President Donald Trump said Friday that he wants Ukraine to accept a new peace deal by Thanksgiving, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned the deal was forcing his country to choose between its “dignity” and a “key partner.”
The White House wants Kyiv to sign off on a “framework” to end the war in Ukraine based upon the U.S.-crafted 28-point peace plan by Thursday, according to three U.S. officials.
Trump said in an interview on Brian Kilmeade's radio show Friday that the deadline is "an appropriate time" and said that he has no plans to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia while the administration waits for a response to the peace proposal. The president also suggested that Ukraine would "lose in a short period of time."
"They're losing land," Trump said about Ukraine.
At a gathering of reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said that the plan is "a way of getting peace" that needs to be approved by Zelenskyy. "He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess," Trump said.
He added, "Well, at some point he’s going to have to accept something. You know he hasn’t accepted. You remember right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said you don’t have the cards."
The U.S. communicated the Thursday deadline to the Ukrainian government, though the officials stressed this was more of a goal than a firm deadline.
Negotiations to end the conflict are expected to be quite complex and will take more than a week to hash out, these officials acknowledged.
On reports that the U.S. threatened to halt intelligence sharing and weapons supplies for Ukraine if the deal is rejected, a senior administration official said: “It was strongly implied to the Ukrainians that the United States expects them to agree to a peace deal. Any changes will be decided upon by the president himself.”
“This is one of the most difficult moments in our history,” Zelenskyy said in a somber 10-minute video addressed to the Ukrainian people.
“Currently, the pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest,” he said. “Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner, either the difficult 28 points, or a very difficult winter” Zelenskyy added, urging the nation to stay united during what he said would be "a very difficult, eventful" week.
Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a more upbeat note, saying the plan could “form the basis of a final peace settlement,” though he said it had not been discussed “substantively” with Russia.
Putin said that if Ukraine rejects the proposal, Russia would seek to achieve its objectives "through military means, through armed struggle."
The stark warnings came as Ukraine and its allies raced to respond to the proposal that would grant Russia key demands at a moment of weakness for Kyiv.
Zelenskyy later shared in a post on X that he spoke with Vice President JD Vance and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll for almost an hour Friday about the plan.
"We agreed to work together with the U.S. and Europe at the level of national security advisors to make the path to peace truly doable," Zelenskyy said. "Ukraine has always respected and continues to respect U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to put an end to the bloodshed, and we view every realistic proposal positively."
The Kremlin maintained that it had not seen details of the plan, but urged Ukraine to make a "responsible decision" in light of mounting battlefield pressure.
Zelenskyy held an urgent call with the leaders of Britain, Germany and France, after which he said he valued Trump's efforts and would keep working with American officials to ensure Kyiv's "principled stances are taken into account."
The sudden emergence of the plan has fueled unease across the continent, which fears a deal imposing major concessions on Ukraine could further embolden Russia.
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A senior U.S. official told NBC News that the plan was drawn up immediately following discussions with Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council. He “agreed to the majority of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to President Zelenskyy,” the official said.
Umerov denied this Friday.
"During my visit to the United States, my role was technical — organizing meetings and preparing the dialogue. I provided no assessments or, even more so, approvals of any points. This is not within my authority and does not correspond to the procedure," he said in a post on X.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that any deal must provide full security guarantees and deterrence for Ukraine, Europe and Russia.
“This plan was crafted to reflect the realities of the situation, after five years of a devastating war, to find the best win-win scenario, where both parties gain more than they must give,” she said.
The existence of the peace plan was first reported by Axios, which has since reported its full version.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News that the reported plan was accurate. It's currently in draft mode but reflects where the parties stand at the moment, with feedback from both Russia and Ukraine, the source said.
The plan, as outlined, effectively amounts to a capitulation by Ukraine.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., criticized the plan on Friday.
“This so-called ‘peace plan’ has real problems, and I am highly skeptical it will achieve peace. Ukraine should not be forced to give up its lands to one of the world’s most flagrant war criminals in Vladimir Putin," he said in a statement.
It calls for Ukraine to surrender its eastern Donbas heartland to Russia, including withdrawing from fiercely contested areas that it currently controls. It also stipulates that Ukraine would have to cap the size of its military and agree to never join NATO. The annexed Crimean Peninsula will also be recognized as de facto Russian, including by the United States.
These are all key demands of Putin, with few obvious concessions to be made by the Kremlin as part of the plan.
The proposals do include a security guarantee modeled on NATO’s Article 5, which would commit the U.S. and European allies to treat an attack on Ukraine as an attack on the entire trans-Atlantic community, though the proposals do not offer specifics about what exactly that promise would entail, according to a U.S. official.
Moscow has been publicly cautious.
"We are learning some things from the press even though our contacts have not stopped, and we have never stopped them," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday. "There are certain considerations on the American side, but at the moment nothing substantive is being discussed," he added.
He warned Zelenskyy to negotiate now, before it's too late. "The regime needs to make a responsible decision," he said.
The emergence of the plan comes at one of the most politically-charged moments for Ukraine since the full-scale invasion.
Already facing battlefield setbacks, the government is now mired in a $100 million corruption scandal that has embroiled a number of high-profile figures, some with close ties to Zelenskyy.
Prosecutors have named Umerov as one of the officials allegedly implicated in the kickback scheme. He has denied any involvement and is not currently facing any charges, continuing his work in the government. Zelenskyy's name has so far not figured in the investigation.
The timing is viewed by Ukrainian officials as no coincidence, a source close to the Ukrainian government said, and they see it as a likely attempt by the Kremlin to take advantage of a potentially weakened Ukrainian leadership.
Putin, appearing in a military uniform as he received reports from the front lines, said Thursday the corruption scandal showed that Zelenskyy's government was "sitting on golden pots" without concern for its people or soldiers.
Putin and his entourage have themselves been subject of numerous corruption investigations throughout his 25-year rule.
