Key Points and Summary: A renewed U.S.-led push to end the war in Ukraine has reached a critical, volatile phase as Washington officials shuttle between Kyiv and Moscow.
The Plan: Trump’s revised proposal aims to narrow differences on territory and security guarantees, but significant gaps remain.
Putin in 2025 Looking Stern. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The Sticking Points: Putin insists on retaining four annexed regions, while Zelenskyy refuses territorial concessions and demands NATO membership—positions both Trump and Putin oppose.
The Crisis: Complicating matters, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff and lead negotiator, Andrii Yermak, has resigned amid a corruption scandal, leaving the Ukrainian leadership to face international pressure in a weakened political state.
Trump’s Ukraine Peace Plan Enters Tense Phase As Kyiv and Moscow Double Down
It should have been expected all along: Kyiv and Moscow are doubling down and marking hard lines even as a renewed U.S.-led push to bring the war in Ukraine to an end comes closer than ever to making a major breakthrough.
Negotiations are entering another volatile week, with Washington officials and negotiations shuttling between Ukrainian and Russian officials as both sides publicly endorse further talks while privately holding firm to positions that leave little obvious room for compromise.
Is it all over…all over again?
President Donald Trump’s revised peace plan – rewritten after further consultations in Geneva last week – is now the basis for new meetings aimed at narrowing differences between the two sides on issues such as territory and long-term security guarantees.
These are the two persistent issues that have blocked peace talks in the past and look set to do so again.
Senior Ukrainian officials reportedly spent four hours with U.S. envoys in Washington over the weekend, a session described by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “productive.”
Rubio, however, also cautioned that substantial disagreements remain.
Kyiv’s delegation, led by national security council chief Rustem Umerov and armed forces commander Andrii Hnatov, offered no details about the discussions but reiterated gratitude for American involvement.
Now, American negotiators are expected in Moscow, where Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Vladimir Putin will meet Trump envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday.
Both governments, however, have signaled their openness to Trump’s updated proposal – so it’s not all bad news. Zelenskyy said that the latest draft could be “workable,” while Putin has described it as a potential “basis” for future negotiations.
Yet, neither leader has changed their mind on the core questions. For instance, Putin continues to insist that Ukraine must withdraw from all four regions Russia annexed following the 2022 invasion – territory that Moscow does not fully control – and says that those aims will be achieved by force if necessary.
For Kyiv, any territorial concessions remain non-negotiable, and Zelenskyy maintains that NATO membership is essential to Ukraine’s long-term security – a position opposed by presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
And, should Zelenskyy begin to make concessions, the political backdrop in Ukraine is growing so complicated that it could cost him his legacy.
Andrii Yermak, formerly Zelenskyy’s chief of staff and lead negotiator, resigned on Friday amid a corruption scandal.
At the same time, Zelenskyy is facing pressure from the international community to make a decision and has publicly announced that difficult decisions will need to be made in the coming weeks for a deal to be reached.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York who writes frequently for National Security Journal. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he analyzes and understands left-wing and right-wing radicalization and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
