Trump Administration's Ukraine Peace Plan draft may involve land concessions, military limits

Washington DC [US], November 20 : A new Ukraine peace proposal being discussed within the Trump administration could involve Kyiv ceding territory in the eastern Donbas region and agreeing to limits on its military capabilities in exchange for US-backed security guarantees, CNN reported, citing a Western official familiar with the ongoing deliberations.

According to CNN, the US officials said the proposal remains a work in progress, noting that any eventual agreement would require compromises from both Russia and Ukraine, who have been in conflict since 2014, turning the situation into a full-scale war after Moscow's invasion in 2022.

The officials stressed that some of the elements currently circulating including those seen as favouring Moscow's demands are not final and are expected to change as discussions continue.

The draft, comprising 28 points, has reportedly been reviewed by US President Donald Trump and has his support, CNN reported.

It represents Washington's latest attempt to revive peace efforts and end the nearly three-year-long conflict.

Some provisions, particularly those calling for Ukrainian territorial concessions in areas not fully under Russian control, have previously been rejected by Kyiv.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump remains determined to push for a

"President Trump has been clear since day one that he wants the war between Russia and Ukraine to end, and he has grown frustrated with both sides for their refusal to commit to a peace agreement," Leavitt said, as quoted by CNN.

"Nevertheless, the President and his team never give up, and the United States has been working on a detailed and acceptable plan for both sides to stop the killing and create a durable, lasting peace," she added.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also noted that the document is still in the "ideas" stage.

"Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas," he said in a post on X, adding that Washington "will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict."

Under the concepts currently under discussion, the Donbas regions of Luhansk and Donetsk would be ceded to Russia, despite parts of both remaining under Ukrainian control, CNN reported.

In the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, existing frontlines would be frozen rather than Ukraine giving up the territories outright, a Western official said.

One scenario under review would require Ukraine to scale down its armed forces and give up certain advanced weapon systems provided by Western partners during the conflict.

Other issues being debated include the future status of the Russian language and the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine post-war, as reported by CNN.

In return, the proposal includes security guarantees from the United States designed to prevent further Russian aggression or any escalation into wider Europe.

CNN's diplomatic sources in Europe said the proposal has caught the international community by surprise.

"This has all been gone through before and rejected, and now we're back to square one," a European diplomat posted in Kyiv told CNN, calling the reported terms unacceptable for any Ukrainian government.

"For the Ukrainians, it is just a non-starter and with good reason. It would just be inviting the Russians to come back again at a future date," they added.

The diplomat added that foreign ministries across Europe were seeking clarification from Washington but learnt that senior US officials outside the White House were largely unaware of the proposal until it leaked, CNN reported.

"People who should have known about it, knew nothing about it ... There's a lot of annoyance and confusion," the envoy said, as quoted by CNN.

US officials maintain that discussions are ongoing and that the final proposal will evolve before any political outreach begins.

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