Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Facing pressure from US President Donald Trump to agree to a peace deal soon. Ukraine’s negotiators met US officials on a 28-point Washington peace plan, and both sides reported progress towards a deal. After US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, met in Geneva on November 23, they said in a joint statement that the consultations were highly productive and showed meaningful progress. The plan has been criticised as weighted in favour of Russia and the negotiators were trying to find ways to make it acceptable to Ukraine, which is the victim of Moscow’s invasion.
Trump, who had said during his campaign last year that he would stop the Ukraine war within 24 hours of becoming president, hasn’t been able to end it ten months into his presidency, even as he was successful in managing a ceasefire in Gaza. Raising hopes of a quick settlement, Trump met with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in May, only to see it fizzle, and a planned second round of talks in Budapest was canceled.
Putin has called the Trump plan an updated version of the points presented in Alaska. Trump has been harsh against Russia and Ukraine by turns, and last month Russia was hit with stiffer sanctions, while this time Kyiv is facing the heat. He gave Ukraine a November 27 deadline to agree to a deal based on the 28-point plan, although he has since said he would be flexible if there were progress. He also said that the 28-point plan was not a “final offer” and “one way or another we have to get it (the war) ended”.
Trump’s plan, developed by his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, would allow Russia to get control of vast areas of Ukraine that it controls and those it covets, require Ukraine to withdraw from certain areas it is still holding on to, put limits on the size of Kyiv’s military, and close the door to NATO membership.
