The UK, France, and Germany have drafted and submitted a counter-proposal to President Trump’s 28-point peace plan that is radically different from the US draft and includes provisions that would almost certainly be rejected by Russia.
Most notably, the European proposal doesn’t provide a guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO or include Ukrainian territorial concessions. Under the US plan, Ukraine would need to enshrine in its constitution that it wouldn’t join NATO, and the military alliance would agree that Ukraine wouldn’t be admitted in the future.
The European proposal says that NATO joining Ukraine “depends on the consensus of NATO members, which does not exist. It also leaves open the possibility of NATO sending troops to Ukraine, something that’s explicitly ruled out under the US proposal.
Regarding territory, the US plan would involve Ukraine ceding what territory it still controls in the Donbas, which would become a demilitarized zone, and freezing the battle lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The European proposal states that “negotiations on territorial swaps will start from the Line of Contact.”
The European proposal also says that the US would give Ukraine a NATO Article 5-style guarantee, another provision that would be unacceptable to Moscow. The potential US security guarantee will be a major sticking point in negotiations, as the US reportedly told Ukraine it would provide a NATO-style guarantee, though it wasn’t spelled out in the leaked peace proposal.
While the original US proposal includes some provisions Russia would likely not accept, such as using frozen Russian funds for reconstruction and investment in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that it works as a foundation for negotiations.
“I believe that it could also form the basis for a final peace settlement, but this text has not been discussed with us in detail,” Putin told his Security Council on Friday, though he added that he doesn’t think Ukraine will go for the deal.
“I believe the reason is the same: the US administration has not yet managed to secure the agreement of the Ukrainian side, as Ukraine is opposed to it. Apparently, Ukraine and its European allies are still under the illusion that they can inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield,” Putin added.
President Trump has said he wants Ukraine’s response to the peace plan by Thursday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with European and Ukrainian officials in Geneva on Sunday and said it went well despite the radically different peace proposals.
Rubio said that the talks were “probably the most productive and meaningful meeting we’ve had so far in this entire process since we became involved” and added that the US was making changes to the peace proposal.
“We’re making some changes and adjustments in hopes of further narrowing the differences and getting closer to an outcome that both Ukraine and the United States can be comfortable with,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the Geneva meetings in his nightly address and said there are signs that the Trump administration is “hearing us.”
