U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed the most extensive diplomatic effort to end the fighting in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago, but Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet Monday with European allies as he faces U.S. pressure to accept a plan to end the war at a time when Russian forces are making slow but steady gains.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Moscow last week for five-hour talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Witkoff and Kushner then held several meetings with senior Ukrainian officials in Florida in an attempt to iron out the differences over a plan that has been criticized for heavily favoring Moscow.
It’s not clear where the proposal stands after those negotiations. But, in public, Russian and Ukrainian leaders have laid out some of their demands.
Russia’s position
Putin wants all the areas in four key regions that his forces have seized and Crimea, which was illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian. He has also demanded that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in the east that have not been captured.
Moscow has also insisted that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, limit the size of its army, grant official status to the Russian language, and recognize the Russian Orthodox Church.
Russia has refused to halt the fighting until a comprehensive peace deal is reached.
Ukraine’s position
Kyiv has said it’s ready to halt the fighting along the existing front line — though it would not officially cede territory currently under Russian control. It has also rejected Moscow’s demands that it surrender other land Russia has not been able to take by force and drop its bid for NATO membership.
As part of a prospective peace agreement, Ukraine has demanded solid security guarantees both from Europe and the U.S. to deter Russia from attacking again.
Zelenskyy and his European allies have repeatedly accused Putin of slow-walking the talks to allow his forces more time to press ahead with the invasion.
Trump shows increasing impatience with Zelenskyy
Trump on Sunday appeared to voice exasperation with Zelenskyy, as he has before.
“Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy’s fine with it,” Trump said. “His people love it, but he hasn’t read it.”
It’s not clear why Trump thought Zelenskyy hadn’t read the plan or who he was saying loved it. Ukrainian officials have made sparing comments about it and very few details of the negotiations have been made public.
Putin also hasn’t fully backed the White House plan. While the Russian leader last week hailed Trump’s peace efforts, he also noted that some parts of the plan were unacceptable for Moscow and needed more work.
