President Donald Trump on Saturday said that his administration’s peace proposal for Ukraine and Russia is “not my final offer,” telling reporters after a question from NBC News, “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”
Trump added that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn’t agree to the peace plan, “then he can continue to fight his little heart out.”
Earlier this week, Trump said that he wants Zelenskyy — who has hesitations about the proposal — to accept the peace plan by Thanksgiving.
Key points of the proposal include allowing Russia to keep more Ukrainian territory than it currently holds, forcing Ukraine to limit the size of its army and agreeing that Ukraine will never join NATO.
Ukrainian lawmakers have criticized the plan as conceding too much to Russia’s demands, though the Trump administration has said that the plan, which has 28 points, was drafted with input from both sides of the conflict.
“Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner, either the difficult 28 points, or a very difficult winter,” Zelenskyy said in a video about the plan earlier this week.
Several U.S. lawmakers, including in Trump’s own party, have also expressed concerns about the plan.
“While there are many good ideas in the proposed Russia-Ukraine peace plan, there are several areas that are very problematic and can be made better. The goal of any peace deal is to end the war honorably and justly — and not create new conflict,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote in a post on X Saturday morning. Later, the South Carolina senator posted that he was confident Trump would garner a peace deal by pushing both countries and would ensure Ukraine remains free and able to defend itself from future aggression.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote in his own X post on Friday that “this so-called ‘peace plan’ has real problems, and I am highly skeptical it will achieve peace.”
He added, “Ukraine should not be forced to give up its lands to one of the world’s most flagrant war criminals in Vladimir Putin. The size and disposition of Ukraine’s armed forces is a sovereign choice for its government and people. And any assurances provided to Putin should not reward his malign behavior or undermine the security of the United States or allies.”
The proposal includes a security guarantee with a commitment that U.S. and European allies to Ukraine would treat any future attack on Ukraine as an attack on the broader trans-Atlantic community, a U.S. official told NBC News, with few additional details about what the commitment would entail.
Ukrainian leaders aren’t the only ones voicing concerns about the plan. On the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa, European leaders have said the proposal, if agreed to, could “leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.”
That was a key point in a statement signed by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Norway.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Geneva on Sunday to meet with a Ukrainian delegation to move peace talks forward with an eye to ending the war in Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials.
A separate meeting with a Russian delegation in another location in coming days is under consideration, according to those officials.
Rubio and Witkoff will join Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who arrived earlier Saturday along with the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, Ambassador Julie Davis. Driscoll this past week traveled to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy.
“Secretary Driscoll and team just landed in Geneva to work on the next steps toward achieving peace in Ukraine,” a U.S. official said.
Zelenskyy confirmed the details of the meeting in a post on X, saying he’d spoken to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday.
“Tomorrow, our advisers will work in Switzerland — representatives from Ukraine, the United States, and the E3 format, namely the UK, France, and Germany. The vast majority of European leaders are ready to assist and get involved. Consultations are ongoing at various levels, and the efforts of everyone who seeks a genuine and lasting peace matter,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Trump made quickly ending the ongoing war in Ukraine a key promise of his 2024 campaign. So far this year, he’s met with Zelenskyy multiple times and hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit in Alaska.
Russian leaders, including Putin, have praised the peace proposal, with Putin saying that if Ukraine doesn’t sign the agreement, Russia would end the war “through military means, through armed struggle.”
