U.S. senators from both parties critical of President Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said Saturday that the peace plan he is pushing Kyiv to accept would only reward Moscow for its aggression and send a message to other leaders who have threatened their neighbors.
The 28-point peace plan was crafted by the Trump administration and the Kremlin without Ukraine’s involvement. It acquiesces to many Russian demands that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory. Trump says he wants Ukraine to accept the plan by late next week.
“It rewards aggression. This is pure and simple. There’s no ethical, legal, moral, political justification for Russia claiming eastern Ukraine,” Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said during a panel discussion at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada.
“You think Xi Jinping is paying attention to this? You think Kim Jong Un is paying attention? I mean, this is one of the most serious geopolitical mistakes in my lifetime,” King said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Western allies rallied around the war-torn country Saturday as they pushed to revise the U.S. plan seen as favoring Russia despite its invasion of its neighbor. A Ukrainian delegation, bolstered by representatives from France, Germany and the U.K., is preparing for direct talks with Washington in Switzerland on Sunday.
King, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, likened the proposal to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler in 1938, a historic failed act of appeasement.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who also attended the Halifax conference, said that Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former longtime GOP leader in the Senate, didn’t go far enough in his criticism of it. McConnell said in a statement that “if Administration officials are more concerned with appeasing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin than securing real peace, then the President ought to find new advisors.”
“Putin is a murderer, a rapist and an assassin. We should not do anything that makes him feel like he has a win here. Honestly, I think what Mitch said was short of what should be said,” Tillis said.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it an “outrage.”
“That’s a Putin plan. That was very clearly written by Putin and Russia for what they want to see,” Shaheen said. “Donald Trump claims to be such a dealmaker, claims to be so tough, but has allowed Vladimir Putin to play him for the last 10 months. It’s a travesty. It’s a travesty on the American people as well as the Ukrainian people.”
President Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, said the U.S. proposal was not his “final offer.”
“I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” Trump said. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”
Leaders of the European Union, Canada and Japan on Saturday issued a joint statement welcoming U.S. peace efforts, but pushed to revise key tenets of the plan.
“We are ready to engage in order to ensure that a future peace is sustainable. We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force. We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack,” the statement said. It added that any decisions regarding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the EU would require the consent of member states.
The leaders of France, Germany and Britain met during the day on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg to discuss ways to support Kyiv, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters at the summit that “wars cannot be ended by major powers over the heads of the countries affected,” and insisted Kyiv needed robust guarantees.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the U.S. peace plan for Ukraine “requires broader consultation” because “it stipulates many things involving Europeans,” such as Russia’s frozen assets and Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. Europe’s security issues must also be taken into account, Macron said, adding: “We want a robust and lasting peace.”
Merz and Macron said that envoys from Germany, France, the U.K. and the EU will join Ukrainian negotiators as they meet a U.S. delegation in Geneva on Sunday to discuss Washington’s proposal. Zelensky confirmed the meeting Saturday, after Trump set a deadline for Kyiv to respond to the plan by next Thursday.
Among those expected to represent Washington are Trump’s Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, and Marco Rubio, who serves as both national security advisor and secretary of State, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the American participants before the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity. Driscoll presented the U.S. plan to Ukrainian officials this week.
European leaders have long warned against rushing a peace deal, seeing their own future at stake in Ukraine’s fight to beat back Russia, and insist on being consulted in peace efforts.
Ukraine’s key allies in Europe reiterated their reservations about the Kremlin’s readiness to end the war.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but their actions never live up to their words,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters ahead of the G-20 summit, days after a Russian strike on western Ukraine killed more than two dozen civilians.
European leaders have long accused Russia of stalling diplomatic efforts in the hope of overwhelming Ukraine’s much smaller forces on the battlefield. Kyiv has repeatedly accepted U.S. ceasefire proposals this year, while Moscow has held out for more favorable terms.
“An end to the war can only be achieved with the unconditional consent of Ukraine,” Merz said during a G-20 summit briefing, adding that he had told Trump in a long phone call Friday that Europe needed to be a part of any peace process, and that Russia had previously failed to keep its promises to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“From my perspective, there is currently a chance to end this war,” Merz added. “But we are still quite a way from a good outcome for everyone.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a key principle for Kyiv’s European allies was “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
Zelensky, in a video address published Saturday, said Ukrainian representatives at the talks in Switzerland “know how to protect Ukrainian national interests and exactly what is needed to prevent Russia from carrying out” another invasion. “Real peace is always based on security and justice,” he added.
“We defended, defend, and will always defend Ukraine. Because only here is our home. And in our home, Russia will definitely not be the master,” he said.
The post As Ukraine’s allies push for changes in U.S. peace plan, American senators denounce it appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
