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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to distance the US from a 28 point peace plan aimed at ending the war in Ukraine on terms favourable to Russia, according to senators he spoke to on Saturday.
“It is not our recommendation. It is not our peace plan,” said Republican Senator Mike Rounds, who spoke to Rubio as the secretary of state prepared to travel to Geneva to meet senior European and Ukrainian officials to discuss the plan on Sunday.
Rubio told senators that the Russians gave the plan to Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, which the US then relayed to the Ukrainians in its role as an intermediary.
“It is essentially the wish list of the Russians,” said Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine.
Rubio also told the senators that he was not aware that any threats had been made to withhold US weapons or intelligence to Ukraine in the event that they refused to sign the deal.
In response to a request for comment, a senior US official said: “As the Administration has consistently maintained, this plan was authored by the United States, with input from both the Russians and Ukrainians. This plan has always been a hopeful start to continued negotiations, and eventually the signing of a final peace agreement once and for all.”
Earlier on Saturday, Trump said that the proposal was not his final offer to Ukraine.
“No, not my final,” he said. Asked what would happen if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign the agreement he said, “he can continue to fight his little heart out”.
Senior US officials say the plan has not yet been finalised. But Rubio’s remarks, as relayed by senators, appear to directly contradict previous statements from senior US officials about the plan.
On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Witkoff and Rubio had been “working on a plan quietly” for around a month.
“The president supports this plan. It is a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe that it should be acceptable to both sides,” Leavitt said.
News of the plan, which was published in full by the Financial Times on Thursday, has sparked alarm among US lawmakers as well as officials in Ukraine and Europe who fear that Kyiv could be strong-armed into accepting a deal that could end the war on terms highly favourable to Moscow.
The plan calls on Ukraine to surrender territory in Donetsk which is currently under its control, and would limit the size of the country’s armed forces.
Ukrainian officials say they have faced intense pressure from the US to accept the deal before the US Thanksgiving holiday next Thursday, with the aim of presenting a peace deal in Moscow later this month and concluding the process by early December.
European leaders convened an emergency summit on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg on Saturday, calling for “additional work” on the plan in a joint statement that was also signed by the leaders of Japan, Australia and Canada.
“We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force. We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack,” the statement said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who spoke to Trump on Saturday, said in a statement that national security advisers from across Europe are set to meet in Geneva on Sunday to work on the document alongside US and Ukrainian officials.
