistance to Ukraine.
And now, with the proposal, Trump is pushing Zelensky to agree to land concessions to Moscow, a massive reduction in the size of Ukraine’s army and an agreement from Europe to affirm that Ukraine will never be admitted to the NATO military alliance.
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“Now Ukraine may find itself faced with a very difficult choice: either loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner,” Zelenski said in a video on Friday the 21st.
At the heart of Trump’s plan is a call for Ukraine to cede all of eastern Donbas, although a vast swath of that land remains under Ukrainian control. Analysts at the Independent Institute for the Study of War estimated that it would take the Russian army several years to completely conquer the territory, based on its current rate of advances.
Trump, however, insists that the loss of the region – which includes cities that are vital centers of defense, industry and logistics for Ukrainian forces – is a fait accompli.
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“They’re going to lose in a short period of time. You know that,” Trump said Friday when asked during a Fox News Radio interview about his push for Ukraine to cede territory. “They’re losing land. They’re losing land.”
