President Trump and his top aides requested Ukraine on Wednesday to agree to the proposal designed by the US.
Additionally, the US plan to explicitly block Ukraine from participating in the North Atlantic Treaty Agency was rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymea Zelensky. The proposal also appears to require the US to grant the US acquiring Crimea, a Ukrainian region, in 2014.
“I have nothing to talk about,” Zelensky said. “This violated our constitution. This is our territory, the territory of Ukraine.”
Trump fired back on social media that the Ukrainian president was “inflammatory,” saying it “is simply an extension of the “killing sector.”
Trump suggested that the proposal is on the crisis of acceptance by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. “I think we’re doing business with Russia,” he told White House reporters. He suggested that the problem he suggested was Mr. Zelensky.
“I thought it would be easier to deal with Zelensky,” he said. “It’s been difficult so far.”
Vice President JD Vance attacked a similar theme while traveling through India.
He said that if both Ukraine and Russia refuse to accept American terms, the United States will “walk away” from the peace process. But Zelensky was clearly a target.
“We have issued a very explicit proposal for both Russians and Ukrainians. It’s time for them to say yes or the US to leave this process,” Vance told reporters. “The only way to really stop the killing is for the military to unarm it, freeze this and continue the business of actually building better Russia and better Ukraine.”
It was not clear whether the US announcement was part of a pressure campaign to force Zelensky to make territorial concessions, or whether it was designed to create an excuse to abandon US support for Ukraine.
However, the United States essentially settles in trades in favour of war invaders. Ukraine, like other former Soviet republics, is forcing them to accept forced rewrites of its borders and ultimately give up their hope of joining NATO.
European allies, pledging military and economic support to Zelensky in recent weeks, have accused Trump of essentially switching aspects of the war, and that his real goal is to put Ukraine aside and find a way to normalize American relations with Moscow. Trump and his top aides are beginning to discuss the prospect of lifting sanctions against Russia and discuss the signing of energy and minerals with Putin.
Whatever Trump’s motives, what happened on Wednesday shows a possible abandonment of America’s commitment to Zelensky that the United States will never be involved in consultations to rule out its own country’s fate.
The US had not published the text of the proposal, but European officials who saw it say under those conditions they would recognize Crimea, which the US illegally seized in 2014, as Russian territory. The peninsula was considered part of Russia for over 150 years, but was given to Ukraine by Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev almost 70 years ago.
In his social media post, Trump said he has not asked Zelensky to acknowledge Crimea as Russia, despite the US plans asking Washington to do so.
“No one asks Zelenki to recognize Crimea as Russian territory, but if they want Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it when they were handed over to Russia without being fired?” Trump wrote.
Just three years ago, then Senator Marco Rubio, now Trump’s Secretary of State, resonated with an amendment that prohibits the United States from ever recognizing its sovereignty claims over parts of Ukraine it seized.
“The United States cannot recognize Putin’s claims or risk establishing a dangerous precedent for other authoritarian regimes like the Chinese Communist Party,” he said at the time was an allegation to Taiwan.
Now Rubio has become a defender of Trump’s approach, even if Ukraine has to surrender 20% of the country to Putin and give Russian leaders most of his war goals.
Trump is taking other steps to ease Putin. He dismantled or neutralised the State and Justice Department units that accused them of collecting evidence of war crimes that Russia may have committed, including the murder of civilians in Bucha outside of Kiev.
It is unclear what will happen if Zelensky refuses to tolerate. Trump suggests he simply washes his hands in peace efforts.
Already, the US has restricted the shipment of weapons to Ukraine, but some weapons are still passing through. And US intelligence news sharing resumed after a temporary suspension and then pressured Kiev to come to the negotiation table.
But Trump has continued his efforts to downplay the Ukrainian leader, once cheered by lawmakers on both parties who likened him to Churchill. “The situation in Ukraine is dire,” Trump wrote. “He can have peace, or he can fight for another three years before losing his country.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Ukrainian Economy Minister Julia Swillidenko vowed that her country would “never recognize the occupation of Crimea.” Written on the social media site X, she said, “Ukraine is ready to negotiate, but will not surrender. There is no agreement to pass on the strong foundations that Russia needs to reorganize and return with greater violence.”
Vance told Indian reporters that under the US proposal, “we intend to freeze the territorial line at a certain level that is close to where we are today.”
“I think the current lines, or places close to them, will ultimately draw a new line of conflict,” he added. “Of course, that means that we have to give up some of the territory currently owned by Ukrainians and Russians.”
A Kremlin spokesman on Wednesday welcomed Mr Vance’s remarks.
“The US continues its mediation efforts and we certainly welcome those efforts,” said spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov. “Our interaction is ongoing, but certainly there are many nuances around a peace reconciliation that needs to be discussed.”
The aggressive push for deals by Trump’s administration is a blow to European leaders who spent weeks trying to reinforce Ukraine’s position by mediating peace talks with the United States. The first effort called up in Paris last week was scheduled for another session to begin in London on Wednesday.
Rubio’s decision to cancel said it was caught by the UK government. British officials said Foreign Secretary David Lammy had full expectations for London’s Secretary of State on Wednesday.
Lower-level diplomats from the UK, France, Germany, Ukraine and the US are still gathering for technical consultations. But Trump’s absence of Rubio or Steve Witkov, the main negotiators with Russia, renewed the fear of Ukraine and Europe being marginalized, as the Trump administration appears to be working primarily with Russia.
Witkov is scheduled to be in Moscow later this week, White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
Andri Yelmack, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, arrived in London for his country’s defense and foreign minister for a scaled back meeting on Wednesday morning.
“Despite everything,” he wrote on social media platform X, “We continue to work for peace.”
The report was provided by Segoren le Straddic of Paris. Stephen Arranger and Anton Troiannovsky of Berlin. Natalya Vasilieva of Istanbul. Andrew E. Kramer from Kiev, Ukraine. Julian E. Burns and John Ismay from Washington.
