The Trump administration has drafted a new plan for a negotiated settlement to the Russia–Ukraine war, per Thursday reports. The deal would grant Russia parts of Ukraine not currently under Russian control in exchange for U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine.
Officials familiar with the proposal told various corporate media outlets that Ukraine would have to cede control—though not legal ownership—of the Donbas to Russia in exchange for rental payments, while also giving up long-range missiles and cutting its military forces in half. According to the plan, Russia would get de facto control over Luhansk and Donetsk, and the U.S would recognize Crimea as Russian territory.
Reportedly, neither European nor Ukrainian officials were involved in drafting the new proposal.
Pentagon officials traveled to Ukraine Friday in order to “discuss efforts to end the war,” although neither Washington nor Moscow has confirmed reporting on the draft. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “contacts” had taken place with the U.S., but no “consultations or negotiations” were scheduled.
The Kremlin added Thursday that any Ukraine peace deal must address what it considers the underlying causes of the war, declining to comment on whether President Vladimir Putin had considered the new Trump plan.
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