Trump Corners Zelenskyy With New War Plan

With his new 28-point plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump is reiterating his assertion

sarah

Nov 22, 2025 - 20:09

Trump Corners Zelenskyy With New War Plan

Trump, who has shown little respect for Zelensky since his first term, said on Friday that he expects the Ukrainian leader to respond to his administration's new plan to end the fighting by next Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, "We believe we have a way to bring peace." "They have to approve it."

Frustrated by corruption scandals within his government, failures on the battlefield, and another difficult winter due to Russia's continued bombing of Ukraine's energy grid, Zelensky says Ukraine now faces perhaps the most difficult decision in its history.

Trump and Zelensky's relationship has been rocky.

Zelensky hasn't spoken to Trump since the plan was made public this week, but he has said he hopes to speak with the Republican president in the coming days. This could be another in a series of difficult conversations the two leaders have had over the past few years.

The first time they spoke in 2019, Trump attempted to pressure the then-newly appointed Ukrainian leader to dig up dirt on Joe Biden before the 2020 election. That phone call sparked Trump's first impeachment.

Trump made Biden's support for Ukraine a key issue in his successful 2024 campaign, saying the conflict had cost American taxpayers too much money and vowing to end it soon.

Then, in a fraught meeting in the Oval Office earlier this year, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance sharply criticized Zelensky for not thanking him for the more than $180 billion the U.S. had provided to Kyiv in military and other aid since the war began. That incident led to a temporary suspension of U.S. aid to Ukraine.

And now, with the new proposal, Trump is pressuring Zelensky to cede land to Moscow, drastically reduce the size of Ukraine's military, and agree with Europe that Ukraine will never be included in the NATO military alliance.

Zelensky said in a video address on Friday, "Ukraine now faces a very difficult choice: either the loss of prestige, or the risk of losing a key partner."

At the heart of Trump's plan is an appeal to Ukraine to completely abandon its eastern Donbas region, even though a large portion of that territory remains under Ukrainian control. Analysts at the independent Institute for the Study of War have estimated that it will take several years for the Russian military to fully capture the region, depending on the pace of its current advance.

Nevertheless, Trump maintains that the loss of the region—which includes cities that are vital defense, industrial, and logistics hubs for Ukrainian forces—is inevitable.

During a Fox News Radio interview on Friday, when Trump was asked about his pressure on Ukraine to abandon the region, he said, "They will lose in a short time. You know that." "They're losing ground. They're losing ground."

Trump's patience remains in question

Trump's proposal was officially presented to Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday by U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. The plan itself came as a surprise to Driscoll's staff, who were unaware until Wednesday that their boss was traveling to Ukraine as part of a team to present the plan to the Ukrainians.

According to a U.S. official, Army officers left the meeting with the impression that the Ukrainians viewed the proposal as a starting point, which would be expanded upon as negotiations progressed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions.

It's unclear how much patience Trump has for further negotiations. White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said Thursday that Trump's new plan reflects the "reality of the situation" and provides "the best win-win scenario, where both parties get more than they should."

Asked about Zelensky's initial hesitant response to the proposal, Trump recalled a debate with Zelensky in the Oval Office in February: "You remember, right here in the Oval Office, a while ago, I said, 'You don't have the cards.'"

Trump's patience remains in question

Trump's proposal was officially presented to Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday by U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. The plan itself came as a surprise to Driscoll's staff, who were unaware until Wednesday that their boss would travel to Ukraine as part of a team to present the plan to the Ukrainian people.

Army officials left the meeting with the impression that the Ukrainians viewed the proposal as a starting point that would be developed as negotiations progressed, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive discussions.

It's unclear how much patience Trump has for further negotiations. White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said Thursday that Trump's new plan reflects the "reality of the situation" and "provides the best win-win scenario, where both parties get more than they give."

Asked about Zelensky's initial hesitant response to the proposal, Trump recalled a confrontation with Zelensky in the Oval Office in February: "You remember, right there in the Oval Office, a while ago, I said, 'You don't have the cards.'"

Zelensky is now in a vulnerable spot

The increased pressure from Trump comes as Zelensky is dealing with the fallout from a $100 million bribe for a contract with a state-owned nuclear energy company. This scandal has led to the resignation of top cabinet ministers and has also led to accusations against other Zelensky associates.

Konstantin Sonin, a political economist and Russia expert at the University of Chicago, said, "Donald Trump is really good at identifying people's weak spots."

One of the 28 elements of Trump's proposal is to hold elections within 100 days of the agreement's entry into force.

Sonin said, "I think it's a rational assessment that Zelensky is under more pressure than Putin." He added, "Zelensky is broken" and "his government could collapse if he agrees to the U.S. proposal."

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, after years of fighting against a much larger and better-equipped Russian military, signs of tension are increasingly visible on the battlefield. Ukraine is desperately trying to avoid frequent Russian airstrikes, which have caused rolling blackouts across the country as winter sets in.

Kyiv is also grappling with uncertainty about the way forward. A European plan to finance Ukraine's next year's budget through loans linked to frozen Russian funds is now in question.

Cornell University military historian David Silbey said that Trump's proposal, in its current form, includes several elements that would severely damage Ukrainian pride.

One provision calls on Russia and Ukraine to "end all discriminatory practices and guarantee the rights of Ukrainian and Russian media and education" and "reject and prohibit all Nazi ideology and activities." The Ukrainian side may see this as a bolstering of Putin's distorted historical narratives to justify the 2022 invasion.

Putin has stated that the war is, in part, an attempt to "remove" Ukraine from "Nazi rule" and has complained about the country's "neo-Nazi regime" to justify Russia's invasion. In fact, in Ukraine's last parliamentary election in 2019, far-right candidates received 2% support, significantly lower than in many other European countries.

Silbey said the plan's provisions are "clearly an attempt to strengthen Putin's claim to Russian cultural identity within Ukraine." He added, "From the loss of territory to the massive reduction of the Ukrainian military and demands for cultural concessions, I don't think Zelenskyy will be able to make this deal and look his people in the eye again."